US5987480A — Method and system for delivering documents custom…

Claim 1

Independent Claim 129 words

A method of a delivering a document customized for a user from a first computer to a second computer comprising: storing on the first computer a document template having a plurality of markers imbedded therein, each marker being associated with one of a plurality of names; storing in the first computer a plurality of values, each value being associated with one of said names, each value being assigned to one of a plurality of users; receiving a request from one user for said document; identifying said user; generating said document by retrieving said template and exchanging each said marker with a corresponding value as determined by the name of the marker and the identity of said user; and transmitting said document to said the second computer for said user.

Claim 2

Independent Claim 129 words

A method of a delivering a document customized for a user from a first computer to a second computer comprising: storing on the first computer a document template having a plurality of markers imbedded therein, each marker being associated with one of a plurality of names; storing in the first computer a plurality of values, each value being associated with one of said names, each value being assigned to one of a plurality of users; receiving a request from one user for said document; identifying said user; generating said document by retrieving said template and exchanging each said marker with a corresponding value as determined by the name of the marker and the identity of said user; and transmitting said document to said the second computer for said user.

Claim 3

Dependent Claim 33 words

The method of claim 1 further comprising storing on the first computer a list of registered users and wherein the step of identifying said user comprises determining the identified user from said list.

Claim 4

Dependent Claim 103 words

The method of claim 1 wherein the document is delivered over the global Internet, the first computer is a world wide web server, and the second computer is a client computer upon which a world wide web browser of a particular type is operating, the method further comprising: storing on the web server a plurality of document templates compatible with a plurality of types of web browsers; automatically identifying at the web server the type of browser operating on the client computer; and selecting one of the plurality of document templates to be populated which is compatible with the client computer's browser type.

Claim 5

Dependent Claim 29 words

The method of claim 3 wherein the step of automatically identifying the type of browser comprises reading a browser signature after receiving the client computer's request for the document.

Claim 6

Dependent Claim 63 words

The method of claim 1 wherein the step of storing at least one document template comprises storing a plurality of templates on the first computer in a hierarchical directory structure, each template corresponding to one of a plurality of different documents, and wherein the step of receiving a request for the document comprises receiving a locator identifying a directory and the requested document.

Claim 7

Dependent Claim 120 words

The method of claim 5 further comprising: searching the directory identified in the locator for a first default document template corresponding to the requested document; if the first default template exists in the directory, selecting the first default template to use as the document template; if no first default template exists in the directory, searching a directory which is one level higher than the directory in the hierarchy for a second default template; if a second default template exists, selecting the second default template to use as the document template; and if no second default template exists, repeating the two previous steps in the method until a default template is found or until the highest level directory has been searched.

Claim 8

Dependent Claim 23 words

The method of claim 1 wherein said step of generating said document comprises the step of parsing said template to locate said markers.

Claim 9

Dependent Claim 22 words

The method of claim 7 wherein each said marker includes one of a variable with a dynamic tag, and a control command.

Claim 10

Dependent Claim 16 words

The method of claim 8 wherein each tag identifies one of said values for each user.

Claim 11

Dependent Claim 23 words

The method of claim 1 wherein said document is customized by said document's contents, which each document being unique to each particular user.

Claim 12

Independent Claim 251 words

A system for delivering a world wide web page document having dynamic content embedded therein from a web server to a client computer over the global Internet, the system comprising: a data source stored on the web server containing a list of customers and first content in a form representing or reducible to pairs of names and corresponding values, each customer being associated with one of said pairs; at least one document template stored on the web server having second content arranged therein and one or more markers embedded therein, the markers including one of: one or more dynamic content tags including at least one first content name; and one or more dynamic flow directives including one or more instructions and one or more first content names as arguments for the instructions; means for receiving at the web server a request by the client computer for the web page document by a particular client; one or more scripts stored and operating on the web server for identifying said client and performing the steps of retrieving at least some of the first content from the data source and populating the at least one document template to produce the document by substituting values corresponding to content names in the one or more dynamic content tags or performing the one or more instructions based on content names in the dynamic flow directives or their corresponding values for said particular customer; and means for transmitting the document from the web server to the client computer.

