Scalable display of internet content on mobile devices

• US 10,083,154 B2
• Filed: 11/18/2016
• Issued: 09/25/2018
• 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): Tran, Quoc A
• Application Number:
  US15/356,456
• Publication Number:
  US 20170068642A1
• Time in Patent Office: 676 Days
• 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

Mobile devices enabled to support resolution-independent scalable display of Internet (Web) content to allow Web pages to be scaled (zoomed) and panned for better viewing on smaller screen sizes. The mobile devices employ software-based processing of original Web content, including HTML-based content, XML, cascade style sheets, etc. to generate scalable content. The scalable content and/or data derived therefrom are then employed to enable the Web content to be rapidly rendered, zoomed, and panned. Display lists may also be employed to provide further enhancements in rendering speed. Context zooms, including tap-based zooms on columns, images, and paragraphs are also enabled.

Claims

1. A mobile hand-held device, comprising:

a processor;

a wireless communications device, to facilitate wireless communication with a network that supports access to the Internet;

a touch-sensitive display; and

flash memory, operatively coupled to the processor, in which a plurality of instructions are stored comprising a plurality of software components including an HTML rendering engine, wherein the instructions are configured to be executed by the processor to enable the mobile hand-held device to,

receive an HTML document including HTML code and cascading style sheet (CSS) code and content associated with the HTML document, the HTML code comprising a plurality of HTML elements including at least one HTML paragraph element, at least one HTML image element, and at least one HTML hyperlink element;

process the HTML document with the HTML rendering engine to render a first representation of the HTML document having an interpreted page layout, functionality, and design of the content associated with the HTML document that is in accordance with the HTML code and CSS code, wherein rendering the first representation of the HTML document includes,

parsing the HTML document to identify the plurality of HTML elements;

logically grouping content associated with HTML elements into HTML objects;

generating page layout information including a bounding box for each HTML object; and

storing information that links each HTML object with its corresponding page layout information,

wherein the page layout information further includes information from which a page layout location of each of the bounding boxes can be determined;

translate the first representation of the HTML document to generate a scalable vector representation of the HTML document wherein generating the scalable vector representation includes,

defining a primary datum corresponding to the interpreted page layout;

for each HTML object,

defining an object datum corresponding to a layout location datum for the HTML object'"'"'s bounding box;

generating a vector from the primary datum to the object datum for the HTML object'"'"'s bounding box; and

creating a reference that links the HTML object to the vector that is generated; and

render the scalable vector representation of the HTML document on the touch-sensitive display using a first scale factor to display the HTML document at a first zoom level under which the HTML document is displayed to fit across a width of the touch-sensitive display,

wherein the scalable vector representation of the HTML document is configured to enable a user to view the HTML document at one or more user-defined zoom levels by rendering the scalable vector representation on the touch-sensitive display using one or more respective scale factors in response to associated user inputs made via the touch-sensitive display, and wherein the interpreted page layout, functionality, and design of the content associated with the HTML document is preserved at each of the first zoom level and the one or more user-defined zoom levels.

2. The mobile hand-held device of claim 1, wherein the mobile hand-held device is a mobile phone.

3. The mobile hand-held device of claim 1, wherein the mobile hand-held device is a hand-held computer.

4. The mobile hand-held device of claim 1, wherein execution of the instructions further enables the user to zoom in on a user-selectable portion of a view of the HTML document in response to a user interface input made via the touch-sensitive display.

5. The mobile hand-held device of claim 1, wherein the views of the HTML document are rendered in real-time to effect zooming operations.

6. The mobile hand-held device of claim 5, wherein the zooming operations are effected in a fraction of a second.

7. The mobile hand-held device of claim 1, wherein execution of the instructions performs further enables the device to:

generate a vector-based display list associated with the scalable vector representation; and

employ the vector-based display list to render views of the HTML document on the touch-sensitive display at different scale factors to effect zooming operations.

