Distribution mechanism for filtering, formatting and reuse of web based content

• US 6,128,655 A
• Filed: 07/10/1998
• Issued: 10/03/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 07/10/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Uniloc 2017 LLC (SoftBank Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Fields, Duane Kimbell, Hurley, II, William W., Hassinger, Sebastian
• Primary Examiner(s): VU, VIET DUY
• Application Number:
  US09/113,678
• Time in Patent Office: 816 Days
• Field of Search: 709/202, 709/203, 709/205, 709/217, 709/219, 709/223, 709/225, 709/227, 709/310, 707/10, 707/501
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

The invention provides an automated system for replicating published web content and associated advertisements in the context of a hosting web site. At the hosting web site, the invention includes the process of brokering a client browser'"'"'s request for a web page, analyzing the returned content and splitting it into component elements, extracting the desired component elements, recasting the desired elements in the look and feel of the hosting site and sending the recast content to the requesting client as a web page. Once the reformatted file is received at the client, the client browser interprets the HTML in the web page, presenting the content in the context of the hosting web site. On the content provider'"'"'s web site, the details of the transaction in the web server logs are preserved, proxying a direct page view and ad impression.

Claims

1. A method for recasting web content on a hosting site, comprising the steps of:

responsive to a request from a client browser for a recast web page from a hosting web server, generating a request by the hosting web server for an original web page from a content provider web server;

parsing the original web page for a first set of desired content elements;

inserting the first set of desired content elements into a web page template containing a hosting web server format, thus creating the recast web page; and

serving the recast web page to the client browser;

wherein the appearance of the recast page when presented by the client browser is as though all elements originated at the hosting web server.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein one of the desired content elements is an advertisement element from the content provider web server, and the method further comprises the step of inserting a call back to the content provider web server for the advertising element.

3. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

caching the desired content from the original page at the hosting web server;

responsive to a second request for the recast page from a client browser, determining whether there is a more recent version of the original page at the content provider server; and

using the cached desired content if there is no more recent version of the original page to respond to the second request.

4. The method as recited in claim 3 further comprising the steps of:

parsing the most recent version of the original web page for the first set of desired content elements;

inserting the first set of desired content elements into a web page template containing a hosting web server format, thus creating a new version of the recast web page;

serving the new version of the recast web page to the client browser responsive to the second request; and

caching the desired content elements from the more recent version of the original page at the hosting server.

5. The method as recited in claim 3 wherein the cached desired content elements are cached in the form of the recast page.

6. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

searching for a filter definition for web pages from the content provider server in a store of filter definitions; and

responsive to identifying a filter definition for the content provider, using the identified filter definition to parse the original page.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

searching for a filter definition for web pages from the content provider server in a store of filter definitions; and

responsive to a failure to find a filter definition for the content provider, using a default filter to parse the original page.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein at least some of the content in the recast page originates at a second content provider server and the method further comprises the steps of:

responsive to a request from a client browser for a recast web page from a hosting web server, generating a request by the hosting web server for a second original web page from the second content provider web server;

parsing the second original web page for a second set of desired content elements; and

inserting the first and second set of desired content elements into a web page template containing a hosting web server format, thus creating the recast web page;

wherein when presented by a client browser, both the first and second set of desired content elements look native to the hosting server.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the web page template contains navigational features for the hosting server.

10. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising the step of processing the desired content elements to eliminate harmful code, prior to insertion in the web page template.

11. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising the step of revising relative links in the original page to links appropriate to the recast web page.

12. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

responsive to a second request from a client browser for a second recast web page from a hosting web server, generating a request by the hosting web server for a second original web page from a second content provider web server;

parsing the second original web page for a first set of desired content elements;

inserting the first set of desired content elements into a web page template containing a hosting web server format, thus creating the second recast web page; and

serving the second recast web page to the client browser;

wherein the appearance of both the first and the second recast pages when presented by the client browser is as though all elements originated at the hosting web server.

13. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

determining client specific information about the client browser from which the request originated;

selecting among a set of web page templates for the hosting server based on the client specific information, wherein each of the web page templates contains a different respective format; and

using the selected web page template for creating the recast web page.

14. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein a plurality of web sites are serviced by the hosting web server and respective ones of the web page templates are used for each of the web sites.

