U.S. patent application number 10/091276 was filed with the patent office on 2004-10-14 for content replacement in electronically-provided archived material.
This patent application is currently assigned to Microsoft Corporation. Invention is credited to Cooper, Michael S., Wecker, David Brian.
Application Number | 20040205508 10/091276 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 33129602 |
Filed Date | 2004-10-14 |
United States Patent
Application |
20040205508 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Wecker, David Brian ; et
al. |
October 14, 2004 |
Content replacement in electronically-provided archived
material
Abstract
A document, publication or a portion of a publication containing
collateral information (e.g. advertisements) is delivered in
electronic form, preferably appearing electronically as it appears
in traditional printed form. Collateral information associated with
the document, publication or portion of the publication is
dynamically replaced, enabling the user to potentially receive more
useful and relevant information and enabling the publisher to
potentially generate new revenue from the replaced collateral
information.
Inventors: |
Wecker, David Brian;
(Redmond, WA) ; Cooper, Michael S.; (Mercer
Island, WA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
Susan C. Murphy
Woodcock Washburn LLP
46th Floor
One Liberty Place
Philadelphia
PA
19103
US
|
Assignee: |
Microsoft Corporation
|
Family ID: |
33129602 |
Appl. No.: |
10/091276 |
Filed: |
March 5, 2002 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
715/201 ;
705/14.1; 705/14.46; 705/14.68; 705/14.69; 715/205; 715/234 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 30/0247 20130101;
G06Q 30/0273 20130101; G06Q 30/0272 20130101; G06Q 30/0207
20130101; G06F 40/174 20200101 |
Class at
Publication: |
715/501.1 ;
715/513; 715/500 |
International
Class: |
G06F 017/24 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A method for providing archived material comprising: retrieving
a first instance of archived material comprising a plurality of
items; and determining that at least one of the plurality of items
is substitutable; selecting a new item according to at least one
rule; generating a second instance of archived material by
replacing the at least one substitutable item in the first instance
with the new item.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising charging a fee to a
provider of the new item for replacing the at least one
substitutable item with the new item.
3. The method of claim 1, further comprising rendering the second
instance of archived material.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first instance is retrieved
from a data store resident on a first computing device, and wherein
the method further comprises transmitting the second instance to a
second computing device communicatively coupled to the first
computing device.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the substitutable item comprises
a substitutable advertisement and the new item comprises a current
advertisement.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the substitutable item has a
first position on a page and a first size, the new item has a
second position on the page and a second size and the first size is
substantially identical to the second size and the first position
is substantially identical to the second position.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein at least a particular one of the
plurality of items is described by meta-data.
8. The method of claim 7, wherein the meta-data comprises geometric
data which specifies the position of the item on a page.
9. The method of claim 7, wherein the meta-data comprises category
data that specifies that the particular one of the items is either
text, collateral content, or an image.
10. The method of claim 7, wherein the meta-data comprises temporal
relevancy data which represents a date beyond which the item is
substitutable.
11. The method of claim 7, wherein the meta-data comprises a link
to information related to the item.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein the related information
comprises at least one of: a document, a text item, an image item,
a collateral content item, and a coupon.
13. The method of claim 7, wherein the meta-data comprises business
information.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein the business information
comprises at least one of item provider, item owner, item sponsor,
and cost.
15. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that at least one of
the plurality of items is substitutable is based on the at least
one item being outdated.
16. A system for rendering archived material comprising: a first
data store which stores a plurality of instances of archived
material, wherein at least one of the instances comprises a
plurality of items; a second data store which stores a plurality of
rules for replacing at least a first one of the plurality of items
with a second item; and a software module which creates a second
instance of archived material based on the first instance by
replacing the first item with the second item.
17. The system of claim 16, wherein the first item comprises a
first advertisement which is a substitutable advertisement, and
wherein the second item comprises a second advertisement which is a
current advertisement.
18. The system of claim 17, wherein the first advertisement is
determined to be substitutable by comparing a date on which a
request is received with an expiration date associated with the
first advertisement, wherein said date on which said document
request is received is later than said expiration date.
19. The system of claim 17, wherein the second advertisement is
determined to be current by comparing a date on which a request is
received with an expiration date associated with the second
advertisement, wherein said system date predates said expiration
date.
20. The system of claim 16, wherein the data store of instances of
archived material is resident on a first computing device and
wherein the system further comprises a module which transmits the
second instance to a second computing device communicatively
coupled to the first computing device via a communications
network.
21. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a data
structure associated with an item, the item comprising a portion of
a document that appears on a page, the data structure comprising: a
first data field comprising category data of the item, wherein the
category data describes a type of item, the type of item comprising
one of: text, an image, and an advertisement; a second data field
comprising geometric data of the item, wherein the geometric data
describes one of a physical location of the item within a page and
the size of an item; and a third data field comprising relevancy
data, wherein the relevancy data comprises a date beyond which an
item is outdated.
22. The computer readable medium of claim 21, the data structure
stored thereon further comprising: a fourth data field comprising a
link, wherein the link comprises a reference to information related
to the item.
23. The computer readable medium of claim 22, the data structure
stored thereon further comprising: a fifth data field comprising
business information, wherein the business information comprises at
least one of a provider of the item, an owner of the item, a
sponsor of the item, and a cost associated with the item.
24. A computer-readable medium including computer-executable
instructions for performing steps comprising: reading a node
representative of a document; determining, based on the first node,
that the document comprises a plurality of items, each of the items
being represented by one of a plurality of second nodes; and for
each second node: determining the geometric boundaries of the item
represented by the node; and placing a piece of content associated
with the item within the geometric boundaries of the item, wherein
a first one of the items has a temporal constraint associated
therewith, and wherein the act of placing a piece of content
associated with the first item comprises identifying a piece of
content that meets the temporal constraint.
25. The computer-readable medium of claim 24, wherein said piece of
content that meets the temporal constraint comprises a
revenue-generating advertisement, wherein the advertisement's
generation of revenue is dependent upon the time that the
advertisement is either printed or included in an
electronically-provided document.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates generally to the field of
computing. More particularly, the invention relates to a system and
method for rendering, on demand, archived material electronically
while replacing some original substitutable content in the
delivered material.
BACKGROUND
[0002] As publishing costs and postage rates soar, publishers of
archived material such as printed periodicals are searching for
innovative ways to increase their bottom line. For example, many
periodicals routinely publish electronic versions of current issues
on a web site, in addition to traditional printed versions.
Typically, however, such electronically available versions have
failed to generate the hoped-for revenues. In fact, typically web
site-published periodicals do not generate the gross revenue that
their printed counterparts do. Many believe that the reason for
these disappointing results has to do with the look and feel of the
web product. Many believe that readers prefer the look and feel of
the traditional printed product. Publishers thus have recently
become interested in providing electronic copies of their
publications in a form visually similar to that of the printed
product.
[0003] In addition to the publication of current issues of
periodicals, it is widely believed that a largely untapped market
for archived material (e.g., back issues of periodicals) exists.
For example, perhaps a reader would like to read an article
published in the January 2000 edition of the magazine Today's
Equine. Publishers typically make back issues of their printed
publications available for sale to subscribers on a limited basis,
so the reader could contact the publisher of Today's Equine and
request to purchase the January 2000 issue. If a January 2000 issue
of Today's Equine is available, the reader may be able to acquire
the back issue. Such activity is not likely to generate large
amounts of revenue for the publisher, because of associated costs
of producing and delivering a printed publication and because no
new advertising revenue is associated therewith. Additionally, the
relevant information (e.g., the magazine article of interest to the
reader) is typically accompanied by collateral information (e.g.,
one or more advertisements) that are no longer relevant. For
example, perhaps the article of interest to the reader is an
article on horses. The article on horses may be accompanied by at
least one advertisement for a sale on horse feed, but, for example,
(depending on how old the article is) the sale may be over, or that
particular brand of horse feed may not be available in the
geographic location of the requester.
[0004] Perhaps the article as published in the January 2000 Today's
Equine is available electronically. Since typically 60-70% of the
cost of producing a typical magazine is paid for by advertising, it
would seem logical to exploit this potential "new" source of
revenue by providing the January 2000 issue electronically, perhaps
as it appeared in printed form, but with a current advertisement or
with an advertisement targeted to the requestor, providing the
opportunity both to receive new revenue from an advertiser and to
expand the delivery of back issues of publications or other
archived material to readers. Moreover, it may be desirable to
retain the look of the printed document, while replacing old
collateral information (e.g., advertisements) with new information,
for which the collateral information provider (e.g., advertiser)
could be charged a new fee. To date, however, no mechanism to do
this is known.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0005] Archived material, such as but not limited to, television
programming, a document, publication or a portion of a publication
or publications containing collateral information (e.g.
advertisements) is delivered to a requestor in electronic form,
optionally appearing electronically as it appears in traditional
printed form. Collateral information associated with the archived
material is dynamically replaced, enabling the requestor to
potentially receive more useful or more relevant information and
enabling the publisher to potentially generate new revenue from
replacing the collateral information as well as from the requestor
for receiving the information.
[0006] Meta-data describes features of archived material including
features of components of a document and may be explicit, implicit
or inferable. Meta-data may exist as a separate entity or may be
embedded within the data stream itself. In one embodiment, original
documents are stored in a document store, meta-data is stored in a
meta-data store, collateral content is stored in a collateral
content store and rules for replacement of content is stored in a
rules store. In another embodiment a tree data structure is used as
a basis to generate the archived material, including the
replaceable or substitutable part of the content.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0007] The foregoing summary, as well as the following detailed
description of preferred embodiments, is better understood when
read in conjunction with the appended drawings. For the purpose of
illustrating the invention, there is shown in the drawings
exemplary constructions of the invention; however, the invention is
not limited to the specific methods and instrumentalities
disclosed. In the drawings:
[0008] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary computing
environment in which aspects of the invention may be
implemented;
[0009] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a software application that
executes in the computing environment of FIG. 1, and that displays
documents electronically, replacing portions of the display with
updated content;
[0010] FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an exemplary data structure for
displaying a document electronically, where portions of the display
are replaced with updated content;
[0011] FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of an exemplary method for
replacing collateral information associated with a document in an
electronically provided document; and
[0012] FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an exemplary tree data
structure for displaying a document electronically, where portions
of the display are replaced.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Exemplary Computing Environment
[0013] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a suitable computing system
environment 100 in which the invention may be implemented. The
computing system environment 100 is only one example of a suitable
computing environment and is not intended to suggest any limitation
as to the scope of use or functionality of the invention. Neither
should the computing environment 100 be interpreted as having any
dependency or requirement relating to any one or combination of
components illustrated in the exemplary operating environment
100.
[0014] The invention is operational with numerous other general
purpose or special purpose computing system environments or
configurations. Examples of well known computing systems,
environments, and/or configurations that may be suitable for use
with the invention include, but are not limited to, personal
computers, server computers, hand-held or laptop devices,
multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based systems, set top
boxes, programmable consumer electronics, network PCs,
minicomputers, mainframe computers, distributed computing
environments that include any of the above systems or devices, and
the like.
[0015] The invention may be described in the general context of
computer-executable instructions, such as program modules, being
executed by a computer. Generally, program modules include
routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc. that
perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data
types. The invention may also be practiced in distributed computing
environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices
that are linked through a communications network or other data
transmission medium. In a distributed computing environment,
program modules and other data may be located in both local and
remote computer storage media including memory storage devices.
[0016] With reference to FIG. 1, an exemplary system for
implementing the invention includes a general purpose computing
device in the form of a computer 110. Components of computer 110
may include, but are not limited to, a processing unit 120, a
system memory 130, and a system bus 121 that couples various system
components including the system memory to the processing unit 120.
The system bus 121 may be any of several types of bus structures
including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and
a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. By way of
example, and not limitation, such architectures include Industry
Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, Micro Channel Architecture (MCA)
bus, Enhanced ISA (EISA) bus, Video Electronics Standards
Association (VESA) local bus, and Peripheral Component Interconnect
(PCI) bus (also known as Mezzanine bus).
[0017] Computer 110 typically includes a variety of computer
readable media. Computer readable media can be any available medium
that can be accessed by computer 110 and includes both volatile and
nonvolatile media, removable and non-removable media. By way of
example, and not limitation, computer readable media may comprise
computer storage media and communication media. Computer storage
media includes both volatile and nonvolatile, removable and
non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for
storage of information such as computer readable instructions, data
structures, program modules or other data. Computer storage media
includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or
other memory technology, CDROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or
other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape,
magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any
other medium which can be used to store the desired information and
which can be accessed by computer 110. Communication media
typically embodies computer readable instructions, data structures,
program modules or other data in a modulated data signal such as a
carrier wave or other transport mechanism and includes any
information delivery media. The term "modulated data signal" means
a signal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed
in such a manner as to encode information in the signal. By way of
example, and not limitation, communication media includes wired
media such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and
wireless media such as acoustic, RF, infrared and other wireless
media. Combinations of any of the above should also be included
within the scope of computer readable media.
[0018] The system memory 130 includes computer storage media in the
form of volatile and/or nonvolatile memory such as read only memory
(ROM) 131 and random access memory (RAM) 132. A basic input/output
system 133 (BIOS), containing the basic routines that help to
transfer information between elements within computer 110, such as
during start-up, is typically stored in ROM 131. RAM 132 typically
contains data and/or program modules that are immediately
accessible to and/or presently being operated on by processing unit
120. By way of example, and not limitation, FIG. 1 illustrates
operating system 134, application programs 135, other program
modules 136, and program data 137.
[0019] The computer 110 may also include other
removable/non-removable, volatile/nonvolatile computer storage
media. By way of example only, FIG. 1 illustrates a hard disk drive
140 that reads from or writes to non-removable, nonvolatile
magnetic media, a magnetic disk drive 151 that reads from or writes
to a removable, nonvolatile magnetic disk 152, and an optical disk
drive 155 that reads from or writes to a removable, nonvolatile
optical disk 156, such as a CD ROM or other optical media. Other
removable/non-removable, volatile/nonvolatile computer storage
media that can be used in the exemplary operating environment
include, but are not limited to, magnetic tape cassettes, flash
memory cards, digital versatile disks, digital video tape, solid
state RAM, solid state ROM, and the like. The hard disk drive 141
is typically connected to the system bus 121 through an
non-removable memory interface such as interface 140, and magnetic
disk drive 151 and optical disk drive 155 are typically connected
to the system bus 121 by a removable memory interface, such as
interface 150.
[0020] The drives and their associated computer storage media
discussed above and illustrated in FIG. 1, provide storage of
computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules
and other data for the computer 110. In FIG. 1, for example, hard
disk drive 141 is illustrated as storing operating system 144,
application programs 145, other program modules 146, and program
data 147. Note that these components can either be the same as or
different from operating system 134, application programs 135,
other program modules 136, and program data 137. Operating system
144, application programs 145, other program modules 146, and
program data 147 are given different numbers here to illustrate
that, at a minimum, they are different copies. A user may enter
commands and information into the computer 20 through input devices
such as a keyboard 162 and pointing device 161, commonly referred
to as a mouse, trackball or touch pad. Other input devices (not
shown) may include a microphone, joystick, game pad, satellite
dish, scanner, or the like. These and other input devices are often
connected to the processing unit 120 through a user input interface
160 that is coupled to the system bus, but may be connected by
other interface and bus structures, such as a parallel port, game
port or a universal serial bus (USB). A monitor 191 or other type
of display device is also connected to the system bus 121 via an
interface, such as a video interface 190. In addition to the
monitor, computers may also include other peripheral output devices
such as speakers 197 and printer 196, which may be connected
through an output peripheral interface 190.
[0021] The computer 110 may operate in a networked environment
using logical connections to one or more remote computers, such as
a remote computer 180. The remote computer 180 may be a personal
computer, a server, a router, a network PC, a peer device or other
common network node, and typically includes many or all of the
elements described above relative to the computer 110, although
only a memory storage device 181 has been illustrated in FIG. 1.
The logical connections depicted in FIG. 1 include a local area
network (LAN) 171 and a wide area network (WAN) 173, but may also
include other networks. Such networking environments are
commonplace in offices, enterprise-wide computer networks,
intranets and the Internet.
[0022] When used in a LAN networking environment, the computer 110
is connected to the LAN 171 through a network interface or adapter
170. When used in a WAN networking environment, the computer 110
typically includes a modem 172 or other means for establishing
communications over the WAN 173, such as the Internet. The modem
172, which may be internal or external, may be connected to the
system bus 121 via the user input interface 160, or other
appropriate mechanism. In a networked environment, program modules
depicted relative to the computer 110, or portions thereof, may be
stored in the remote memory storage device. By way of example, and
not limitation, FIG. 1 illustrates remote application programs 185
as residing on memory device 181. It will be appreciated that the
network connections shown are exemplary and other means of
establishing a communications link between the computers may be
used.
[0023] Content Replacement in an Electronic Document
[0024] FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary system for generating
archived material, (e.g., an electronic document), replacing
substitutable content associated with the archived material with
updated, more current or more relevant content. Archived content is
contemplated to include television programming, publications and
any other archived material suitable for electronic rendering.
Optionally in the case of printed material, the document or
documents is/are displayed in substantially the identical form as
the printed publication(s) from which the document(s) is/are
derived. In one embodiment of the invention, computer 110 is
communicatively coupled to a remote computer 180. Computer 110 in
this embodiment of the invention is a server from which the
electronic document 300' may be downloaded to client 180.
[0025] Computer 110 stores an application 202 that generates an
electronic document for display on computing device 180.
Application 202 in one embodiment retrieves a document from a
document store 204, and replaces substitutable content with
updated, more relevant or requestor-targeted content according to
at least one of a plurality of rules. Meta-data store 210, in one
embodiment of the invention, stores meta-data. Meta-data describes
the features of a document and the features of items of the
document, such as text, image(s) and collateral content. Collateral
content store 206, in one embodiment of the invention, stores
collateral content, such as, for example, advertisements. Rules
store 208 stores rules that are used to select content to replace a
pre-existing item(s). The document may be delivered to another
computing device 180. In another embodiment of the invention, a
tree structure is utilized to generate the document or other
archived material including the updated content. In still another
embodiment of the invention, one or more components of application
202, such as, for example, collateral content store 206 may be
resident on client 180.
[0026] In one embodiment of the present invention, document store
204 includes a version of the document 300, as displayed in FIG. 3.
Document 300 may comprise an entire issue of a publication, an
article of a publication, a page of a publication or any other
suitable portion or combination of issues of publications.
Publications as used herein are contemplated as including
newspapers, newsletters, magazines or any publication suitable for
reproducing electronically.
[0027] Document 300 may include text 330, an image 332, and
collateral content 334. Document 300 may include additional pages,
additional text (not shown), additional images (not shown) and/or
additional collateral content (not shown). For example, a document
may include more than one piece of text (i.e., an article
accompanied by a side-bar) and/or more than one photograph or
image, and so on. The page on which the document appears in the
printed publication from which document 300 derived may include
additional items not associated with document 300 such as but not
limited to, portions of another document.
[0028] Document 300 preferably is associated with meta-data, which
in one embodiment is stored in data store 210. Text, images and
collateral content items are also each associated with meta-data.
Exemplary meta-data illustrated in FIG. 3 is associated with
collateral content item 324 but it should be understood that
meta-data for document 300, text 330, etc. also preferably exist in
meta-data store 210 in this embodiment. Meta-data describes
features of the archived material and may be explicit in nature or
may be inferred or embedded within the data itself.
[0029] Meta-data preferably includes but is not limited to:
[0030] category 302 of the item, for example, may indicates that
the item is text (e.g., an article), collateral content (e.g., an
advertisement), or a picture or image;
[0031] geometric data 304, for example, may indicate the page on
which the item occurs in the printed publication, the size of the
item and/or the position of the item on the page;
[0032] temporal relevancy 306, for example, may indicate a time
period after which the item would be considered outdated or
alternatively, (e.g., the latest date that the item should be
displayed), or alternatively, a time period until which the item
would be considered current (e.g., a date until which an item could
be displayed);
[0033] links to related information 308, wherein the related
information may be in the same document or not within the same
document. Related information may include alternate versions, that
is, the same document displayed with different collateral
information. Related information may also include printable coupons
associated with the article topic, the collateral content, and/or
requestor preferences and the like;
[0034] business information 310, such as but not limited to owner,
sponsor, cost basis; and
[0035] other suitable information.
[0036] Collateral content store 206 preferably includes a plurality
of collateral content items that collectively comprise a universe
of possible collateral content items with which to replace
collateral content items that are outdated when a document is
retrieved. Preferably, collateral content store 206 includes
current collateral content items, such as advertisements that are
current when the document is requested and which may be used, for
example, to replace original collateral content item 334. In one
embodiment of the invention, collateral content store 206 is a
separate store of replaceable items (e.g., advertisements with
meta-data). In an alternative embodiment collateral content store
206 includes current items, original items and substitutable items.
Original items, for example, are contemplated to include content
originally associated with the archived material. Current items
include collateral content that is currently relevant and
substitutable content represent information that may be replaced
with more current, more relevant, requestor-targeted content or the
like. Collateral content store 206 preferably changes over
time--e.g., by replacing out-of-date advertisements with new ones.
Items in collateral store 206 are associated with meta-data stored
in data store 210, which preferably include the size of the item
and a date beyond which the content item is outdated or
substitutable. Rules from rules store 208 preferably are consulted
to determine which collateral content item from collateral content
store 206 should be used to replace collateral item 334.
[0037] Rules store 208 preferably includes rules for replacing
separable items of document 300 with new items (e.g., rules for
determining which collateral item(s) of collateral content store
with which to replace the collateral content item of the original
document to create a new document or other instance of an archived
material). Hence, for example, rules store 208 preferably includes
logic for selecting an appropriate item (or more than one
appropriate items) from collateral content store 206 to display in
new document 300' as item 336.
[0038] FIG. 4 shows a method of providing an instance of an
archived material (e.g., a document) with new collateral
information. At step 402 a document 300 is requested. Document 300
may be a publication, such as a newspaper or magazine, or an
article or page within a publication, newspaper or magazine. For
example, assume the article beginning on page 20 of the January
2000 issue of Today's Equine "Horses in America" is requested. It
will be understood that there are many well-known ways in which a
particular document or other instance of archived material may be
requested, including but not restricted to queries based on:
publication name, date and page number; publication and author's
name; date and article name; topic; and various other ways, all of
which are contemplated by the invention.
[0039] At step 404, document 300 is retrieved from document store
204. At step 406, meta-data associated with document 300 is
retrieved from meta-data store 210. For example, document 300 may
include text 330, (an article about horses), image 332, (a picture
of a famous horse), and collateral content item 334, (a two inch by
three inch advertisement for a sale on a particular brand of horse
feed). Assume further that the date of the document request is Jan.
15, 2001 and that the meta-data 320 associated with collateral
content item 334 indicates that collateral content item 334
"expires" Jun. 15, 2000. Hence, collateral content item 334 is
substitutable (in this case, because the content is outdated).
[0040] At step 408 one or more suitable collateral content items is
retrieved from the collateral content store 206. For example, a
suitable collateral content item preferably is approximately the
size of the original collateral content item or can be scaled to
that size and is related to the subject of the document and is
current.
[0041] At step 410 rules from rules store 208 are applied to the
one or more collateral content items selected in step 406, and one
of these items is selected to replace content item 334. In the
example illustrated in FIG. 3, collateral content item 336 is
selected to replace collateral content item 334.
[0042] The following is an example of the types of rules contained
in rules store 208:
[0043] 1. Only one collateral item of same topic can be placed on a
single page, (e.g., if document topic is computers, put only one
computer manufacturer advertisement per page.)
[0044] 2. A collateral item selected to replace an original
collateral is based on region or demographics (e.g., if the
document request for the article on horses originated in
Pennsylvania, replace the substitutable advertisement of horse feed
not available in Pennsylvania with a current advertisement of a
horse feed available in Pennsylvania.)
[0045] 3. Tie the collateral content used to replace substitutable
content to consumer-related preferences. For example, if a consumer
explicitly (by specifically indicating) or implicitly (by previous
selections) expresses an interest in a particular topic,
preferentially display content relating to that interest.
[0046] At step 412 a new document 300' is generated with collateral
content item 336 displayed in the area previously occupied by item
334 in original document 300. Optionally, the archived material
rendered, original and replacing content, information associated
with the requestor and the like may be tracked, logged and/or
stored for use in billing and other suitable purposes.
[0047] FIG. 5 illustrates a tree data structure employed in an
alternative embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, the
nested structure of archived material is represented by a tree. For
example, each item (and sub-item) of a document is represented by a
node in the tree, and the meta-data for each item is stored in the
item's node. For example, root node 502 represents document 300.
Child node 504 represents text 330, child node 506 represents image
332, child node 508 represents collateral content item 334, child
node 510 represents rules associated with document 300. Additional
images, and collateral content items associated with document 300
are represented as additional child nodes (not shown) descending
from root node 502. Meta-data associated with document 300 in one
embodiment is included in the node to which the meta-data relates.
However, the meta-data may be represented in the tree data
structure in any manner--e.g., putting the meta-data for an item in
the item's left-most child node (512)--so long as any program that
needs to traverse the tree can find the meta-data in a well-defined
location.
[0048] The tree data structure described above is advantageous
because, in this embodiment, an intermediate tree structured
database is created and stored when a document is requested (step
402) including design-intent information enabling automatic layout
of the final document when the document is served.
[0049] The programming necessary to effectuate the processes
described above in connection with the present invention is
relatively straight-forward and should be apparent to the relevant
programming public. Any particular programming language or
methodologies may be employed to effectuate the present invention
without departing from the spirit and scope thereof.
[0050] In the foregoing description, it can be seen that the
present invention comprises a new and useful mechanism as described
above. It should be appreciated that changes could be made to the
embodiments described above without departing from the inventive
concepts thereof. It should be understood, therefore, that this
invention is not limited to the particular embodiments disclosed,
but it is intended to cover modifications within the spirit and
scope of the present invention as defined by the appended
claims.
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