PUBLICATION FILE CONVERSION AND DISPLAY

• US 20010047373A1
• Filed: 03/26/1998
• Published: 11/29/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 10/24/1994
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: P2I Limited
• Original Assignee: P2I Limited
• Inventors: JONES, MICHAEL WILLIAM DUDLESTON, GEEN, NICHOLAS, HUGHES, MISCHKA
• Granted Patent: US 6,415,307 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/515
• 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 40/103 Formatting, i.e. changing of presentation of documents automatic justification G06F40/189; automatic line break hyphenation G06F40/191
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/106 Display of layout of documents; Previewing

Abstract

A computerized information display system extracts text data, lists of keywords, story rankings in order of story importance, and image maps identifying the location of stories from an input of publication files from a publisher. The system can generate a simultaneous display of a page image in which a story appears side-by-side with the text for the story when a particular story is selected, in order to allow a viewer can read the text while referring to the page image for visual cues about the text passage. The viewer can select a story from a displayed list of stories ranked in order of importance relative to other stories appearing on a page. The story rankings are derived based upon comparing one or more story importance indicators: location of the story on the page; size of type font of a headline associated with the story; size of type font associated with the story text; and size of text content for the story. The viewer can navigate to the text for a story on a displayed page by clicking in the story area on the page which is linked by image maps to the corresponding text passage. The viewer can also navigate to a text passage and page image by clicking on a keyword from a list of keywords extracted from the text input from the publisher. These computerized contextual display and image navigation tools allow the viewer a highly interactive experience with the publication. They allow a publication to be converted to electronically viewable form frequently, e.g., several times per day, and in a more user friendly form than the original printed copy.

Claims

1. A computerized method of generating an information display from an input of publication files containing text, graphics, and other data viewable as page images of a publication having stories (text passages) and graphics images appearing therein, comprising the steps of:

extracting text data from the publication files corresponding to stories appearing in the page images of the publication, and maintaining them as text data files;

processing page images from the publication files and maintaining them as page image files;

mapping story areas for respective stories appearing in the page images and indexing each story area to a text data file corresponding to the text passage in the story area, and maintaining the mapped story areas as image map files; and

generating a display on a computer system of page images using the page image files, and linking the stories in the story areas of the displayed page images to the corresponding text data using the text data files and image map files.

2. A computerized method of generating an information display according to

claim 1

, wherein said mapping step further includes the step of assigning to each mapped story area a page number of the page on which the story appears and a story number which corresponds to the relative importance of the story to other stories on the page.

3. A computerized method of generating an information display according to

claim 2

, wherein the story number is derived based upon any one of the following group of story importance indicators:

location of the story area on the page;

size of type font of a headline associated with the story;

size of type font associated with the text passage corresponding to the story area; and

size of text content of the text passage corresponding to the story area.

4. A computerized method of generating an information display according to

claim 2

, further comprising the steps of:

parsing the text data for the text passages to find predetermined keywords therein, indexing each keyword to a page number and a story number for the story corresponding to the text passage in which the keyword is found, and maintaining the indexed keywords on a keyword list from which the corresponding story and text passage can be found.

5. A computerized method of generating an information display according to

claim 4

, wherein said parsing step is carried out automatedly by performing a text string search of the text passages based upon text string entries contained in a library list of keywords.

6. A computerized method of generating an information display according to

claim 1

, further comprising the step of mapping graphics image areas for respective graphic images appearing in the page images and indexing each mapped graphics image to a page number of the page on which the graphics image appears and a graphics image area number, and maintaining the mapped graphics image areas as image map files.

7. A computerized method of generating an information display according to

claim 1

, wherein in the display generating step, a page image is displayed side-by-side with a text passage corresponding to a selected story appearing in the page image, whereby a viewer can read the text in the text passage while referring to the page image for visual cues about the text passage.

8. A computerized method of generating an information display according to

claim 7

, wherein the text passage is retrieved for simultaneous display with the page image upon clicking with a cursor on the corresponding story area defined in the image map for the story contained in the page image.

9. A computerized method of generating an information display according to

claim 2

, wherein the display generating step includes displaying a list of story titles ordered by page number and story numbers for stories appearing on a page simultaneously with display of the page image for the page.

