Methods and systems for building packages that contain pre-paginated documents

• US 7,383,500 B2
• Filed: 04/30/2004
• Issued: 06/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Foehr, Oliver H., Shur, Andrey, Subramanian, Sriram, Zhu, Wei, Emerson, Daniel F., Dunietz, Jerry, King, Joe, Ornstein, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Huynh; Cong-Lac
• Application Number:
  US10/837,040
• Publication Number:
  US 20050251740A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,495 Days
• Field of Search: 715/525, 715/501.1, 715/517, 715/500, 715/530, 715/513, 715/511, 715/531
• US Class Current: 715/255
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/114 Pagination
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/123 Storage facilities
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/131 Fragmentation of text files, e.g. creating reusable text-blocks; Linking to fragments, e.g. using XInclude; Namespaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/197 Version control for software G06F8/71

Abstract

Modular content framework and document format methods and systems are described. The described framework and format define a set of building blocks for composing, packaging, distributing, and rendering document-centered content. These building blocks define a platform-independent framework for document formats that enable software and hardware systems to generate, exchange, and display documents reliably and consistently. The framework and format have been designed in a flexible and extensible fashion. In addition to this general framework and format, a particular format, known as the reach package format, is defined using the general framework. The reach package format is a format for storing paginated documents. The contents of a reach package can be displayed or printed with full fidelity among devices and applications in a wide range of environments and across a wide range of scenarios.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

building a package that defines a document; and

including, in the package, multiple payloads at least some of which collectively represent different discoverable versions of the document, at least one payload comprising a fixed payload, such that the document can be processed without an application used to build the package, wherein a fixed payload comprises a document having a fixed number of pages and each page has a fixed size and orientation, wherein on a consuming side no layout calculations have to be performed in order to render the fixed payload document.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one fixed payload part comprises a searchable markup description that identifies other parts of the associated document.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one fixed payload part comprises a markup description that comprises elements that are mappable to associated object classes.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the fixed payload comprises a root part that individually references individual pages of an associated document.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the package comprises one or more composition parts each of which can include at least one selector part for making selections within the package and/or one or more sequence parts for making sequences from package content.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein selector parts are selected from a group of selector parts comprising at least:

language selectors, color selectors, page size selectors, or content type selectors.

7. One or more computer-readable media having computer-readable instructions thereon which, when executed, implement the method of claim 6.

8. A computing system including one or more processors, the computing system embodying the computer-readable media of claim 7.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the collection of parts of the fixed payload comprises a root part that individually references individual pages of an associated document, one or more fixed page parts, and one or more of at least the following parts:

one or more font parts;

one or more image parts;

one or more composition parts;

one or more descriptive metadata parts;

or

one or more print ticket parts.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing the package onto a medium by which the package can be consumed by a consumer.

11. One or more computer-readable media having computer-readable instructions thereon which, when executed, implement the method of claim 1.

12. A computing system including one or more processors, the computing system embodying the computer-readable media of claim 11.

13. A method comprising:

receiving a package that defines a document, the package comprising one or more payloads at least some of which collectively represent different discoverable versions of the document, at least one payload comprising a fixed payload, such that the document can be processed without an application used to create the package, wherein a fixed payload comprises a document having a fixed number of pages and each page has a fixed size and orientation, wherein on a consuming side no layout calculations have to be performed in order to render the fixed payload document; and

processing the package to at least discover some parts of the document.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the fixed payload comprises a root part that indirectly references individual pages of an associated document.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the package comprises one or more composition parts each of which can include at least one selector part for making selections within the package and/or one or more sequence parts for making sequences from package content.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein selector parts are selected from a group of selector parts comprising at least:

language selectors, color selectors, page size selectors, or content type selectors.

17. One or more computer-readable media having computer-readable instructions thereon which, when executed, implement the method of claim 16.

18. A computing system including one or more processors, the computing system embodying the computer-readable media of claim 17.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein the collection of parts of the fixed payload comprises a root part that individually references individual pages of an associated document, one or more fixed page parts, and one or more of at least the following parts:

one or more font parts;

one or more image parts;

one or more composition parts;

one or more descriptive metadata parts;

or

one or more print ticket parts.

20. One or more computer-readable media having computer-readable instructions thereon which, when executed, implement the method of claim 13.

21. A computing system including one or more processors, the computing system embodying the computer-readable media of claim 20.