CA2310660A1 - System to facilitate navigation of internet from a wireless device - Google Patents
System to facilitate navigation of internet from a wireless device Download PDFInfo
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- CA2310660A1 CA2310660A1 CA002310660A CA2310660A CA2310660A1 CA 2310660 A1 CA2310660 A1 CA 2310660A1 CA 002310660 A CA002310660 A CA 002310660A CA 2310660 A CA2310660 A CA 2310660A CA 2310660 A1 CA2310660 A1 CA 2310660A1
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- server
- file
- wml
- html
- request
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- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
- G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
- G06F16/00—Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
- G06F16/90—Details of database functions independent of the retrieved data types
- G06F16/95—Retrieval from the web
- G06F16/957—Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation
Abstract
A system to facilitate navigation of Internet from a wireless device is disclosed. A user chooses the menu option "WWW" from her/his wireless mobile device and types the URL of the web page she/he wants to access. When the user presses the "go" button, an encrypted request is sent to the UP.Link server that resides in the air carrier. The UP.Link server decrypts the request and sends it to the origin server containing the requested page. The inventor's arbitration agent present in the origin server retrieves the page and sends the HTML document to the inventor's intermediate converter server. The intermediate converter server consists of two components: a CGI script and an HTML/WML converter. The input arriving at the intermediate converter server is processed by the CGI script that receives the HTML file provided by the OS and sends it to an HTML/WML converter. The latter then performs the HTML to WML translation as well as context management and sends the results back to the CGI script, which in turn sends the WML document to the OS. The OS
sends the WML file to the UP.Link server and the UP.Link server encrypts the new WML
file and returns it to the browser.
sends the WML file to the UP.Link server and the UP.Link server encrypts the new WML
file and returns it to the browser.
Description
~.
System to Facilitate Navigation of Internet from a Wireless Device Field of Invention This invention is concerned with the presentation of data stored in the conventional HTML format on Internet servers to wireless devices.
Background of the Invention The world is experiencing an exponential growth in the number of users of the Internet. High performance and the availability of appropriate user interfaces are 1 o crucial for achieving user satisfaction on such an environment. Most current users of the system use a wireline network for accessing the servers on the Internet.
There is a rapid growth in popularity, however, for using mobile wireless devices to access the web pages contained in various origin servers (OS). The wide availability of wireless networks and the low cost of wireless appliances that include smart phones, personal digital assistants, and hand held computers provide one of the largest business opportunities of today.
An Internet user enters, edits, and receives data through the interpretation of XML or HTML by a browser. Providing access to data on the Internet presents new challenges to the Internet service provider (ISP) and content provider both in terms of 2o performance as well as data presentation. This invention is concerned with the issue of data presentation to mobile wireless users. Conventional users often use high-speed modems and Gigabit backbone networks to access the data stored in the OS's.
Accessing data from a mobile device is quite different. The wireless network used to interconnect the user with the OS is lower in bandwidth and is less robust in comparison to a wireline network. Lack of large secondary storage devices as well as the necessity to conserve power are two other major differences between wireless and °.
conventional wireline systems. Appropriate communication protocols and effective resource management strategies are important for successful operations of these systems. A large body of research is currently in progress to address these issues.
Presentation of data to mobile users requires special attention from content providers and ISP's. A relatively lesser amount of work has been directed towards this vital issue of data presentation that this invention focuses on.
The Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is used widely for developing contents of web pages available from the World Wide Web. HTML was designed for displaying information on a standard desktop connected through a wireline network 1o and an optional proxy to an OS. In comparison to a wireless device these computers are higher in performance, use a higher resolution colour display, and a set of Input/output (I/O) devices such as a mouse, a sound card, and a disk system. A
typical wireless device is much lower in performance, typically uses a smaller black and white display, and has access to very rudimentary forms of I/O: touch screens, soft keys, and voice commands. The interconnection networks that carry the HTML-based content to conventional desktops are often 100 Mbps LAN's, 6Mbps ADSL
connections, or 64 Kbps ISDN connections. In comparison, a typical wireless connection is characterized by a much lower bandwidth: 9600 Kbps, for example, for GSM. As a consequence, the latency perceived by a user on a wireless system (seconds) is orders of magnitude higher than that observed on a wireline system (tens of milliseconds). Cellular phone screens that are currently in use are often limited to five lines each consisting of fourteen characters whereas a number of palm digital assistants provide a viewing area that is 160 pixels by 160 pixels in size.
Since HTML was not designed for wireless devices in mind, it gives rise to a number of problems that include the following:
System to Facilitate Navigation of Internet from a Wireless Device Field of Invention This invention is concerned with the presentation of data stored in the conventional HTML format on Internet servers to wireless devices.
Background of the Invention The world is experiencing an exponential growth in the number of users of the Internet. High performance and the availability of appropriate user interfaces are 1 o crucial for achieving user satisfaction on such an environment. Most current users of the system use a wireline network for accessing the servers on the Internet.
There is a rapid growth in popularity, however, for using mobile wireless devices to access the web pages contained in various origin servers (OS). The wide availability of wireless networks and the low cost of wireless appliances that include smart phones, personal digital assistants, and hand held computers provide one of the largest business opportunities of today.