10. A computerized method of generating an information display according to

claim 4

, wherein the display generating step includes displaying a list of keywords indexed in the publication, and displaying a text passage indexed to a keyword selected from the list of keywords simultaneously with the page image corresponding to the page on which the story corresponding to the text passage appears.

11. A computerized method of generating an information display according to

claim 6

, wherein the display generating step includes displaying further information linked to a graphics image appearing in a page simultaneously with the page image for the page in which the graphics image appears.

12. A computerized method of generating an information display according to

claim 11

, wherein the displayed further information is obtained from one of the following group of information sources:

a stored graphics image;

an output of an externally run process; and

a stored text passage.

13. A computerized method of generating an information display from an input of publication files containing text, graphics, and other data viewable as page images of a publication having stories (text passages) and graphics images appearing therein, comprising the steps of:

extracting text data from the publication files corresponding to stories appearing in the page images of the publication, and maintaining them as text data files;

parsing the text data to find predetermined keywords appearing therein, indexing each keyword to a page number and a story number for the story corresponding to the text passage in which the keyword is found, and maintaining the indexed keywords on a keyword list;

processing page images from the publication files and maintaining them as page image files;

generating a display on a computer system of the keyword list, and displaying the page image containing the story in which a selected keyword appears when the keyword is selected from the keyword list.

14. A computerized method of generating an information display according to

claim 13

, wherein the parsing step is carried out automatedly by performing a text string search of the text passages based upon text string entries contained in a library list of keywords.

15. A computerized method of generating an information display according to

claim 13

, wherein the text data extracted from the publication files include type font delimiters identifying keywords appearing in the text passages, and the parsing step is carried out automatedly by performing a search for keywords based upon locating them by their type font delimiters.

16. A computerized method of generating an information display from an input of publication files containing text, graphics, and other data viewable as page images of a publication having stories (text passages) and graphics images appearing therein, comprising the steps of:

extracting text data from the publication files corresponding to stories appearing in the page images of the publication, and maintaining them as text data files;

processing page images from the publication files and maintaining them as page image files;

assigning to each story appearing on a page of the publication a page number on which the story appears, and a story number ranking corresponding to the relative importance of the story to other stories on the page;

indexing the text data files to the page numbers and story number rankings for the corresponding stories appearing in the page images of the publication;

generating a display on a computer system of a page image using the page image files, and a side-by-side display of a list of story titles for the stories appearing on the displayed page ranked in order of their assigned story number rankings.

17. A computerized method of generating an information display according to

claim 16

, wherein the story number rankings are derived based upon comparing any one or more of the following group of story importance indicators:

location of the story area on the page;

size of type font of a headline associated with the story;

size of type font associated with the text passage corresponding to the story area; and

size of text content of the text passage corresponding to the story area.

18. A computerized method of generating an information display according to

claim 17

, wherein the text data for a text passage corresponding to a selected story is retrieved using the text data files upon clicking with a cursor on a selected story title on the list of story titles.

19. A computerized method of generating an information display according to

claim 18

, wherein the display generating step includes displaying the text passage corresponding to a selected story title simultaneously with the page image for the page in which the selected story appears, whereby a viewer can read the text in the text passage while referring to the page image for visual cues about the text passage.

20. A computerized method of generating an information display according to

claim 17

, further comprising the steps of:

parsing the text data to find predetermined keywords appearing therein, indexing each keyword to a page number and a story number for the story corresponding to the text passage in which the keyword is found, and maintaining the indexed keywords on a keyword list;

generating a display on a computer system of the keyword list, and simultaneously displaying the page image containing the story in which a selected keyword appears side-by-side with the text passage in which selected keyword appears, when the keyword is selected from the keyword list.

21. A method of converting digital publication files containing text, graphics, and other data corresponding to pages of a publication having stories (text passages) and graphics images appearing therein to digital data for generating and controlling a display on a computer system, comprising the steps of:

extracting text data from the publication files corresponding to stories appearing in the pages of the publication, and maintaining them as digital text data files;

producing page images corresponding to pages of the publication and maintaining them as digital page image files;

mapping story areas for respective stories appearing in the pages of the publication and indexing each story area to a text data file corresponding to the text passage in the story area, and maintaining the mapped story areas as digital control data; and

producing from the digital text data files, the digital page image files and the digital control data, digital data for generating a display on a computer system of page images in dependence on the page image files, and linking the stories in the mapped story areas of the displayed page images to the corresponding text data in dependence on the text data files and digital control data.

