Resolution independent display of internet content

• US 7,844,889 B2
• Filed: 04/15/2007
• Issued: 11/30/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/12/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: SoftView LLC
• Original Assignee: SoftView LLC
• Inventors: Rohrabaugh, Gary B., Sherman, Scott A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hutton; Doug
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tran; Quoc A
• Application Number:
  US11/735,482
• Publication Number:
  US 20070198917A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,325 Days
• Field of Search: 715/800, 715/238, 715/249, 715/205, 715/234
• US Class Current: 715/200
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/95 Retrieval from the web
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9574 of access to content, e.g. by caching
• 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 16/986 Document structures and storage, e.g. HTML extensions
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04806 Zoom, i.e. interaction techniques or interactors for controlling the zooming operation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/1048 Scalability
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• 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 40/134 Hyperlinking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/0407 Resolution change, inclusive of the use of different resolutions for different screen areas
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/0492 Change of orientation of the displayed image, e.g. upside-down, mirrored
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/24 Generation of individual character patterns
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 : specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/565 : Conversion or adaptation of application format or content adding application control or application functional data H04L67/561

Abstract

Apparatus, methods and software for creating resolution-independent display of Internet (Web) content to allow Web pages to be scaled (zoomed) and panned for better viewing and/or to fit any resolution or screen size. According to one aspect, novel client-side processing of markup language-based Web content is provided that employs a rendering engine to interpret original page layout information. The page layout information is scaled and employed to enable the Web content to be rapidly rendered, zoomed, and panned. According to another aspect, display lists are generated to provide further enhancements in rendering speed. According to other aspects, bounding boxes are generated and scaled to lay out text and/or images on scaled Web content that is used to facilitate browsing of Web pages with zooming and panning.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

in response to a request to access a Web page made via a wireless hand-held device including a display,

retrieving markup language-based Web content associated with the Web page having an original format defining an original page layout of content on the Web page, the content including text content, a plurality of hyperlinks, and a plurality of images;

processing, via the wireless hand-held device, the markup language-based Web content with a rendering engine to generate page layout information corresponding to the original page layout of content on the Web page as interpreted by the rendering engine including a width of the Web page;

employing the page layout information to generate scalable page layout information; and

employing scalable page layout information and/or data derived therefrom to generate views of the Web page on the display, including,

a view under which the width of the Web page is fully displayed; and

views of the Web page generated in response to associated user inputs to enable a user to iteratively zoom in on a portion of the Web page while preserving the original page layout, functionality, and design of the content on the Web page defined by the markup language-based Web content,

wherein preservation of the functionality defined by the markup language-based content includes preservation of hyperlink functionality.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein re-rendering views of the Web page is performed in real-time.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the display of the wireless hand-held device comprises a touch-sensitive display configured to receive user inputs to control display of the Web page.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

enabling the user to select a hyperlink; and

, in response thereto,

retrieving and processing markup language-based Web content associated with the hyperlink to produce additional scalable page layout information; and

employing the additional scalable page layout information and/or data derived therefrom to generate a view of the Web content associated with the hyperlink.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

parsing and processing markup language code with the rendering engine to determine the original page layout of display content within the Web page as interpreted by the rendering engine, wherein the original page layout defines a layout location for a plurality of objects, including text objects associated with the text content and image objects associated with the plurality of images included in the Web page; and

for each object,

defining an object datum corresponding to the layout location for the object on the original page layout; and

associating the object and its object datum.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising translating at least one image object from an original format into a scalable format.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

associating attribute information including a color and typefont for each text object; and

employing the attribute information to render text content corresponding to text objects shown in views of the Web page.

8. The method of claim 5, further comprising effecting a zoom operation by,

for each of a plurality of objects to be included in a zoomed view of the Web page to be rendered on the display,

scaling page layout information associated with the object using a scale factor corresponding to a zoom level associated with the zoom operation to determine a scaled datum;

and

scaling content associated with the object using the scale factor and rendering the scaled content at a location corresponding to the scaled datum.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising effecting a zoom operation combined with a pan operation by,

determining an offset corresponding to the pan operation;

and

employing the offset to at least a portion of the content that has been scaled and rendered to produce a view of the web page on the display.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein rendering scaled content associated with a text object comprises:

employing presentation attributes for the text object, the presentation attributes including a font typeface, size and color;

