US6061700A
Expired / Lapsed
US
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Apparatus and method for formatting a web page
Assignee: International Business Machines Corp
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Filing: 1997-08-08
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Granted: 2000-05-09
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Expires: 2017-08-08
Abstract
Abstract An apparatus and method for formatting a specified group of related web pages into a single web page allows a user to define a number of selected pages and associated relation criteria for each selected page. A formatting mechanism collects the URLs for the selected pages and those related pages based on the relation criteria and stores the URLs in a URL container. The formatting mechanism further invokes each web page associated to the URLs contained in the URL container and generates a conglomerate page. The conglomerate web page may include data insert into or referenced in one or more of the selected pages. The conglomerate web page may then be printed using a standard browser print function.
Inventors
- 👤 Curtis Howard Brobst
- 👤 Paul Brian Monday
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-31 20:47
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04L; H04L12/00; H04L12/28; G; G06; G06F; G06F40/00; G06F40/10; G06F40/103; Y; Y10; Y10S; Y10S707/00; Y10S707/99941; Y10S707/99942
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 44
Claim 1
Independent Claim
112 words
An apparatus comprising: at least one processor; a memory coupled to the at least one processor; and a web page formatting mechanism residing in the memory and executed by the at least one processor, the web page formatting mechanism identifying from at least one selected web page a plurality of links on the at least one selected web page that each reference a web page, the formatting mechanism identifying from the identified links at least one web page that is related to the at least one selected page, the formatting mechanism generating a conglomerate web page from the at least one selected web page and the at least one related web page.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
112 words
An apparatus comprising: at least one processor; a memory coupled to the at least one processor; and a web page formatting mechanism residing in the memory and executed by the at least one processor, the web page formatting mechanism identifying from at least one selected web page a plurality of links on the at least one selected web page that each reference a web page, the formatting mechanism identifying from the identified links at least one web page that is related to the at least one selected page, the formatting mechanism generating a conglomerate web page from the at least one selected web page and the at least one related web page.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
51 words
The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the formatting mechanism comprises: a mechanism for selecting at least one web page; a mechanism for storing the at least one selected web page and at least one related web page; and a mechanism that generates the conglomerate web page from the stored web pages.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
55 words
The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the mechanism for selecting the at least one web page comprises a mechanism that determines from a user the selected at least one web page and at least one relation criteria for relating at least one of the related web pages to the at least one selected web pages.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
45 words
The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the mechanism for storing the at least one selected web page and the at least one related web page comprises a mechanism for determining from the at least one selected web page the at least one related web page.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
65 words
The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the mechanism that generates the conglomerate page comprises: a mechanism that invokes the at least one selected web page and the plurality of related web pages searching for at least one embedding code; and an embedding mechanism for embedding a portion of a referenced web page into a portion of the conglomerate web page according to the embedding code.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
12 words
The apparatus of claim 5 wherein the embedded portion comprises source code.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
13 words
The apparatus of claim 5 wherein the embedded portion comprises an HTML section.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
18 words
The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the selected web pages are selected using a Uniform Resource Locator (URL).
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
17 words
The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the selected web page is a hypertext markup language (HTML) page.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
31 words
The apparatus of claim 1 wherein two web pages are related if either of the two web pages are within a predetermined nesting level with respect to the other web page.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
24 words
The apparatus of claim 1 wherein two web pages are related if either of the two web pages have a link to the other.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
20 words
The apparatus of claim 1 wherein two web pages are related if the two pages reside on the same server.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
21 words
The apparatus of claim 1 wherein two web pages are related if the two web pages have the same base address.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
15 words
The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a mechanism for printing the conglomerate web page.
