U.S. patent application number 12/796379 was filed with the patent office on 2010-12-09 for associating information with an electronic document.
This patent application is currently assigned to Microsoft Corporation. Invention is credited to Eric D. Brill, Matthew R. Richardson.
Application Number | 20100312771 12/796379 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 37188564 |
Filed Date | 2010-12-09 |
United States Patent
Application |
20100312771 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Richardson; Matthew R. ; et
al. |
December 9, 2010 |
Associating Information With An Electronic Document
Abstract
A system for associating information comprises an association
module that uses anchoring information to associate a first piece
of information with a second piece of information, wherein the
second piece of information is not part of the first piece of
information. The system further includes a rendering module that
presents the second piece of information for use. Methods for using
such a system are also described.
Inventors: |
Richardson; Matthew R.;
(Redmond, WA) ; Brill; Eric D.; (Redmond,
WA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
LEE & HAYES, PLLC
601 W. RIVERSIDE AVENUE, SUITE 1400
SPOKANE
WA
99201
US
|
Assignee: |
Microsoft Corporation
Redmond
WA
|
Family ID: |
37188564 |
Appl. No.: |
12/796379 |
Filed: |
June 8, 2010 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
11227937 |
Sep 15, 2005 |
7734631 |
|
|
12796379 |
|
|
|
|
60674628 |
Apr 25, 2005 |
|
|
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
707/749 ;
707/E17.084 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 16/957
20190101 |
Class at
Publication: |
707/749 ;
707/E17.084 |
International
Class: |
G06F 17/30 20060101
G06F017/30 |
Claims
1-20. (canceled)
21. A computer-implemented method comprising: analyzing, via a
processor, network content rendered at a client computing device;
determining anchoring information based on the network content;
associating the network content with an advertisement based on the
anchoring information; receiving the advertisement; and presenting
the advertisement at the client computing device.
22. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 21, further
comprising: obtaining user preferences; and receiving a plurality
of advertisements from an advertisement data store based on the
user preferences.
23. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 22, further
comprising: ranking the plurality of advertisements in accordance
with the user preferences; and presenting a subset of the plurality
of advertisements according to the ranking.
24. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 22, wherein
advertisers purchase advertising space in the advertisement data
store via an advertising user interface.
25. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 24, wherein
the advertisers submit one or more notes individually utilized to
associate a particular advertisement with particular web content,
the one or more notes including content utilized to associate the
advertisements with particular anchoring information.
26. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 21, wherein
the anchoring information includes keywords, and the advertisement
is associated with the network content based on the keywords.
27. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 26, wherein
associating includes matching the keywords with content provided in
one or more notes submitted by advertisers.
28. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 21, further
comprising protecting personal information of a user of the client
computing device.
29. A computer-readable storage medium having computer executable
instructions encoded thereon, the computer executable instructions
programmed to, upon execution by at least one processor, configure
a computing system to associate information, the computer-readable
storage medium comprising: an advertising purchasing module that
allows advertisers to purchase space for advertisements and access
user models that define target recipients for the advertisements;
and a fetching module that receives a client request for
supplemental content and obtains one or more advertisements
responsive to the client request.
30. A computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 29,
wherein the supplemental content is anchored to web content, the
computer-readable storage medium further comprising an association
module that analyzes the web content, determines anchoring
information from the web content, and uses the anchoring
information to associate the one or more advertisements with the
web content.
31. A computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 29,
further comprising a ranking module that ranks the one or more
advertisements.
32. A computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 31,
wherein the fetching module obtains user preferences and user
feedback, and sends the user preferences and the user feedback to
the ranking module to rank the one or more advertisements.
33. A computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 31,
wherein the fetching module returns a subset of the one or more
advertisements to a client based on the ranking.
34. A computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 29,
further comprising a privacy protection service that protects
personal information of a user associated with a client computing
device that sends the client request.
35. A computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 34,
wherein the privacy protection service removes personal
identification information from the client request.
36. A computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 34,
wherein the privacy protection service includes the client request
with a group of dummy requests, thereby obscuring the client
request.
37. A computer-implemented method comprising: receiving one or more
requests for supplemental information anchored to web content
rendered on a client device; removing personal identification
information from the one or more requests; obtaining information
associated with the one or more requests for supplemental content
from a content data store; and returning the information to the
client device.
38. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 37, further
comprising grouping the one or more requests with dummy requests,
thereby obscuring the one or more requests.
39. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 37, wherein
the information includes an advertisement.
40. One or more computer storage media storing instructions that,
when executed by the processor, direct the processor to perform the
computer-implemented method as recited in claim 37.
Description
RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a continuation of, and claims priority
to, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/227,937, titled,
"Associating Information with an Electronic Document," filed on
Sep. 15, 2005, which issued on Jun. 8, 2010, as U.S. Pat. No.
7,734,631, and is hereby incorporated by reference, which claims
priority to provisional application No. 60/674,628, filed Apr. 25,
2005, which is also hereby incorporated by reference.