employing a scalable font associated with the font typeface to render text associated with the text object in a color associated with the color attribute, wherein the text is rendered by the operating system relative to a location associated with the scaled datum for the text object, and wherein the scale applied to the scalable font is a function of at least one of the scale factor and the font size.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising enabling the Web content to be displayed at different resolutions by scaling scalable page layout information to determine corresponding layout locations for the Web content on at least a portion of a scaled Web page for each of a plurality of scale factors.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

enabling a user of the wireless hand-held device to select an area of the display to zoom in on via the display; and

in response thereto,

re-rendering the display such that content in the area that is selected is enlarged.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising enabling a user to pan views of the Web page in response to a corresponding user input.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising enabling the views of the Web page to be panned in real-time.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising enabling a user to zoom on a column of the Web content-via an associated user input, wherein in response to the user input, the display is re-rendered such that content corresponding to the selected column is displayed across the display.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the user input comprises tapping the column.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising enabling a user to zoom on an image via an associated user input, wherein in response to the user input, the view is re-rendered such that the image is displayed to fit across a width of the display.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the user input comprises tapping the image.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising enabling a user to zoom on a paragraph of the Web content via an associated user input, wherein in response to the user input, the view is re-rendered such that content corresponding to the selected paragraph is displayed to fit across the display.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the user input comprises tapping the paragraph.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the content of the paragraph is reformatted when the view is re-rendered.

22. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a display list derived, at least in part, via use of the scalable page layout information; and

employing the display list to generate views of the Web page.

23. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

parsing and processing, with the rendering engine, markup language code corresponding to the received Web content to determine page layout information corresponding to an original page layout of the content on the Web page as interpreted by the rendering engine, the content including a plurality of objects comprising text objects associated with the text content and image objects associated with the plurality of images, wherein for each object the layout information includes object layout information identifying a coordinate location of the object on the page layout; and

associating each object and its object layout information.

24. The method of claim 23 further comprising:

generating page layout information including an object bounding box for each object.

25. The method of claim 23, further comprising:

for each of the plurality of objects,

mapping the coordinate location associated with the object layout information for the object to a corresponding object datum coordinate on a virtual display area employing a resolution-independent coordinate system.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

determining a first scale factor and offset in response to one or more corresponding user inputs defining a user-selectable zoom level and pan position corresponding to a view of the Web content desired by a user;

determining a virtual display bounding box for the virtual display area associated with the first scale factor and offset;

identifying objects having at least a portion falling within the virtual display bounding box; and

rendering a view of the Web page corresponding to the zoom level and pan position on the display including the at least a portion of the objects falling within the virtual display bounding box.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the virtual display area is associated with a fixed reference frame.

28. The method of claim 1, wherein the content includes a plurality of text objects having associated text content, the method further comprising:

for at least a portion of the plurality of text objects,

scaling a scalable font to render the text content associated with the text object.

29. The method of claim 1, wherein the content includes a plurality of text objects having associated text content, the method further comprising:

for at least a portion of the plurality of text objects,

determining an applicable font size based on an applicable scale factor associated with a zoom level; and

selecting a corresponding bitmapped font and employing the bitmapped font to render the text content associated with the text object.

30. The method of claim 1, further comprising reformatting a text object so as to fit the text object on the display when it is rendered.

31. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a view under which the width of the Web page is fit across the display.

32. The method of claim 1, wherein in a view at least one image is scaled.

33. The method of claim 1, further comprising maintaining at least one instance of the page layout information in a manner that is independent of zoom levels used to view the web page.

34. The method of claim 1, wherein the scalable page layout information comprises scalable vector-based page layout information.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein scaling operations are effected by applying a mathematical transformation to a plurality of points in a two-dimensional coordinate system comprising X and Y axes, including points comprising datum points having corresponding vectors included in the scalable vector-based page layout information defining page layout locations of corresponding text and image objects mapped to the two-dimensional coordinate system, wherein the mathematical transformation comprises,

X′

=X*SF;

Y′

=Y*SF;

wherein X, Y is the location of a point prior to transformation, X′

, Y′

is the location of the point after transformation, and SF is the scale factor.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein the mathematical transformation is applied to points in a first coordinate system comprising a resolution independent coordinate system associated with a virtual display area onto which page layout information is mapped to a second coordinate system comprising a device coordinate system corresponding to a pixel resolution of the display, wherein points are mapped from the first coordinate system to the second coordinate system using the mathematical transformation.

37. The method of claim 1, wherein the markup language-based Web content includes cascading style sheet content defining layout and presentation attributes for the Web page.

