US6105044A
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Data processing system and method for generating a representation for and random access rendering of electronic documents
Assignee: Enigma Information Systems Ltd
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Filing: 1999-07-13
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Granted: 2000-08-15
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Expires: 2019-07-13
Abstract
Abstract A data processing system and method for generating a representation of an electronic document, for indexing the electronic document, for navigating the electronic document using its representation and for displaying the electronic document on an output device. The system and method are used with electronic documents having descriptive markup which describes the content or meaning of the document rather than its appearance. Such documents may be represented by a tree. Each markup element defines a node or element in a tree. The tree is represented by providing a unique identifier for each element and for accessing a descriptor of the element. An element descriptor preferably includes indications of the parent, first child, last child, left sibling, right sibling, type name and text location for the element. The document representation is used to facilitate navigation of the text for constructing navigational aids such as table of contents and full text indexing. A document is also provided with a style sheet for specifying desired formatting characteristics for each type of element in the document. To display the document, a suitable starting point is found on the basis of a selected starting point. The document is displayed beginning with the suitable starting point and the format characteristics for each element displayed are retrieved from the style sheet and applied to the text of the displayed element.
Inventors
- 👤 Steven DeRose
- 👤 Jeffrey Vogel
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-04 16:13
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06F; G06F16/00; G06F16/80; G06F16/81; G06F40/00; G06F40/10; G06F40/103; G06F40/117; G06F40/12; G06F40/137; G06F40/14; G06F40/143; G06F40/151; Y; Y10; Y10S; Y10S707/00; Y10S707/99931; Y10S707/99933; Y10S707/99941; Y10S707/99944; Y10S707/99945; Y10S707/99948
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 55
Claim 1
Independent Claim
155 words
A method of producing a digital form of a portion of a hierarchical digital document, the digital document having descriptive markup defining a plurality of hierarchical elements, wherein each element has a type name, and has at least one of an ancestor element, a child element, a left sibling element, a right sibling element and unformatted text content, the method using a representation of the digital document, including, for each element, an indication of any ancestor element, child element, and left and right sibling element, the method comprising: sending a request for a portion of the digital document using an indication of a starting point within the digital document; receiving only the requested portion of the digital document including selected elements containing the indicated starting point; and generating a digital form of the received portion of the digital document by applying properties corresponding to the received selected elements to the text content of said elements.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
155 words
A method of producing a digital form of a portion of a hierarchical digital document, the digital document having descriptive markup defining a plurality of hierarchical elements, wherein each element has a type name, and has at least one of an ancestor element, a child element, a left sibling element, a right sibling element and unformatted text content, the method using a representation of the digital document, including, for each element, an indication of any ancestor element, child element, and left and right sibling element, the method comprising: sending a request for a portion of the digital document using an indication of a starting point within the digital document; receiving only the requested portion of the digital document including selected elements containing the indicated starting point; and generating a digital form of the received portion of the digital document by applying properties corresponding to the received selected elements to the text content of said elements.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
99 words
The method of claim 1, wherein receiving only the requested portion includes receiving a starting point element, the starting point element having been selected according to the indicated starting point; and wherein the step of generating a digital form includes: providing a plurality of property specifications for type names utilized for elements in the digital document; receiving an identity of any ancestor elements of the starting point element; and applying a property specification corresponding to the type name of ancestor elements identified for each selected element to the text content of each selected element to produce the digital form.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
49 words
The method of claim 2, wherein the step of applying the property specification includes: retrieving the property specification of each ancestor element of the starting point element in the digital document; and combining the property specifications of the ancestor elements with the property specification of the starting point element.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
89 words
The method of claim 3, further comprising the steps of: providing access, for each markup element, to an element descriptor addressable by a unique identifier for the markup element for storing a unique identifier of the parent element of the markup element; and wherein the step of applying property specifications includes retrieving an indication of said each ancestor element from the element descriptor for the starting point element and said each ancestor element using the unique element identifiers corresponding to the starting point element and said each ancestor element.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
57 words
The method of claim 3, wherein the type name of a markup element includes the type name of any ancestor element; and wherein the step of retrieving the property specification of each ancestor element comprises retrieving said property specification using the type name of the ancestor element obtained from the type name of the starting point element.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
22 words
The method of claim 3, further comprising the step of temporarily storing in a stack the property specification of any ancestor element.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
98 words
The method of claim 2, further comprising the steps of: providing access to a web that stores an annotation to an element in the digital document, said web including, for each annotation, the unique element identifier of the annotated element and an indication of the annotation; and wherein the step of applying property specifications to the text content of an element includes the steps of searching the web for the unique element identifier of the element and generating an indication that the element has an annotation if the element identifier for the element is found in the web.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