BACKGROUND
[0002] The Internet has evolved into a communication platform upon
which a variety of information-based services can be provided. One
of the most popular of these services is the provision of
electronic documents constructed using hypertext markup language
(HTML). These documents are often referred to as web pages and are
available from computing locations or sites on a logical segment of
the Internet commonly referred to as the World Wide Web, or simply
the Web. Information available on these Web sites and servers is
typically accessed using a Web browser executing on a remote
computer. For example, a user can launch a Web browser and access a
Web site by entering a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of the Web
site into an address bar of the Web browser and pressing the enter
key on a keyboard or clicking a button with a mouse. The URL
typically includes three pieces of information that facilitate
access: a protocol indicator that designates a set of rules or
standards for the exchange of information in computer
communication, a domain name that is often based on the name of an
organization that maintains the Web site, and a path to the desired
document within the domain. Standard Web browsers can use the
information included in a URL to establish a connection with a Web
server and obtain information from that Web server.
[0003] In addition to Web sites and Web pages, other types of
services are available. Among those services are electronic mail,
instant messaging, chat services, audio or video services, and
other information services. Typically, each service available on
the Internet has existed in isolation from other services. For
example, a user can access a Web site using a Web browser but must
open an audio application to access audio information as a separate
service. Additionally, a user may have to open a third application
to access a chat service and a fourth application to access a
messaging service.
[0004] Typically, although information content from each type of
service exists in isolation from other services, such information
can be logically related in a variety of different ways. For
example, information can be logically related in the sense that
information available from each service can refer to information
available on another service. Also, information from more than one
available service can be topically related, originate from the same
source, or be related in some other fashion. Current systems fail
to provide any ability to integrate information from various
services in logical and meaningful ways.
SUMMARY
[0005] The following presents a simplified summary in order to
provide a basic understanding and high-level survey. This summary
is not an extensive overview. It is neither intended to identify
key or critical elements nor to delineate scope. The sole purpose
of this summary is to present some concepts in a simplified form as
a prelude to the more detailed description later presented.
Additionally, section headings used herein are provided merely for
convenience and should not be taken as limiting in any way.
[0006] A rendering module can obtain information, such as a Web
page, from an information source using a network. An associative
module can analyze that obtained information and use results of its
analysis to identify and locate key or important pieces of the
information. This information, among other types, can be used as an
anchor with which to associate other information in addition to the
original information. Additional information can be presented to a
user.
[0007] A variety of additional types of information or information
services can be provided to a user based upon an analysis of the
content of the information obtained by the user, for example,
content of a Web page. Content from Web logs that relate or refer
to a Web page currently being viewed by the user can be presented
along with the currently-viewed Web page. Among the possible types
of content that can be presented are advertising-based content and
content created by other visitors to a Web site, such as notes,
comments, ratings, and reviews. Also, one or more hyperlinks from a
Web page that references the present Web page can be presented.
Additionally, services such as automatic connection to relevant
chat room discussions and page-biased searches can be provided.
[0008] The disclosed and described components and methods comprise
one or more of the features hereinafter described and particularly
pointed out in the claims. The following description and the
annexed drawings set forth in detail certain specific illustrative
components and methods. However, these components and methods are
indicative of but a few of the various ways in which the disclosed
components and methods can be employed. Specific implementations of
the disclosed and described components and methods can include
some, many, or all of such components and methods, as well as their
equivalents. Variations of the specific implementations and
examples presented herein will become apparent from the following
detailed description when considered in conjunction with the
drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0009] FIG. 1 is a system block diagram of an associative
information system.
[0010] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a note.
[0011] FIG. 3 is a system block diagram of an associative
information system.
[0012] FIG. 4 is a system block diagram of an associative
information system.
[0013] FIG. 5 is a system block diagram of an associative
information system.
[0014] FIG. 6 is a system block diagram of an associative
information system.
[0015] FIG. 7 is a system block diagram of a supplemental content
provision system.
[0016] FIG. 8 is a diagram of an exemplary user interface.
[0017] FIG. 9 is a flow diagram depicting a general processing flow
of a method that can be employed in accordance with components that
are disclosed and described herein.
[0018] FIG. 10 is a flow diagram depicting a general processing
flow of a method that can be employed in accordance with components
that are disclosed and described herein.
[0019] FIG. 11 is a flow diagram of a general processing flow of a
method can be employed in accordance with components that are
disclosed and described herein.
[0020] FIG. 12 is a flow diagram depicting a general processing
flow of a method that can be employed in accordance with components
that are disclosed and described herein.
[0021] FIG. 13 illustrates an exemplary networking environment.
[0022] FIG. 14 illustrates an exemplary computing environment.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0023] As used in this application, the terms "component,"
"system," "module," and the like are intended to refer to a
computer-related entity, such as hardware, software (for instance,
in execution), and/or firmware. For example, a component can be a
process running on a processor, a processor, an object, an
executable, a program, and/or a computer. Also, both an application
running on a server and the server can be components. One or more
components can reside within a process and a component can be
localized on one computer and/or distributed between two or more
computers.
