Data processing: database and file management or data structures – Database design – Data structure types
Reexamination Certificate
1995-07-17
2001-03-06
Feild, Joseph H. (Department: 2716)
Data processing: database and file management or data structures
Database design
Data structure types
C707S793000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06199082
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to multimedia publishing systems and more particularly, to a system and method for publishing and viewing titles which include separate content and layouts.
2. Description of the Related Technology
Microsoft Network, Internet, Compuserve, Prodigy, and America On-line are examples of on-line networks. End users typically access these networks using a microcomputer equipped with a modem. During an on-line session, a user can use a variety of information-related services and communications services, including news services, weather services, bulletin board services, E-mail, and the like.
While on-line services are becoming increasingly popular, today's on-line applications are still in their infancy. In fact, significant problems continue to block independent content providers or publishers from deploying the type of sophisticated and compelling services that are necessary to provide a sustainable on-line business. At the same time, providers of existing on-line services are working to find the right technical business model and usability solutions that will promote acceptance beyond just an early-adopter audience.
In any large city, it is impossible for a single individual to keep up with the activities and events unfolding in the community. Consequently, people turn to writers, reporters, editors, critics, and others, for help in understanding and structuring the information available. In a related trend, broadcast media are increasingly unable to satisfy the needs of a diverse populace. Consequently, in most markets, narrowcast media (media that have tailored and distributed their content to smaller, well defined audiences) have become increasingly popular and profitable. In the on-line community this trend will be correspondingly more important.
One problem content providers encounter when creating applications for the mass market is the diverse audience. For example, some customers will be interested in games, some in, business, some in computer technology, and some in movies. What information should content providers deliver to keep their customers satisfied? What is needed is a system that enables a content provider to create applications that blend the content provider's editorial voice with individual customization. For example, from within a particular application, a customer could indicate an interest in the is computer business and/or classical music, and be able to acquire additional information focused on these areas. Similarly, an on-line publication might automatically synthesize and prioritize content based on different consumer preferences.
There are several significant hurdles facing the on-line industry. These problems include:
Quality. Today's on-line offerings lack the sophistication required to attract and maintain a loyal customer following. Today, the technology simply does not exist to create truly compelling applications and services with rich, interactive multimedia features, while at the same time delivering these applications and services over low-bandwidth connections. What is needed is a system that overcomes these limitations, removing existing design constraints and allowing content providers to easily deploy and maintain a new generation of on-line multimedia applications.
Control. Existing on-line services do not provide content providers complete control over the creation of their on-line applications and services. For example, application creation, distribution, customer relationships, advertising and pricing are most often controlled not by the content provider, but rather by the on-line service itself. In addition, no existing on-line service or the Internet's World-Wide-Web allow content providers to create unique, compelling and highly branded applications. What is needed is a system that enables content providers to create and develop their own unique brands, customer and advertiser relations, and business models. Content providers could then make their branded products the focus of customer interactions to the point that customers often may not be aware they are using an on-line service.
Cost. Providers of on-line services are finding that the tools to effectively manage the process of creating, deploying, and maintaining on-line applications and services are limited. Because existing tools do not fully meet the new demands of the on-line world, the ongoing cost of maintaining on-line applications can be prohibitive. What is needed is a system that is specifically designed to support existing business processes and industry standard information interchange formats. Content providers could then create on-line multimedia titles rapidly and with little production overhead.
Additional concerns for an on-line service include flexibility, automatic delivery of applications to the customer, integrating on-line information browsing with agent-based information gathering, customized content, customer receiving-device independence, support for standards, inclusion of advertising, and a familiar production process.
As more content providers move from the realm of print publishing into the on-line world, they are increasingly alarmed by the real constraints placed upon their ability to create an on-line title that is as visually rich and polished as they were able to create on paper. Further, they would like to take advantage of the multimedia capabilities of today's personal computers to enhance their titles well beyond their paper versions. Specific roadblocks they encounter are:
▪ In the real world, content authors are rarely skilled graphic designers (and vice versa), yet existing multimedia authoring tools require the same person to do both jobs. At the very least, the same tool is generally used for both jobs, creating an opportunity for errors to be introduced.
▪ Each authored piece of content must go through the layout process before it is published, a time and human-labor-intensive process that constrains a publisher's ability to provide “real-time” information that is also visually compelling. Also, depending on exactly where a new piece of content is to appear in a publication, other parts of the publication that were previously downloaded may no longer be valid and may need to be re-composed and the new version downloaded.
▪ Graphics and multimedia objects are huge, and take long periods of time to download to the average customer's or consumer's personal computer across a typical modem. Traditional approaches to visually rich on-line publishing require rendering the screen images on the publisher's machine or on the on-line service's mainframe, which then results in the download of fully-rendered graphics, the worst-case scenario for download time. In this context, rendering refers to the creation of a bitmap of a display screen in memory prior to displaying the screen. In addition, while many titles contain repeated text and/or pictures, traditional on-line publishing methods require downloading the text or image again each time it appears in a new screen.
▪ The personal computers that consumers are buying today contain sophisticated processors which can do a remarkably good job of rendering rich, visually compelling titles. However, the current approaches to building, delivering and viewing rich, multimedia titles do not utilize the rendering capability of the consumer's machine.
Content providers would like to support different form factors for displaying the same content—for example, a personal digital assistant (PDA) or a 1024×768 pixel screen. Rich, visually compelling titles would have completely different layouts for display on these two different systems.
Content providers might also wish to create both “full” and “lite” versions of their titles, where the “lite” version contains less content for a smaller price.
Additionally, accessibility concerns might require that a content provider create a “large print” title with a completely different layout, or a ti
Ferrel Patrick J.
Meyer Robert F.
Millet Stephen J.
Shewchuk John P.
Smith Walter W.
Banner & Witcoff , Ltd.
Feild Joseph H.
Microsoft Corporation
LandOfFree
Method for delivering separate design and content in a... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Method for delivering separate design and content in a..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Method for delivering separate design and content in a... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2531504