Claims
- 1. An Internet subscription system for alerting subscribers to changes in data maintained at Internet sites, comprising:
an input interface for a subscriber to specify a data condition to be monitored and a condition for notification; a gatherer for gathering data changes from one or more Internet sites; a guard for comparing data changes with the condition for notification; and a notification alert system for notifying the subscriber of a change that meets the condition for notification.
- 2. The system of claim 1 wherein the condition for notification comprises data changes at two or more sites (metadata changes).
- 3. The system of claim 1 further comprising a user-amendable time function to control frequency of access by the gatherer to Internet sites.
- 4. The system of claim 1 wherein the alert system sends an alert by the Internet network to a client's Internet-connected device.
- 5. The system of claim 3 wherein the alert includes specific data gathered from the specified Internet sites.
- 6. The system of claim 1 wherein the alert system sends an alert by a wireless network to a device compatible with the wireless network but incapable of Internet connection.
- 7. The system of claim 5 wherein the device is one of a cell telephone, a pager, or a hand-held computing device.
- 8. A method for alerting a subscriber to changes in metadata, comprising steps of:
(a) configuring a subscription service by the subscriber to monitor specific data at specific Internet-connected sites: (b) setting a metadata notification condition on the subscription service by the subscriber; (c) gathering data changes from the specific Internet-connected sites; (d) processing the data changes for meeting the condition for notification; and (e) providing a notification alert to the subscriber for a change in the metadata that meets the condition for notification.
- 9. The method of claim 8 further comprising a step for a user to set a time function to control frequency of processing and comparison of metadata with the condition for notification.
- 10. The method of claim 8 wherein the notification alert in step (e) comprises an alert on the Internet network to a client's Internet-connected device.
- 11. The method of claim 10 wherein the alert includes specific data gathered from the Internet sites.
- 12. The method of claim 8 wherein, in step (e) the alert is made by a wireless network to a device compatible with the wireless network but incapable of Internet connection.
- 13. The method of claim 12 wherein the device is one of a cell telephone, a pager, or a hand-held computing device.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED DOCUMENTS
[0001] The present invention is a continuation-in-part (CIP) to a patent application entitled “Method and Apparatus for Restructuring of Personalized Data for Transmission from a Data Network to Connected and Portable Network Appliances” filed on Sep. 16, 1999 and accorded Ser. No. 09/398,320, disclosure of which is included in it's entirety by reference. The present invention is further related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/323,598 filed on Jun. 1, 1999 and entitled “Method and Apparatus for Obtaining and Presenting WEB Summaries to Users”. disclosure of which is also included herein by reference.
Continuation in Parts (2)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09461505 |
Dec 1999 |
US |
Child |
10685754 |
Oct 2003 |
US |
Parent |
09398320 |
Sep 1999 |
US |
Child |
09461505 |
Dec 1999 |
US |