Method and apparatus for improved information representation

• US 6,924,828 B1
• Filed: 04/26/2000
• Issued: 08/02/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: MEC Management, LLC (Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation, North Dakota)
• Original Assignee: Surfnotes Inc.
• Inventors: Hirsch, Scott
• Primary Examiner(s): ALAM, SHAHID AL
• Application Number:
  US09/557,855
• Time in Patent Office: 1,924 Days
• Field of Search: 347/700, 347/800, 707/5, 707/9, 707/10, 707/3, 707/100, 704/9, 715/526, 715/513, 455/426.1, 455/566
• US Class Current: 715/800
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99939 Privileged access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface

Abstract

A information search and navigation system indexes, categorizes and condenses data from text or other documents. In various embodiments, the invention further can utilize user information goals, document or website types and multi-page link path options that together provide a fast, multi-page Web navigation system.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method of representing source content to allow for flexible access comprising:

receiving source content;

determining one or more categories for said source content;

extracting one or more notes from said source content, said one or more notes assigned to one or more categories

presenting a portion of said notes to a user;

formatting said presenting for an access device according to one or more templates;

formatting said presenting for a display device so that more notes are displayed on larger display areas and fewer notes are displayed on smaller display areas; and

providing control selections allowing selectable display of notes in a note set regardless of display size.

2. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

making said notes available for user access over at least two different user interfaces.

3. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

providing control indications allowing a user to selectively access one or more unpresented notes.

4. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

formatting said presenting based on a user information goal.

5. The method according to claim 1 wherein said source content comprises HTML multimedia content.

6. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

providing folder control indications to allow a user to select a presentation from multiple available note sets.

7. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

applying a set of parsing rules in an automatic parser for extracting notes from said source content.

8. The method according to claim 7 wherein said parsing rules comprise rules that identify key sentences from sentence structure and punctuation.

9. The method according to claim 7 wherein said parsing rules comprise rules that identify important names or phrases by reference to a database.

10. The method according to claim 7 wherein said parsing rules further comprise rules that identify principal material in said content.

11. The method according to claim 7 further comprising:

identifying a classification for said source content; and

using said classification in selecting parsing rules to apply to said source content.

12. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

identifying a classification for said source content; and

using said classification in determining said one or more categories.

13. The method according to claim 12 wherein said identifying a classification is performed manually.

14. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

accepting user search criteria associated with one or more of said categories; and

locating a document based on finding said search criteria in said one or more categories.

15. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

exporting one or more notes into Word, Excel or other common user file formats.

16. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

storing said notes in a database.

17. The method according to claim 1 wherein said parsing places single word subjects or sets of proper nouns into some categories.

18. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

using a rule set to determine central content of a source and distinguish said central content from side bar text and links using a set of conditional rules; and

using a rule set to determine a beginning and an ending of said central content.

19. The method according to claim 1 wherein:

a template provides an indication of how to present information to a user that may change based on a user request or a user purpose.

20. The method according to claim 1 wherein:

a request for a first particular type of information will be presented notes related to said first particular type of information while accessing a same source content with a different request will be presented different notes from said same source content.

21. The method according to claim 1 wherein:

a template provides an indication of how to present information to a user that may change based on a particular access device.

22. The method according to claim 1 wherein:

said templates are used by a server-side process to influence the format and content downloaded to a particular client.

23. The method according to claim 1 wherein:

said templates are used by a client-side process to arrange and present received notes data.

24. A computer assisted system able to represent source content to allow for flexible access comprising:

means for receiving source content;

means for determining one or more categories for said source content;

means for extracting one or more notes from said source content, said one or more notes assigned to one or more categories

means for presenting a portion of said notes to a user;

means for formatting said presenting for an access device according to one or more templates;

means for formatting said presenting for a display device so that more notes are displayed on larger display areas and fewer notes are displayed on smaller display areas; and

means for providing control selections allowing selectable display of notes in a note set regardless of display size.

25. A computer assisted system able to represent source content to allow for flexible access comprising:

interface logic able to receive source content;

logic able to determine one or more categories for said source content;

extraction logic able to extract one or more notes from said source content, said one or more notes assigned to one or more categories;

a presentation interface able to present a portion of said notes to a user;

one or more templates providing formatting for an access device such that more notes are displayed on larger display areas and fewer notes are displayed on smaller display areas; and

control selections allowing selectable display of notes in a note set regardless of display size.