8. The mobile hand-held device of claim 1, wherein the HTML document is an HTML parent document for a Web page.

9. The mobile hand-held device of claim 1, wherein the HTML elements includes an HTML table having a plurality of cells, each cell having at least one of associated text content and associated image content, and the CSS code includes CSS code defining how the table and its associated content is to be rendered.

10. The mobile hand-held device of claim 1, wherein the content associated with the HTML document includes a plurality of images that are referenced using respective Universal Resource Locators (URLs) in the HTML document, and wherein execution of the instructions further enables the device to:

for each of the plurality of images;

retrieve the image via the URL for the image; and

generate a respective bounding box for the image; and

employ the respective bounding boxes to scale images in the rendered views of the HTML document.

11. The mobile hand-held device of claim 1, wherein the HTML document includes a reference to an XML document containing XML content, and wherein execution of the instructions further enables the mobile hand-held device to:

retrieve the XML document and processing the XML content in connection with rendering the first representation of the HTML document, wherein the XML content is used to define one or more of the interpreted page layout, functionality, and design of the content associated with the HTML document.

12. The mobile hand-held device of claim 1, wherein the primary datum is an origin in a two-dimensional XY coordinate system and the vectors from the primary datum to the object datums for the HTML object bounding boxes comprise XY coordinates in the coordinate system.

13. A method performed by a mobile hand-held device including a touch-sensitive display and an HTML rendering engine, comprising:

receiving an HTML document including HTML code and cascading style sheet (CSS) code and content associated with the HTML document, the HTML code comprising a plurality of HTML elements including at least one HTML paragraph element, at least one HTML image element, and at least one HTML hyperlink element;

processing the HTML document with the HTML rendering engine to render a first representation of the HTML document having an interpreted page layout, functionality, and design of the content associated with the HTML document that is in accordance with the HTML code and CSS code, wherein rendering the first representation of the HTML document includes,

parsing the HTML document to identify the plurality of HTML elements;

logically grouping content associated with HTML elements into HTML objects;

generating page layout information including a bounding box for each HTML object; and

storing information that links each HTML object with its corresponding page layout information,

wherein the page layout information further includes information from which a page layout location of each of the bounding boxes can be determined;

translating the first representation of the HTML document to generate a scalable vector representation of the HTML document wherein generating the scalable vector representation includes,

defining a primary datum corresponding to the interpreted page layout;

for each HTML object,

defining an object datum corresponding to a layout location datum for the HTML object'"'"'s bounding box;

generating a vector from the primary datum to the object datum for the HTML object'"'"'s bounding box; and

creating a reference that links the HTML object to the vector that is generated; and

render the scalable vector representation of the HTML document on the touch-sensitive display using a first scale factor to display the HTML document at a first zoom level under which the HTML document is displayed to fit across a width of the touch-sensitive display,

wherein the scalable vector representation of the HTML document is configured to enable a user to view the HTML document at one or more user-defined zoom levels by rendering the scalable vector representation on the touch-sensitive display using one or more respective scale factors in response to associated user inputs made via the touch-sensitive display, and wherein the interpreted page layout, functionality, and design of the content associated with the HTML document is preserved at each of the first zoom level and the one or more user-defined zoom levels.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the mobile hand-held device is a mobile phone.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the mobile hand-held device is a hand-held computer.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising enabling the user to zoom in on a user-selectable portion of a view of the HTML document in response to a user interface input made via the touch-sensitive display.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the views of the HTML document are rendered in real-time to effect zooming operations.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the zooming operations are effected in a fraction of a second.

19. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

generating a vector-based display list associated with the scalable vector representation; and

employing the vector-based display list to render views of the HTML document on the touch-sensitive display at different scale factors to effect zooming operations.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein the HTML document is an HTML parent document for a Web page.

21. The mobile hand-held device of claim 20, wherein the HTML document includes references to a plurality of images, each reference comprising a respective Universal Resource Locators (URLs), and wherein execution of the instructions performs further operations comprising:

for each of the plurality of images;

retrieving the image via the URL for the image; and

generating a respective bounding box for the image; and

employing the respective bounding boxes to scale images in the rendered views of the HTML document.

