Small form factor web browsing

• US 7,203,901 B2
• Filed: 11/27/2002
• Issued: 04/10/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/27/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Chen, Yu, Ma, Wei-Ying, Wang, Ming-Yu, Zhang, Hong Jiang
• Primary Examiner(s): Hong, Stephen
• Assistant Examiner(s): LUDWIG, MATTHEW J
• Application Number:
  US10/306,729
• Publication Number:
  US 20040103371A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,595 Days
• Field of Search: 715/513, 715/512, 715/517, 715/521, 715/520, 345/419, 345/619
• US Class Current: 715/205
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents

Abstract

A large web page is analyzed and partitioned into smaller sub-pages so that a user can navigate the web page on a small form factor device. The user can browse the sub-pages to find and read information in the content of the large web page. The partitioning can be performed at a web server, an edge server, at the small form factor device, or can be distributed across one or more such devices. The analysis leverages design habits of a web page author to extract a representation structure of an authored web page. The extracted representation structure includes high level structure using several markup language tag selection rules and low level structure using visual boundary detection in which visual units of the low level structure are provided by clustering markup language tags. User viewing habits can be learned to display favorite parts of a web page.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

using a markup language tag tree of a web page to extract regions of the web page including a header, a footer, left and right side bar regions, and one or more body regions encompassed by the header region, the footer region, the left side bar region, and the right side bar region;

identifying visual boundaries within each said region by;

properties of the tags of the markup language tag tree;

projecting normal to an axis each shape represented by one or more semantic units of the tags of the markup language tag tree in each region; and

determining the additional visual boundaries from the projection values on the axis,

wherein the one or more semantic units of the tags of the markup language tag tree in each region is found by clustering the leaf markup language tags in a pattern detection algorithm.

2. The method as defined in claim 1, further comprising:

for a predetermined display screen, identifying a plurality of sub-pages of the web page using the identified visual boundaries and the regions, where each said sub-page has a width not greater than the width of the predetermined display screen;

forming a thumbnail image of the web page having partitions corresponding to the one or more sub-pages;

forming a hyperlink to each said sub-page from a corresponding said partition of the thumbnail image of the web page; and

storing the sub-pages, the thumbnail image, and the hyperlinks using an annotation mechanism.

3. The method as defined in claim 2, further comprising, for the contents each said sub-page, extracting any style information from the markup language tag tree of the web page for inclusion in the sub-page.

4. One or more computer-readable media having computer-readable instructions thereon which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to implement a method comprising:

using a markup language tag tree of a web page to extract regions of the web page includihg a header, a footer, left and right side bar regions, and one or more body regions encompassed by the header region, the footer region, the left side bar region, and the right side bar region;

identifying visual boundaries within each said region by;

properties of the tags of the markup language tag tree;

projecting normal to an axis each shape represented by one or more semantic units of the tags of the markup language tag tree in each region; and

determining the additional visual boundaries from the projection values on the axis,

wherein the one or more semantic units of the tags of the markup language tag tree in each region is found by clustering the leaf markup language tags in a pattern detection algorithm.

5. The one or more computer-readable media as defined in claim 4, wherein the method implemented by the computer-readable instructions further comprises:

for a predetermined display screen, identifying a plurality of sub-pages of the web page using the identified visual boundaries and the regions, where each said sub-page has a width not greater than the width of the predetermined display screen;

forming a thumbnail image of the web page having partitions corresponding to the one or more sub-pages;

forming a hyperlink to each said sub-page from a corresponding said partition of the thumbnail image of the web page; and

storing the sub-pages, the thumbnail image, and the hyperlinks using an annotation mechanism.

6. The one or more computer-readable media as defined in claim 4, wherein the method implemented by the computer-readable instructions further comprises, for the contents each said sub-page, extracting any style information from the markup language tag tree of the web page for inclusion in the sub-page.

