Data processing: database and file management or data structures – Database design – Data structure types
Reexamination Certificate
2001-02-08
2004-05-11
Mizrahi, Diane D. (Department: 2175)
Data processing: database and file management or data structures
Database design
Data structure types
C707S793000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06735586
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of content retrieval. In particular, the invention relates to a computer system and method for dynamically identifying and retrieving content distributed over the Internet.
2. Description of the Related Art
The Internet comprises a vast number of computers and computer networks that are interconnected through communication links. The interconnected computers exchange information using various services, such as electronic mail, Gopher, and the World Wide Web (“WWW”). The WWW service allows a server computer system to send graphical Web pages of information to a remote client computer system. The remote client computer system can then display the Web pages. Each resource (e.g., computer or Web page) of the WWW is uniquely identifiable by a Uniform Resource Locator (“URL”). To view a specific web page, a client computer system specifies the URL for that Web page in a request (e.g., a HyperText Transfer Protocol (“HTTP”) request). The request is forwarded to the Web server that supports that Web page. When that Web server receives the request, it sends that Web page to the client computer system. When the client computer system receives that Web page, it typically displays the Web page using a browser. A browser is a special-purpose application program that effects the requesting of Web pages and the display of Web pages.
Currently, Web pages are typically defined using Hyper Text Markup Language (“HTML”). HTML provides a standard set of tags that define how a Web page is to be displayed. When a user indicates to the browser to display a Web page, the browser sends a request to the server computer system to transfer to the client computer system an HTML document that defines the Web page. When the requested HTML document is received by the client computer system, the browser displays the Web page as defined by the HTML document. The HTML document contains various tags that control the displaying of text, graphics, controls and other features. The HTML document may contain URLs of other Web pages available on that server computer system or other server computer systems.
The WWW is made up of millions of ‘web sites’ with each site having a number of HTML pages. Each HTML page usually has a number of web objects on each page such as graphics, text and ‘hyper text’ references (URL's) to other HTML pages. There is a need to identify and retrieve dynamically updated content from diverse network sources.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention comprises systems and methods to facilitate the collection and distribution of information over a computer network. This invention solves several information management problems, such as the marking of content distributed over a network, the instant display of current information distributed over a network, and the retrieval of information at a browser without an intermediary step to save the information. As such, the invention enables customized aggregation of content distributed over a network in real-time.
This invention enables users to simultaneously view not only their favorite web sites, but their favorite parts of their favorite web sites, all within a single window. Individual users may employ the invention to collect portions or individual web pages which may be located at any web site. Corporate web designers and site managers can use this invention to mark and collect content from their own corporate intranet or from anywhere on the web. Information aggregators may use this invention to collect web-based information from one web site or from many web sites and ‘re-purpose’ that content in a completely new form.
The invention may also be used to ‘post process’ the results of any search engine to display only ‘quality’ or ‘desired’ information, thereby eliminating a need for additional user mouse clicks, and simplifying the search process while improving the quality of search results.
The invention is equally applicable to the collection and re-purposing of XML net objects as well as audio objects such as MP3. The invention also has applications on the Internet as well as conventional communications systems such as voice telephony and in broadband communications.
Embodiments of the invention include a recursive scripting language, or “Content Collection Language” (CCL), for identifying and accessing objects distributed over the Internet. In embodiments of the invention, short scripts written in the scripting language are used in place or URLs: unlike URLs, which are designed for referencing static data, scripts written in the Content Collection Language may point to ‘dynamic’ data that is constantly updated. The CCL statement can be used just like a URL.
Embodiments of the invention include a feature extraction object used for identifying similar information objects. The invention makes it possible to divide and sort page contents from several pages into groups sharing similar attributes, which are contained in a Feature Extraction object. In this way information brokers and publishers can aggregate information from several sources into a new information object.
The invention includes systems and methods for reducing a web page to its smallest network objects and creating a Feature Extraction ‘tag’ or ‘web lingerprint’ of the object; this tag may be referenced again to find the object in the future. In embodiments of the invention, Feature Extraction uses ‘fuzzy logic’ to ensure that targeted content is identified and collected after a source page has been updated with fresh information or graphics.
As such, feature extraction may be used to perform any one or more of the following:
Divide any web page into its smallest parts or “atoms”.
Given any desired object or its containers, to generate a symbolic ‘Internet fingerprint’ that is persistent and may be used as an alias pointing to the target object.
Use the Internet fingerprint to find the desired object even though the static URLs on its page have changed.
Provide a resilient and robust ‘fingerprint’ that can work well with missing rules.
Build a Feature Extraction tag of a target that is descriptive of its results and behavior i.e., better knowledge representation.
Produce a tag that will be consistent with the page being examined and the target object type over a vast majority of site/page combinations.
The invention provides a way to provide ‘version control’ of the attribute tags as information changes and new types of internet standards are adopted. By using this approach to version control, an information aggregation system can save an attribute tag and continue to update and extend its capturing and publishing system. While the system evolves, the older attribute tag will continue to point back accurately to the desired information recorded earlier. Web publishers can use feature extraction tags as an ‘alias’ to information on a page that will allow them to identify and modify other areas on a page while maintaining the alias intact.
The invention is natural language neutral so that the software used to create an alias to an English information object can also be used to mark information objects in any language.
The list of attributes in a feature extraction object can be extended to include fuzzy patterns produced by a limited dictionary. For example, a limited dictionary for a university could include the terms: instructor, text, or fee. If these words are found within the context of a pattern match they can be included in the feature extraction attribute list. This part of the invention allows the user to develop extremely specific feature extraction objects for vertical subject domains in addition to the very general or horizontal approach used without domain dictionaries.
In embodiments of the invention, the feature tag may be used to accurately ‘rank’ information objects within a collection of objects in a database or on a page. For example, a page can be divided into information objects, and the user will be shown only the ‘most important’ objects on the page. A search engine c
Mizrahi Diane D.
Sybase Inc.
Wu Yicun
LandOfFree
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