Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput – Remote data accessing
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-13
2002-01-22
Dinh, Dung C. (Department: 2153)
Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput
Remote data accessing
C705S014270, C345S182000, C345S215000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06341306
ABSTRACT:
MICROFICHE APPENDIX
A computer printout is attached hereto in microfiche form and is incorporated herein by reference. The printout comprises executable program files in hexadecimal format. This appendix includes 2 microfiches, containing a total of 185 frames.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to data processing, and specifically to information retrieval.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Many text-processing applications available today enable users to look up information about a selected word on a computer display. For example, Microsoft Word enables a user to click on a word, and to see thesaurus or dictionary entries related to the word. In order to retrieve this information, Microsoft Word accesses a fixed, local database stored on a CD-ROM or on the computer's hard disk.
A large number of search engines on the World-Wide-Web provide a list of hyperlinks to sites related to a user's typed query. Typically, the user goes to the search engine's own site, and subsequently types or copies-and-pastes one or more words of interest into a text-input box displayed by the engine.
Other software, such as TechnoCraft's RoboWord, Mashov Software's Babylon, and Accent Software's WordPoint, allows a user to click on a word and see a translation of the word into a second language. One or more electronic dictionaries are provided with these packages, and are stored on the user's computer.
Connect Innovation's software package FlySwat appears in a sidebar next to a Web browser running on a user's computer. FlySwat looks at text downloaded by the browser, and continually accesses and displays data from and hyperlinks to other Web sites deemed relevant by FlySwat.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of some aspects of the present invention to provide improved methods and apparatus for obtaining information from a database.
It is a further object of some aspects of the present invention to provide improved apparatus and methods for obtaining through the Internet.
In preferred embodiments of the present invention, a user of a client computer retrieves information from a server, which is coupled to the client by a network. The user designates at least one word in a body of text which is shown on a display of the client, and the client automatically transmits the designated word over the network to the server. The server processes the word and transmits data relating thereto to the client. “Designating” a word, in the context of the present patent application, means indicating a word on a display, typically with a pointing device, but alternatively or additionally with a key sequence (such as CTRL-ALT-?) applied to a marked word or to a word containing or adjacent to the cursor, whereby the user does not type the word to designate it, and whereby the user does not copy-and-paste the word from one window to a second window.
In general, the server does not have access to the body of text prior to the user's designation of the word. Moreover, the designated word typically does not have a hyperlink associated therewith, and is generally a word in a natural language (e.g., English). Words in a “natural language” are to be understood as plain words, e.g., “Clinton,” “California,” or “stock market,” and not as words associated with causing a computer to perform an instruction, such as “www.buy4mom.com” or “172.14.7.2.” Thus, substantially any text (e.g., the name of a program on the Windows desktop), or file containing text, (e.g., a piece of received e-mail, a Web page, or a just-created word-processor document), is appropriate for use in the practice of embodiments of the present invention. Typically, the user designates the word simply by pointing with a pointing device (e.g., a mouse) at the word on the display, and then right-clicking on the desired word, possibly selecting a “retrieve information” option from a right-click menu. Responsive thereto, the client transmits the word to the server, which automatically retrieves data from a database and transmits the data to be displayed on the client's display.
Embodiments of the invention can be viewed in contrast to methods of information-retrieval from a remote source known in the art, in which: (a) only a limited number of words in a document are provided with options for further information-retrieval, e.g., by hyperlinking, or (b) the user must open a new window, e.g., a search engine or an electronic encyclopedia, and re-type or copy-and-paste the desired word from the user's document to a text-entry line in the new window.
In some preferred embodiments of the present invention, data transmitted to the client comprise an advertisement, a promotional message, a hyperlink to a related Web site, or electronic commerce data, e.g., price data related to a commercial product, which are selected by the server for transmission to the client responsive to the user's designated word.
Typically, the network comprises the Internet, and may alternatively or additionally comprise an intranet, for example, a corporate intranet. A server on a corporate intranet preferably maintains a database of corporate information for distribution to client computers connected to the intranet server, and additionally enables information to be retrieved from external servers, for example, through the Internet, using principles of the present invention.
In some preferred embodiments of the present invention, the display comprises a television, for example, a Web-TV, showing television programming which includes text on the display. The user points to a word in the text with a pointing device, and additional information related thereto is retrieved from the server. Typically, although not necessarily, the server is not related to the producers of the text.
In a preferred embodiment, a first portion of the data is displayed in a first region of the display, and a second portion of the data is displayed in a second region of the display. Typically, a small quantity of data is shown in a small window, which opens adjacent to the designated word and closes automatically. A larger quantity of data, e.g., including hyperlinks and graphics, is shown in a second, interactive, window. Alternatively or additionally, for example, text and graphics may be shown in respective windows. Further alternatively or additionally, words may be shown in one window, and columns of numbers may be shown in another window.
In some preferred embodiments of the present invention, one or more context-indicating words are drawn from the body of text and transmitted with the designated word to the server. Alternatively, some or all of the body of text is transmitted to the server, which extracts the context-indicating words therefrom. The server evaluates the designated word in the context of the context-indicating words, and transmits data from the database responsive to the evaluation. Typically, some of the context-indicating words are drawn from the same sentence as that including the designated word, to enable a grammatical and/or linguistic analysis of the designated word, and, preferably, to sharply define the context of the designated word. For example, “stock” next to “broker” is highly likely to have a different meaning from “stock” next to “barrel.” Alternatively or additionally, some of the context-indicating words are drawn from elsewhere in the body of text, preferably including from a title of the body of text. Further alternatively or additionally, document analysis and/or document categorization techniques known in the art are used to determine significant content in the body of text, and to generate thereby the context-indicating words.
Preferably, at least some of the data transmitted by the server to the client are drawn from a dynamically-changing database, and may include, for example, financial, sports, weather, or news data related to the designated word. Alternatively or additionally, the data include standard reference information, such as a dictionary definition, a translation of th
Bamberger Naama
Bernstein Uri
Brief Daniel
Reich Gil
Rosen Tamar
Abelman ,Frayne & Schwab
Atomica Corporation
Dinh Dung C.
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