Systems and methods for itemising web pages for display on a screen

• US 8,762,854 B2
• Filed: 10/27/2008
• Issued: 06/24/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/07/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cabot Communications Ltd. (Zorlu Holding AS)
• Original Assignee: Cabot Communications Ltd. (Zorlu Holding AS)
• Inventors: Oztaskent, Ant
• Primary Examiner(s): Kim, Matt
• Assistant Examiner(s): IPAKCHI, MARYAM M
• Application Number:
  US12/258,549
• Publication Number:
  US 20090119598A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,066 Days
• Field of Search: 715/239, 715/241, 715/242, 715/733, 715/866
• US Class Current: 715/733
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention provides a method of and apparatus for itemizing web pages for display on a screen in a system comprising a server connected to the internet the server having storage for format data in respect of one or more accessible websites, the method comprising: at a client requesting from the server format data for a requested website; upon receipt of the format data, accessing the website; and when the website has been accessed itemizing locally the website in dependence on the format data.

Claims

1. A method of itemizing web pages for display on a screen in a system comprising a server connected to the internet, the method comprising:

requesting, by a client device, a format file for a requested unitemized website from a server that is configured to send format files containing format data in respect to one or more accessible unitemized websites but does not send the requested unitemized websites themselves;

wherein the format data includes general properties of the requested unitemized website and detail of each different page type on the requested unitemized website;

accessing, by the client device, the requested unitemized website, via a web server that is different from the server that sends the format files, upon receipt of the format file; and

when the requested unitemized website has been accessed, itemizing locally, by the client device, the requested previously unitemized website based on the format data in the format file.

2. The method according to claim 1, comprising, prior to requesting the format data for the requested unitemized website, requesting from the server a website list of accessible websites in respect to which the server contains the corresponding format data.

3. The method according to claim 1, comprising, at the client device, displaying the website using a native graphic user interface of the client device.

4. The method according to claim 2, comprising, at the client device, displaying the website list using a native graphic user interface of the client device.

5. The method according to claim 1, in which the accessed requested website is itemized locally at the client device using an HTML itemizer.

6. The method according to claim 1, in which at least some of the accessed requested websites include video content, wherein the video content is displayed by the client device using a native graphic user interface of the client device.

7. The method according to claim 1, in which the client device is arranged in communication with a television display and the client device is arranged to display images of the accessed website content on the television display.

8. The method according to claim 1, comprising upon accessing the requested previously unitemized website, determining a class of each of the pages.

9. The method according to claim 8, in which if the class of the respective page is determined to be terminal, content of the respective page is displayed.

10. The method according to claim 8, in which if the class of the respective page is determined to be directory, directory and terminal items if present are extracted for display.

11. The method according to claim 1, in which itemized items are displayed to a user as a list.

12. A system for itemizing web pages for display, the system comprising:

a server computer for storing format files containing format data indicative of the format of one or more unitemized websites;

wherein the format data includes general properties of the unitemized website and detail of each different page type on the unitemized website; and

,

one or more client devices connectable to the server computer, at least one of the client devices being arranged to request format data of a respective one of the uninitialized websites from the server,

wherein upon receipt of the request, the server computer is arranged to provide to the requesting client device the format file containing format data indicative of the format of the respective of the format of the respective requested unitemized website but the server computer does not provide the requested unitemized websites themselves,

the client device being arranged locally to access the requested unitemized website and use the format data to itemize content from the requested previously unitemized website for display.

13. The system according to claim 12, in which the one or more client devices are set top boxes.

14. The system according to claim 12, wherein the client device is arranged to display the accessed requested previously unitemized website as part of a native user interface of the client device.

15. The system according to claim 12, in which the server computer is an HTTP server.

16. The system according to claim 12, wherein the server computer includes storage having a list of websites accessible by the system, and being arranged to provide to one of the client devices, upon request, the list of accessible websites.

17. A client device for connection to the internet for itemizing of web pages for display, the client device comprising:

a processor arranged, upon activation by a user, to request and to receive from a format server a format file containing format data in respect of a requested unitemized website but the format server does not provide the requested unitemized website itself;

wherein the format data includes general properties of the requested unitemized website and detail of each different page type on the requested unitemized website; and

memory for storage of the format file, the client device being configured and arranged to access the requested previously unitemized website and, itemize locally at the client device contents for display based on the format file.

18. The client device according to claim 17, comprising an HTML itemizer for itemizing locally the received website at the client device.

19. The client device according to claim 17, comprising an XML parser for parsing received XML documents.

20. The client device according to claim 18, in which the HTML itemizer includes a scripting engine for interpreting commands and a regular expression engine for searching for textual patterns within received HTML code of a website.

21. The client device according to claim 19, in which the client device is embodied by one or more of a stand-alone Set Top Box dedicated for viewing web pages on a television, functionality embedded into a digital television receiver Set Top Box, a digital television recorder, a television receiver, or a personal computer.

22. The client device according to claim 19, the client device including a native graphic user interface and being configured and arranged to display locally itemized websites using a native graphic user interface.