22 words
The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of storing an indication of the starting point element in a history table.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
43 words
The method of claim 2, wherein an element may have a security attribute and wherein the step of applying property specifications to the text content of an element includes the step of omitting the text content of an element having a security attribute.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
29 words
The method of claim 2, further comprising the steps of: receiving said indication of a starting point within the digital document; and providing at an output the digital form.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
174 words
A process of producing a digital information product comprising computer data signals defining a digital form of a portion of a hierarchical digital document, the digital document having descriptive markup defining a plurality of hierarchical elements, wherein each element has a type name, and has at least one of an ancestor element, a child element, a left sibling element, a right sibling element and unformatted text content, the method using a representation of the digital document, including, for each element, an indication of any ancestor element, child element, and left and right sibling element, the process comprising: sending a request for a portion of the digital document using an indication of a starting point within the digital document; receiving only the requested portion of the digital document including selected elements containing the indicated starting point; and generating a digital form of the received portion of the digital document by applying properties corresponding to the received selected elements to the text content of said elements, and encoding the digital form in a computer data signal.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
174 words
A process of producing a digital information product comprising computer data signals defining a digital form of a portion of a hierarchical digital document, the digital document having descriptive markup defining a plurality of hierarchical elements, wherein each element has a type name, and has at least one of an ancestor element, a child element, a left sibling element, a right sibling element and unformatted text content, the method using a representation of the digital document, including, for each element, an indication of any ancestor element, child element, and left and right sibling element, the process comprising: sending a request for a portion of the digital document using an indication of a starting point within the digital document; receiving only the requested portion of the digital document including selected elements containing the indicated starting point; and generating a digital form of the received portion of the digital document by applying properties corresponding to the received selected elements to the text content of said elements, and encoding the digital form in a computer data signal.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
99 words
The process of claim 11, wherein receiving only the requested portion includes receiving a starting point element, the starting point element having been selected according to the indicated starting point; and wherein the step of generating a digital form includes: providing a plurality of property specifications for type names utilized for elements in the digital document; receiving an identity of any ancestor elements of the starting point element; and applying a property specification corresponding to the type name of ancestor elements identified for each selected element to the text content of each selected element to produce the digital form.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
49 words
The process of claim 12, wherein the step of applying the property specification includes: retrieving the property specification of each ancestor element of the starting point element in the digital document; and combining the property specifications of the ancestor elements with the property specification of the starting point element.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
89 words
The process of claim 13, further comprising the steps of: providing access, for each markup element, to an element descriptor addressable by a unique identifier for the markup element for storing a unique identifier of the parent element of the markup element; and wherein the step of applying property specifications includes retrieving an indication of said each ancestor element from the element descriptor for the starting point element and said each ancestor element using the unique element identifiers corresponding to the starting point element and said each ancestor element.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
43 words
The process of claim 13, wherein an element may have a security attribute and wherein the step of applying property specifications to the text content of an element includes the step of omitting the text content of an element having a security attribute.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
57 words
The process of claim 13, wherein the type name of a markup element includes the type name of any ancestor element; and wherein the step of retrieving the property specification of each ancestor element comprises retrieving said property specification using the type name of the ancestor element obtained from the type name of the starting point element.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
22 words
The process of claim 13, further comprising the step of temporarily storing in a stack the property specification of any ancestor element.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
98 words
The process of claim 12, further comprising the steps of: providing access to a web that stores an annotation to an element in the digital document, said web including, for each annotation, the unique element identifier of the annotated element and an indication of the annotation; and wherein the step of applying property specifications to the text content of an element includes the steps of searching the web for the unique element identifier of the element and generating an indication that the element has an annotation if the element identifier for the element is found in the web.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
24 words
The process of claim 12, further comprising the step of providing access to an indication of the starting point element in a history table.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
29 words
The process of claim 12, further comprising the steps of: receiving said indication of a starting point within the digital document; and providing at an output the digital form.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
164 words