[0024] Disclosed components and methods are described with
reference to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals are used
to refer to like elements throughout. In the following description,
for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set
forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the disclosed
subject matter. It may be evident, however, that certain of these
specific details can be omitted or combined with others in a
specific implementation. In other instances, certain structures and
devices are shown in block diagram form in order to facilitate
description. Additionally, although specific examples set forth may
use terminology that is consistent with client/server architectures
or may even be examples of client/server implementations, skilled
artisans will appreciate that the roles of client and server may be
reversed, that the disclosed and described components and methods
are not limited to client/server architectures and may be readily
adapted for use in other architectures, specifically including
peer-to-peer (P2P) architectures, without departing from the spirit
or scope of the disclosed and described components and methods.
Further, it should be noted that although specific examples
presented herein include or reference specific components, an
implementation of the components and methods disclosed and
described herein is not necessarily limited to those specific
components and can be employed in other contexts as well.
[0025] It should also be appreciated that although specific
examples presented may describe or depict systems or methods that
are based upon components of personal computers, the use of
components and methods disclosed and described herein is not
limited to that domain. For example, the disclosed and described
components and methods can be used in a distributed or network
computing environment. Additionally or alternatively, the disclosed
and described components and methods can be used on a single server
accessed by multiple clients. Those of ordinary skill in the art
will readily recognize that the disclosed and described components
and methods can be used to create other components and execute
other methods on a wide variety of computing devices.
[0026] FIG. 1 is a system block diagram of an interactive
information system 100. The interactive information system 100
includes a rendering component 110 that can obtain information from
a primary information data store 120. The rendering component 110
can be a Web browser or another component that has the capability
to obtain and present information. Specifically, the rendering
component 110 can be a stand-alone application that can be launched
and operated by a user or can be a module that is designed to be
used in conjunction with another component, such as an HTML
rendering engine for an email application or another such
component. The rendering component 110 can present obtained
information to a user on a visual display or some other
human-computer interface such as a speech-based interface or a
Braille interface, among others.
[0027] The primary information data store 120 can be a database, an
intranet, the World Wide Web, the Internet, a file share, or some
other source of information, specifically including a source of
information that can be accessed remotely. Information included in
the primary information data store 120 can depend upon a specific
implementation of the primary information data store 120 but
generally can include any information in an electronic or
machine-readable form. Specifically, information stored in the
primary information data store can include Web pages from the
Internet or an intranet, text documents in a variety of formats,
graphical image information, audio information, video information,
multimedia information, and other suitable forms of
information.
[0028] An association plug-in 130 can communicate with the
rendering component 110 and the primary information data store 120
to obtain information that the rendering component 110 can present
to a user. Additionally or alternatively, the interactive plug-in
130 can obtain additional information from another information
source such as the secondary information data store 140. The
secondary information data store 140 can be implemented in much the
same way as the primary information data store 120 and can include
the same types of information, among others. Specifically, the
secondary information data store 140 can include notes, documents
such as Web pages, intranet pages, text documents in a variety of
formats, graphical or audio information, search-related information
including search terms or results and access to search engines,
wikis, Web logs (blogs), RSS or other news feeds, chat content
including notification-based chat content, instant message
information including messages or user names, tags, inlinks,
outlinks, and any other information that can be stored or presented
in an electronic or machine-readable format.
[0029] Information included in the secondary information data store
140 can be created by a secondary content creation module 150.
Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize from reading this
disclosure that implementation details of the secondary content
creation module 150 can vary depending upon a specific type of
information to be created for use with the secondary information
data store 140. Specifically, depending upon such content, the
secondary content creation module 150 can be a text editor, a word
processor, a spreadsheet program, a slideshow or presentation
program, a Web page editor, a graphics program, an audio program, a
Web logging (blogging) tool, a chat program, an instant messaging
program, or some other suitable component, specifically including a
combination of some or all of the foregoing examples.
[0030] The association plug-in 130 can relate or associate
information from the secondary information data store 140 with
information originally obtained from the primary information data
store 120 for display by the rendering component 110. Specifically,
the additional information from the secondary information data
store 140 can be anchored to information from the primary
information data store 120. Such anchoring or association can be
accomplished in a variety of ways. For example, a domain name, such
as example-domain-name.tld, associated with a Web page can be used
as an anchor for a piece of information from the secondary
information data store 140. Similarly, a fully- or
partially-qualified uniform resource locator (URL), including a
relative URL, of a currently- or previously-accessed Web page or
other resource can be used as an anchor. Other possible anchors
include, but are not limited to, locations of files on file shares
or other remote locations, keywords included in content from the
primary information data store 120, or form data, among others.
[0031] In one example, information from the secondary information
data store 140 can be a note that includes some text. The note can
be anchored to a Web page by associating the note with the URL of
the Web page. The note could also be anchored to a piece of form
data. For instance, if the form data is a postal zip code, the note
can appear whenever a user enters that zip code into a form. As
another example, the note can be anchored to specific keywords.
When a user views information from the primary information data
store 120 that includes such keywords, the note can be displayed to
the user by the rendering component 110. The note can be replaced
with any content from the secondary information data store 140.
Generally, any content from the secondary information data store
140 can be anchored using any appropriate anchor to any content
from the primary information data store 120 in any appropriate
combination.
[0032] It should be noted that although the additional information
can be anchored to or associated with the information originally
obtained, content of the additional information does not have to be
related to content included in the information originally obtained.
For example, the information originally obtained can be a Web page
about computer programming languages and the additional information
can be a link to a search engine. In this example, the link to the
search engine has no connection with the content of the Web page.
