Dynamic service presentation

• US 7,856,601 B2
• Filed: 06/03/2002
• Issued: 12/21/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Moore, Jason Fergus, De Vorchik, David George
• Primary Examiner(s): Theriault; Steven B
• Application Number:
  US10/162,827
• Publication Number:
  US 20030222897A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,123 Days
• Field of Search: 715/705, 715/714, 715/838, 455/456.1, 455/422, 705/27, 705/26, 725/60, 358/1.15, 704 8- 9, 348/207.11, 400/76
• US Class Current: 715/809
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation

Abstract

A method is provided for exchanging an organizational scheme, such as a tag-based structural framework, that can be applied to data describing and containing information relating to Web service providers to facilitate creating, updating, and interpreting the data so that Web service providers are suitably presented to a user, depending on the user'"'"'s country, language, locale, and the availability of Web service providers.

Claims

1. In an operating system for execution on a computer system, an interactive help utility for providing a collection of service providers on a display to a user so that the user may select a service provider, the interactive help utility comprising:

a text box displaying instructions for the user to select a service provider;

a set of navigation facilities; and

a window displaying a collection of service providers, at least one service provider being dynamically retrievable from a remote resource based on at least a query to the operating system regarding a geographic region of the operating system and a conversion of a returned identification of the geographic region to a three-letter country code being stored in the operating system, wherein a service provider from the collection of service providers provides the ability to publish a file to a Web site.

2. The interactive help utility of claim 1, wherein a service provider from the collection of service providers provides the ability to order prints of pictures.

3. The interactive help utility of claim 1, wherein a service provider from the collection of service providers provides the ability to create a shortcut to shared folders or resources on a network, a Web site, or a server.

4. The interactive help utility of claim 1, wherein at least one of:

a logo, a word mark, and an advertisement copy is displayed for each of said collection of service providers.

5. In an operating system for execution on a computer system, a computer-implemented method for exchanging information to obtain a collection of service providers for a utility to show the collection of service providers to a user so that the user may select a service provider, the method comprising:

receiving an indication from the user that the utility is invoked;

receiving an indication from the user that a file having content that is suitable for processing by a service provider is selected;

performing a query to the operating system to obtain an identification of a geographic region of the operating system and converting the identification to a three-letter country code; and

dynamically retrieving from a remote resource a collection of service providers, at least one service provider in the collection of service providers being presentable based on a service provider code being stored in the operating system and the three-letter country code, wherein dynamically retrieving includes retrieving a previously stored service provider in a central hierarchical database of the operating system.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising displaying for each of said collection of service provider at least one of a logo of the service provider, a word mark of the service provider, and an advertisement copy of the service provider.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising receiving an indication from the user that a service provider is selected, the service provider that is selected being defined as a selected service provider.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising communicating with the selected service provider to obtain a user interface of the service provider with which the user interacts to use the selected service provider to process the file.

9. In an operating system for execution on a computer system, a computer-implemented method for exchanging information to obtain a collection of service providers for a utility to show the collection of service providers to a user so that the user may select a service provider, the method comprising:

issuing, by the utility to a resource located on a network, a request for a customizable, tag-based data structure that describes the collection of service providers, the request including an identification of a geographic region being stored in the operating system;

receiving, by the resource, the request for the data structure that describes the collection of service providers, wherein the data structure comprises at least a type tag having a provider tag, and in response, the resource converting the identification of the geographic region determined by the operating system into a three-letter country code; and

issuing, by the resource to the utility, the data structure that describes the collection of service providers on the basis of the three-letter country code and the provider tag, wherein the data structure having a nomenclature that is defined by a base and a suffix, the base being defined by the three-letter country code and the suffix specifying that the data structure is expressed by a customizable, tag-based language.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein issuing includes issuing, by the utility to the resource located on the wide area network, the request for the data structure by specifying a protocol to be used to access the resource;

a name of a server on which the resource is located; and

optionally, a path to the resource on the server.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein prior to issuing, by the utility to the resource located on the wide area network, the request for the data structure, the method further comprises getting the identification of the geographic region from the operating system.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein issuing includes issuing, by the resource to the utility, one or more icon files containing individually a symbol that identifies a service provider.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein issuing includes issuing, by the resource to the utility, the data structure that is capable of being stored on a computer-readable medium, the data structure comprising:

one or more type tags that are indicative of service providers of various kinds;

one or more provider tags that are indicative of service providers, the one or more provider tags being the contents of a type tag, each provider tag including a symbol attribute that iconically identifies a service provider and an address attribute that specifies where the service provider can be found on the wide area network;

one or more language tags that are indicative of languages used and understood by communities, the one or more language tags being the contents of a provider tag;

one or more dialect tags that are indicative of dialects, which are regional varieties of a language distinguished by linguistic features, the one or more dialect tags being the contents of a language tag; and

one or more textual tags that textually describe service providers, each textual tag containing a name of a service provider or an advertisement copy of the service provider, each textual tag being appropriate for a particular dialect of a particular language, each pair of text tags being the contents of a dialect tag.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising creating a list of service providers, by the utility, as to show, for each service provider, at least one of the symbol attribute of a service provider providing the service, a name of the service provider, and an advertisement copy of the service provider.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising receiving an indication from the user that a service provider is selected, and in response to the indication that the service provider is selected, the utility storing a provider tag in a central hierarchical database in the operating system, the central hierarchical database being used to store information to configure the operating system for one or more users, applications, and hardware devices, the stored provider tag being indicative of a service provider who is to provide the selected service.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein creating a list of service providers, by the utility, includes using stored provider tags in the central hierarchical database in the operating system unless superseded by corresponding provider tags obtained from the resource located on the Internet.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein creating a list of service providers, by the utility, includes using stored provider tags in the central hierarchical database in the operating system even if corresponding provider tags no longer exist on the resource located on the Internet.

18. A computer-readable storage medium having a customizable, tag-based data structure stored thereon for use in dynamically providing a collection of service providers to an interactive help utility, the data structure comprising:

one or more type tags that are indicative of service providers of various kinds, the one or more type tags comprise a scope attribute that defines a string of text describing the kind of service provider available;

one or more provider tags that are indicative of service providers, each provider tag including a symbol attribute that iconically identifies a service provider and an address attribute that specifies where the service provider can be found on the Internet;

one or more major tags that are indicative of languages used and understood by communities, peoples, and nations, wherein each major tag has one or more minor tags that are indicative of a particular dialect of the major tag, and wherein the major and minor tags having a nomenclature that is defined by a base and a suffix, the base being defined by a three-letter country code and the suffix specifying that the data structure is expressed by a customizable, tag-based language; and

one or more textual tags that textually describe service providers, each textual tag containing a word mark of a service provider or an advertisement copy of the service provider, each textual tag being appropriate for a particular language and describing a service in a dialect of the particular language.

19. The data structure of claim 18, wherein each provider tag being the contents of a type tag, wherein each major tag being the contents of a provider tag, wherein each minor tag being the contents of a major tag, and wherein each provider tag being the contents of a type tag.

20. The data structure of claim 19 being configured to be sent from a resource on the Internet to the interactive help utility running on an operating system so that the interactive help utility may create a list of service providers and present the list of service providers to a user for selection.