A data processing system for producing a digital form of a portion of a hierarchical digital document, the digital document having descriptive markup defining a plurality of hierarchical elements, wherein each element has a type name, and has at least one of an ancestor element, a child element, a left sibling element, a right sibling element and unformatted text content, the system using a representation of the digital document, including, for each element, an indication of any ancestor element, child element, and left and right sibling element, the system comprising: means for sending a request for a portion of the digital document using an indication of a starting point with in the digital document; means for receiving only the requested portion of the digital document including selected elements containing the indicated starting point; and means for generating a digital form of the received portion of the digital document by applying properties corresponding to the received selected elements to the text content of said elements.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
164 words
A data processing system for producing a digital form of a portion of a hierarchical digital document, the digital document having descriptive markup defining a plurality of hierarchical elements, wherein each element has a type name, and has at least one of an ancestor element, a child element, a left sibling element, a right sibling element and unformatted text content, the system using a representation of the digital document, including, for each element, an indication of any ancestor element, child element, and left and right sibling element, the system comprising: means for sending a request for a portion of the digital document using an indication of a starting point with in the digital document; means for receiving only the requested portion of the digital document including selected elements containing the indicated starting point; and means for generating a digital form of the received portion of the digital document by applying properties corresponding to the received selected elements to the text content of said elements.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
112 words
The data processing system of claim 21, wherein the means for receiving only the requested portion includes means for receiving a starting point element, the starting point element having been selected according to the indicated starting point; and wherein the means of generating a digital form includes: means for providing a plurality of property specifications for type names utilized for elements in the digital document; means for receiving an identity of any ancestor elements of the starting point element; and means for applying a property specification corresponding to the type name of ancestor elements identified for each selected element to the text content of each selected element to produce the digital form.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
54 words
The data processing system of claim 22, wherein means for applying the property specification includes: means for retrieving the property specification of each ancestor element of the starting point element in the digital document; and means for combining the property specifications of the ancestor elements with the property specification of the starting point element.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
95 words
The data processing system of claim 23, further comprising: means for providing access, for each markup element, to an element descriptor addressable by a unique identifier for the markup element for storing a unique identifier of the parent element of the markup element; and wherein the means for applying property specifications includes means for retrieving an indication of said each ancestor element from the element descriptor for the starting point element and means for said each ancestor element to use the unique element identifiers corresponding to the starting point element and said each ancestor element.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
61 words
The data processing system of claim 23, wherein the type name of a markup element includes the type name of any ancestor element; and wherein the means for retrieving the property specification of each ancestor element comprises means for retrieving said property specification using the type name of the ancestor element obtained from the type name of the starting point element.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
23 words
The data processing system of claim 23, further comprising means for temporarily storing in a stack the property specification of any ancestor element.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
100 words
The data processing system of claim 22, further comprising: means for providing access to a web that stores an annotation to an element in the digital document, said web including, for each annotation, the unique element identifier of the annotated element and an indication of the annotation; and wherein the means for applying property specifications to the text content of an element includes means for searching the web for the unique element identifier of the element and means for generating an indication that the element has an annotation if the element identifier for the element is found in the web.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
25 words
The data processing system of claim 22, further comprising means for providing access to an indication of the starting point element in a history table.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
44 words
The data processing system of claim 22, wherein an element may have a security attribute and wherein the means for applying property specifications to the text content of an element includes means for omitting the text content of an element having a security attribute.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
32 words
The data processing system of claim 22, further comprising: means for receiving said indication of a starting point within the digital document; and means for providing at an output the digital form.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
190 words
A data processing system for producing a digital form of a portion of a hierarchical digital document, the digital document having descriptive markup defining a plurality of hierarchical elements, wherein each element has a type name, and has at least one of an ancestor element, a child element, a left sibling element, a right sibling element and unformatted text content, the method using a representation of the digital document, including, for each element, an indication of any ancestor element, child element, and left and right sibling element, the system comprising: a data requesting component that produces at an output a request for a portion of the digital document including an indication of a starting point within the digital document; and a data processing component that receives as an input the requested portion of the digital document including selected elements containing the indicated starting point, received in response to the output of the data requesting component, and that generates at an output a digital form of the digital document, the output being generated by the application of properties corresponding to the received selected elements to the text content of said elements.