Many other types of additional content or additional functions can
be used or provided by the association plug-in 130.
[0033] An example based upon Web pages follows. The rendering
component 110 can retrieve a Web page from the primary information
data store 120. The Web page can be presented to a user by the
rendering component 110. The association plug-in 130 can analyze
the Web page to determine which content of the Web page is
important. A variety of approaches can be employed to analyze the
Web page. Among these approaches is a technique of creating a list
of terms that are included in the web page and use the term
frequency-inverse document frequency (TF-IDF) algorithm to create a
probabilistic summary of the content of the Web page. The
association plug-in 130 can use content of the Web page to identify
other content to be presented to the user. This other content can
include, among other things, content from interactive chat rooms
organized around topics related to the Web page, content from Web
log (blogs) entries or RSS or other news feeds that are related to
the Web page or that specifically mentioned the Web page,
hyperlinks from other pages that specifically point to the Web
page, access to a search engine, advertising that is related to the
content of the Web page, or content in the form of comments made by
other visitors to the Web page.
[0034] The association plug-in 130 can be implemented in a variety
of ways that can depend in large part upon a specific
implementation of the rendering component 110, among other factors
that will be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art
upon reading this disclosure. In one exemplary implementation, the
association plug-in 130 can be executable code that runs in a
sidebar or similar area of a window or a Web browser. The
association plug-in 130 can also be a stand-alone application or
other suitable executable code. The association plug-in 130 can be
a notation component that provides a user with the ability to post
a notice that can be associated with a specific URL.
[0035] The notice can be informational in nature, including such
things as hyperlinks to related subjects, information on products
or services that are similar to products or services mentioned in a
Web page, or other information. The notice can also be
organizational in the sense that the notice can be used to organize
personal notes by URL, such as notes regarding research papers at a
specific home page. Social applications of the notice are also
possible by using the notice to post a message to another user who
visits a URL with which the notice is associated. The message can
be intended to another person who will be attending an event,
another person with interests that are similar to interests of the
creator of the message, a part of a discussion regarding a topic of
a Web page, or any other type of message. The notice can also have
an entertainment purpose such as providing humor or being part of
an online game.
[0036] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a note 200. The note 200 can be
used by an association plug-in, such as the association plug-in 130
of FIG. 1, to convey information that can be associated with some
online content. Specifically, the information to be conveyed can
include any of the types of information previously disclosed and
described in conjunction with FIG. 1.
[0037] The note 200 can include a plurality of fields. An anchor
field 210 can include information that can be used to anchor
content of the note 200 to an information location. Information in
the anchor field 210 can include a URL, a domain name, or a root
domain, among other location identifiers. The anchor field 210 can
be used to describe any appropriate anchor, specifically including
the types of anchors previously disclosed and described in
conjunction with FIG. 1. The anchor field 210 can be used to
associate content that can be used by an association plug-in with
some information location.
[0038] Based upon the type of anchor and other factors, the note
200 can include a variety of fields. A keywords field 220 can
include keywords that relate to content and can be used for
indexing or search purposes. A content key field 230 can include
some keywords or phrases that can be used to locate content, such
as a Web page, that includes or matches information in the content
key field 230. A form data field 240 can include information that
can be used to search for similar information in forms. The form
data field can also include form information such as one or more
form field names to match a form field to a value for that
field.
[0039] A scope field 250 can include information regarding a level
at which a note, such as the note 200, can be distributed. For
example, the scope field 250 can indicate that the note 200 is
private and should only be viewable by its creator. The scope field
250 can also indicate that group access is permitted for members of
a particular group or groups. These groups can be defined based
upon some criterion or can include preselected members, among other
ways of defining membership. Further, public access can be
indicated by information in the scope field 250 such that the note
200 can be viewed by anyone.
[0040] The note 200 can also include a type field 260. Information
in the type field 260 can be used to define different types of
notes. For example, different types can include simple text boxes,
pictures, discussion threads, or user-defined types, among others.
Different types of notes can be displayed to a user in different
ways to provide visual cues regarding the specific type of not
being presented. It should be noted that presence of these fields
can provide the ability for a user to filter notes based upon
personal preferences. Additionally, notes such as the note 200 can
be static in the sense that its content can be fixed or can be
dynamic. A dynamic note, for example, can request updated
information from a server each time the dynamic note is
activated.
[0041] In another exemplary implementation, a user can specify a
provider of content such as a note 200 from which the user desires
to obtain content. The user can also specify a region within which
such content can be displayed. One possible method of specifying
such a region is by providing a graphical tool that the user can
place in a sidebar of a Web browser window. The user can also
select from among other options such as closing notes, having notes
automatically refresh content, have notes provide labeled sub-bars
that can categorize information, associate a note with one or more
anchors, set an expiration date, restrict dissemination of the
note, and create notes anonymously, among other things.
