Method and apparatus for re-formatting web pages

• US 6,938,073 B1
• Filed: 04/30/1999
• Issued: 08/30/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Socher, Gudrun, Mendhekar, Anurag, Vishwanath, Mohan
• Primary Examiner(s): Jaroenchonwanit, Bunjob
• Application Number:
  US09/303,062
• Time in Patent Office: 2,314 Days
• Field of Search: 709/217, 709/219, 709204-206, 709/238, 709/245, 709/203, 709208-210, 345/333, 345/340, 707/513
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
• 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 40/151 Transformation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/211 Syntactic parsing, e.g. based on context-free grammar [CFG] or unification grammars
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/221 Parsing markup language streams streaming G06F40/149
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2803 Home automation networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2809 indicating that an appliance service is present in a home automation network monitoring functionality H04L43/0817; discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services, H04L67/51
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2816 Controlling appliance services of a home automation network by calling their functionalities arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station; in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom H04Q9/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2841 Wireless
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2849 Audio/video appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/285 Generic home appliances, e.g. refrigerators
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/303 Terminal profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

Methods and apparatus to selectively display a pre-determined set of contents for a specific class of devices. The apparatus includes an image generator, a section identifier and a section manipulator. The image generator generates an image of a pre-determined rendition of the set of contents; the section identifier identifies a section in the contents based on a preference of the provider of the set of contents; and the section manipulator re-formats the identified section to generate a new rendition, depending on a characteristic of the specific class of devices and a preference of the provider. After the re-formatting, the new rendition is displayed on the specific class of devices.

Claims

1. A computer-aided method to selectively display a pre-determined set of contents for a specific class of devices, the method comprising the steps of:

generating an image of a pre-determined rendition of the set of contents for a computer display;

identifying a section in the contents based on a preference of a user;

re-formatting the identified section to generate a new rendition including the identified section, wherein the new rendition is formatted based upon a characteristic of the specific class of devices and the preference of the user; and

such that the new rendition can be displayed on the specific class of devices wherein the number of columns is reduced in the new rendition.

2. A computer-aided method as recited in claim 1 wherein the user is selected from the group of an end-user viewing the new rendition and the provider of the set of contents.

3. A computer-aided apparatus to selectively display a pre-determined set of contents for a specific class of devices, the apparatus comprising:

an image generator configured to generate an image of a pre-determined rendition of the set of contents for a computer display;

a section identifier configured to identify a section in the contents based on a preference of a user,

a section manipulator configured to re-format the identified section to generate a new rendition including the identified section, wherein the new rendition is formatted based upon a characteristic of the specific class of devices and the preference of the user; and

such that the new rendition can be displayed on the specific class of devices wherein the number of columns is reduced in the new rendition.

4. A computer-aided apparatus as recited in claim 3 wherein the user is selected from the group of an end-user viewing the new rendition and the provider of the set of contents.

5. A computer-aided method to selectively display a pre-determined set of contents for a specific class of devices, the method comprising the steps of:

generating an image of a pre-determined rendition of the set of contents for a computer display;

identifying a section in the contents based on a preference of a user;

re-formatting the identified section to generate a new rendition including the identified section, wherein not all of the contents are in the new rendition, wherein the new rendition is formatted based upon a characteristic of the specific class of devices and the preference of the user; and

such that the new rendition can be displayed on the specific class of devices, wherein the class of devices is the class of personal digital assistants wherein the number of columns is reduced in the new rendition.

6. A computer-aided method as recited in claim 5 wherein the user is selected from the group of an end-user viewing the new rendition and the provider of the set of contents.

7. A computer-aided apparatus to selectively display a pre-determined set of contents for a specific class of devices, the apparatus comprising:

an image generator configured to generate an image of a pre-determined rendition of the set of contents for a computer display;

a section identifier configured to identify a section in the contents based on a preference of a user;

a section manipulator configured to re-format the identified section to generate a new rendition including the identified section, wherein not all of the contents are in the new rendition, wherein the new rendition is formatted based upon a characteristic of the specific class of devices and the preference of the user; and

such that the new rendition can be displayed on the specific class of devices, wherein the class of devices is the class of personal digital assistants wherein the number of columns is reduced in the new rendition.

8. A computer-aided apparatus as recited in claim 7 wherein the user is selected from the group of an end-user viewing the new rendition and the provider of the set of contents.

9. A computer-aided method to selectively display a pre-determined set of contents for a specific class of devices, the method comprising the steps of:

generating an image of a pre-determined rendition of the set of contents for a computer display;

identifying a section in the contents based on a preference of a user;

re-formatting the identified section to generate a new rendition including the identified section, wherein not all of the contents are in the new rendition, wherein the new rendition is formatted based upon a characteristic of the specific class of devices and the preference of the user; and

such that the new rendition can be displayed on the specific class of devices, wherein the class of devices is the class of phones wherein the number of columns is reduced in the new rendition.

10. A computer-aided method as recited in claim 9 wherein the user is selected from the group of an end-user viewing the new rendition and the provider of the set of contents.

11. A computer-aided apparatus to selectively display a pre-determined set of contents for a specific class of devices, the apparatus comprising:

an image generator configured to generate an image of a pre-determined rendition of the set of contents for a computer display;

a section identifier configured to identify a section in the contents based on a preference of a user;

a section manipulator configured to re-format the identified section to generate a new rendition including the identified section, wherein not all of the contents are in the new rendition, wherein the new rendition is formatted based upon a characteristic of the specific class of devices and the preference of the user; and

such that the new rendition can be displayed on the specific class of devices, wherein the class of devices is the class of phones wherein the number of columns is reduced in the new rendition.

12. A computer-aided apparatus as recited in claim 11 wherein the user is selected from the group of an end-user viewing the new rendition and the provider of the set of contents.