38. The method of claim 1, wherein the markup language-based Web content comprises HTML-based Web content that is processed by the rendering engine to generate page layout information corresponding to the original page layout as interpreted by the rendering engine.

39. The method of claim 1, wherein the Web page content includes a plurality of images, the method further comprising:

generating page layout information including a bounding box for each of the plurality of images;

scaling the bounding box associated with an image to produce a scaled bounding box; and

rendering bitmap content associated with the image to fit within the scaled bounding box.

40. The method of claim 1, wherein text content in a view is rendered to have a resolution that is approximately proportional to the zoom level of the view, such that as the zoom level increases the resolution of text content increases approximately proportionally.

41. The method of claim 1, wherein the layout of content for views associated with a zoom level is effected by scaling page layout information using a scale factor associated with the zoom level.

42. An apparatus comprising a hand-held mobile device, including:

a processor,

a communications device operatively coupled to the processor, to enable the apparatus to be wirelessly linked to a network to access Web content;

a display; and

storage means, operatively coupled to the processor, in which a plurality of instructions, including instructions corresponding to a browser having a rendering engine and instructions corresponding to an operating system, are stored that when executed by the processor enable the apparatus to perform operations including,

in response to a request to access a Web page made via a user of the apparatus,

retrieving markup language-based Web content associated with the Web page having an original format defining an original page layout, functionality and design of content on the Web page, the content including text content, a plurality of hyperlinks, and a plurality of images;

processing the markup language-based Web content with the rendering engine to generate page layout information corresponding to the original page layout as interpreted by the rendering engine including a width of the Web page; and

employing scaled page layout information and/or data derived therefrom to generate views of the Web page on a display, including,

a view under which the width of the Web page is fit across the display; and

views of the Web page generated in response to associated user inputs to enable a user to iteratively zoom in on a portion of the Web page while preserving the original page layout, functionality, and design of the content on the Web page defined by the markup language-based Web content,

wherein preservation of the functionality defined by the markup language-based content includes preservation of hyperlink functionality.

43. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein zooming views of the Web content is enabled to be performed in real-time.

44. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein the hand-held mobile device comprises a mobile phone.

45. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein execution of the instructions performs further operations comprising:

enabling the user to select a hyperlink; and

, in response thereto,

retrieving and processing the markup language-based Web content associated with the hyperlink to produce additional layout information; and

employing the additional page layout information and/or data derived therefrom to generate a view of the Web content associated with the hyperlink.

46. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein execution of the instructions performs further operations comprising:

parsing and processing markup language code with the rendering engine to determine the original page layout of display content within the Web page as interpreted by the rendering engine, wherein the original page layout defines a layout location for a plurality of objects, including text objects associated with the text content and image objects-associated with the plurality of images included in the Web page; and

for each object,

defining an object datum corresponding to the layout location for the object on the original page layout; and

associating the object and its object datum.

47. The apparatus of claim 46, wherein execution of the instructions performs further operations comprising translating at least one image object from an original format into a scalable format.

48. The apparatus of claim 46, wherein execution of the instructions performs further operations comprising:

associating attribute information including a color and typefont for each text object; and

employing the attribute information to render text content corresponding to text objects shown in views of the Web page.

49. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein execution of the instructions performs further operations comprising enabling the Web content to be displayed at different resolutions by scaling the page layout information to determine corresponding layout locations for the Web content on at least a portion of a scaled Web page for each of a plurality of scale factors.

50. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein execution of the instructions performs further operations comprising:

enabling a user of the apparatus to select an area of a view to zoom in on via the apparatus; and

in response thereto,

regenerating the view such that content in the area that is selected is enlarged.

51. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein execution of the instructions performs further operations comprising enabling a user to pan a view of the Web content in response to a corresponding user input.

52. The apparatus of claim 51, wherein execution of the instructions performs further operations comprising enabling the view of the Web content to be panned in real-time.

53. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein execution of the instructions performs further operations comprising enabling a user to zoom on a column of the Web content via an associated user input, wherein in response to the user input, the view is re-rendered such that content corresponding to the selected column is displayed across the display.

54. The apparatus of claim 53, wherein the user input comprises tapping the column.

55. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein execution of the instructions performs further operations comprising enabling a user to zoom on an image via an associated user input, wherein in response to the user input, the display is re-rendered such that the image is displayed to fit across a width of the display.

