Patent Application
20060129911
The present invention relates to computer managed communication networks such as the World Wide Web (Web) and, particularly, to systems, processes, and programs for utilizing scanning technology, such as optical character recognition (OCR), to scan a Web page, read text and colors used in graphics, and automatically catalog said Web elements in a database for future reference by a user. The cataloged information is used in searches for Web documents having specific Web elements, such as text and color.
The past decade has been marked by a technological revolution driven by the convergence of the data processing industry with the consumer electronics industry. The effect has, in turn, driven technologies that have been known and available but relatively quiescent over the years. A major one of these technologies is the Internet (or Web) related distribution of documents, media, and programs. The convergence of the electronic entertainment and consumer industries with data processing exponentially accelerated the demand for wide ranging communication distribution channels, and the Internet (or Web), which had quietly existed for over a generation as a loose academic and government data distribution facility, reached “critical mass” and commenced a period of phenomenal expansion. With this expansion, businesses and consumers have direct access to all matter of documents, media, and computer programs.
Also, as a result of the rapid expansion of the Web, e-mail, multimedia files and documents, and real-time digital broadcastings (which have been distributed for over 25 years over smaller private and specific purpose networks) have moved into distribution over the Web because of the vastly improved server technology and channels that are available. The availability of extensive e-mail distribution channels has made it possible to keep all necessary parties in business, government, and public organizations completely informed of all transactions that they need to know about at almost nominal costs.
However, in the era of the Web, we do not have the situation of a relatively small group of professional designers working out the human factors; rather, anyone and everyone can design a Web document or e-mail document structure. As a result, Web and e-mail documents are frequently set up and designed in an eclectic manner. This often results in difficulty searching for Web documents containing specific Web elements, such as text and color. With the present invention, the user is able to scan in information regarding Web elements of a graphic. Subsequent users can search for a Web document containing specific Web elements, such as color and text combination in a graphic.
In one example, a user wants to search for Web documents with Web elements, such as an orange star with the text “Lonestar Roofing” before it uses such elements in its logo for advertising purposes. The user may also want to use the orange star without any text or words in some of its advertising materials. With the present invention, the user is able to search for all documents containing an orange star with the text “Lonestar Roofing” and also broaden the search by searching for all documents containing an orange star without text. In this example, assuming that the user finds no other Web documents with an orange star, the user begins using the orange star on Web documents as his company's logo and plans to use the same star shape in purple on some occasions. When the user scans in data regarding his logo Web elements into the database, the user can manually enter the alternate values related to the graphics, (i.e., that the star is purple), so that searches for a Web document containing a purple star will lead searchers to the user's documents containing both the orange star and the purple star.
The present invention provides a solution to the previously recited problems by a system, method, and related computer program for automatically cataloging Web elements, such as text and color, in Web documents (e.g., e-mail, PDF files, source code files, presentation, spread sheet, video formats, and Word documents). The invention is operable in a communication network environment with user access via a plurality of data processor controlled interactive receiving display stations for displaying received documents of at least one display page (e.g., World Wide Web documents and e-mail containing formatted text and image data) and available from sources on the network.
The system comprises interactive browser means associated with each of the said receiving stations for accessing received documents from the network and displaying the documents at any receiving display station. This network browser includes means that enable a user to scan in Web elements of Web documents, and to enter in alternate information regarding such Web elements for use in Web document searches for specific Web elements.
The present invention will be better understood and its numerous objects and advantages will become more apparent to those skilled in the art by reference to the following drawings, in conjunction with the accompanying specification, in which:
Referring to
A central processing unit (CPU) 10 may be one of the commercial microprocessors in personal computers available from International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) or Intel Corporation; when the system shown is used as a server computer at the Web distribution site, to be subsequently described, then a workstation is preferably used (e.g., RISC System/6000™ (RS/6000) series available from IBM). The CPU 10 is interconnected to various other components by system bus 12. An operating system 41 runs on a CPU 10, provides control, and is used to coordinate the functions of the various components of
Before going further into the details of specific embodiments, it will be helpful to understand from a more general perspective the various elements and methods that may be related to the present invention. Because a major aspect of the present invention is directed to documents, such as Web pages transmitted over networks, an understanding of networks and their operating principles would be helpful. We will not go into great detail in describing the networks to which the present invention is applicable. Reference has also been made to the applicability of the present invention to a global network, such as the Internet or Web. For details on Internet nodes, objects and links, reference is made to the text, Mastering the Internet, G. H. Cady et al., published by Sybex Inc., Alameda, Calif., 1996.
