Method and apparatus of creating electronic forms to include internet list data

• US 9,223,770 B1
• Filed: 07/29/2009
• Issued: 12/29/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: Open Invention Network LLC
• Inventors: Ledet, David Gerard
• Primary Examiner(s): Baderman, Scott
• Assistant Examiner(s): Velez-Lopez, Mario M
• Application Number:
  US12/511,112
• Time in Patent Office: 2,344 Days
• Field of Search: 715/222, 715/224, 715/226, 715/227
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/154 Tree transformation for tree-structured or markup documents, e.g. XSLT, XSL-FO or stylesheets
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0625 Directed, with specific intent or strategy

Abstract

A method and apparatus are disclosed that create an electronic form based on table data provided by Internet searching operations. One example may include determining at least one search term, querying, via a server, information provided by at least one network based on the search term, and copying at least one data table resulting from the information discovered during the querying operation. Additional operations may include parsing the at least one data table and storing the information in the server, displaying the data table to an end user so that the end user may select whether the data table should be included in the electronic form, and providing the user with the option to select and edit the contents of the data table. Upon the user'"'"'s approval the data table may be copied into the electronic form.

Claims

1. A method of creating an electronic form by a form creating application, the method comprising:

determining at least one search term;

querying, via a server executing a form creating application, information provided by at least one network based on the search term;

receiving, by the form creating application, at least one web page as a result for the query, the at least one web page comprising table data and non-table data;

automatically extracting by the form creating application, at least one data table from the at least one web page, the at least one data table comprising at least one column comprising a plurality of cells;

parsing the at least one column of the at least one extracted data table;

displaying the extracted data table to an end user as one or more individually selectable columns so that the end user may individually select a column of the one or more individually selectable columns to be included in the electronic form, and providing the user with the option to select and edit the contents of the selected column; and

incorporating the selected column into the electronic form as a drop down list;

wherein the steps of querying, receiving the at least one web page, extracting at least one data table, parsing and displaying are performed without user input; and

wherein when the user selects a column to be incorporated into the electronic form, the form creating application automatically creates a form field in the electronic form and populates the form field as a drop down list containing the contents of the selected column.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

automatically creating a sub-table based on the contents of the data table and by another data table discovered during said querying operation.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a hierarchical schema based on the at least one parsed table, said hierarchical schema being at least one of an extensible markup language (XML)-based schema and an extensible style language family transformation (XSLT)-based schema.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the parsing comprises introducing XML code into the data table contents.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the parsing comprises introducing HTML code into the data table contents.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said querying comprises accessing a webpage to obtain said information, and said at least one network comprises the Internet.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the search term is queried by using a command line interface (CLI) application.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one search term is pre-defined.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one search term is provided by a user input.

10. An apparatus configured to create an electronic form, the apparatus comprising:

a processor configured to;

determine at least one search term, querying, via a server, information provided by at least one network based on the search term;

receive at least one web page as a result for the query, the at least one web page comprising table data and non-table data;

automatically extract at least one data table comprising a plurality of cells from the at least one web page the at least one data table comprising the plurality of cells;

automatically parse the plurality of cells of the at least one extracted data table and store the information in the apparatus;

automatically display the extracted data table to an end user so that the end user may select whether the data table should be included in the electronic form;

provide the user with the option to select and edit the contents of the extracted data table; and

copy the extracted data table into the electronic form as a drop down list;

wherein the processor is able to query, receive the at least one web page, extract the at least one data table, parse the plurality of cells and display the extracted data table without user input; and

wherein when the user selects a column to be incorporated into the electronic form, the processor automatically creates a form field in the electronic form and populates the form field as a drop down list containing the contents of the selected column.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to automatically create a sub-table based on the contents of the data table and by another data table discovered during said querying operation.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to generate a hierarchical schema based on the at least one parsed table, said hierarchical schema being at least one of an extensible markup language (XML)-based schema and an extensible style language family transformation (XSLT)-based schema.

13. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to introduce XML code into the data table contents.

14. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to introduce HTML code into the data table contents.

15. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to access a webpage to obtain said information, and said at least one network comprises the Internet.

16. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to query the search by using a command line interface (CLI) application.

17. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the at least one search term is pre-defined.

18. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the at least one search term is provided by a user input.

19. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising computer code that when executed causes a processor to perform:

determining at least one search term;

querying, via a server executing a form creating application, information provided by at least one network based on the search term;

receiving, by the form creating application, at least one web page as a result for the query, the at least one web page comprising table data and non-table data;

automatically extracting by the form creating application, at least one data table from the at least one web page the at least one data table comprising a plurality of cells;

parsing the plurality of cells of the at least one extracted data table and storing the information in the server;

displaying the extracted data table to an end user as at least one of a plurality of individually selectable rows or a plurality of individually selectable columns so that the end user may select one or more of the plurality of rows or one or more of the plurality of columns to be included in the electronic form, and providing the user with the option to select and edit the contents of the-selected one or more of the plurality of rows or one or more of the plurality of columns; and

copying the selected one or more of the plurality of rows or one or more of the plurality of columns into the electronic form;

wherein the steps of querying, receiving the at least one web page, extracting at least one data table, parsing and displaying are performed without user input; and

wherein when the user selects a column to be incorporated into the electronic form, the processor automatically creates a form field in the electronic form and populates the form field as a drop down list containing the contents of the selected column.

20. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the processor is further configured to perform:

automatically creating a sub-table based on the contents of the data table and by another data table discovered during said querying operation.