An Internet user enters, edits, and receives data through the interpretation of XML or HTML by a browser. Providing access to data on the Internet presents new challenges to the Internet service provider (ISP) and content provider both in terms of 2o performance as well as data presentation. This invention is concerned with the issue of data presentation to mobile wireless users. Conventional users often use high-speed modems and Gigabit backbone networks to access the data stored in the OS's.
Accessing data from a mobile device is quite different. The wireless network used to interconnect the user with the OS is lower in bandwidth and is less robust in comparison to a wireline network. Lack of large secondary storage devices as well as the necessity to conserve power are two other major differences between wireless and °.
conventional wireline systems. Appropriate communication protocols and effective resource management strategies are important for successful operations of these systems. A large body of research is currently in progress to address these issues.
Presentation of data to mobile users requires special attention from content providers and ISP's. A relatively lesser amount of work has been directed towards this vital issue of data presentation that this invention focuses on.
The Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is used widely for developing contents of web pages available from the World Wide Web. HTML was designed for displaying information on a standard desktop connected through a wireline network 1o and an optional proxy to an OS. In comparison to a wireless device these computers are higher in performance, use a higher resolution colour display, and a set of Input/output (I/O) devices such as a mouse, a sound card, and a disk system. A
typical wireless device is much lower in performance, typically uses a smaller black and white display, and has access to very rudimentary forms of I/O: touch screens, soft keys, and voice commands. The interconnection networks that carry the HTML-based content to conventional desktops are often 100 Mbps LAN's, 6Mbps ADSL
connections, or 64 Kbps ISDN connections. In comparison, a typical wireless connection is characterized by a much lower bandwidth: 9600 Kbps, for example, for GSM. As a consequence, the latency perceived by a user on a wireless system (seconds) is orders of magnitude higher than that observed on a wireline system (tens of milliseconds). Cellular phone screens that are currently in use are often limited to five lines each consisting of fourteen characters whereas a number of palm digital assistants provide a viewing area that is 160 pixels by 160 pixels in size.
Since HTML was not designed for wireless devices in mind, it gives rise to a number of problems that include the following:
2 ~ Lack of image scaling, by which an image in true colour can be toned down to an image with fewer colours and a lower resolution;
~ Lack of content transformation, by which a postscript or PDF document can be translated to a plain text format that can be easily displayed on a mobile device;
~ Lack of provision for semantic compression, by which a document may be distilled into a smaller form that can be effectively transmitted over a low bandwidth medium and displayed on a smaller display of a wireless device; and ~ The use of a heavy weight protocol called the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) for the transfer of HTML documents.
1 o To alleviate these and other problems, a new markup language called the Wireless Markup Language (WML) and a new protocol called the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) have been proposed and adopted by the Internet community. In addition to being particularly suitable for mobile wireless systems, WAP is characterized by a number of desirable attributes that include performance scalability, interoperability among software from different vendors, efficiency in terms of providing adequate Quality of Service (QoS), reliability, and provisioning of data integrity and security. The present invention is concerned particularly with the presentation of data on wireless devices by using WML.
Prior art in the area of wireless Internet services can be divided into two 2o groups: patented inventions and products that are not currently protected by issued patents. Examples of the former include the system described in United States Patent No. 5905719 and Canadian Patent Application No. 2272467. The U.S. patent proposes a technique for economically providing Internet access to wireless devices at data rates comparable to that of ISDN lines. This system considers only communication level issues and does not concern HTML to WML conversion that the
~ Lack of content transformation, by which a postscript or PDF document can be translated to a plain text format that can be easily displayed on a mobile device;
~ Lack of provision for semantic compression, by which a document may be distilled into a smaller form that can be effectively transmitted over a low bandwidth medium and displayed on a smaller display of a wireless device; and ~ The use of a heavy weight protocol called the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) for the transfer of HTML documents.
1 o To alleviate these and other problems, a new markup language called the Wireless Markup Language (WML) and a new protocol called the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) have been proposed and adopted by the Internet community. In addition to being particularly suitable for mobile wireless systems, WAP is characterized by a number of desirable attributes that include performance scalability, interoperability among software from different vendors, efficiency in terms of providing adequate Quality of Service (QoS), reliability, and provisioning of data integrity and security. The present invention is concerned particularly with the presentation of data on wireless devices by using WML.
Prior art in the area of wireless Internet services can be divided into two 2o groups: patented inventions and products that are not currently protected by issued patents. Examples of the former include the system described in United States Patent No. 5905719 and Canadian Patent Application No. 2272467. The U.S. patent proposes a technique for economically providing Internet access to wireless devices at data rates comparable to that of ISDN lines. This system considers only communication level issues and does not concern HTML to WML conversion that the
3 present invention focuses on. The Canadian application, on the other hand, discloses a bar code reader that reads a bar code and sends it over the Internet to retrieve information corresponding to the barcode stored on information servers. The system, however, is not concerned with the data presentation issues that form the principal attention of the invention described herein.
Example from the latter group includes an HTML to WML converter which only handles direct explicit translation requests made by a user and is, therefore, crude compared to the present invention. The present invention has a number of sophisticated attributes that are not present in any single system described in the prior art. These attributes include adequate support for URL's containing javascripts, the inclusion of URL's with images, and URL pruning for context management. The HTML to WML conversion provided by other prior art is quite primitive in comparison to the present invention. For example, the prior art product can not perform proper conversion of a number of different types of pages and the user is unable to navigate to the end of the page in many cases. The present invention, on the other hand, is free from these problems and effectively and economically performs an HTML to WML conversions.
Another example of an HTML to WML translation service is software which must be loaded into hand held wireless devices such as a Palm VIITM. Moreover, such 2o prior art acts like a proxy sever that lies between the mobile user and the OS. The user is required to communicate directly with the website corresponding to the product and none of these products provide the capability for a mobile user to directly visit the origin server. Furthermore, the advanced context management features such as URL pruning and content merging of logically related information provided by the inventor's server are not incorporated in these other products.
Example from the latter group includes an HTML to WML converter which only handles direct explicit translation requests made by a user and is, therefore, crude compared to the present invention. The present invention has a number of sophisticated attributes that are not present in any single system described in the prior art. These attributes include adequate support for URL's containing javascripts, the inclusion of URL's with images, and URL pruning for context management. The HTML to WML conversion provided by other prior art is quite primitive in comparison to the present invention. For example, the prior art product can not perform proper conversion of a number of different types of pages and the user is unable to navigate to the end of the page in many cases. The present invention, on the other hand, is free from these problems and effectively and economically performs an HTML to WML conversions.
Another example of an HTML to WML translation service is software which must be loaded into hand held wireless devices such as a Palm VIITM. Moreover, such 2o prior art acts like a proxy sever that lies between the mobile user and the OS. The user is required to communicate directly with the website corresponding to the product and none of these products provide the capability for a mobile user to directly visit the origin server. Furthermore, the advanced context management features such as URL pruning and content merging of logically related information provided by the inventor's server are not incorporated in these other products.
4 In view of the foregoing, there is a need for a system that provides the translation and context management for web pages with HTML content stored in an OS that are necessary for an effective presentation of the content on a wireless device.
The present invention is designed to address these concerns.
s Summary of the Invention The objective of the present invention is to convert HTML documents into WML. The translated information is presented in a compact and efficient manner so as to suit the well-known characteristics of wireless systems that include low 1 o bandwidth of communication mediums, low power of energy sources, and smaller display areas of wireless devices.
The present invention is characterized by the following highly useful attributes:
~ The system can interact with any WAP enabled wireless device and has two 15 modes of operations. In the first, the wireless user specifies an URL to the system that contacts the OS, which contains the requested URL, does the necessary translations, and sends the results back to the user. In the second, the translation process is totally transparent to the user who directly communicates with the OS.
Based on the Universal Resource Locator (URL) specified by the user, an 20 "arbitrator agent" in the origin server retrieves the data, and forwards the HTML
document to a converter server that does the necessary processing and forwards the resulting WML document to the arbitration agent. The arbitration agent in turn returns the WML file to the user.
~ Mapping of HTML to WML: The system maps HTML documents to WML
25 documents that can be displayed conveniently on the screen of a wireless device.
This is consistent with the prior art in the domain. The inventor's server, however, can handle a set of complex mappings that are not handled by all the other systems. Moreover, the invention utilizes HTML metatags to perform more efficient mappings.
~ Flexibility of Mapping Rules: The mapping and context management performed by the inventor's server is based on a set of rules. A unique feature of this invention is that this set of rules can be stored in a file and thus be tuned to suit the requirements of a specific environment.
~ "Merging and LookAhead": The system parses an HTML document and "looks 1o ahead" into embedded URL's in the page specified by the user to look for the possibilities of context merging. If the material contained in the embedded URL
has commonality with the parent HTML document, the embedded URL is merged with the parent HTML document. This feature of the present invention leads to a reduced size of the text to be displayed on the small screen of a wireless device and also gives rise to bandwidth saving. Consequently, this will lead to a savings to the user of systems in which the user is charged on the basis of airtime as well as packet switched wireless systems (such as the 2.SG and 3G Cellular Systems) where users will be charged on a per packet basis.
~ URL Pruning and Delta-DisplayTM: The pruning algorithm according to the 2o present invention is concerned with the removal of duplicate information when a user moves into an embedded URL from another HTML page. If the embedded URL contains information such as links or text that were already displayed in the previous pages) this redundant information is removed. In this manner, only the difference, or delta, between the web pages selected are displayed on the user's screen. This delta display feature of the present invention utilizes the display area in the wireless device more effectively, saves in terms of bandwidth and the computations required by the user agent, reduces the latency for subsequent URL
requests and allows the user to more quickly identify the object of interest.
This also gives rise to an economic benefit to the users.
~ Universal Applicability: The invention is able to interact with any wireless device that is WAP-enabled.
The product can run on top of the Unix as well as the Windows operating systems. It is fully java compliant and is compatible with HTML and WAP. The product is characterized by a user selectable Grade of Service, an additional browsing layer on top of the converted HTML content for enhancing user friendliness, and a CGI/Java script to WML script converter.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, there is provided a system to facilitate navigation of Internet from a wireless device comprising: ( 1 ) a user keying in a pre-selected URL from a wireless device to create an encrypted request for a specified file; (2) sending the encrypted request to an uplink server residing with an air carrier;
(3) decrypting the request by the uplink server and diverting the decrypted request to an origin server which contains the requested file; (4) an arbitration agent in an origin server receiving the request and sending the HTML file to an intermediate conversion server; (5) the intermediate conversion server converting the file from HTML
format to WML format, performing context management, and sending the converted file back to the origin server; (6) the origin server receiving the WML formatted file and sending the file back to the uplink server; and (7) the uplink server encrypting the WML formatted file and returning the encrypted file to the user's wireless device for suitable browsing.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is provided a system to facilitate navigation of Internet from a wireless device comprising: (1) a user keying in a pre-selected URL from a wireless device to create an encrypted request for a specified file; (2) sending the encrypted request to an uplink server residing with an air carrier; (3) decrypting the request by the uplink server and diverting the decrypted request to an intermediate conversion server ; (4) the intermediate conversion server receiving the request and sending it to an origin server which contains the requested file; (5) the origin server receiving the HTTP
formatted request and retrieving the file specified by the user and returning the file in HTML
format to 1 o the intermediate conversion server; (6) the intermediate conversion server converting the file from HTML format to WML format, performing context management, and sending the converted file back to the uplink server; and (7) the uplink server encrypting the WML formatted file and returning the encrypted file to the user's wireless device for suitable browsing.
Brief Description of the Drawin -f_s In the accompanying drawings which illustrate embodiments of the invention, Figure 1 shows a typical scenario of operations for the preferred embodiment.
Figure 2 shows a high level architecture of the present invention.
2o Figure 3 shows a flowchart of the algorithm for pruning redundant URL's.
Figure 4 shows a flowchart of the algorithm "getUniqueHTMLEIements" used by the algorithm presented in Figure 3.
Figure 5 shows an example of pruning redundant URL's.
Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiment g HTML is used commonly for describing the contents of web pages available from the World Wide Web. HTML was designed for displaying information on a standard desktop connected through a wireline network to an OS. As wireless communication is becoming more and more prevalent, a large body of users is getting interested in using wireless devices for accessing the world wide web. In comparison to a desktop computer, a wireless device is characterized by a lower performance compute and communication system, a smaller and low resolution black and white display, and a limited set of I/O devices. The bandwidths of interconnection networks that carry the webpage contents to wireless devices are orders of magnitude lower 1 o than those used with the wireline systems. HTML was not designed for such devices in mind and gives rise to a number of problems that include: lack of image scaling, lack of content transformation, lack of provisions for semantic compression, and the use of the underlying heavy weight HTTP protocol. The present invention provides an effective solution for these problems that concern the access of HTML based webpages by wireless devices.
The present invention has two major components: The arbitrator agent and the intermediate converter server, referred to as "ICS" in the following text.
Referring to Figure 1, the arbitrator agent 100 resides at the OS. The user's request for an URL is intercepted by the arbitrator agent 100 which sends the HTML-based webpage to the 2o CGI Script 1 residing at the ICS. Located within the ICS is a HTML/WML
converter 2 which performs the HTML to WML translation, as well as the necessary context management and sends the resulting document back to the arbitrator agent in the OS, which in turn forwards the WML-based webpage to the user. The operations performed by ICS are explained in the following paragraphs.
Figure 2 presents a high level architecture of the ICS. As indicated in Figure 1, the system consists of two components: a CGI script 1 and the HTML/WML
converter 2. The operation of the preferred embodiment is explained with the help of the following scenario:
1. 'The user goes to the OS site using the phone browser. The user chooses the menu option "WWW". From this page, she/he can type the URL of the web page she/he wants to see.
2. When the user presses the "go" button, an encrypted request is sent to the UP.Link 1 o server that resides in the air carrier.
3. The UP.Link server decrypts the request and sends it to OS.
4. The OS retrieves the relevant HTML file and uses the arbitrator agent 100 to send it to ICS.
The present invention is designed to address these concerns.
s Summary of the Invention The objective of the present invention is to convert HTML documents into WML. The translated information is presented in a compact and efficient manner so as to suit the well-known characteristics of wireless systems that include low 1 o bandwidth of communication mediums, low power of energy sources, and smaller display areas of wireless devices.
The present invention is characterized by the following highly useful attributes:
~ The system can interact with any WAP enabled wireless device and has two 15 modes of operations. In the first, the wireless user specifies an URL to the system that contacts the OS, which contains the requested URL, does the necessary translations, and sends the results back to the user. In the second, the translation process is totally transparent to the user who directly communicates with the OS.
Based on the Universal Resource Locator (URL) specified by the user, an 20 "arbitrator agent" in the origin server retrieves the data, and forwards the HTML
document to a converter server that does the necessary processing and forwards the resulting WML document to the arbitration agent. The arbitration agent in turn returns the WML file to the user.
~ Mapping of HTML to WML: The system maps HTML documents to WML
25 documents that can be displayed conveniently on the screen of a wireless device.
This is consistent with the prior art in the domain. The inventor's server, however, can handle a set of complex mappings that are not handled by all the other systems. Moreover, the invention utilizes HTML metatags to perform more efficient mappings.
~ Flexibility of Mapping Rules: The mapping and context management performed by the inventor's server is based on a set of rules. A unique feature of this invention is that this set of rules can be stored in a file and thus be tuned to suit the requirements of a specific environment.
~ "Merging and LookAhead": The system parses an HTML document and "looks 1o ahead" into embedded URL's in the page specified by the user to look for the possibilities of context merging. If the material contained in the embedded URL
has commonality with the parent HTML document, the embedded URL is merged with the parent HTML document. This feature of the present invention leads to a reduced size of the text to be displayed on the small screen of a wireless device and also gives rise to bandwidth saving. Consequently, this will lead to a savings to the user of systems in which the user is charged on the basis of airtime as well as packet switched wireless systems (such as the 2.SG and 3G Cellular Systems) where users will be charged on a per packet basis.
~ URL Pruning and Delta-DisplayTM: The pruning algorithm according to the 2o present invention is concerned with the removal of duplicate information when a user moves into an embedded URL from another HTML page. If the embedded URL contains information such as links or text that were already displayed in the previous pages) this redundant information is removed. In this manner, only the difference, or delta, between the web pages selected are displayed on the user's screen. This delta display feature of the present invention utilizes the display area in the wireless device more effectively, saves in terms of bandwidth and the computations required by the user agent, reduces the latency for subsequent URL
requests and allows the user to more quickly identify the object of interest.
This also gives rise to an economic benefit to the users.
~ Universal Applicability: The invention is able to interact with any wireless device that is WAP-enabled.
The product can run on top of the Unix as well as the Windows operating systems. It is fully java compliant and is compatible with HTML and WAP. The product is characterized by a user selectable Grade of Service, an additional browsing layer on top of the converted HTML content for enhancing user friendliness, and a CGI/Java script to WML script converter.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, there is provided a system to facilitate navigation of Internet from a wireless device comprising: ( 1 ) a user keying in a pre-selected URL from a wireless device to create an encrypted request for a specified file; (2) sending the encrypted request to an uplink server residing with an air carrier;
(3) decrypting the request by the uplink server and diverting the decrypted request to an origin server which contains the requested file; (4) an arbitration agent in an origin server receiving the request and sending the HTML file to an intermediate conversion server; (5) the intermediate conversion server converting the file from HTML
format to WML format, performing context management, and sending the converted file back to the origin server; (6) the origin server receiving the WML formatted file and sending the file back to the uplink server; and (7) the uplink server encrypting the WML formatted file and returning the encrypted file to the user's wireless device for suitable browsing.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is provided a system to facilitate navigation of Internet from a wireless device comprising: (1) a user keying in a pre-selected URL from a wireless device to create an encrypted request for a specified file; (2) sending the encrypted request to an uplink server residing with an air carrier; (3) decrypting the request by the uplink server and diverting the decrypted request to an intermediate conversion server ; (4) the intermediate conversion server receiving the request and sending it to an origin server which contains the requested file; (5) the origin server receiving the HTTP
formatted request and retrieving the file specified by the user and returning the file in HTML
format to 1 o the intermediate conversion server; (6) the intermediate conversion server converting the file from HTML format to WML format, performing context management, and sending the converted file back to the uplink server; and (7) the uplink server encrypting the WML formatted file and returning the encrypted file to the user's wireless device for suitable browsing.
Brief Description of the Drawin -f_s In the accompanying drawings which illustrate embodiments of the invention, Figure 1 shows a typical scenario of operations for the preferred embodiment.
Figure 2 shows a high level architecture of the present invention.
2o Figure 3 shows a flowchart of the algorithm for pruning redundant URL's.
Figure 4 shows a flowchart of the algorithm "getUniqueHTMLEIements" used by the algorithm presented in Figure 3.
Figure 5 shows an example of pruning redundant URL's.
Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiment g HTML is used commonly for describing the contents of web pages available from the World Wide Web. HTML was designed for displaying information on a standard desktop connected through a wireline network to an OS. As wireless communication is becoming more and more prevalent, a large body of users is getting interested in using wireless devices for accessing the world wide web. In comparison to a desktop computer, a wireless device is characterized by a lower performance compute and communication system, a smaller and low resolution black and white display, and a limited set of I/O devices. The bandwidths of interconnection networks that carry the webpage contents to wireless devices are orders of magnitude lower 1 o than those used with the wireline systems. HTML was not designed for such devices in mind and gives rise to a number of problems that include: lack of image scaling, lack of content transformation, lack of provisions for semantic compression, and the use of the underlying heavy weight HTTP protocol. The present invention provides an effective solution for these problems that concern the access of HTML based webpages by wireless devices.
The present invention has two major components: The arbitrator agent and the intermediate converter server, referred to as "ICS" in the following text.
Referring to Figure 1, the arbitrator agent 100 resides at the OS. The user's request for an URL is intercepted by the arbitrator agent 100 which sends the HTML-based webpage to the 2o CGI Script 1 residing at the ICS. Located within the ICS is a HTML/WML
converter 2 which performs the HTML to WML translation, as well as the necessary context management and sends the resulting document back to the arbitrator agent in the OS, which in turn forwards the WML-based webpage to the user. The operations performed by ICS are explained in the following paragraphs.
Figure 2 presents a high level architecture of the ICS. As indicated in Figure 1, the system consists of two components: a CGI script 1 and the HTML/WML
converter 2. The operation of the preferred embodiment is explained with the help of the following scenario:
1. 'The user goes to the OS site using the phone browser. The user chooses the menu option "WWW". From this page, she/he can type the URL of the web page she/he wants to see.
2. When the user presses the "go" button, an encrypted request is sent to the UP.Link 1 o server that resides in the air carrier.
3. The UP.Link server decrypts the request and sends it to OS.
4. The OS retrieves the relevant HTML file and uses the arbitrator agent 100 to send it to ICS.
5. The input arriving at I1 of ICS is processed by the CGI script 1 (Figure 2). The CGI script 1 sends the HTML file to the HTML/WML converter 2.
6. HTML/WML converter 2 performs the HTML to WML translation and sends the results back to CGI script 1.
7. CGI script 1 sends the WML document to the OS through O1.
8. The OS uses the arbitrator agent to send the WML file to the UP.Link server.
9. The UP.Link server encrypts the new WML file and returns it to the browser.
HTML/WML converter 2 performs the primary task of the ICS: the HTML to WML conversion. The major functionalities of the HTML/WML converter 2 are as follows:
HTML to WML Translation:
A page with HTML content consists of static components such as text, images, as well as dynamic contents that include animations, video and audio samples demarcated with text known as tags. An effective translation of HTML to WML is required when the content from an origin server is presented to a wireless subscriber who is using a WAP-enabled device. An integral part of this proprietary conversion l0 algorithm is the mapping of HTML tags to WML tags that are of a similar nature. A
detailed description of mappings between HTML and WML tags is presented in the Appendix. The translation algorithm is conscious of the limitations of the wireless device. The inclusion of HTML metatags in the comment sections of an HTML
document aids in the conversion of the document into WML. fhe present invention can effectively utilize the existence of such metatags and can handle pages with both static and dynamic contents.
Context Management:
(1) Looking Ahead and Context Merging:
Two or more seemingly independent components of an HTML document may refer to the same resource. One example is a headline and the accompanying introductory paragraph of an article that appears on a news gathering organization's web page. Different types of objects on the page that include the headline, the text or a "more" button are themselves links. Each of these object contains an URL in an 1 s anchor (<A>) tag pointing to the article itself. Although such a multiplicity of the same link is visually appealing, the limited display space available on a wireless device is not appropriate for viewing such an object with many redundant components. Moreover, if the user decides not to read the article then this additional information goes to a total waste. This costs the user additional airtime as well as 2o bandwidth.
The present invention determines whether the information that appears around and/or as part of an anchor tag in an HTML document also appears in the page that is referenced by the URL embedded as a value of an HREF attribute in the anchor (<A>) tag. If the information does reappear, it is reduced to a single link.
In this manner, no unnecessary information is sent to the wireless user beyond an unwanted headline.
To achieve this goal, the present invention parses the requested HTML
document to determine the presence of redundant information. The HTML/WML
s converter 2 in Figure 2 examines the resource, which is referenced by the embedded URL, hence "looking ahead". "Looking ahead" in this context means examining the content of the resource referenced by the UIRi, in question to determine the reappearance of the same text. If such a repetition is discovered, the headline and introductory text of the article are "merged" into a single URL, which is presented to to the user in a WML card with a meaningful label.
In addition to the removal of superfluous information the context merging software groups logically related pages together. For example, all articles on finance, on a HTML web page will be merged under a single, selectable link in a WML
deck.
The algorithm looks ahead in the web page to identify logically related information.
I S By such a context merging operation the present invention produces a simpler interface for the HTML document to the wireless user. Furthermore, the amount of information that is presented to the wireless subscriber in which she/he holds no interest is significantly reduced. 'This in turn leads to user satisfaction and a reduced airtime cost.
20 (II) Pruning of Redundant URL's:
This component of the system eliminates duplication of URL's described in the previous section. The URL tree pruning algorithm described in Figure 3 receives the requested URL as input. The algorithm uses a function called getUniqueHTMLEIements that is explained with the help of a flowchart presented in Figure 4. If the current HTML document is empty (NULL) the algorithm terminates.
Otherwise it calls the function getUniqueHTML .
The getUniqueHTML algorithm presented in Figure 4 takes a HTML
document as a parameter. It iteratively identifies each embedded URL inside the document that is passed on as the parameter. It discards embedded URL's that have already been displayed, and returns a set of URL's that the user have not viewed in the previous screens. Consider the example presented in Figure S in which both page #1 and page #2 contain URL l, URL 2, URL 3, URL 4 and URL 5. The tree pruning algorithm will remove these URL's from the HTML page #2.
to Another embodiment of the present invention is concerned with the scenario in which the wireless user presents the name of the URL to ICS instead of the OS. A
scenario for this embodiment is as follows:
1. The user goes to the ICS site using the phone browser and types in the URL
of the web page she/he wants to see.
2: When the user presses the "go" button, an encrypted request is sent to the UP.Link server.
3. The UP.Link server decrypts the request and sends it to ICS. This request arriving 2o at I2 is a call to the CGI script 1 (Figure 2) with the specified URL as an input parameter.
4. Through O1 (Figure 2), the CGI script 1 sends an HTTP request for the desired file to the OS that contains the requested URL.
5. The OS receives the HTTP request, retrieves the file and returns it to ICS
through I1 (Figure 2).
6. The CGI script 1 in ICS receives the HTML file, passes it through the 3o HTML/WML
converter 2 (Figure 2) and returns the new WML file to the UP.Link server through 02.
7. The UP.Link server encrypts the new WML file and returns it to the browser.
It is to be understood that the embodiments and variations shown and described herein are merely illustrative of the principles of this invention and that various modifications may be implemented by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.
to
HTML/WML converter 2 performs the primary task of the ICS: the HTML to WML conversion. The major functionalities of the HTML/WML converter 2 are as follows:
HTML to WML Translation:
A page with HTML content consists of static components such as text, images, as well as dynamic contents that include animations, video and audio samples demarcated with text known as tags. An effective translation of HTML to WML is required when the content from an origin server is presented to a wireless subscriber who is using a WAP-enabled device. An integral part of this proprietary conversion l0 algorithm is the mapping of HTML tags to WML tags that are of a similar nature. A
detailed description of mappings between HTML and WML tags is presented in the Appendix. The translation algorithm is conscious of the limitations of the wireless device. The inclusion of HTML metatags in the comment sections of an HTML
document aids in the conversion of the document into WML. fhe present invention can effectively utilize the existence of such metatags and can handle pages with both static and dynamic contents.
Context Management:
(1) Looking Ahead and Context Merging:
Two or more seemingly independent components of an HTML document may refer to the same resource. One example is a headline and the accompanying introductory paragraph of an article that appears on a news gathering organization's web page. Different types of objects on the page that include the headline, the text or a "more" button are themselves links. Each of these object contains an URL in an 1 s anchor (<A>) tag pointing to the article itself. Although such a multiplicity of the same link is visually appealing, the limited display space available on a wireless device is not appropriate for viewing such an object with many redundant components. Moreover, if the user decides not to read the article then this additional information goes to a total waste. This costs the user additional airtime as well as 2o bandwidth.
The present invention determines whether the information that appears around and/or as part of an anchor tag in an HTML document also appears in the page that is referenced by the URL embedded as a value of an HREF attribute in the anchor (<A>) tag. If the information does reappear, it is reduced to a single link.
In this manner, no unnecessary information is sent to the wireless user beyond an unwanted headline.
To achieve this goal, the present invention parses the requested HTML
document to determine the presence of redundant information. The HTML/WML
s converter 2 in Figure 2 examines the resource, which is referenced by the embedded URL, hence "looking ahead". "Looking ahead" in this context means examining the content of the resource referenced by the UIRi, in question to determine the reappearance of the same text. If such a repetition is discovered, the headline and introductory text of the article are "merged" into a single URL, which is presented to to the user in a WML card with a meaningful label.
In addition to the removal of superfluous information the context merging software groups logically related pages together. For example, all articles on finance, on a HTML web page will be merged under a single, selectable link in a WML
deck.
The algorithm looks ahead in the web page to identify logically related information.
I S By such a context merging operation the present invention produces a simpler interface for the HTML document to the wireless user. Furthermore, the amount of information that is presented to the wireless subscriber in which she/he holds no interest is significantly reduced. 'This in turn leads to user satisfaction and a reduced airtime cost.
20 (II) Pruning of Redundant URL's:
This component of the system eliminates duplication of URL's described in the previous section. The URL tree pruning algorithm described in Figure 3 receives the requested URL as input. The algorithm uses a function called getUniqueHTMLEIements that is explained with the help of a flowchart presented in Figure 4. If the current HTML document is empty (NULL) the algorithm terminates.
Otherwise it calls the function getUniqueHTML .
The getUniqueHTML algorithm presented in Figure 4 takes a HTML
document as a parameter. It iteratively identifies each embedded URL inside the document that is passed on as the parameter. It discards embedded URL's that have already been displayed, and returns a set of URL's that the user have not viewed in the previous screens. Consider the example presented in Figure S in which both page #1 and page #2 contain URL l, URL 2, URL 3, URL 4 and URL 5. The tree pruning algorithm will remove these URL's from the HTML page #2.
to Another embodiment of the present invention is concerned with the scenario in which the wireless user presents the name of the URL to ICS instead of the OS. A
scenario for this embodiment is as follows:
1. The user goes to the ICS site using the phone browser and types in the URL
of the web page she/he wants to see.
2: When the user presses the "go" button, an encrypted request is sent to the UP.Link server.
3. The UP.Link server decrypts the request and sends it to ICS. This request arriving 2o at I2 is a call to the CGI script 1 (Figure 2) with the specified URL as an input parameter.
4. Through O1 (Figure 2), the CGI script 1 sends an HTTP request for the desired file to the OS that contains the requested URL.