The Internet or Web is a global network of a heterogeneous mix of computer technologies and operating systems. Higher level objects are linked to the lower level objects in the hierarchy through a variety of network server computers. These network servers are the key to network distribution, such as the distribution of Web pages and related documentation. In this connection, the term “documents” is used to describe data transmitted over the Web or other networks, as well as other documents, like PDF files, source code files, presentation, spread sheet, and Word documents that may or may not have been accessed from the Web or other networks, and is intended to include Web pages with displayable Web elements, such as text, color, graphics and other images.
Web documents are conventionally implemented in HTML language, which is described in detail in the text entitled Just Java, van der Linden, 1997, SunSoft Press, particularly at Chapter 7, pp. 249-268, dealing with the handling of Web pages; and also in the above-referenced Mastering the Internet, particularly at pp. 637-642, on HTML in the formation of Web pages. The images on the Web pages are implemented in a variety of image or graphic files such as MPEG, JPEG or GIF files, which are described in the text, Internet: The Complete References Millennium Edition, Young et al., 1999, Osborne/McGraw-Hill, particularly at pp. 728-730.
In addition, aspects of this invention will involve Web browsers. A general and comprehensive description of browsers may be found in the above-mentioned Mastering the Internet text at pp. 291-313. More detailed browser descriptions may be found in the above-mentioned Internet: The Complete Reference, Millennium Edition text: Chapter 19, pp. 419-454, on the Netscape Navigator; Chapter 20, pp. 455-494, on the Microsoft Internet Explorer; and Chapter 21, pp. 495-512, covering Lynx, Opera and other browsers. The invention may involve the use of search engines for searching. As described in the above-mentioned Internet: The Complete Reference, Millennium Edition text, pages 395 and 522-535, search engines use key words and phrases to query the Web for desired subject matter.
While the present invention may effectively be used in a private network environment, for convenience in illustration, a generalized portion of the Web as shown in
Reference may be made to the above-mentioned Mastering the Internet, pp. 136-147, for typical connections between local display workstations to the Internet via network servers, any of which may be used to implement the system on which this invention is used. The system embodiment of
Web browser 59 controls the Web page/e-mail accessing and messaging display functions being described, including communications to and from sources 60 and 62 via Web 50. Browser 59 has an associated cache for temporary storage of documents and e-mail obtained from the network through the browser. Web server 53 will carry out the functions of obtaining the Web documents, pages, or sections of the documents as requested by the user via Web browser 59 and downloaded into storage in Web cache 49. With this setup, the present invention, which will be described in greater detail with respect to
Now, with respect to
Note that the invention can catalog the graphic files and the like with background process to allow the user to query an entire set of objects quickly by accessing the database of values and not having to search the object real-time, unless the user chooses this explicit action.
The running of the process set up in
One of the preferred implementations of the present invention is in application program 40 made up of programming steps or instructions resident in RAM 14,
With the cataloging of graphic files and the like, the user can then make global modifications to change all orange to purple, for example, based on graphics that matched earlier search criteria or on all graphics in the database. The same is true with text. All instances of “sale” could be removed and replaced with a background color in the case of graphics, or changed to “regular price” in the case of text. The invention performs this action by modifying each object in the set of objects to change and replacing the object in the deployed location. Modification can be done through standard graphic and text replacement techniques. The user can review the changes before they are externalized or have the changes deployed automatically.
Although certain preferred embodiments have been shown and described, it will be understood that many changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the scope and intent of the appended claims.