Claim 35
Dependent Claim
190 words
A data processing system for producing a digital form of a portion of a hierarchical digital document, the digital document having descriptive markup defining a plurality of hierarchical elements, wherein each element has a type name, and has at least one of an ancestor element, a child element, a left sibling element, a right sibling element and unformatted text content, the method using a representation of the digital document, including, for each element, an indication of any ancestor element, child element, and left and right sibling element, the system comprising: a data requesting component that produces at an output a request for a portion of the digital document including an indication of a starting point within the digital document; and a data processing component that receives as an input the requested portion of the digital document including selected elements containing the indicated starting point, received in response to the output of the data requesting component, and that generates at an output a digital form of the digital document, the output being generated by the application of properties corresponding to the received selected elements to the text content of said elements.
Claim 36
Dependent Claim
101 words
The data processing system of claim 31, wherein the received portion includes a starting point element, the starting point element having been selected according to the indicated starting point; and wherein the data processing component includes: means for providing a plurality of property specifications for type names utilized for elements in the digital document; means for receiving an identity of any ancestor elements of the starting point element; and means for applying a property specification corresponding to the type name of ancestor elements identified for each selected element to the text content of each selected element to produce the digital form.
Claim 37
Dependent Claim
54 words
The data processing system of claim 32, wherein the means for applying property specifications includes: means for retrieving the property specification of each ancestor element of the starting point element in the digital document; and means for combining the property specifications of the ancestor elements with the property specification of the starting point element.
Claim 38
Dependent Claim
99 words
The data processing system of claim 33, further comprising: a first data access component that provides access, for each markup element, to an element descriptor addressable by a unique identifier for the markup element for storing a unique identifier of the parent element of the markup element; and wherein the means for applying property specifications includes means for retrieving an indication of said each ancestor element from the element descriptor for the starting point element and means for said each ancestor element to use the unique element identifiers corresponding to the starting point element and said each ancestor element.
Claim 39
Dependent Claim
61 words
The data processing system of claim 33, wherein the type name of a markup element includes the type name of any ancestor element; and wherein the means for retrieving the property specification of each ancestor element comprises means for retrieving said property specification using the type name of the ancestor element obtained from the type name of the starting point element.
Claim 40
Dependent Claim
25 words
The data processing system of claim 33, further comprising a storage component that temporarily stores in a stack the property specification of any ancestor element.
Claim 41
Dependent Claim
104 words
The data processing system of claim 32, further comprising: a second data access component that provides access to a web that stores an annotation to an element in the digital document, said web including, for each annotation, the unique element identifier of the annotated element and an indication of the annotation; and wherein the means for applying property specifications to the text content of an element includes means for searching the web for the unique element identifier of the element and means for generating an indication that the element has an annotation if the element identifier for the element is found in the web.
Claim 42
Dependent Claim
29 words
The data processing system of claim 32, further comprising: a third data access component that provides access to an indication of the starting point element in a history table.
Claim 43
Dependent Claim
44 words
The data processing system of claim 32, wherein an element may have a security attribute and wherein the means for applying property specifications to the text content of an element includes means for omitting the text content of an element having a security attribute.
Claim 44
Dependent Claim
26 words
The data processing system of claim 32, wherein the data requesting component receives at an input said indication of a starting point within the digital document.