Claim 13

Independent Claim 251 words

A system for delivering a world wide web page document having dynamic content embedded therein from a web server to a client computer over the global Internet, the system comprising: a data source stored on the web server containing a list of customers and first content in a form representing or reducible to pairs of names and corresponding values, each customer being associated with one of said pairs; at least one document template stored on the web server having second content arranged therein and one or more markers embedded therein, the markers including one of: one or more dynamic content tags including at least one first content name; and one or more dynamic flow directives including one or more instructions and one or more first content names as arguments for the instructions; means for receiving at the web server a request by the client computer for the web page document by a particular client; one or more scripts stored and operating on the web server for identifying said client and performing the steps of retrieving at least some of the first content from the data source and populating the at least one document template to produce the document by substituting values corresponding to content names in the one or more dynamic content tags or performing the one or more instructions based on content names in the dynamic flow directives or their corresponding values for said particular customer; and means for transmitting the document from the web server to the client computer.

Claim 14

Dependent Claim 34 words

The system of claim 11 wherein the data source comprises a database and wherein the one or more scripts operate to retrieve the first content and store it in a container in name/value pairs.

Claim 15

Dependent Claim 22 words

The system of claim 11 wherein the data source is a container in which the first content is stored in name/value pairs.

Claim 16

Dependent Claim 75 words

The system of claim 11 comprising a plurality of document templates stored on the web server which are compatible with a plurality of types of web browsers and wherein the one or more scripts perform the further steps of automatically identifying at the web server the type of browser operating on the client computer and selecting one of the plurality of document templates to be populated which is compatible with the client computer's browser type.

Claim 17

Dependent Claim 179 words

The system of claim 13 comprising a plurality of document templates stored on the web server in a hierarchical directory structure, each document template corresponding to one of a plurality of different documents, wherein the means for receiving a request for the document comprises means for interpreting a locator identifying a directory and the requested document, and wherein the one or more scripts perform the further steps of: searching the directory identified in the locator for a first default document template corresponding to the requested document; if the first default template exists in the directory, selecting the first default template to use as the document template; if no first default template exists in the directory, searching a directory which is one level higher than the directory in the hierarchy for a second default template; if a second default template exists, selecting the second default template to use as the document template; and if no second default template exists, repeating the two immediately preceding steps until a default template is found or until the highest level directory has been searched.

Claim 18

Dependent Claim 16 words

The system of claim 13 wherein the one or more instructions comprise if or loop instructions.

Claim 19

Independent Claim 109 words

A method of a delivering a document customized for a user from a first computer to a second computer comprising: storing on the first computer a document template having a plurality of markers imbedded therein, each marker being associated with one of a plurality of names; storing in the first computer a plurality of values, each value being associated with one of said names; receiving a request from one user for said document; generating said document by retrieving said template and exchanging each said marker with a corresponding value as determined by the name of the marker; and transmitting said document to said the second computer for said user.

Claim 20

Independent Claim 109 words

A method of a delivering a document customized for a user from a first computer to a second computer comprising: storing on the first computer a document template having a plurality of markers imbedded therein, each marker being associated with one of a plurality of names; storing in the first computer a plurality of values, each value being associated with one of said names; receiving a request from one user for said document; generating said document by retrieving said template and exchanging each said marker with a corresponding value as determined by the name of the marker; and transmitting said document to said the second computer for said user.

Annuity Stage	Window Opens	Payment Deadline	Surcharge Period Until	Estimated Fee	Status
3.5 Years (Year 4)	2002-11-15	2003-05-17	2003-11-16	$2000.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8)	2006-11-15	2007-05-17	2007-11-16	$3760.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12)	2010-11-15	2011-05-17	2011-11-16	$7700.00	Window Closed / Lapsed

Method and system for delivering documents customized for a particular user over the internet using imbedded dynamic content

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