Method and system for providing a user-customized electronic book

• US 7,236,966 B1
• Filed: 03/08/2002
• Issued: 06/26/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/08/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Jackson, Benjamin T., Cross, Susan C., Cross, Bryan R. K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Rones; Charles
• Assistant Examiner(s): ORTIZ DITREN, BELIX M
• Application Number:
  US10/095,371
• Time in Patent Office: 1,936 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1, 707/3, 707/5, 707/200, 707/100, 707/4, 707/104.1, 707/102
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access

Abstract

One embodiment of the present invention enables an individual to selectively choose an area(s) of interest and automatically scan a database to intelligently retrieve the relevant information and filter out the irrelevant information. Next, the relevant information may then be collated and made available in an electronic “book” format for ease of distribution. For example, a network administrator may go to his/her company'"'"'s web page and utilize the present embodiment to download an electronic “book” pertaining to troubleshooting his/her particular network configuration. It is appreciated that the present embodiment may be utilized in a broad number of different areas since it covers any application where there may be a huge database of information and only a part of which may be of interest to selected parties. For example, the present embodiment may be quite useful in areas such as, but not limited to, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, medical, defense, and computer networking.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method comprising:

establishing a database of information to include a plurality of text objects and a plurality of metadata associated with said plurality of text objects, wherein said plurality of metadata are associated with said plurality of text objects via a plurality of identifiers;

receiving a search query associated with said database of information;

retrieving a sub-group of text objects from said plurality of text objects using said plurality of metadata and said search query, said sub-group of text objects associated with a sub\-group of metadata from said plurality of metadata, in response to said receiving said search query;

utilizing said sub-group of metadata to organize said sub-group of text objects, wherein said sub-group of metadata describes contextual relationships between said sub-group of text objects, and wherein the content of a metadata of said subgroup of metadata is altered without altering its associated text object of said sub-group of text objects, in response to said retrieving said sub-group of text objects; and

collating the organized sub-group of text objects thereby producing an electronic book.

2. The method as described in claim 1 further comprising:

downloading said electronic book to a remote computing device via a communication path.

3. The method as described in claim 1 wherein a text object of said plurality of text objects comprises a sentence of information.

4. The method as described in claim 1 wherein a text object of said plurality of text objects comprises a paragraph of information.

5. The method as described in claim 1 wherein said database of information comprises an extensible Markup Language (XML) file.

6. The method as described in claim 1 wherein said plurality of text objects are organized using a document type definition.

7. The method as described in claim 1 wherein said electronic book consists of a format selected from a Portable Document Format (PDF) and a Hypertext Markup Language (HTML).

8. A computer readable medium having computer readable code embodied therein for causing a computer to perform a method comprising:

establishing a database of information to include a plurality of predefined pieces of information and a plurality of metadata associated with said plurality of predefined pieces of information, wherein said plurality of metadata are associated with said plurality of predefined pieces of information via a plurality of identifiers;

receiving a search query associated with said database of information;

in response to said receiving said search query, retrieving a sub-group of predefined pieces of information from said plurality of predefined pieces of information using said plurality of metadata, wherein said sub-group of predefined pieces of information is associated with a sub-group of metadata from said plurality of metadata;

in response to said retrieving said sub-group of predefined pieces of information, utilizing said sub-group of metadata to organize said sub-group of predefined pieces of information, wherein said sub-group of metadata describes contextual relationships between said sub-group of predefined pieces of information, and wherein the content of a metadata of said subgroup of metadata is altered without altering associated predefined piece of information of said sub-group predefined pieces of information; and

formatting the organized sub-group of predefined pieces of information thereby producing a virtual binder.

9. The computer readable medium of claim 8 wherein said method further comprising:

downloading said virtual binder to a remote computer device via a communication path.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 8 wherein a predefined piece of information of said plurality of predefined pieces of information comprises a sentence of information.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 8 wherein a predefined piece of information of said plurality of predefined pieces of information comprises a paragraph of information.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 8 wherein said database of information comprises an extensible Markup Language (XML) file.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 8 wherein said plurality of predefined pieces of information are organized using a document type definition.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 8 wherein said virtual binder consists of a format selected from a Portable Document Format (PDF) and a Hypertext Markup Language (HTML).

15. A system comprising:

a remote computing device;

a database of information comprising a plurality of text objects and a plurality of metadata associated with said plurality of text objects, wherein said plurality of metadata are associated with said plurality of text objects via a plurality of identifiers; and

a server for receiving a search query associated with said database of information;

retrieving a sub-group of text objects from said plurality of text objects using said plurality of metadata and said search query, said sub-group of text objects associated with a sub-group of metadata from said plurality of metadata, in response to said receiving said search query;

utilizing said sub-group of metadata to organize said sub-group of text objects, wherein said sub-group of metadata describes contextual relationships between said sub-group of text objects, and wherein the content of a metadata of said subgroup of metadata is altered without altering associated text object of said sub-group of text objects, in response to said retrieving said sub-group of text objects; and

collating the organized sub-group of text objects thereby producing an electronic book; and

downloading said electronic book to said remote computing device via a communication path.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein said server organizes said sub-group of text objects to provide contextualization using metadata of said plurality of metadata, said metadata associated with said sub-group of text objects.

17. The system of claim 15 wherein a text object of said plurality of text objects is a sentence, a task, or a concept.

18. The system of claim 15 wherein a text object of said plurality of text objects is a paragraph, an introduction, or a procedure.

19. The system of claim 15 wherein said database of information comprises an extensible Markup Language (XML) file.

20. The system of claim 15 wherein said plurality of text objects ore organized using a document type definition.

21. The system of claim 15 wherein said electronic book consists of a format selected from a Portable Document Format (PDF) and a Hypertext Markup Language (HTML).

22. A computer implemented system comprising:

means for establishing a database of information to include a plurality of predefined pieces of information and a plurality of metadata associated with said plurality of predefined pieces of information, wherein said plurality of metadata are associated with said plurality of predefined pieces of information via a plurality of identifiers;

means for receiving a search query associated with said database;

means for retrieving a sub-group of predefined pieces of information from said plurality of predefined pieces of information using said plurality of metadata and said search query, in response to receiving said search query;

means for organizing said sub-group of predefined pieces of information, using metadata associated with said sub-group of predefined pieces of information from said plurality of metadata, wherein said metadata associated with said sub-group of predefined pieces of information describes contextual relationships between said sub-group of predefined pieces of information, and wherein the content of a metadata of said metadata associated with said sub-group of predefined pieces of information is altered without altering associated predefined piece of information of said sub-group predefined pieces of information, in response to retrieving said sub-group of predefined pieces of information; and

means for rendering the organized sub-group of predefined pieces of information thereby producing a virtual binder.

23. The system of claim 22 wherein a predefined piece of information of said plurality of predefined pieces of information is a sentence, a paragraph, or an introduction.

24. The system of claim 22 wherein a predefined piece of information of said plurality of predefined pieces of information is a task, a procedure, or a concept.

25. The system of claim 22 wherein said database comprises an extensible Markup Language (XML) file.

26. The system of claim 22 wherein said plurality of predefined pieces of information are organized using a document type definition.

27. The system of claim 22 wherein said virtual binder consists of a format selected from a Portable Document Format (PDF) and a Hypertext Markup Language (HTML).