22. The method of claim 13, wherein the HTML elements includes an HTML table having a plurality of cells, each cell having at least one of associated text content and associated image content, and the CSS code includes CSS code defining how the table and its associated content is to be rendered.

23. The method of claim 13, wherein the content associated with the HTML document includes a plurality of images that are referenced using respective Universal Resource Locators (URLs) in the HTML document, further comprising:

for each of the plurality of images;

retrieving the image via the URL for the image; and

generating a respective bounding box for the image; and

employing the respective bounding boxes to scale images in the rendered views of the HTML document.

24. The method of claim 13, wherein the HTML document includes a reference to an XML document containing XML content, further comprising:

retrieving the XML document and processing the XML content in connection with rendering the first representation of the HTML document, wherein the XML content is used to define one or more of the interpreted page layout, functionality, and design of the content associated with the HTML document.

25. The method of claim 13, wherein the primary datum is an origin in a two-dimensional XY coordinate system and the vectors from the primary datum to the object datums for the HTML object bounding boxes comprise XY coordinates in the coordinate system.

26. A mobile hand-held device, comprising:

a processor;

a wireless communications device, to facilitate wireless communication with a network that supports access to the Internet;

a touch-sensitive display; and

flash memory, operatively coupled to the processor, in which a plurality of instructions are stored comprising a plurality of software components including an HTML rendering engine, wherein the instructions, when executed by the mobile hand-held device, enable the mobile hand-held device to,

receive an HTML document comprising HTML-based content including HTML code and cascading style sheet (CSS) code and content associated with the HTML document;

produce scalable content by,

processing the HTML-based content with the rendering engine to render an interpreted page layout, functionality, and design of the content associated with the HTML document in accordance with the HTML code and CSS code;

logically grouping selected content into HTML objects, each HTML object including associated display content;

defining a primary datum corresponding to the interpreted page layout;

and,

for each HTML object,

defining an object datum corresponding to a layout location datum for the HTML object'"'"'s associated display content;

generating a vector from the primary datum to the object datum for the HTML object; and

creating a reference that links the HTML object to the vector that is generated; and

employ at least one of the scalable content or data derived therefrom to,

render a view of the HTML document on the touch-sensitive display at a first zoom level under which the HTML document is displayed to fit across a width of the touch-sensitive display; and

render views of the HTML document on the touch-sensitive display in response to associated user inputs to enable the HTML document to be viewed at various zoom levels and panned views while preserving the interpreted page layout, functionality, and design of the content associated with the HTML document at each zoom level and panned view including the first zoom level.

27. The mobile hand-held device of claim 26, wherein the mobile hand-held device is a mobile phone.

28. The mobile hand-held device of claim 26, wherein the mobile hand-held device is a hand-held computer.

29. The mobile hand-held device of claim 26, wherein execution of the instructions further enables the user to zoom in on a user-selectable portion of a view of the HTML document in response to a user interface input made via the touch-sensitive display.

30. The mobile hand-held device of claim 26, wherein the views of the HTML document are rendered in real-time to effect zooming operations.

31. The mobile hand-held device of claim 30, wherein the zooming operations are effected in a fraction of a second.

32. The mobile hand-held device of claim 26, wherein execution of the instructions further enables the device to:

generate a vector-based display list associated with the scalable content; and

employ the vector-based display list to render views of the HTML document on the touch-sensitive display at different scale factors to effect zooming operations.

33. The mobile hand-held device of claim 26, wherein the HTML document is an HTML parent document for a Web page.

34. The mobile hand-held device of claim 26, wherein the HTML-based content includes an HTML table, and the CSS code includes CSS code defining how the table is to be formatted in the interpreted page layout page of the HTML document.

35. The mobile hand-held device of claim 26, wherein execution of the instructions further enables the device to:

for each HTML object,

generate a bounding box for the HTML object; and

employ the bounding boxes to interpret the interpreted page layout of the HTML document.