Claim 16
Independent Claim
150 words
An apparatus comprising: at least one processor; a memory coupled to the at least one processor; a plurality of web pages residing in the memory; and a web page formatting mechanism residing in the memory and executed by the at least one processor, the web page formatting mechanism comprising: a mechanism for selecting at least one web page from the plurality of web pages; a mechanism for identifying from the at least one selected web page a plurality of links on the at least one selected web page that each reference a web page; a mechanism for identifying from the identified links at least one web page that is related to the at least one selected page; a mechanism for storing the at least one selected web page and the at least one related web page; and a mechanism that generates a conglomerate web page from the stored web pages.
Claim 17
Independent Claim
150 words
An apparatus comprising: at least one processor; a memory coupled to the at least one processor; a plurality of web pages residing in the memory; and a web page formatting mechanism residing in the memory and executed by the at least one processor, the web page formatting mechanism comprising: a mechanism for selecting at least one web page from the plurality of web pages; a mechanism for identifying from the at least one selected web page a plurality of links on the at least one selected web page that each reference a web page; a mechanism for identifying from the identified links at least one web page that is related to the at least one selected page; a mechanism for storing the at least one selected web page and the at least one related web page; and a mechanism that generates a conglomerate web page from the stored web pages.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
21 words
The apparatus of claim 15 wherein at least one of the plurality of web pages includes at least one embedding attribute.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
37 words
The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the at least one embedding attribute comprises at least one attribute that at least partially determines whether or not a link to another of the plurality of web pages is followed.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
36 words
The apparatus of claim 15 wherein at least one of the plurality of web pages includes at least one attribute that defines the end of at least one section of the at least one web page.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
98 words
A program product comprising: (A) a web page formatting mechanism, the web page formatting mechanism identifying from at least one selected web page a plurality of links on the at least one selected web page that each reference a web page, the formatting mechanism identifying from the identified links at least one web page that is related to the at least one selected page, the formatting mechanism generating a conglomerate web page from the at least one selected page and the at least one related web page; and (B) signal bearing media bearing the web page formatting mechanism.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
98 words
A program product comprising: (A) a web page formatting mechanism, the web page formatting mechanism identifying from at least one selected web page a plurality of links on the at least one selected web page that each reference a web page, the formatting mechanism identifying from the identified links at least one web page that is related to the at least one selected page, the formatting mechanism generating a conglomerate web page from the at least one selected page and the at least one related web page; and (B) signal bearing media bearing the web page formatting mechanism.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
14 words
The program product of claim 19 wherein the signal bearing media comprises recordable media.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
14 words
The program product of claim 19 wherein the signal bearing media comprises transmission media.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
25 words
The program product of claim 19 wherein two web pages are related if either of the two web pages have a link to the other.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
22 words
The program product of claim 19 wherein two web pages are related if the two web pages reside on the same server.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
22 words
The program product of claim 19 wherein two web pages are related if the two web pages have the same base address.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
120 words
A program product comprising: (A) a web page formatting mechanism, the web page formatting mechanism including: a mechanism for selecting at least one web page; a mechanism for identifying from the at least one selected web page a plurality of links on the at least one selected web page that each reference a web page; a mechanism for identifying from the identified links at least one web page that is related to the at least one selected page; a mechanism for storing the at least one selected web page and the at least one related page; and a mechanism that generates a conglomerate web page from the stored web pages; (B) signal bearing media bearing the web page formatting mechanism.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
120 words
A program product comprising: (A) a web page formatting mechanism, the web page formatting mechanism including: a mechanism for selecting at least one web page; a mechanism for identifying from the at least one selected web page a plurality of links on the at least one selected web page that each reference a web page; a mechanism for identifying from the identified links at least one web page that is related to the at least one selected page; a mechanism for storing the at least one selected web page and the at least one related page; and a mechanism that generates a conglomerate web page from the stored web pages; (B) signal bearing media bearing the web page formatting mechanism.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
14 words
The program product of claim 25 wherein the signal bearing media comprises recordable media.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
14 words
The program product of claim 25 wherein the signal bearing media comprises transmission media.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
21 words
The program product of claim 25 wherein the web page formatting mechanism further comprises a mechanism for printing the conglomerate page.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
14 words
The program product of claim 25 wherein the selected web page is selected using.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
18 words
The program product of claim 25 wherein the selected web page is a hypertext markup language (HTML) page.