22. A method according to

claim 21

, wherein said mapping step further includes the step of assigning to each mapped story area a page number of the page on which the story appears and a story number which corresponds to the relative importance of the story to other stories on the page.

23. A method according to

claim 21

, wherein the story number is derived based upon any one of the following group of story importance indicators:

location of the story area on the page;

size of type font of a headline associated with the story;

size of type font associated with the text passage corresponding to the story area; and

size of text content of the text passage corresponding to the story area.

24. A method according to

claim 21

, further comprising the steps of:

parsing the text data for the text passages to find predetermined keywords therein;

indexing each keyword to a page number and a story number for the story corresponding to the text passage in which the keyword is found;

maintaining the indexed keywords on a keyword list from which the corresponding story and text passage can be found; and

using said keyword list in the production of said digital data.

25. A method according to

claim 24

, wherein said parsing step is carried out automatedly by performing a text string search of the text passages based upon text string entries contained in a library list of keywords.

26. A method according to

claim 21

, further comprising the step of mapping graphics image areas for respective graphic images appearing in the page images and indexing each mapped graphics image to a page number of the page on which the graphics image appears and a graphics image area number, and maintaining the mapped graphics image areas as image map files.

27. A method according to

claim 21

, further comprising the step of generating a display on a computer system of page images in dependence on the page image files, and linking the stories in the mapped story areas of the displayed page images to the corresponding text data in dependence on the text data files and digital control data.

28. A method of converting digital publication files containing text, graphics, and other data corresponding to pages of a publication having stories (text passages) and graphics images appearing therein to digital data for generating and controlling a display on a computer screen, comprising the steps of:

extracting text data from the publication files corresponding to stories appearing in the page images of the publication, and maintaining them as digital text data files;

parsing the text data to find predetermined keywords appearing therein, indexing each keyword to a page number and a story number for the story corresponding to the text passage in which the keyword is found, and maintaining the indexed keywords as digital control data;

producing page images corresponding to the pages of the publication and maintaining them as digital page image files;

producing from the digital text data files, the digital page image files and the digital control data, digital data for generating a display on a computer system listing the keywords and linking each keyword to its corresponding story in dependence on said digital control data wherein on selection of a keyword from the list, the page image containing the story in which a selected keyword appears is displayed.

29. A method according to

claim 28

, wherein the parsing step is carried out automatedly by performing a text string search of the text passages based upon text string entries contained in a library list of keywords.

30. A method according to

claim 28

, wherein the text data extracted from the publication files include type font delimiters identifying keywords appearing in the text passages, and the parsing step is carried out automatedly by performing a search for keywords based upon locating them by their type font delimiters.

31. A method according to

claim 28

, further comprising the step of generating a display on a computer system listing the keywords and linking each keyword to its corresponding story in dependence on said digital control data wherein on selection of a keyword from the list, the page image containing the story in which a selected keyword appears is displayed.

32. A method of converting digital publication files containing text, graphics, and other data corresponding to pages of a publication having stories (text passages) and graphics images appearing therein to digital data for generating and controlling a display on a computer screen, comprising the steps of:

extracting text data from the publication files corresponding to stories appearing in the page images of the publication, and maintaining them as text data files;

producing page images corresponding to the pages of the publication and maintaining them as text data files;

assigning to each story appearing on a page of the publication a page number on which the story appears, and a story number ranking corresponding to the relative importance of the story to other stories on the page;

indexing the text data files to the page numbers and story number rankings for the corresponding stories appearing in the page images of the publication;

producing from the digital text data files and the page image files, digital data for generating a display on a computer system of a page image in dependence on the page image files, and, in dependence on said text data files and indexing, a side-by-side display of a list of story titles for the stories appearing on the displayed page ranked in order of their assigned story number rankings.