15. A system for recasting web content on a hosting site, comprising:

means for generating a request by the hosting web server for an original web page from a content provider web server;

means for parsing the original web page for a first set of desired content elements;

means for inserting the first set of desired content elements into a web page template containing a hosting web server format, thus creating a recast web page; and

means for serving the recast web page to a client browser;

wherein the appearance of the recast page when presented by the client browser is as though all elements originated at the hosting web server.

16. The system as recited in claim 15, wherein one of the desired content elements is an advertisement element from the content provider web server, and the system further comprises means for inserting a call back to the content provider web server for the advertising element.

17. The system as recited in claim 15 further comprising:

a cache for caching the desired content from the original page at the hosting web server; and

means for determining whether there is a more recent version of the original page at the content provider server;

wherein the cached desired content is used if there is no more recent version of the original page to respond to the second request.

18. The system as recited in claim 17 further comprising:

a store of URLs to content provider servers for cached content in the cache; and

means for periodically polling the URLs to determine whether there is a more recent version of any of the cached content at any of the stored URLs.

19. The system as recited in claim 17 further comprising:

means for parsing the most recent version of the original web page for the first set of desired content elements;

means for inserting the first set of desired content elements into a web page template containing a hosting web server format, thus creating a new version of the recast web page; and

means for serving the new version of the recast web page to the client browser responsive to the second request;

wherein the desired content elements from the more recent version of the original page are cached at the hosting server.

20. The system as recited in claim 15 further comprising:

a store of filter definitions;

means for searching for a filter definition for web pages from the content provider server in the store of filter definitions.

21. The system as recited in claim 20 wherein the store of filter definitions includes a default filter to be used when no filter definition exists for the content provider server.

22. The system as recited in claim 15, wherein at least some of the content in the recast page originates at a second content provider server and when the recast page is presented by a client browser, both the first and second set of desired content elements look native to the hosting server.

23. The system as recited in claim 15, wherein the web page template contains navigational features for the hosting server.

24. The system as recited in claim 15, further comprising means for processing the desired content elements to eliminate harmful code, prior to insertion in the web page template.

25. The system as recited in claim 15, further comprising means for revising relative links in the original page to links appropriate to the recast web page.

26. The system as recited in claim 15, further comprising:

means for determining client specific information about the client browser from which the request originated; and

means for selecting among a set of web page templates for the hosting server based on the client specific information, wherein each of the web page templates contains a different respective format;

wherein the selected web page template is used for creating the recast web page.

27. The system as recited in claim 26, wherein a plurality of web sites are serviced by the hosting web server and respective ones of the web page templates are used for each of the web sites.

28. A computer program product for recasting web content on a hosting site, comprising:

means for generating a request by the hosting web server for an original web page from a content provider web server;

means for parsing the original web page for a first set of desired content elements;

means for inserting the first set of desired content elements into a web page template containing a hosting web server format, thus creating a recast web page; and

means for serving the recast web page to a client browser;

wherein the appearance of the recast page when presented by the client browser is as though all elements originated at the hosting web server.

29. The product as recited in claim 28, wherein one of the desired content elements is an advertisement element from the content provider web server, and the system further comprises means for inserting a call back to the content provider web server for the advertising element.

30. The product as recited in claim 28 further comprising:

means for caching the desired content from the original page at the hosting web server; and

means for determining whether there is a more recent version of the original page at the content provider server;

wherein the cached desired content is used if there is no more recent version of the original page to respond to the second request.

31. The product as recited in claim 28 further comprising:

a store of URLs to content provider servers for cached content in the cache; and

means for periodically polling the URLs to determine whether there is a more recent version of any of the cached content at any of the stored URLs.

32. The product as recited in claim 28 further comprising:

means for storing a set of filter definitions; and

means for searching for a filter definition for web pages from the content provider server in the set of filter definitions.

33. The product as recited in claim 28, wherein the web page template contains navigational features for the hosting server.

34. The product as recited in claim 28, further comprising means for processing the desired content elements to eliminate harmful code, prior to insertion in the web page template.

35. The product as recited in claim 28, further comprising means for revising relative links in the original page to links appropriate to the recast web page.

36. The product as recited in claim 28, further comprising:

means for determining client specific information about the client browser from which the request originated; and

means for selecting among a set of web page templates for the hosting server based on the client specific information, wherein each of the web page templates contains a different respective format;

wherein the selected web page template is used for creating the recast web page.

37. The product as recited in claim 36, further comprising means for servicing a plurality of web sites by the hosting web server and respective ones of the web page templates are used for each of the web sites.