Accessing databases when viewing text on the web

Details Accessing databases when viewing text on the web Accessing databases when viewing text on the web

1999-02-16

2001-10-30

Breene, John (Department: 2177)

Data processing: database and file management or data structures

Database design

Data structure types

C707S793000, C707S793000, C707S793000, C345S215000, C345S215000, C345S215000, C345S215000, C345S182000, C345S960000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06311177

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The proliferation of the World Wide Web as a means of communication has enabled individual persons to access information from a wide variety of sources simply by clicking on a hypertext link or by typing in a URL address to view a page (or pages) of visual or textual information.
In recent years, the trend has been to increase the functionality and visual impact of pages or sites accessed by the World Wide Web. Such enhancements are enabled by increased power of the programming languages such as HTML and Java which drive Web pages and Web browsers. These continual improvements to Web programs and media have provided increased benefits to the user accessing the Web as well as the publisher of the information on the World Wide Web.
While the Web provides individual users to access a multitude of Web sites at the individual user's choice, the Web does not provide the user with assistance in dealing with web page text that does not contain hypertext links. In this regard, the user is generally left at the mercy of the Web page designer and the skill level for which the Web page was designed. Where the Web page content is unclear or is outside the viewer's area of expertise, the user may not be able to obtain the full benefit of the content. For example, the user's comprehension of the page may be enhanced by viewing a definition of a word used in the Web page or by viewing some other data which enhances the benefit obtained from the page content.
While there is a desire to enhance the ability of users to comprehend and derive benefit from the content of an accessed Web page, the ability to add additional information directly to the Web page may be problematic. For example, the Web page may already be cluttered with various graphics. Any addition of functionality to assist the user may cause further page clutter discouraging the user from putting forth the effort to parse the page for content. Addition of functionality which alters the appearance of the Web page to the user may also present legal issues relative to the rights of the Web page author.
Thus, there is a need for tools to enhance the ability of the user to comprehend and derive benefit from the content of the Web page while not detracting from the appearance of the Web page.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention provides processes and systems which enable access to ancillary database information to enhance the viewing of a Web page while minimizing page clutter, especially for Web page text that is not hyperlinked. The invention provides the end user viewing the Web page with the ability to access directories or databases by pointing to text supplied by the Web page designer. The processes and systems of the invention indicate (preferably by change of pointer shape or other appearance attribute) the availability of an information retrieval function to the user where a screen pointer is over text data. The processes and systems of the invention determine the existence of links between ancillary databases and parsed Web page text at the pointer position, indicate the existence of links and provide viewer access to the database information.
In one aspect, the invention encompasses a method for accessing data from a database file at a client computer in response to information viewed on the client computer from an intranet or internet source, the method comprising:
a) on a client computer screen, accessing a source page from an internet or intranet server,
b) pointing to a screen position on the accessed page using a pointer means, the pointer means being capable of changing appearance mode on the client computer screen,
c) parsing the accessed page at the pointer position to determine whether the pointer is over a link location and whether the pointer position is over text data or unlinked white space,
d) altering the appearance mode of the pointer means in response to the determination of step c), where the pointer is determined to be over text data in step c), the pointer means indicating the availability of a data retrieval function,
e) receiving input requesting activation of the data retrieval function,
f) providing at least one database in a computer readable storage device, the database(s) containing (i) at least one string-searchable field or (ii) at least one string index file linking text strings to information contained in the database,
g) in response to the input of step e), parsing the text data to determine a parsed text value, comparing the parsed text value to values contained in the database(s) to determine the existence of relevant information in the database(s), and
h) communicating on the client computer information selected from the group consisting of (i) a menu of selectable available relevant information selections from the database(s) determined in step g), (ii) relevant information from the database(s), or (iii) a combination of (i) and (ii).
The appearance modes of the pointer means preferably differ in shape. Where the information retrieval function of the invention can be invoked, shape preferably is suggestive of an information retrieval function. In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the availability of the information retrieval function may be indicated by an alteration of appearance in the frame of the Web browser as displayed on the client computer.
In an alternative embodiment, the application of the invention can be limited to unlinked text only. In such instance, the determination in step c) of whether the pointer was over text or white space would be avoided in linked areas and the default browser behavior for hypertext links would hold.
In further alternative embodiment, the indication of the availability of the information retrieval function can be performed after comparing the parsed text value with the database or index file information. In this embodiment, the availability of the information retrieval function would be indicated only if there were actual relevant information available in the database(s).
The methods of the invention may be carried out on one or more computing devices in addition to a client computer. Thus, the comparison operation(s) or other steps of the method may be performed on a server computer(s) which communicates the results to the user through the client computer.
The invention further encompasses systems for carrying out the methods of the invention for accessing data from a database file at a client computer in response to information viewed on the client computer from an intranet or internet source, the system comprising:
a) a client computer having (i) a view screen, (ii) a pointer means, the pointer means being capable of changing appearance mode on the client computer view screen, and means for displaying Web pages on the view screen,
b) a source of internet Web pages, intranet Web pages, or both, the source being accessible by the client computer,
c) a first parsing means for parsing a Web page displayed on the view screen at a pointer position on the screen to determine whether the pointer position is over a link location and whether the pointer is over white space or text data,
d) means for altering the appearance mode of the pointer where the pointer is determined to be over text data in step c), the pointer means indicating the availability of a data retrieval function,
e) means for receiving input requesting activation of the data retrieval function,
f) a computer-readable storage device containing at least one database, the database(s) containing (i) at least one string-searchable field or (ii) at least one string index file linking text strings to information contained in an information file of the database,
g) a second parsing means for parsing text data in a Web page on the view screen to determine a parsed text value,
h) means for comparing the parsed text value from the second parsing means to values contained in the database(s) to determine the existence of relevant information in the database(s), and
i) means for generating the relevant information from the database(s) and communica

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