[0042] Perceived utility of notes can be subject to a network
effect where a value of a note system increases with a number of
users. To provide some initial value, when initializing a note
system, a variety of techniques can be used. For example, notes can
be shared across URLs. Notes can also provide automatic annotation
of Web sites, blogs, newsgroups, and discussion forums, among
others. Dynamic notes and other content boxes can readily supply
content. Scenario sites that demonstrate uses for notes can also be
created. Additionally, an application programming interface (API)
for notes can be provided to encourage developers to create their
own notes. Search functions for notes can also add to their
usefulness. Prizes can also be awarded to users of notes to
encourage additional use. Also, popular Web sites can be used to
promote installation and further use of notes by users. At least
some of those popular Web sites can be formally engaged as
promoters of notes. Also, certain content can be provided only
through use of notes such that installation of notes components can
be required to access that content.
[0043] Notes can also be subjected to filtering and ranking
functions. Ordering of notes can be accomplished according to a
variety of social networking or web of trust networking concepts.
Notes that are anchored to a specific URL can be ranked more (or
less) highly than notes that are simply anchored to a domain name.
Ranking functions can also be employed based at least in part upon
one or more factors such as a scope of a note, an author of a note,
a date of creation of a note, a preference profile of a user, a
filter function, link analysis, feedback for a note such as a score
or whether the note was closed by a user, and thresholds for note
rankings, among others.
[0044] Privacy concerns for use of notes can be addressed in a
variety of ways. For example, a component can request multiple
notes from different URLs to obscure identifying information for a
note that is actually desired. This technique can be used in
combination with a prefetching scheme. A one-way hash of a URL for
the note can be created and sent to a server instead of a cleartext
request. Additionally or alternatively, an intermediate server can
be employed to obscure the identity of a user requesting a
particular note.
[0045] Along with notes, an interactive component can be a web chat
component that can allow for dynamic chat sessions between or among
users. Such chat sessions can also be anchored to a URL or a domain
name, among others. Chat sessions can also be anchored to more than
one site to provide for more varied discussion. Such chat sessions
can also be notification-based such that a user can be notified
when another user arrives at a specified site and desires to
participate in a chat session with other users. Other Web-aware
applications can also be implemented, such as a listing component
that provides a list of Web pages that link to a Web page being
viewed, a page summary component that summarizes content on a
currently viewed Web page, and a search component that provides
links to search engine searches for terms that appear frequently in
a Web page, among others.
[0046] FIG. 3 is a system block diagram of an associative
information system 300. The associative information system 300
includes a rendering component 310 and an associative plug-in
component 320. As in preceding examples, the associative plug-in
component 320 can be a stand-alone application, can be a pluggable
part of another application, or can be some other suitable
executable code. The rendering component 310 can access
informational content from a network 330. The network 330 can be
the Internet, the World Wide Web, an intranet, or another suitable
network or information source.
[0047] The associative plug-in 320 can access and analyze the
informational content that the rendering component 310 has
retrieved from the network 330. To analyze the informational
content, the associative plug-in 320 can use any suitable approach,
including one of the approaches discussed in relation to other
figures. The associative plug-in 320 can then connect to a chat
server 340 to establish a session in a chat room that is organized
around a topic that is related to the informational content.
[0048] For example, in operation the rendering component 310 can
obtain a Web page from the World Wide Web. The associative plug-in
320 can then analyze the content of the Web page to determine a
subject of the Web page. The associative plug-in 320 can then
connect to the chat server 340 to locate a chat room that is
related to the subject of the Web page. A user can then participate
in a discussion in the chat room while continuing to view the web
page.
[0049] FIG. 4 is a system block diagram of an associative
information system 400. The associative information system 400
includes a rendering component 410 and an associative component
420. The rendering component 410 can be a Web browser or another
appropriate component that has a capability to obtain and render
information. The rendering component 410 can access information
available on a network 430 and communicate that information to the
associative component 420.
[0050] The associative component 420 can analyze the information it
receives from the rendering component 410 and use that information
to obtain additional content from a Web log (blog) data store 440.
The Web log (blog) data store 440 can include information about Web
log (blog) entries and cross-references from Web log (blog) entries
to Web sites. A cross-reference can be created for a Web log (blog)
entry that deals with a topic that is the same as, or similar to, a
topic of a Web site. A cross-reference can also be created for Web
log (blog) entry that specifically references a Web site. Other
cross-references can also be created.
[0051] In use, the rendering component 410 accesses a piece of
information from the network 430 and renders that information for
presentation to a user. The associative component 420 analyzes the
piece of rendered information to discern a general topic or other
content-related theme of the information. The associative component
420 accesses the Web log (blog) data store 440 to locate Web log
(blog) entries that are cross-referenced with the information that
was obtained by the rendering component 410. The associative
component 420 can then cause those Web log entries to be presented
to the user while the user is still viewing the information.
[0052] Instead of or in addition to a Web log (blog) entry,
information about a product or service that is related to a subject
of Web page can be presented. Such information can be in the form
of user reviews or can be advertising from a provider of a product
or service itself. Such advertising can be triggered by using
keywords from the information already retrieved by the rendering
component 410. Therefore, the advertising can be targeted to users
who are most likely to respond to such ads. Additionally or
alternatively, a user can subscribe to content updates to have a
variety of events, such as addition of content, server as a trigger
to cause a content update operation to occur automatically.
[0053] One possible implementation includes a sidebar component
that can provide a contextually intelligent search application.
This search application can access content of a Web page that is
being viewed by a user and calculate importance of various terms on
that Web page, for example, by using an algorithm such as the term
frequency-inverse document frequency (TF-IDF) algorithm. The user,
when submitting a query through the search application, can obtain
query results that are biased in favor of results having content
that is similar to the content being viewed.
[0054] FIG. 5 is a system block diagram of an associative
information system 500. The associative information system 500
includes a rendering module 510 and an associative module 520. The
rendering module 510 can retrieve and present information from the
World Wide Web 530. The associative module 520 can access and
analyze the information retrieved by the rendering module 510 in
any of the previously-described manners. The associative module 520
can then use results of such analysis to access a search server
540. The search server 540 can provide results that are responsive
to a search query and that are biased toward concepts present in
the information from the World Wide Web.
[0055] For example, the rendering module 510 can obtain a Web page
for a user. The associative module 520 can then analyze contents of
that Web page to determine keywords or important concepts. A user
can then perform a search for additional information. The
associative module 520 can use keywords or concept descriptors that
it obtained from the Web page to augment a search query entered by
the user. The search server 540 will use the augmented search to
obtain responsive information. Results of the search can be biased
in favor of those Web pages that are similar, or contain similar
concepts, as the Web page originally obtained by the rendering
module 510.
[0056] FIG. 6 is system block diagram of an associative information
system 600. The associative information system 600 includes a
rendering component 610 that can access web pages from a network
630. An associative component 620 can access the Web page from the
rendering component 610 and analyze its contents. Such analysis can
be in accordance with any of the procedures previously described.
The associative component 620 can then use results of its analysis
to contact a context server 640 to obtain additional content.
[0057] The context server 640 can access a visitor content data
store 650 that can include content, such as user comments, ratings,
rankings, feedback, or other content, that is related to the Web
page obtained by the rendering component 610. The context server
640 can then send such content to the associative component 620 for
presentation to the user. In this fashion, the user can access
information from other visitors to the Web page and obtain opinions
from those users that relate to the Web page.
[0058] A wide variety of types of information that relate to a Web
page that is created by other users or viewers of a Web page can be
created. This content can include notes and chat sessions such as
those previously disclosed or described in conjunction with other
figures. Such content can also include backlinks, context-specific
or context-aware search functions, Web log (blog) postings, and
ranking functions, among others. It should be noted that any of
these types of content can be anchored to a location such as a URL
or a domain name as previously disclosed or described. Such
anchoring can enable association of content with a Web site that is
hosted by a party other than a party that hosts the Web site with
which the content is associated or anchored.
[0059] One type of content that can be created by a user of a Web
site is a tag. A tag can be an annotation created by a user that
can relate to a Web site or some other information of interest to
the creating user. For example, a user can create a tag that
includes a short descriptive phrase associated with the Web site.
Additionally or alternatively, a rating of a site, such as a
multiple star rating or a simple thumbs-up, thumbs-down rating, can
be provided. The rating can apply to the Web site itself or to a
product or service offered on the Web site, among other things. A
link to a related or similar Web site can also be provided,
including advertising links. Other types of content can also be
added. Further, tags can be ranked according to various attributes
and also used to rank Web pages with which those tags are
associated.
[0060] FIG. 7 is a system block diagram of a supplemental content
provision system 700. The supplemental content provision system 700
can be used to support various types of supplemental content
components, specifically including the types of components
previously disclosed or described in conjunction with other figures
such as notes, chat components, and tags, among others.
Specifically, a wide variety of third-party content can be provided
to supplement content from a Web site. Those of ordinary skill in
the art will recognize from reading this disclosure that not all of
the components disclosed or described in conjunction with FIG. 7
are necessary in every implementation. For example, privacy- and
advertising-related components can be made optional.
[0061] The supplemental content provision system 700 includes a
client user interface 710. The client user interface 710 can be a
Web browser or another type of user interface that has the ability
to obtain information and present that information to a user.
Specifically, the client user interface 710 can be a pluggable
sidebar that can be displayed to a user in conjunction with primary
content that can be presented by another component, such as a Web
browser in certain implementations. Pluggability of the client user
interface 710 can provide the ability for developers to add support
for various types of content that can be associated with primary
content in any of the ways disclosed or described in conjunction
with other figures.
[0062] The client user interface 710 can communicate with a third
party content provider 715. The third-party content provider 715
can provide informational content, such as notes, documents such as
Web pages, intranet pages, text documents in a variety of formats,
graphical or audio information, search-related information
including search terms or results and access to search engines,
wikis, Web logs (blogs), RSS or other news feeds, chat content
including notification-based chat content, instant message
information including messages or user names, tags, inlinks,
outlinks, and any other information that can be stored or presented
in an electronic or machine-readable format, or another type of
information to a user by employing a suitable means of
communication that can be supported by the client user interface
710. A separate advertising interface 720 can provide a platform
for advertisers to create or provide advertising to be presented to
the user. The advertising interface 720 can be a Web browser window
or some other suitable interface. Specifics of the advertising
interface depend largely upon details of a particular
implementation as well as a desired level of access to be provided
to an advertiser.
[0063] The client user interface 710 can send requests for various
types of information through a privacy protection service 725.
These requests can be requests for content that is associated with
or anchored to content provided by the third party content
providers 715. The privacy protection service 725 can act to
protect an identity or other privacy-related information of a user
submitting the requests for information. This protection can be
accomplished by obscuring a true user request by including the
request among a group of "dummy" requests. Other techniques,
specifically including use of hash or other encryption functions to
encode information requests or use of various anonymizer functions
can additionally or alternatively be used.
[0064] The privacy protection service 725 can send information
requests to, and receive information from, an information provision
system 730. The information provision system 730 can include a
variety of components that can facilitate creation and access of
supplemental information. This supplemental information can be
manually created by a user, can be automatically created by a
script or bot such as a Web crawler, or can be otherwise configured
to create content for a user.
[0065] The information provision system 730 includes a fetcher 735.
The fetcher 735 can receive a request for information that can
include a URL, a domain name, or other appropriate identifier, from
the client user interface 710. The fetcher 735 can use the request
from the client user interface 710 to obtain information from other
components. Specifically, the fetcher 735 can obtain a set of
preferences for the requesting user from a set of user preferences
740. The fetcher 735 can use any obtained user preferences to
tailor information to be provided to the client user interface 710
in accordance with individual desires of a requesting user.
[0066] The fetcher 735 can obtain content from a content data store
745. The content data store 745 can be a database, a Web service,
or some other appropriate data store. Content that can be included
in the content data store 745 can include user-created content from
a user content writer 750. The user content writer 750 can provide
a means by which content created by a user can be added to the
content data store 745. This means can be a Web form or other Web
service, among other things. The content data store 745 can also
include content from a non-user content module 755. The non-user
content module 755 can include such things as scripts, Web
crawlers, and tags, among other things.
[0067] The fetcher 735 can also obtain advertising information from
an advertising data store 760. The advertising data store 760 can
include advertising content, including graphical, audio, and video
content, from an advertising purchasing module 765. Advertisers
using the advertising user interface 720 can purchase or otherwise
obtain an ability to place advertisements into the information
provision system 730 by using the advertising purchasing module
765. The advertising purchasing module 765 can access user models
770 to allow advertisers to select one or more user models to be
used in targeting advertising to users.
[0068] A ranking and filtering module 775 can accept content from
the fetcher 735 and modify that content in accordance with user
preferences 740 and user feedback 780. User feedback 780 can be
created by the user of the client user interface 710 and can be
used to customize content prior to provision of the content to the
client user interface 710. Modified content can be provided to the
client user interface 710 by the ranking and filtering module
775.
[0069] The content data store 745 can also create a notification
785 that can be sent to the client user interface 710. A user of
the client user interface 710 can subscribe to such notifications
that can be used to trigger requests for information from the
client user interface 710. The content data store 745 can generate
an event upon modification of included content. This event can
cause generation of the notification 785. The notification 785 can
be sent to the client user interface 710 which can use the
notification as a triggering event to request new or updated
content from the information provision system 730.
[0070] Various components of the information provision system 730
can use artificial intelligence-based components to provide
functionality to the system. For example, the ranking and filtering
module 775 can employ classifiers to assign ranks to content to be
provided to the client user interface 710. Also, for example, the
advertising purchasing module 765 can use artificial
intelligence-based components to match user models 770 with users
in desired target demographic groups.
[0071] The disclosed and described components, for example in
connection with the previously mentions matching or inference
tasks, among others, can employ various artificial
intelligence-based schemes for carrying out various tasks. For
example, demographic matching or content ranking in accordance with
user feedback or preferences can be carried out by a neural
network, an expert system, a rules-based processing component, or a
support vector machine.
[0072] A classifier is a function that maps an input attribute
vector, X=(x.sub.1, X.sub.2, x.sub.3, x.sub.4, . . . x.sub.n), to a
confidence that the input belongs to a class, that is,
f(X)=confidence(class). Such a classification can employ a
probabilistic and/or statistical-based analysis (for example,
factoring into the analysis utilities and costs) to prognose or
infer an action that a user desires to be automatically performed.
In the case of a content provision system, for example, attributes
of a reference set of information such as user preferences to be
used in a comparison can be used to determine whether attributes of
a piece of content can be considered to match the preferences of
the user.
[0073] A support vector machine (SVM) is an example of a classifier
that can be employed. The SVM operates by finding a hypersurface in
the space of possible inputs, which hypersurface attempts to split
the triggering criteria from the non-triggering events.
Intuitively, this makes the classification correct for testing data
that is near, but not identical to training data. Other directed
and undirected model classification approaches include, for
example, naive Bayes, Bayesian networks, decision trees, and
probabilistic classification models providing different patterns of
independence can be employed. Classification as used herein also
includes statistical regression that is utilized to develop models
of priority.
[0074] As will be readily appreciated from the subject
specification, components disclosed or described herein can employ
classifiers that are explicitly trained (for example, by a generic
training data) as well as implicitly trained (for example, by
observing user behavior, receiving extrinsic information). For
example, SVMs are configured by a learning or training phase within
a classifier constructor and feature selection module. Thus, the
classifier(s) can be used to automatically perform a number of
functions including, but not limited to, matching and ranking
functions.