7. A method comprising:

analyzing a markup language tag tree of a web page to identify;

peripheral regions of the web page including header, footer, left, and right regions; and

one or more body regions adjacent to at least one said peripheral region;

within the markup language tag tree that defines each said peripheral and body region;

identifying visual boundaries given in the properties of the tags of the markup language tag tree; and

identifying blank areas by;

analyzing one or more functions on the basis of a layout structure of each said function by;

configuring each said function into a rectangle;

projecting each rectangle normally onto each of perpendicular axes; and

determining one or more separators that are each normal to the axes as a function of the sum of the projections on each axis,

wherein the identifying blank areas further comprises;

processing the markup language tag tree defining each said peripheral and body region to identify therein one or more objects each having one or more properties relating to at least one function thereof; and

analyzing each said object in each said peripheral and body region by;

grouping the object into a shape that contains one or more properties relating to at least one function;

separating each said shape from the other shapes by a separator,

wherein each said shape is a rectangle having sides parallel or normal to that of the other rectangles and to the separators;

inserting blanks between the shapes;

projecting each of the shapes onto two perpendicular axes;

quantifying the projections along each said axis; and

identifying each said separator as being normal to each section along each said axis where the quantity of the projections is less than a predetermined threshold.

8. The method as defined in claim 7, further comprising, for a predetermined width of a display screen, identifying a plurality of sub-pages of the web page each having a width not greater than the predetermined width of the display screen and using:

the peripheral regions of the web page including header, footer, left, and right regions;

the one or more body regions adjacent to at least one said peripheral region;

the visual boundaries identified in the properties of the tags of the markup language tag tree; and

the one more separators.

9. The method as defined in claim 8, further comprising:

forming a thumbnail image of the web page having partitions corresponding to the one or more sub-pages;

forming a hyperlink to each said sub-page from a corresponding said partition of the thumbnail image of the web page; and

storing the sub-pages, the thumbnail image, and the hyperlinks using an annotation mechanism.

10. The method as defined in claim 9, further comprising, for the contents each said sub-page, extracting any style information from the markup language tag tree of the web page for inclusion in the sub-page.

11. One or more computer-readable media having computer-readable instructions thereon which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to implement a method comprising:

analyzing a markup language tag free of a web page to identify;

peripheral regions of the web page including header, footer, left, and right regions; and

one or more body regions adjacent to at least one said peripheral region;

within the markup language tag tree that defines each said peripheral and body region;

identifying visual boundaries given in the properties of the tags of the markup language tag tree; and

identifying blank areas by;

analyzing one or more functions on the basis of a layout structure of each said function by;

configuring each said function into a rectangle;

projecting each rectangle normally onto each of perpendicular axes; and

determining one or more separators that are each normal to the axes as a function of the sum of the projections on each axis,

wherein the identifying blank areas further comprises;

processing the markup language tag tree defining each said peripheral and body region to identify therein one or more objects each having one or more properties relating to at least one function thereof; and

analyzing each said object in each said peripheral and body region by;

in the object into a shape that contains one or more properties relating to at least one function;

separating each said shape from the other shapes by a separator,

wherein each said shape is a rectangle having sides parallel or normal to that of the other rectangles and to the separators;

inserting blanks between the shapes;

projecting each of the shapes onto two perpendicular axes;

quantifying the projections along each said axis; and

identifying each said separator as being normal to each section along each said axis where the quantity of the projections is less than a predetermined threshold.

12. The one or more computer-readable media as defined in claim 11, wherein the method implemented by the computer-readable instructions further comprises, for a predetermined width of a display screen, identifying a plurality of sub-pages of the web page each having a width not greater than the predetermined width of the display screen and using:

the peripheral regions of the web page including header, footer, left, and right regions;

the one or more body regions adjacent to at least one said peripheral region;

the visual boundaries identified in the properties of the tags of the markup language tag tree; and

the one more separators.

13. The one or more computer-readable media as defined in claim 12, wherein the method implemented by the computer-readable instructions further comprises:

forming a thumbnail image of the web page having partitions corresponding to the one or more sub-pages;

forming a hyperlink to each said sub-page from a corresponding said partition of the thumbnail image of the web page; and

storing the sub-pages, the thumbnail image, and the hyperlinks using an annotation mechanism.

14. The one or more computer-readable media as defined in claim 12, wherein the method implemented by the computer-readable instructions further comprises:

for the contents each said sub-page, extracting any style information from the markup language tag tree of the web page for inclusion in the sub-page.