Automated creation and delivery of database content

• US 7,672,985 B2
• Filed: 10/30/2006
• Issued: 03/02/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/16/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Sentius International, LLC (Sentius Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sentius International, LLC (Sentius Corporation)
• Inventors: Bookman, Marc, Kurtz, David, Patwardhan, Niket
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong, Leslie
• Application Number:
  US11/554,241
• Publication Number:
  US 20080133591A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,219 Days
• Field of Search: 704/9, 704/10, 715/709, 707/3, 707/6, 707/10, 707/102, 707/104.1
• US Class Current: 707/755
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/30 of unstructured textual data document management systems G06F16/93
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9024 Graphs; Linked lists G06F16/9027 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/904 Browsing; Visualisation therefor for navigating the web G06F16/954; browsing optimisation for the web G06F16/957
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/205 Parsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/242 Dictionaries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/247 Thesauruses; Synonyms
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface

Abstract

A method and apparatus are disclosed which automatically build a database by automatically identifying a term of interest and building a term database with supplemental content from an assigned source for that term. A term can be selected by applying various rules. An advertiser can sponsor the term, for example, by having an advertisement window automatically pop-up on a keyword search. Content windows can be attached to the term, the content window containing information such as definitions, related products or services, sponsorship information, information from content syndicators, translations and reference works. Data objects that represent the contents of the database and templates are syndicated to remote servers running a processing engine. The processing engine uses these data objects to execute linking rules without requiring a connection to the database.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for processing database content, the method comprising the steps of:

syndicating one or more data objects associated with a term database to one or more remote computers, wherein the one or more data objects contain data associated with one or more terms;

parsing one or more documents to identify at least one term based on at least one rule;

identifying content for the at least one term; and

associating the at least one term with the identified content;

wherein the one or more data objects associated with the term database provide a representation of at least a portion of the term database at the one or more remote computers and are used to link the identified content with the at least one term.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the content is provided by a source.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the source comprises at least one expert who provides the content for the at least one term through an interface.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

providing a sponsorship opportunity to at least one entity to sponsor the at least one term, wherein a content window is associated with the at least one term.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the content comprises one or more of definitions, related products, related services, sponsorship information, translation, and reference works.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more remote computers access data associated with the term database for linking to the supplemental content, without a connection to the term database.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more data objects comprise a template object for identifying at least one rule for processing a source page.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more data objects comprise a lexicon object for identifying at least one term for tagging in a source page.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more data objects are synchronized with at least the term database.

10. A computer program of instructions configured to be readable by at least one programmed computer processor to execute a computer process for performing the method as recited in claim 1.

37. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified content is displayed on a user interface in response to a selection of the at least one term by a user.

38. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified content is stored in the term database.

39. The method of claim 2, wherein the source comprises one or more of a dictionary, customer created data, advertising content and reference work.

40. The method of claim 1, wherein the content comprises one or more of text, image, sound, video and mixed media.

11. A computer implemented system for processing database content, the system comprising:

a term module for parsing one or more documents to identify at least one term based on at least one rule;

a processing module for identifying content for the at least one term; and

a term database for storing the identified content in association with the at least one term;

wherein one or more data objects associated with the term database are syndicated to one or more remote computers for providing a representation of at least a portion of the term database at the one or more remote computers and for linking the identified content with the at least one term, wherein the one or more data objects contain data associated with one or more terms.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the content is provided by a source.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the source comprises at least one expert who provides the content for the at least one term through an interface.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein a sponsorship opportunity is provided to at least one entity to sponsor the at least one term, wherein a content window is associated with the at least one term.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the content comprises one or more of definitions, related products, related services, sponsorship information, translation, and reference works.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more remote computers access data associated with the term database for linking to the supplemental content, without a connection to the term database.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more data objects comprise a template object for identifying at least one rule for processing a source page.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more data objects comprise a lexicon object for identifying at least one term for tagging in a source page.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more data objects are synchronized with at least the term database.

41. The system of claim 11, wherein the identified content is displayed on a user interface in response to a selection of the at least one term by a user.

42. The system of claim 11, wherein the identified content is stored in the term database.

43. The system of claim 12, wherein the source comprises one or more of a dictionary, customer created data, advertising content and reference work.

44. The system of claim 11, wherein the content comprises one or more of text, image, sound, video and mixed media.

20. A computer implemented system for processing database content, the system comprising:

means for parsing one or more documents to identify at least one term based on at least one rule;

means for identifying content for the at least one term; and

means for associating the at least one term with the identified content;

wherein one or more data objects associated with the term database are syndicated to one or more remote computers for providing a representation of at least a portion of the term database at the one or more remote computers and for linking the identified content with the at least one term.

45. The system of claim 20, wherein the identified content is displayed on a user interface in response to a selection of the at least one term by a user.

46. The system of claim 20, wherein the identified content is stored in the term database.

21. A computer implemented method for processing database content, the method comprising the steps of:

syndicating one or more data objects associated with a database to one or more remote computers;

parsing one or more source documents to identify at least one term based on one or more predetermined rules;

identifying content for the at least one term;

linking the content with the at least one term; and

automatically associating the at least one term in the one or more source documents with at least one link;

wherein the at least one link denotes an association between the at least one term and the linked content;

wherein the one or more data objects associated with the database provide a representation of at least a portion of the database at the one or more remote computers; and

wherein the linked content is displayed on a user interface based upon a user interaction with at least a portion of the one or more source documents.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the supplemental content is transmitted from a remote computer.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the supplemental content is displayed in a content window.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the content window is embedded in the source document.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein the content window is separate from the source document.

26. The method of claim 21, wherein the user interaction comprises a user selecting the at least one term with a mouse cursor.

27. The method of claim 21, wherein the user interaction comprises a user clicking the at least one term with a mouse cursor.

28. The method of claim 21, wherein the at least one term is visibly enhanced to notify the user of available supplemental content.

29. The method of claim 21, wherein the supplemental content comprises at least one advertisement.

30. The method of claim 21, wherein one or more of the predetermined rules are based on frequency of a term within a source document.

31. The method of claim 21, wherein one or more of the predetermined rules are based on manner of linguistic usage of a term.

32. The method of claim 21, wherein one or more of the predetermined rules are based on presence or lack thereof of an entry in a database.

33. The method of claim 21, wherein one or more of the predetermined rules are based on availability of supplemental content for a term.

34. The method of claim 21, wherein one or more of the predetermined rules are based on quality or amount of available supplemental content for a term.

35. The method of claim 21, wherein one or more of the predetermined rules are based on one or more financial incentives.

36. A computer implemented system for processing database content, the system comprising:

a term module for parsing one or more source documents to identify at least one term based on one or more predetermined rules; and

a processing module for identifying content for the at least one term, linking the content with the at least one term, and automatically associating the at least one term in the one or more source documents with at least one link;

wherein the at least one link denotes an association between the at least one term and the linked content;

wherein one or more data objects associated with a database are syndicated to one or more remote computers for providing a representation of at least a portion of the database at the one or more remote computers; and

wherein the linked content is displayed on a user interface based upon a user interaction with at least a portion of the one or more source documents.