Claim 45
Dependent Claim
208 words
A computer program product for producing a digital form of a portion of a hierarchical digital document, the digital document having descriptive markup defining a plurality of hierarchical elements, wherein each element has a type name, and has at least one of an ancestor element, a child element, a left sibling element, a right sibling element and unformatted text content, the method using a representation of the digital document, including, for each element, an indication of any ancestor element, child element, and left and right sibling element, the computer program product comprising: a computer readable medium having computer program logic stored thereon, wherein the computer program logic defines: a data requesting component which produces at an output a request for a portion of the digital document including an indication of a starting point within the digital document; and a data processing component that receives as an input the requested portion of the digital document including selected elements containing the indicated starting point, received in response to the output of the data requesting component, and which generates at an output a digital form of the digital document, the output being generated by the application of properties corresponding to the received selected elements to the text content of said elements.
Claim 46
Dependent Claim
208 words
A computer program product for producing a digital form of a portion of a hierarchical digital document, the digital document having descriptive markup defining a plurality of hierarchical elements, wherein each element has a type name, and has at least one of an ancestor element, a child element, a left sibling element, a right sibling element and unformatted text content, the method using a representation of the digital document, including, for each element, an indication of any ancestor element, child element, and left and right sibling element, the computer program product comprising: a computer readable medium having computer program logic stored thereon, wherein the computer program logic defines: a data requesting component which produces at an output a request for a portion of the digital document including an indication of a starting point within the digital document; and a data processing component that receives as an input the requested portion of the digital document including selected elements containing the indicated starting point, received in response to the output of the data requesting component, and which generates at an output a digital form of the digital document, the output being generated by the application of properties corresponding to the received selected elements to the text content of said elements.
Claim 47
Dependent Claim
101 words
The data processing system of claim 41, wherein the received portion includes a starting point element, the starting point element having been selected according to the indicated starting point; and wherein the data processing component includes: means for providing a plurality of property specifications for type names utilized for elements in the digital document; means for receiving an identity of any ancestor elements of the starting point element; and means for applying a property specification corresponding to the type name of ancestor elements identified for each selected element to the text content of each selected element to produce the digital form.
Claim 48
Dependent Claim
54 words
The data processing system of claim 42, wherein means for applying the property specification includes: means for retrieving the property specification of each ancestor element of the starting point element in the digital document; and means for combining the property specifications of the ancestor elements with the property specification of the starting point element.
Claim 49
Dependent Claim
104 words
The data processing system of claim 43, wherein the computer program logic further defines: a first data access component that provides access, for each markup element, to an element descriptor addressable by a unique identifier for the markup element for storing a unique identifier of the parent element of the markup element; and wherein the means for applying property specifications includes means for retrieving an indication of said each ancestor element from the element descriptor for the starting point element and means for said each ancestor element to use the unique element identifiers corresponding to the starting point element and said each ancestor element.
Claim 50
Dependent Claim
61 words
The data processing system of claim 43, wherein the type name of a markup element includes the type name of any ancestor element; and wherein the means for retrieving the property specification of each ancestor element comprises means for retrieving said property specification using the type name of the ancestor element obtained from the type name of the starting point element.
Claim 51
Dependent Claim
30 words
The data processing system of claim 43, wherein the computer program logic further defines a storage component that temporarily stores in a stack the property specification of any ancestor element.
Claim 52
Dependent Claim
110 words
The data processing system of claim 42, wherein the computer program logic further defines: a second data access component that provides access to a web that stores an annotation to an element in the digital document, said web including, for each annotation, the unique element identifier of the annotated element and an indication of the annotation; and wherein the means for applying property specifications to the text content of an element includes mean s for searching the web for the unique element identifier of the element and means for generating an indication that the element has an annotation if the element identifier for the element is found in the web.
Claim 53
Dependent Claim
34 words
The data processing system of claim 42, wherein the computer program logic further defines a third data access component that provides access to an indication of the starting point element in a history table.
Claim 54
Dependent Claim
44 words
The data processing system of claim 42, wherein an element may have a security attribute and wherein the means for applying property specifications to the text content of an element includes means for omitting the text content of an element having a security attribute.
Claim 55
Dependent Claim
26 words
The data processing system of claim 42, wherein the data requesting component receives at an input said indication of a starting point within the digital document.
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| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2007-08-15 | 2008-02-14 | 2008-08-15 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2011-08-15 | 2012-02-14 | 2012-08-15 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |