WO2007000679A2

WO2007000679A2 - Presentation of hyperlinks in a document

Info

Publication number: WO2007000679A2
Application number: PCT/IB2006/051922
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ronald L. C. Koymans
Original assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.
Priority date: 2005-06-28
Filing date: 2006-06-15
Publication date: 2007-01-04
Also published as: WO2007000679A3

Abstract

A method and device for presenting hyperlinks in a document comprising displaying (102) a present document and identifying (104) words and similar objects in that document. For each object, identifying (110) a hyperlink document and applying (114) the hyperlink to the object. Determining (118) at least one relevance criterion and scoring (126) the hyperlink document against the criterion. Finally, presenting (128) the hyperlinked object in the present document based on the hyperlink document score.

Description

DESCRIPTION

PRESENTATION OF HYPERLINKS IN A DOCUMENT

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for rendering electronic documents and in particular hyperlinks associated therewith.

With the advent of the World Wide Web, browsing hyperlinked text has become an almost daily routine for most people in the developed world, both at work and at home. Typically, an author will make a judgement which terms or objects within his/her text require clarification or elaboration and will provide hyperlinks to link to suitable further documents. Such judgement may be based on the author's perception of the knowledge level of the target readership or perhaps to guide the reader through a set of documents in a pre-determined sequence. Of course, the knowledge level of the target readership will vary and therefore not all hyperlinked documents may be appropriate for a particular reader; for example, a novice reader may require additional clarification or explanation but an experienced reader will not. Furthermore, a reader may not find reading a set of documents in a pre-determined sequence the most efficient way of accessing information he/she requires.

When faced with such problems, some readers will search on-line resources such as dictionaries or encyclopaedia to obtain additional clarification or explanation of a term or expression in a document. This approach has disadvantages in that the reading context of the original document is lost while looking up external references and this is further exacerbated in that the reader has also to assess the relevance of the search results.

An improvement is disclosed by International Application WO 2004/021219A2 which discloses a database associating keywords and phrases to respective Internet website pages. If the text data of an Internet page is found to contain words and phrases logged in the database, relevant synchronisation code is inserted into the source code of the Internet page making the words and phrases hypertext links to the network location URL of the related data. Although the method maintains the reader's context while reading a page, it does not address the relevance of the hyperlinks presented to a particular reader of the Internet page. Furthermore, the method is reliant on a suitable database being constructed and maintained.

It is an object of the invention to improve the presentation of hyperlinked text to a reader.

In accordance with the present invention there is provided a method for presenting hyperlinks in a document comprising:

- displaying a present document;

- identifying objects in the present document;

- for each object, o identifying a further document referenced by a hyperlink; and o applying the hyperlink to the object;

- determining at least one relevance criterion; and

- for each identified further document, o comparing the document to the at least one relevance criterion; o scoring the document according to the result of the comparison; and o presenting the hyperlinked object in the present document in dependence on the document score.

An advantage is that an assessment is made of the relevance of a hyperlinked document identified for an object within the present document.

The method is suitable for use with existing schemes and methods for identifying further hyperlinked documents from an object within the present document, such as a keyword, phrase, picture, and the like. Therefore, from objects within a given document a set of hyperlinked documents is identified, each of which is scored for relevance. Furthermore any documents originally hyperlinked from objects in the present document can be, and preferably are, scored for relevance. Any suitable criteria may be used to score relevance. In particular, the number of references for the object within the hyperlinked document is identified as being an advantageous indicator, for example as evidence that the document likely contains information relating to the object. Optionally, reader input is used for assessment of relevance; for example inputting specific requirements, or a skill/knowledge profile, or the like. In another example, a relevance criterion might be determined according to the number of further hyperlinked documents that are available for linking to an object; the object could then be construed as representing common knowledge. Typically, one of the set of further documents would be identified for hyperlinking to such an object and its relevance might be scored relatively low accordingly. Optionally, input from a reader experienced in the relevant subject or topic could suppress presentation of hyperlinked objects referencing documents containing common knowledge. Furthermore, reader activity and habits can be utilised as automatic input. Advantageously, presentation of a hyperlinked object is in dependence on the relevance score of its associated hyperlinked document. All hyperlinked objects within the present document may be presented, with those having the same or similar relevance being so identified and distinct from those having a different relevance. Alternatively, only hyperlinked objects within a given relevance range may be presented, optionally with no distinction between members of such a set. Furthermore, hyperlinked objects, which due to their non relevance, are not to be indicated may, optionally, also be deactivated or removed. A reader may provide input data, such a relevance score threshold, to determine which hyperlinked objects are presented. Advantageously, the source code of the present document is typically easily adapted to indicate the required hyperlinked objects according to given relevance criteria, as is well known in the art. For example adapting HTML or XML source code to apply a hyperlink to an object such as a word, phrase, picture, etc. and associate a reference (e.g. URL) to the relevant hyperlinked document and/or other data. According to a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a device comprising a processor, program memory, data memory, user interface and display, all interconnected by a data communications bus, the processor being operable to perform, under control of instructions contained in the program memory, the method herein described.

In operation, the data memory typically contains documents and relevance data. In principle, the device can operate stand alone, for example as a tutoring device wherein the reader could adjust the relevance level as he/she became more experienced in the subject being studied. Preferably, the device can be connected to removable storage (such as HDD, CD, USB stick, memory card, etc.), to a bus (such as USB, Firewire) and/or a network interface (such as Ethernet, WiFi, ZigBee) to access additional/alternative documents and data from local and/or remote sources (including the Internet) to thereby expand the capability of the device. Typical devices, in addition to traditional PCs, might include remote controls, PDAs, mobile phones and text- specific devices (such as electronic books and the like).

In conclusion, the present invention provides the advantages of identifying and assessing the relevance of hyperlinked documents and presenting the associated hyperlinked objects according to relevance scoring. Furthermore, a reader may provide input data to determine which hyperlinked objects are indicated thereby adjusting the presentation of hyperlinks to correspond more closely with his/her requirements or expectations.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a flowchart of a method for presenting hyperlinks in a document; Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of a device for presenting hyperlinks in a document; and

Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of an e-book for presenting hyperlinked documents.

In the present description, the following terms are defined. The term

'object' means an element of a document such as a word, a phrase (grouping of words - irrespective of whether such grouping does, or does not, have a particular meaning), picture, punctuation, whitespace or the like. The term 'hyperlink' means a reference associated with an object in a document, the reference referring to another document or another object in the same document. A reader can select, for example by means of a mouse click or stylus touch, the hyperlinked object to access the referenced other document or object.

Figure 1 shows a flowchart of a method for presenting hyperlinks in a document. The method starts at 100 by displaying 102 a present document wherein objects in the document are identified at step 104. Typically objects such as words or phrases are identified within the document. For example in the case of a Web page, by scanning the source HTML code for nouns, nouns coupled with adjectives, uncommon verbs and so forth. Similarly, pictures may be identified by analysis of their associated textual or other metadata. Various techniques for identifying such objects are known to the skilled person. Objects 106 that have been identified are each in turn 108 used to identify 110 a further document.

For word or phrase objects, one way to identify a document is to search a suitable existing online encyclopaedia, for example Wikipedia. To find documents related to a word, for example 'bluebird', the method could send an HTTP GET command using appropriate syntax comprising: http://en.wikipedia.org/wi ki/Special:Search?search=bluebird&go=Go. To find documents related to a phrase, for example 'tit for tat', the method could send an HTTP GET command using appropriate syntax comprising: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=tit%20for%20tat&go=Go. The method would check that the returned result was usable. For the Wikipedia example, in the case where the result does not include information about the keyword or phrase, Wikipedia returns a HTML page including the text "No page with that title exists". Clearly, in such case the object might not be further considered as a candidate for applying a hyperlink. The above procedure provides for automatic search and automatic checking of usable results. Other suitable methods are readily identifiable by the skilled person. Following the identification 110 of a further document, a hyperlink is applied 114 to a respective identified object 106 in the present document, the hyperlink referencing a respective further document 112. The process is repeated 116 until a hyperlink is applied to each respective identified object in the present document.

At 118 at least one relevance criterion is determined. Preferably a criterion is determined in an automatic fashion, such as determining the number of references to the object within the further document or how many potential further hyperlinked documents were identified for an object. In addition, or alternatively, the habits or activity of the reader can be used such as the number of prior accesses made to the further document. In such cases a suitable weighting may be applied for example giving preference to recent activity over older activities, so as to allow a reader to change or develop his/her interests over time. Clearly, a relevance criterion can, in addition or alternatively, be determined directly by a reader, for example by inputting data corresponding to an interest profile (e.g. based on work or hobby activities) and/or experience profile indicating keywords of known and/or desired knowledge. Such input from a reader could influence presentation of hyperlinked objects in the present document, for example hyperlinked objects referencing documents which were construed by further criteria as containing common knowledge.

Each further document 112 is then compared 122 to at least one determined relevance criterion and is scored 126 according to the result 124 of the comparison. At a first level, the comparison may simply comprise whether the document contents match the criterion or not. Preferably, the result of the comparison is a value which represents the degree of compliance with the criterion; for example, where the criterion is the number of references to an object within the further document, the result represents this number. In this way a further document can be scored using a finer (higher resolution) value than a simple 'pass/fail' comparison result would permit. Furthermore, the score is then rationalised such that it fits within a known value range, for example the range 0 to 1. Using the present example where the criterion is the number of references to objects within respective further documents, for a particular present document, the score for each further document is rationalised based on its result compared to the comparison result having the greatest number of references. An advantage of a rationalised scoring scheme is that the relative relevance of hyperlinked objects within the present document can be readily assessed using a consistent scale.

The rationalised score of a particular document is then used to determine the presentation 128 of the associated hyperlinked object to the reader. Clearly, hyperlinked objects referring to documents having the same or very similar rationalised score will likely be presented in similar fashion. The rationalised score allows a broad range of presentations (visually indicating hyperlinked objects to denote respective scores) for example using colours, fonts, highlighting, etc. Furthermore, a threshold can be set and used to determine whether a hyperlinked object is visually indicated, for example when the further document referenced by the hyperlink has a score which exceeds the threshold. The threshold is preferably set by the reader, for example using a control knob or on-screen user interface dialogue. In addition, or alternatively, the hyperlink is removed from the object when the further document referenced by the hyperlink has a score which, for example equals, or is less than, the set threshold. The method then checks 130 that all documents have been scored and ends at 132.

Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of a device 200 for presenting hyperlinks in a document. The device comprises a CPU 202, display 204, user interface Ul 206, program memory 208 and data memory 210 all interconnected via data bus 216 in known fashion. The CPU operates according to instructions contained in the program memory to perform the above described method on documents contained in the data memory. One example of a suitable program is an adapted Web browser client program, perhaps in the form of a suitable plug-in. Another example is a PDA running a word processor which can access a built in dictionary or thesaurus wherein words of a document are hyperlinked to the dictionary or thesaurus and the reader can set the threshold as discussed above to adjust the sensitivity of the hyperlinking according to desired amount of assistance required. Preferably, the threshold can be set as required by the reader, to range between presenting at one extreme no hyperlinked objects, and at another extreme all hyperlinked objects. The CPU may be an embedded processor for a handheld or portable device or a desktop style processor as is conventionally known. Optionally, the device comprises an interface 214 for removable media such as a portable hard disk drive 218, flash memory 220 or optical media 222. In addition, or alternatively, the device further comprises a wired or wireless interface 212 for network or bus access 224 to a server 226, for example the interface comprises a telecom modem (POTS, xDSL, etc.) or a port (for Ethernet, USB, WiFi, ZigBee, Firewire, etc.). The external sources (removable media and network devices/servers) permit access to a range of further or alternative documents for the purpose of hyperlinking from the present document currently viewed on the device. Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of an e-book device 302 for presenting hyperlinked documents. The e-book device is one example of the device described generally in relation to Figure 2. The e-book 302 comprises a screen 304, user input keys 306 for selecting and navigating the pages and sections of a book stored within memory (not shown) or within removable memory card 310. As the reader reads a particular book on the e-book device, the processor will identify objects (e.g. words, phrases, pictures) within the e-book and try to identify and score further documents (e.g. dictionary definitions, background information, etc.). These further documents may be available in memory within the device, or within the memory card or perhaps by another means, for example a wireless modem connection 312, 314 to an Internet source (Internet server 316). Hyperlinked objects (words, phrases, pictures) are then presented to the reader integrated within the main text of the book. As earlier discussed, hyperlinked objects are visually indicated, such indication being subject to the relevance of documents referenced by the hyperlinks. A threshold can be set by the reader using control knob 308 to display hyperlinked objects referring to documents which have a relevance score which is above the set threshold. The foregoing method and implementations are presented by way of examples only and represent a selection of a range of methods and implementations that can readily be identified by a person skilled in the art to exploit the advantages of the present invention. In the description above and with reference to Figure 1 , there is provided a method and device for presenting hyperlinks in a document comprising displaying 102 a present document and identifying 104 words and similar objects in that document. For each object, identifying 110 a hyperlink document and applying 114 the hyperlink to the object. Determining 118 at least one relevance criterion and scoring 126 the hyperlink document against the criterion. Finally, presenting 128 the hyperlinked object in the present document based on the hyperlink document score.

Claims

1. A method for presenting hyperlinks in a document comprising:

- displaying (102) a present document; - identifying (104) objects in the present document;

- for each object, o identifying (110) a further document referenced by a hyperlink; and o applying (114) the hyperlink to the object; - determining (118) at least one relevance criterion; and

- for each identified further document, o comparing (122) the document to the at least one relevance criterion; o scoring (126) the document according to the result of the comparison; and o presenting (128) the hyperlinked object in the present document in dependence on the document score.

2. A method according to claim 1 , wherein a relevance criterion is the number of references for the object within the further document.

3. A method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a relevance criterion is the number of prior accesses made to the further document.

4. A method according to any of claims 1 to 3, wherein a relevance criterion is the number of further hyperlinked documents that can be identified for an object.

5. A method according to any of claims 1 to 4, wherein a relevance criterion is determined by a user.

6. A method according to any of claims 1 to 5, wherein presenting is by visually indicating the hyperlinked object to denote the score of the further document referenced by the hyperlink.

7. A method according to any of claims 1 to 6, wherein presenting is by visually indicating the hyperlinked object when the further document referenced by the hyperlink has a score which exceeds a set threshold.

8. A method according to claim 7, wherein the threshold is set by the user.

9. A method according to claim 7 or 8, further comprising removing the hyperlink from the object when the further document referenced by the hyperlink has a score which equals, or is less than, the set threshold.

10. A device (200) comprising a processor (202), program memory (208), data memory (210), user interface (206) and display (204), all interconnected by a data communications bus (216), the processor being operable to perform, under control of instructions contained in the program memory, the method of any of claims 1 to 9.

11. A device according to claim 10 further comprising an interface (214, 212) for communicating with removable storage (218, 220, 222) or a network server (226).

12. A PC, remote control, PDA, e-book device (302) or mobile phone comprising the device according to claim 10 or 11.

13. Instructions for causing a processor to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 9.

14. A machine-readable carrier storing the instructions of claim 13.

15. A web browser comprising the instructions of claim 13.