33. A method according to

claim 32

, wherein the story number rankings are derived based upon comparing any one or more of the following group of story importance indicators:

location of the story area on the page;

size of type font of a headline associated with the story;

size of type font associated with the text passage corresponding to the story area; and

size of text content of the text passage corresponding to the story area.

34. A method according to

claim 32

, further comprising the step of generating a display on a computer system of a page image in dependence on the page image files, and, in dependence on said text data files and indexing, a side-by-side display of a list of story titles for the stories appearing on the displayed page ranked in order of their assigned story number rankings.

35. A method according to

claim 34

, wherein the text data for a text passage corresponding to a selected story is retrieved using the text data files upon clicking with a cursor on a selected story title on the list of story titles.

36. A method according to

claim 34

, wherein the display generating step includes displaying the text passage corresponding to a selected story title simultaneously with the page image for the page in which the selected story appears, whereby a viewer can read the text in the text passage while referring to the page image for visual cues about the text passage.

37. A method according to

claim 32

, further comprising the steps of:

parsing the text data to find predetermined keywords appearing therein, indexing each keyword to a page number and a story number for the story corresponding to corresponding to that first mapped story area.

38. A digital data structure for remote reproduction of a publication on a visual display unit of a computer system, comprising:

extracted text data for reproducing textual content of stories appearing in pages of the publication;

text indexed data indexing each story on each page of the publication to the extracted text data for reproducing the textual content of that story;

page image data for reproducing a visual image of pages of the publication;

image indexed data indexing each page of the publication to the page image data for reproducing that page;

control data including mapping data indexing mapped areas of the visual image of the publication, as defined by the page image data, to text portions defined by the extracted text data; and

an interfacing instruction sequence for execution by a computer system to generate a display of visual images of pages of the publication in dependence on the page image data and image index data, a display of the text of stories in the publication in dependence on the extracted text data and text index data, and providing for the linking of the mapped story areas on the visual images of pages of the publication to text portions in dependence on the control data and extracted text data, wherein selection of a first mapped story area effects the display of the text publication;

display means for displaying a graphical image of a page of the publication simultaneously with display of text data corresponding to a text passage appearing in the graphical image of the displayed page; and

section means operable by a user for selecting a text passage appearing in the graphical image of the page displayed by said display means;

said display means being responsive to said selection means and said data access means to simultaneously display the graphical image of the page of the publication accessed from said page image data alongside the selected passage of text accessed from said text data such that the user can view the text passage in detail as text data while being apprised of its relative importance in relation to the other text passages through viewing the simultaneous display of the graphical image of the pages and wherein said display means is adapted to visually identify said selected portion of the displayed page of said images including said predefined passage of text and any associated non-text matter.

39. A digital data structure according to

claim 38

, further comprising keyword data for reproducing keywords appearing in the pages of the publication and keyword index data indexing each keyword to the story in which the keyword is found, wherein said interfacing instruction sequence for execution by a computer system generates a display of a list of keywords and provides for linking each keyword to its corresponding story wherein on selection of the keyword from the list the page image containing the story in which the selected keyword appears is displayed.

40. A digital data structure according to

claim 38

, wherein said text index data ranks the stories appearing on a page of the publication relative to one another and said interfacing instruction sequence for execution by a computer system generates a display of visual images of pages of the publication in dependence on the page image data and image index data, and, in dependence on said extracted text data and text index data, a side-by-side display of a list of story titles for the stories appearing on the displayed page ranked in order of their assigned story number rankings.

41. An information display system comprising:

data access means for accessing page image data comprising graphical images of pages of a publication and text data, said page image data comprising graphical images of both text and non-text matter, said text matter including a plurality of predefined passages of text which are arranged on the page in an ordering indicating their relative importance in relation to other text passages on the page, and said text data comprising a plurality of predefined passages;

of text corresponding to text passages appearing in the graphical images of the pages of the the text passage in which the keyword is found, and maintaining the indexed keywords on a keyword list;

generating a display on a computer system of the keyword list, and simultaneously displaying the page image containing the story in which a selected keyword appears side-by-side with the text passage in which selected keyword appears, when the keyword is selected from the keyword list.