5. The OS receives the HTTP request, retrieves the file and returns it to ICS
through I1 (Figure 2).
6. The CGI script 1 in ICS receives the HTML file, passes it through the 3o HTML/WML
converter 2 (Figure 2) and returns the new WML file to the UP.Link server through 02.
7. The UP.Link server encrypts the new WML file and returns it to the browser.
It is to be understood that the embodiments and variations shown and described herein are merely illustrative of the principles of this invention and that various modifications may be implemented by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.
to
Claims (2)
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:
1. A system to facilitate navigation of Internet from a wireless device comprising:
a user keying in a pre-selected URL from a wireless device to create an encrypted request for a specified file;
sending the encrypted request to an uplink server residing with an air carrier;
decrypting the request by said uplink server and diverting the decrypted request to an origin server which contains the requested file;
an arbitration agent in said origin server receiving the request and sending the HTML file to an intermediate conversion server;
said intermediate conversion server converting said file from HTML format to WML format, performing context management, and sending said converted file back to said origin server;
said origin server receiving the WML formatted file and sending said file back to the uplink server; and said uplink server encrypting said WML formatted file and returning said encrypted file to the user's wireless device for suitable browsing.
a user keying in a pre-selected URL from a wireless device to create an encrypted request for a specified file;
sending the encrypted request to an uplink server residing with an air carrier;
decrypting the request by said uplink server and diverting the decrypted request to an origin server which contains the requested file;
an arbitration agent in said origin server receiving the request and sending the HTML file to an intermediate conversion server;
said intermediate conversion server converting said file from HTML format to WML format, performing context management, and sending said converted file back to said origin server;
said origin server receiving the WML formatted file and sending said file back to the uplink server; and said uplink server encrypting said WML formatted file and returning said encrypted file to the user's wireless device for suitable browsing.
2. A system to facilitate navigation of Internet from a wireless device comprising:
a user keying in a pre-selected URL from a wireless device to create an encrypted request for a specified file;
sending the encrypted request to an uplink server residing with an air carrier;
decrypting the request by said uplink server and diverting the decrypted request to an intermediate conversion server;
said intermediate conversion server receiving the request and sending it to an origin server which contains the requested file;
said origin server receiving the HTTP formatted request and retrieving the file specified by the user and returning said file in HTML format to said intermediate conversion server;
said intermediate conversion server converting said file from HTML format to WML format, performing context management, and sending said converted file back to the uplink server; and said uplink server encrypting said WML formatted file and returning said encrypted file to the user's wireless device for suitable browsing.
a user keying in a pre-selected URL from a wireless device to create an encrypted request for a specified file;
sending the encrypted request to an uplink server residing with an air carrier;
decrypting the request by said uplink server and diverting the decrypted request to an intermediate conversion server;
said intermediate conversion server receiving the request and sending it to an origin server which contains the requested file;
said origin server receiving the HTTP formatted request and retrieving the file specified by the user and returning said file in HTML format to said intermediate conversion server;
said intermediate conversion server converting said file from HTML format to WML format, performing context management, and sending said converted file back to the uplink server; and said uplink server encrypting said WML formatted file and returning said encrypted file to the user's wireless device for suitable browsing.
Priority Applications (4)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA002310660A CA2310660A1 (en) | 2000-06-02 | 2000-06-02 | System to facilitate navigation of internet from a wireless device |
| CA002344732A CA2344732A1 (en) | 2000-06-02 | 2001-05-04 | System to facilitate navigation of internet from a wireless device |
| AU2001268859A AU2001268859A1 (en) | 2000-06-02 | 2001-05-31 | System to facilite navigation of internet from a wireless device |
| PCT/CA2001/000799 WO2001093068A2 (en) | 2000-06-02 | 2001-05-31 | System to facilite navigation of internet from a wireless device |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA002310660A CA2310660A1 (en) | 2000-06-02 | 2000-06-02 | System to facilitate navigation of internet from a wireless device |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA2310660A1 true CA2310660A1 (en) | 2001-12-02 |
Family
ID=4166380
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA002310660A Abandoned CA2310660A1 (en) | 2000-06-02 | 2000-06-02 | System to facilitate navigation of internet from a wireless device |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| CA (1) | CA2310660A1 (en) |
Cited By (2)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WO2005008535A1 (en) * | 2003-07-10 | 2005-01-27 | Computer Associates Think, Inc. | Web product interface system and method |
| SG143049A1 (en) * | 2002-04-16 | 2008-06-27 | Nanyang Polytechnic | Method and apparatus for authoring and publishing web pages |
-
2000
- 2000-06-02 CA CA002310660A patent/CA2310660A1/en not_active Abandoned
Cited By (3)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SG143049A1 (en) * | 2002-04-16 | 2008-06-27 | Nanyang Polytechnic | Method and apparatus for authoring and publishing web pages |
| WO2005008535A1 (en) * | 2003-07-10 | 2005-01-27 | Computer Associates Think, Inc. | Web product interface system and method |
| US8204849B2 (en) | 2003-07-10 | 2012-06-19 | Ca, Inc. | Web product interface system and method |
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