56. The apparatus of claim 55, wherein the user input comprises tapping the image.

57. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein execution of the instructions performs further operations comprising enabling a user to zoom on a paragraph of the Web content via an associated user input, wherein in response to the user input, the view is re-rendered such that content corresponding to the selected paragraph is displayed across the display.

58. The apparatus of claim 57, wherein the user input comprises tapping the paragraph.

59. The apparatus of claim 57, wherein the content of the paragraph is reformatted when the view is re-rendered.

60. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein execution of the instructions performs further operations comprising:

generating a display list derived, at least in part, via use of the scalable page layout information; and

employing the display list to generate views of the Web page.

61. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein execution of the instructions performs further operations comprising:

parsing and processing, with the rendering engine, markup language code corresponding to the received Web content to determine page layout information corresponding to an original page layout of the content on the Web page as interpreted by the rendering engine, the content including a plurality of objects comprising text objects associated with the text content and image objects associated with the plurality of images, wherein for each object the layout information includes object layout information identifying a coordinate location of the object on the page layout; and

associating each object and its object layout information.

62. The apparatus of claim 61 wherein execution of the instructions performs further operations comprising:

generating page layout information including an object bounding box for each object, the object bounding box representing a portion of the page layout occupied by the object'"'"'s associated content.

63. The apparatus of claim 61, wherein execution of the instructions performs further operations comprising:

for each of the plurality of objects,

mapping the coordinate location associated with the object layout information for the object to a corresponding object datum coordinate on a virtual display area employing a resolution-independent coordinate system.

64. The apparatus of claim 63, wherein execution of the instructions performs further operations comprising:

determining a first scale factor and offset in response to one or more corresponding user inputs defining a user-selectable zoom level and pan position corresponding to a view of the Web content desired by a user;

determining a virtual display bounding box for the virtual display area associated with the first scale factor and offset;

identifying objects having at least a portion falling within the virtual display bounding box; and

rendering a view of the Web page corresponding to the zoom level and pan position on the display including the at least a portion of the objects falling within the virtual display bounding box.

65. The apparatus of claim 63, wherein the virtual display area is associated with a fixed reference frame.

66. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein the content includes a plurality of text objects having associated text content, and wherein execution of the instructions performs further operations comprising:

for at least a portion of the plurality of text objects,

scaling a scalable font to render the text content associated with the text object.

67. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein the content includes a plurality of text objects having associated text content, and wherein execution of the instructions performs further operations comprising:

for at least a portion of the plurality of text objects,

determining an applicable font size based on an applicable scale factor associated with a zoom level; and

selecting a corresponding bitmapped font and employing the bitmapped font to render the text content associated with the text object.

68. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein execution of the instructions performs further operations comprising reformatting a text object so as to fit the text object on the display when it is rendered.

69. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein the Web page includes text content and graphic layout objects, and views are generated through use of scaled text content and graphic layout objects.

70. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein in a generated view at least one image from is scaled.

71. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein the display comprises a touch-sensitive display configured to receive user inputs to control display of the Web page.

72. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein the storage means comprises a flash memory.

73. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein the markup language-based Web content comprises HTML-based Web content that is processed by the rendering engine to generate page layout information corresponding to the original page layout as interpreted by the rendering engine.

74. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein the network comprises a mobile service provider network and the hand-held mobile device comprises a mobile phone.

75. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein text content in a view is rendered to have a resolution that is approximately proportional to the zoom level of the view, such that as the zoom level increases the resolution of text content increases approximately proportionally.

76. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein the layout of content for views associated with a zoom level is effected by scaling page layout information using a scale factor associated with the zoom level.

77. A tangible non-transitory machine-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of instructions comprising a browser including a rendering engine configured to be executed by a wireless hand-held device having a display and an operating system and configured to access Web content via a network, wherein execution of the instructions in conjunction with execution of the operating system enables the machine to perform operations comprising:

in response to a request to access a Web page made via a user of the machine,

retrieving markup language-based Web content associated with the Web page having an original format defining an original page layout, functionality and design of content on the Web page, the content including text content, a plurality of hyperlinks, and a plurality of images;

processing the markup language-based Web content with the rendering engine to generate page layout information corresponding to the original page layout as interpreted by the rendering engine including a width of the Web page;

employing the page layout information to generate scalable page layout information; and

employing the scalable page layout information and/or data derived therefrom to generate views of the Web page on the display, including,

a view under which the width of the Web page is fully displayed; and

views of the Web page generated in response to associated user inputs to enable a user to iteratively zoom in on a portion of the Web page while preserving the original page layout, functionality, and design of the content on the Web page defined by the markup language-based Web content,

wherein preservation of the functionality defined by the markup language-based content includes preservation of hyperlink functionality.

78. The machine-readable medium of claim 77, wherein zooming the views of the Web content is enabled to be performed in real-time.

79. The machine-readable medium of claim 77, wherein execution of the instructions performs further operations comprising:

enabling a user to select a hyperlink; and

, in response thereto,

retrieving and processing the markup language-based Web content associated with the hyperlink to produce additional scalable page layout information; and

employing the additional scalable-page layout information and/or data derived therefrom to generate a view of the Web content associated with the hyperlink.

80. The machine-readable medium of claim 77, wherein execution of the instructions performs further operations comprising:

parsing and processing markup language code with the rendering engine to determine the original page layout of display content within the Web page as interpreted by the rendering engine, wherein the original page layout defines a layout location for a plurality of objects, including text objects associated with the text content and image objects associated with the plurality of images included in the Web page; and

for each object,

defining an object datum corresponding to the layout location for the object on the original page layout; and

associating the object and its object datum.

81. The machine-readable medium of claim 80, wherein execution of the instructions performs further operations comprising translating at least one image object from an original format into a scalable format.

82. The machine-readable medium of claim 80, wherein execution of the instructions performs further operations comprising:

associating attribute information including a color and typefont for each text object; and

employing the attribute information to render text content corresponding to text objects shown in views of the Web page.

83. The machine-readable medium of claim 77, wherein execution of the instructions performs further operations comprising enabling the Web content to be displayed at different resolutions by scaling the scalable page layout information to determine corresponding layout locations for the Web content on at least a portion of a scaled Web page for each of a plurality of scale factors.

84. The machine-readable medium of claim 77, wherein execution of the instructions performs further operations comprising:

enabling a user of the wireless hand-held device to select an object of the display to zoom in on via the display; and

in response thereto,

re-rendering the display such that content associated with the object is rendered to fit across a width of the display.

85. The machine-readable medium of claim 77, wherein execution of the instructions performs further operations comprising scaling the scalable page layout information and/or data derived therefrom to regenerate views of the Web content in response to associated user inputs to enable the user to iteratively zoom in and out a display of the Web page.

86. The machine-readable medium of claim 77, wherein execution of the instructions performs further operations comprising enabling a user to pan a view of the Web page in response to a corresponding user input.

87. The machine-readable medium of claim 86, wherein execution of the instructions performs further operations comprising enabling the view of the Web page to be panned in real-time.

88. The machine-readable medium of claim 77, wherein execution of the instructions performs further operations comprising enabling a user to zoom on a column of the Web content via an associated user input, wherein in response to the user input, the view is re-rendered such that content corresponding to the selected column is displayed across the display.

89. The machine-readable medium of claim 88, wherein the user input comprises tapping the column.

90. The machine-readable medium of claim 77, wherein execution of the instructions performs further operations comprising enabling a user to zoom on an image, wherein in response to the user input, the view is re-rendered such that the image is displayed to fit across at least one of a width and height of the display.

91. The machine-readable medium of claim 90, wherein the user input comprises tapping the image.

92. The machine-readable medium of claim 77, wherein execution of the instructions performs further operations comprising enabling a user to zoom on a paragraph of the Web content via an associated user input, wherein in response to the user input, the view is re-rendered such that content corresponding to the selected paragraph is displayed across the display.

93. The machine-readable medium of claim 92, wherein the user input comprises tapping the paragraph.

94. The machine-readable medium of claim 92, wherein the content of the paragraph is reformatted when the view is re-rendered.

95. The machine-readable medium of claim 77, wherein execution of the instructions performs further operations comprising:

generating a display list; and

employing the display list to generate views of the Web page.

96. The machine-readable medium of claim 77, wherein execution of the instructions performs further operations comprising:

parsing and processing, with the rendering engine, markup language code corresponding to the received Web content to determine page layout information corresponding to an original page layout of the content on the Web page as interpreted by the rendering engine, the content including a plurality of objects comprising text objects associated with the text content and image objects associated with the plurality of images, wherein for each object the layout information includes object layout information identifying a coordinate location of the object on the page layout; and

associating each object and its object layout information.

97. The machine-readable medium of claim 96 wherein execution of the instructions performs further operations comprising:

generating page layout information including an object bounding box for each object, the object bounding box representing a portion of the page layout occupied by the object'"'"'s associated content.

