Configurable system for using internet services on CE devices

• US 20070260699A1
• Filed: 05/04/2006
• Published: 11/08/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/04/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Messer, Alan, Kunjithapatham, Anugeetha, Rathod, Priyang, Sheshagiri, Mithun, Nguyen, Phuong
• Granted Patent: US 8,566,418 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/565 Conversion or adaptation of application format or content adding application control or application functional data H04L67/561

Abstract

A configurable system brings Internet services, designed for PCs, to consumer electronics (CE) devices, and allows using external services such as Internet Services on CE devices. This reduces the need for input devices such as keyboards and mice, thereby making the configurable system suitable for CE devices. The configurable system relies on the structure of HTML/XML embedded in a Web page for information extraction by scrapping. Since cosmetic changes made to the Web site alter the embedded HTML/XML, the configurable system is updated whenever the Web site changes.

Claims

1. A method of providing services of an external network to a device connected to the external network, comprising the steps of:

obtaining structure of a structured document corresponding to services in the external network; and

performing a scrapping process on the ascertained structure for providing desired services from the external network.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the external network comprises the Internet.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the structured document comprises a Web site in the external network providing services, such that the step of ascertaining further comprises the steps of ascertaining Web site structure in the external network.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising the steps of incorporating the ascertained Web site structure into a configuration file, and performing the scrapping process using the Web site structure in the configuration file for obtaining desired services.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising the steps of updating the configuration file for a corresponding Web site as the Web site structure changes.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein the step of obtaining further includes obtaining the structure of HTML/XML embedded in a Web page in the Web site for information extraction by scrapping.

7. The method of claim 4 wherein a configuration file corresponding to each Web site includes rules for ascertaining structure of a Web site.

8. The method of claim 4 wherein the step of scrapping further includes the steps of hybrid scrapping by performing scrapping in the device and providing configuration file updates to the device from a server.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising the steps of providing a server connected to the device, and maintaining on the server configuration files corresponding to certain Web sites in the external network.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising the steps of:

the device querying the server for configuration files;

the server responding by providing configuration file information;

the device performing scrapping using the information in the configuration file to interact with a corresponding Web site in the external network.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the step of the device querying the server for configuration files further includes the steps of:

using the available configuration files to display to a user the corresponding services in the external network that can be used by the user.

12. The method of claim 11 further including the steps of:

receiving service selection by the user; and

the device retrieving the corresponding configuration file from the server for scrapping.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the retrieved configuration files includes one or more of:

The location of the selected service provider in the external network;

A description of the selected service;

The interface to various services provided by the service provider;

Rules that instruct the client as to which fragments of HTML/XML in the internet service provide Web site are to be extracted by scrapping;

Semantics of the extracted data;

Display information;

Words relevant to the service;

Version number of the configuration file; and

Preferred Web site information.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the step of scrapping further includes the steps of the scrapping sufficient information to extract information about the selected service from the Web site.

15. A configurable system for providing services of an external network to a client device connected to the external network, comprising:

a detecting module that ascertains structure of a structured document corresponding to services in the external network; and

a scraper module that performing a scrapping process on the ascertained structure for providing desired services from the external network.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the external network comprises the Internet.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the structured document comprises a Web site in the external network providing services, such that the detector ascertains Web site structure in the external network.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the detector incorporates the ascertained Web site structure into a configuration file, and the scraper module perform a scrapping process using the Web site structure in the configuration file for obtaining desired services.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the detector further updates the configuration file for a corresponding Web site as the Web site structure changes.

20. The system of claim 18 wherein the detector further ascertains the structure of HTML/XML embedded in a Web page in the Web site for information extraction by the scraper module.

21. The method of claim 18 wherein a configuration file corresponding to each Web site includes rules for ascertaining structure of a Web site.

22. The system of claim 18 wherein the scraper module performs hybrid scrapping by performing scrapping in the device and providing configuration file updates to the device from a server.

23. The system of claim 22 wherein a server is connected to the device, and the server maintains configuration files corresponding to certain Web sites in the external network.

24. The system of claim 23 wherein:

the device queries the server for configuration files;

the server responds by providing configuration file information;

the device performs scrapping using the information in the configuration file to interact with a corresponding Web site in the external network.

25. The system of claim 24 wherein the available configuration files are used to display to a user the corresponding services in the external network that can be used by the user.

26. The system of claim 25 further including wherein the device receives service selection by the user, and retrieves the corresponding configuration file from the server for scrapping.

27. The system of claim 26 wherein the retrieved configuration files includes one or more of:

The location of the selected service provider in the external network;

A description of the selected service;

The interface to various services provided by the service provider;

Rules that instruct the client as to which fragments of HTML/XML in the internet service provide Web site are to be extracted by scrapping;

Semantics of the extracted data;

Display information;

Words relevant to the service;

Version number of the configuration file; and

Preferred Web site information.

28. The system of claim 26 wherein the scraper module scrapes sufficient information to extract information about the selected service from the Web site.