Claim 35
Independent Claim
126 words
A method for formatting a number of related web pages into a conglomerate web page, the method including the steps of: (A) selecting at least one web page and at least one relation criterion for the at least one web page; (B) identifying from the at least one selected web page a plurality of links on the at least one selected web page that each reference a web page; (C) identifying from the identified links and the at least one relation criterion at least one web page that is related to the at least one selected page; (D) storing the at least one selected web page and the at least one related web page; and (E) generating the conglomerate web page from the stored web pages.
Claim 36
Independent Claim
126 words
A method for formatting a number of related web pages into a conglomerate web page, the method including the steps of: (A) selecting at least one web page and at least one relation criterion for the at least one web page; (B) identifying from the at least one selected web page a plurality of links on the at least one selected web page that each reference a web page; (C) identifying from the identified links and the at least one relation criterion at least one web page that is related to the at least one selected page; (D) storing the at least one selected web page and the at least one related web page; and (E) generating the conglomerate web page from the stored web pages.
Claim 37
Independent Claim
80 words
A method for reformatting an existing web page, the method including the steps of: determining from the existing web page at least one reference in the existing web page to data to incorporate into the existing web page; modifying the existing web page by inserting at least one embedding code into the existing web page that identifies the location of the data in the existing web page and that identifies the data to be incorporated into the existing web page.
Claim 38
Independent Claim
80 words
A method for reformatting an existing web page, the method including the steps of: determining from the existing web page at least one reference in the existing web page to data to incorporate into the existing web page; modifying the existing web page by inserting at least one embedding code into the existing web page that identifies the location of the data in the existing web page and that identifies the data to be incorporated into the existing web page.
Claim 39
Dependent Claim
19 words
The method of claim 32 wherein the at least one reference in the existing web page comprises a URL.
Claim 40
Dependent Claim
19 words
The method of claim 32 wherein the data to be incorporated into the existing web page comprises MIME data.
Claim 41
Independent Claim
162 words
A method for formatting and printing a number of related web pages as a single document, the method including the steps of: selecting at least one URL corresponding to at least one selected web page; selecting a relation criteria for each selected URL; recursively collecting all related URLs for each selected URL according to the corresponding relation criteria; invoking the at least one selected web page and the related web pages corresponding to the related URLs; storing the at least one selected web page and the related web pages in the single document, the at least one selected web page and the related web pages including at least one embedding attribute specifying at least on portion of at least one referenced web page to be embedded; inserting the at least one portion of the at least one referenced web page specified by the at least one embedding code into the single document at the corresponding web page; and printing the single document.
Claim 42
Independent Claim
162 words
A method for formatting and printing a number of related web pages as a single document, the method including the steps of: selecting at least one URL corresponding to at least one selected web page; selecting a relation criteria for each selected URL; recursively collecting all related URLs for each selected URL according to the corresponding relation criteria; invoking the at least one selected web page and the related web pages corresponding to the related URLs; storing the at least one selected web page and the related web pages in the single document, the at least one selected web page and the related web pages including at least one embedding attribute specifying at least on portion of at least one referenced web page to be embedded; inserting the at least one portion of the at least one referenced web page specified by the at least one embedding code into the single document at the corresponding web page; and printing the single document.
Claim 43
Dependent Claim
36 words
The method of claim 35 wherein the at least one embedding attribute comprises at least one attribute that at least partially determines whether or not a link to another of the plurality of pages is followed.
Claim 44
Dependent Claim
26 words
The method of claim 35 wherein the at least one embedding attribute defines the end of at least one section of the at least one page.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2003-05-09 | 2003-11-08 | 2004-05-09 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2007-05-09 | 2007-11-08 | 2008-05-09 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2011-05-09 | 2011-11-08 | 2012-05-09 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |