Data processing: database and file management or data structures – Database design – Data structure types
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-03
2004-12-14
Le, Uyen (Department: 2171)
Data processing: database and file management or data structures
Database design
Data structure types
Reexamination Certificate
active
06832225
ABSTRACT:
The present invention concerns a method of recording information relating to a document visited by a user of a computer communication network.
It also concerns a method of searching for a document on a computer communication network from information recorded by means of the recording method according to the invention.
Correlatively, the present invention concerns a recording device and a search device adapted respectively to implement the recording method and searching method according to the invention.
The present invention fits more generally within the field of computer communication networks which make it possible to transfer documents between computer servers storing electronic documents, and one or more users able to surf the network by means of a browser.
In communication networks, a multitude of computers and peripherals are connected. The peripherals can, by way of example, be printers, storage units, or means of acquiring or storing documents. The computers and peripherals in a network can in turn be computer servers or clients on the communication network.
The documents exchanged are of very varied natures: texts, images, videos, sound, computer programs, etc.
Given the size and complexity of a wide area network, the user cannot surf it completely in order to seek information. This is notably the case with the World Wide Web, built on top of the Internet.
Search tools have been set up to facilitate this search. They generally make it possible, using an indexing of the documents stored, to make searches by key words. However, the results are very often so large in number that they make it very difficult to use them.
In addition, when the user has in the past found a document liable to meet the object of his search, it will be highly advantageous to him to attempt to find this document again using the history of his browser.
This is because the history of a browser can contain information such as the title of documents visited and their electronic address on the communication network.
However, when the history contains many entries, the search is tedious, all the entries having to be examined one after another. In addition, the title stored can be deceptive with regard to the exact content of the document. Moreover, the storage of the entries in the history is limited in time in order to limit the space needed for storing the history.
The aim of the present invention is to propose a method of recording information which makes it possible to store, in reduced form, documents visited by the user, and an associated search method which then enables the user to find a document visited in the past.
In accordance with the invention, a method of recording information relating to a document visited by a user of a computer communication network is characterised in that it includes the following steps:
extracting key words associated with said visited document;
associating a binary code with each extracted key word;
storing said associations in a dictionary; and
storing said binary codes associated with the electronic address of the document on the computer communication network in information storage means of the user.
Correlatively, the present invention also concerns a device for the recording of information relating to a document visited by a user of a computer communication network, characterised in that it has:
means of extracting key words associated with said visited document;
means of associating a binary code with each extracted key word;
a dictionary for storing said associations; and
information storage means adapted to store said binary codes associated with the electronic address of the document on the computer communication network.
Thus, by reducing each document visited to a certain number of key words, compressing these by means of a binary coding and storing the result of this compression, it is possible to store locally, in reduced form, a very large number of documents visited by the user.
According to a preferred characteristic of the invention, the step of associating a binary code with a key word comprises the following substeps:
checking the existence or not of said key word in the dictionary;
in the negative, creating a new binary code; or
in the affirmative, reading the binary code associated with said key word in the dictionary.
Generating the dictionary as new key words are extracted from documents visited by the user makes it possible to create a dictionary peculiar to each user and to limit the size thereof solely to the key words extracted locally.
According to an advantageous characteristic of the invention, particularly simple to implement, the binary codes of the dictionary are fixed-length codes.
Alternatively, the binary codes are variable-length codes, thus making it possible take account of the frequency of appearance of a key word when it is coded in order to limit still further the space necessary for storing the binary codes in the information storage means.
According to a preferred characteristic of the invention, the binary codes have a length of M bits determined according to a maximum number 2
M
of associations stored in the dictionary and, at the step of creating a new binary code, if the number of associations stored in the dictionary is greater than said maximum number 2
M
, the binary codes of the dictionary are reconstructed on binary codes of length M+1.
The size of the binary codes is thus adapted in real time to the increasing number of key words which have to be stored in the dictionary associated with the user.
Preferably, in order to limit still further the space necessary for storage of the dictionary, the associations of key words and binary codes stored in the dictionary are compressed by an entropic coding method.
According to another preferred version of the invention, the information storage means are incorporated in the history of a browser of the user.
Thus it suffices to add a supplementary field to the existing history in order to store the binary codes associated with the key words of each document.
This arrangement affords a saving in space, avoiding notably storing in independent information storage means the electronic addresses of the visited documents already stored conventionally in the history of the browser of the user.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the recording method also comprises a step of storing, in the information storage means, an authentication signature associated with the document.
The storage of this authentication signature, obtained for example by means of a Cyclical Redundancy Check CRC algorithm, makes it possible to check subsequently whether the content of a document at a given electronic address has or has not been modified.
Thus, still according to this preferred embodiment, the recording method also includes the following prior steps:
checking the existence or not of the electronic address of the document visited in the information storage means of the user;
in the affirmative, calculating the authentication signature associated with the document visited;
comparing the calculated authentication signature and the stored authentication signature in the information storage means; and
reiterating the steps of extracting key words, associating a binary code, storing said associations, storing said binary codes and storing the calculated authentication signature in the information storage means of the user when the calculated and stored authentication signatures are different.
Thus, each time the user once again visits a given document, the different steps of the recording method are implemented only if the content of this document has been modified since the last storage of its electronic address associated with a certain number of key words in the information storage means of the user.
According to another preferred characteristic of the invention, the step of extracting the key words comprises the following steps:
determining the format of the document;
eliminating, in said document, one or more commands from a list of commands to be eliminated for a give
Henry Felix
Moreau Jean-Jacques
Canon Research Centre France S.A.
Chen Te Yu
Fitzpatrick ,Cella, Harper & Scinto
Le Uyen
LandOfFree
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