98. The machine-readable medium of claim 96, wherein execution of the instructions performs further operations comprising:

for each of the plurality of objects,

mapping the coordinate location associated with the object layout information for the object to a corresponding object datum coordinate on a virtual display area employing a resolution-independent coordinate system.

99. The machine-readable medium of claim 98, wherein execution of the instructions performs further operations comprising:

determining a first scale factor and offset in response to one or more corresponding user inputs defining a user-selectable zoom level and pan position corresponding to a view of the Web content desired by a user;

determining a virtual display bounding box for the virtual display area associated with the first scale factor and offset;

identifying objects having at least a portion falling within the virtual display bounding box; and

applying an applicable scale factor to the object'"'"'s content to render a view corresponding to the zoom level and pan position on the display.

100. The machine-readable medium of claim 98, wherein the virtual display area is associated with a fixed reference frame.

101. The machine-readable medium of claim 77, wherein the content includes a plurality of text objects having associated text content, and wherein execution of the instructions performs further operations comprising:

for at least a portion of the plurality of text objects,

scaling a scalable font to render the text content associated with the text object.

102. The machine-readable medium of claim 77, wherein the content includes a plurality of text objects having associated text content, and wherein execution of the instructions performs further operations comprising:

for at least a portion of the plurality of text objects,

determining an applicable font size based on an applicable scale factor associated with a zoom level; and

selecting a corresponding bitmapped font and employing the bitmapped font to render the text content associated with the text object.

103. The machine-readable medium of claim 77, wherein at least a portion of the instructions comprise Java-based instructions configured to be executed on a Java virtual machine.

104. The machine-readable medium of claim 77, wherein execution of the instructions performs further operations comprising:

generating a view under which the width of the Web page is fit across the display.

105. The machine-readable medium of claim 77, wherein the Web page includes text content and graphic layout objects, and in generated views the text content and graphic layout objects are scaled.

106. The machine-readable medium of claim 77, wherein at least one view at least one image is scaled.

107. The machine-readable medium of claim 77, wherein text content in a view is rendered to have a resolution that is approximately proportional to the zoom level of the view, such that as the zoom level increases the resolution of text content increases approximately proportionally.

108. A method comprising:

in response to a request to access a Web page made via a mobile hand-held device,

retrieving HTML-based Web content associated with the Web page having an original format defining an original page layout, functionality, and design of content on the Web page, the content including text content, a plurality of hyperlinks, and a plurality of images;

processing the HTML-based Web content with a rendering engine to generate page layout information corresponding to the original page layout as interpreted by the rendering engine;

employing scaled page layout information and/or data derived therefrom to generate scaled Web page content at multiple scale factors; and

employing the scaled Web page content to enable a user to browse the Web page at multiple zoom levels on the mobile hand-held device while preserving the original page layout, functionality, and design of the content on the Web page defined by the HTML-based Web content as interpreted by the rendering engine,

wherein preservation of the functionality includes preservation of hyperlink functionality, and wherein the user is enabled to iterative zoom in on a portion of the Web page.

109. The method of claim 108, wherein the page layout information that is generated includes a bounding box for each of the plurality of images, and wherein a scaled Web page content including one or more images is generated by scaling bounding boxes corresponding to the one or more images to produce scaled bounding boxes and, for each of the one or more images, scaling content associated with the image to produce a scaled image that fits within its corresponding scaled bounding box.

110. The method of claim 108, further comprising:

processing the HTML-based Web content with the rendering engine to parse the text content into a plurality of text objects;

generating page layout information including a bounding box for each of the plurality of text objects; and

employing page layout information associated with the bounding boxes to effect preservation of the original page layout of the text content.

111. The method of claim 110, further comprising:

scaling bounding boxes for text objects corresponding to text content in a view; and

employing the scaled bounding boxes to lay out corresponding text content within the scaled bounding boxes.

112. The method of claim 111, further comprising:

employing a scalable font to scale text content for a text object to fit within a scaled bounding box.

113. The method of claim 111, further comprising:

in conjunction with rendering a view of the Web page content,

employing the bounding boxes and/or data derived therefrom to determine image and text objects to be rendered.

114. The method of claim 108, further comprising:

in response to a user input to pan a current view of the Web page to a new view displaying a portion of the Web page that is entirely not shown in the current view,

generating scaled Web page content in real-time.

115. The method of claim 114, wherein the scaled Web page content is generated in a fraction of a second.