Method and system for transforming content for execution on multiple platforms

• US 7,702,995 B2
• Filed: 04/23/2001
• Issued: 04/20/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/24/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TiVo Corporation (Adeia Inc.)
• Original Assignee: TVWorks LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Inventors: Carney, John, de Andrade, David, Knowles, Mark, Sahota, Ranjit
• Primary Examiner(s): RIES, LAURIE ANNE
• Application Number:
  US09/841,017
• Publication Number:
  US 20010056460A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,284 Days
• Field of Search: 715/513, 715/530, 715/500.1, 715/203, 715/234, 715/239, 715/255
• US Class Current: 715/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/103 Formatting, i.e. changing of presentation of documents automatic justification G06F40/189; automatic line break hyphenation G06F40/191
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/62 Establishing a time schedule for servicing the requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25883 being end-user demographical data, e.g. age, family status or address arrangements for identifying locations of users in broadcast systems H04H60/52
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2668 Creating a channel for a dedicated end-user group, e.g. insertion of targeted commercials based on end-user profiles information retrieval from the Internet by querying with filtering and personalisation G06F16/9535; arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast H04H20/10; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; adaptation of message content in packet-switching networks H04L51/063
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/434 Disassembling of a multiplex stream, e.g. demultiplexing audio and video streams, extraction of additional data from a video stream; Remultiplexing of multiplex streams; Extraction or processing of SI; Disassembling of packetised elementary stream demultiplexing of data packets for data networks, e.g. RTP/UDP H04L65/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44224 Monitoring of user activity on external systems, e.g. Internet browsing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4622 Retrieving content or additional data from different sources, e.g. from a broadcast channel and the Internet web site content organization and management for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/958; transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82; stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services including data channel over packet-switching network H04L12/1859
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4782 Web browsing , e.g. WebTV
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/858 Linking data to content, e.g. by linking an URL to a video object, by creating a hotspot
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8586 by using a URL processing chained hypermedia data for information retrieval G06F16/94; information retrieval from the Internet by using URLs G06F16/955; URL in broadcast information H04H20/93; Web-based protocols H04L67/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/16 Analogue secrecy systems; Analogue subscription systems

Abstract

A method and system are disclosed for acquiring and transforming existing content (e.g., Hyper Text Markup Language HTML content) for display and execution on multiple platforms and architectures. In one embodiment, capture templates are created to harvest content from disparate content sources on multiple platforms. Data is extracted from the content from the disparate content sources using the created capture templates that drives extracting process. A standardized data stream is generated from the extracted data. The standardized data stream is provided for display on one or more different type of platforms.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

creating capture templates to harvest content from disparate content sources on multiple platforms in a network;

after creating the capture templates, acquiring original content and selectively extracting parts of interest from the original content from the disparate content sources on multiple platforms in the network using the created capture templates, wherein the created capture templates control the acquisition and extraction process;

generating a standardized data stream from the extraction process and incoming content sources; and

providing the standardized data stream for optimized display on one or more different types of platforms.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the content includes Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) content, FTP content, Database content, Extensible Markup Language (XML) content, or content from a data source.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the creating of the capture templates includes creating one or more XML files or documents to define rules, logic, and content extraction parameters, and wherein the created capture templates provide an ability to insert new media types and content optimized for a particular platform.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the standardized data stream for display includes:

providing the standardized data stream on a television display, personal computer display, or an electronic portable device display; and

generating content and code optimized, personalized for a specific platform, network environment, or local market.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the standardized data stream includes:

caching the standardized data stream;

caching the created capture templates; and

caching optimized, personalized and localized content generated for a specific platform, network environment, or local market.

6. A system comprising:

a content harvest and conversion platform to create capture templates to harvest content from disparate content sources on multiple platforms in a network and, after creating the capture templates, to acquire original content and selectively extract parts of interest from the original content from the content sources on multiple platforms in the network using the created capture templates, wherein the created capture templates control the acquisition and extracting process; and

a server to generate a standardized data stream from the extracted data and to provide the standardized data stream for input to a content engine for display on one or more different types of platforms.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the content includes Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) content, FTP content, Database content, Extensible Markup Language (XML) content, or content from a data source.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the content harvest and conversion platform is to create one or more XML files or documents to define rules, logic, and content extraction parameters, and is to provide an ability to insert new media types and content optimized for a particular platform.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the server is to provide the standardized data stream for input to a content engine to deliver optimized content and code for a television display, personal computer display, or an electronic portable device display.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein the server is to cache the standardized data stream, the capture templates, and optimized, personalized and localized content generated for a specific platform, network environment or local market.

11. A method, comprising:

harvesting content from disparate content sources on multiple platforms in a network based on previously created original content acquisition and selective extraction rules by accessing content and media assets based on the previously created original content acquisition and selective extraction rules, which are stored in a repository; and

converting the acquired content based on conversion rules stored in the said repository.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

navigating the content sources to locate and access the content and media assets without changing existing content on the content sources.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the accessing of the content and media assets includes accessing the content and media assets using an Internet protocol.