[0075] In operation, the supplemental content provision system 700
can function as follows. A user can operate the client user
interface 710 to obtain a Web page. The Web page can be provided
over a network connection such as a LAN, a WAN, an intranet, or the
Internet, among others. The client user interface 710 can use an
anchoring scheme, such as any of the anchoring schemes disclosed or
described herein, to identify additional content to obtain from the
third party content provider 715. Based upon the anchor, the client
user interface 710 can request additional content from the
information provision system 730. This additional content can be
notes, chat room connections, tags, advertisements, or any
combination of these, among others.
[0076] The client user interface sends its request to the privacy
protection service 725. This request can be triggered by the
notification 785. The privacy protection service 725 anonymizes the
request by stripping any personally-identifiable information from
the request and forwards the request to the fetcher 735.
Additionally or alternatively, the privacy protection service 625
can include the request in with a group of dummy requests to hide
the real request from anyone who may be monitoring the
requests.
[0077] The fetcher 735 obtains user preferences (that can be
anyonymized as well) from the user preferences 740 and uses those
preferences to obtain content from the content data store 745 and
advertisements from the advertisement data store 760. The fetcher
sends the content and advertisements to the ranking and filtering
module 775 that ranks and filters the content and advertisements in
accordance with the user preferences 740, user models 770, and user
feedback 780. The ranking and filtering module 775 sends the
content and advertisements to the privacy protection service 725
that relays the content and advertisements to the client user
interface 710.
[0078] The user can use the client user interface 710, through the
privacy protection service 725, to create user content by accessing
the user content writer 750. The user content writer 750 places the
user-created content into the content data store 745. Additionally
or alternatively, the non-user content 755 can be placed into the
content data store 745 and included in content ultimately sent to
the client user interface 710.
[0079] The user can also access the user feedback module 780 to
provide explicit feedback for the content provided to the client
user interface 710. The feedback can include measures of quality
such as relevance along with requests for more information of the
type provided or requests to block certain content. User feedback
can be used in ranking and filtering tasks and can specifically be
used to assist in training any artificial intelligence-based
components of the ranking and filtering module 775.
[0080] Advertisers can use the advertising user interface 720 to
access the advertising purchasing module 765. Those advertisers can
purchase advertising space and access the user models 770 to define
target recipients of the advertising. Advertisers can also use the
advertiser user interface 720 and the advertising purchasing module
765 to upload or otherwise provide specific advertising to be
provided to users. These advertisements are stored in the
advertising data store 760.
[0081] FIG. 8 is a diagram of an exemplary user interface 800. The
user interface 800 can provide a logical arrangement of elements
within which information can be presented to a user. Specifically,
the user interface 800 can provide a platform that a user can
employ to obtain content from an information provider such as a Web
site as well as secondary or user-created content that can be
anchored to the content from the information provider. Such
secondary or user-created content can be presented alongside the
content from the information provider.
[0082] The user interface 800 can include a primary information
pane 810. In this example, which is based upon a Web browsing
platform and which can be modified to accommodate variations
previously disclosed or described in conjunction with other
figures, the primary information pane 810 can be used to render or
display a Web page to which a user has navigated. Standard Web page
elements, such as text, graphics, multimedia content, and embedded
code, among other things, can be rendered in the primary
information pane 810. The Web page rendered in the primary
information pane 810 can be reached by entering a URL in a
navigation bar, by performing a search using a search engine, or by
clicking on a hyperlink from another Web page, among other
methods.
[0083] A secondary information pane or sidebar 820 can be displayed
near the primary information pane 810. Although called a sidebar,
the secondary information pane or sidebar 820 can be part of a
single window that also includes the primary information pane 810,
as shown, or can be presented in a separate window. Additionally or
alternatively, the secondary information pane or sidebar 820 can be
positioned at the top or bottom of the window as well as on either
the left or right sides. Such positioning can be in accordance with
a user-selectable preference for the user interface 800.
[0084] The secondary information pane or sidebar 820 can provide an
area within which various elements, such as notes, chat boxes, and
advertising, such as the notes, chat boxes, and advertising
disclosed and described herein in conjunction with other figures,
can be displayed. A note 830 includes a message from a user
indicating that the user has tickets for sale for an event that is
to occur in the same approximate geographic location as an
establishment described by a Web page rendered in the primary
information pane 810. Other messages are included in notes 840,
850, 860.
[0085] An add note component 870 provides a text box and an entry
control that allows a user to create and add a note that can be
anchored to the domain name of the Web site currently being viewed
in the primary information pane 810. A chat box 880 provides an
interface for a user to join a chat session that is related to a
general topic of the currently-viewed Web site. An advertising area
890 provides a space where targeted advertising can be delivered to
a user.
[0086] With reference to FIGS. 9-12, flowcharts in accordance with
various methods or procedures are presented. While, for purposes of
simplicity of explanation, the one or more methodologies shown
herein, for example, in the form of a flow chart, are shown and
described as a series of acts, it is to be understood and
appreciated that neither the illustrated and described methods and
procedures nor any components with which such methods or procedures
can be used are necessarily limited by the order of acts, as some
acts may occur in a different order and/or concurrently with other
acts from that shown and described herein. For example, those
skilled in the art will understand and appreciate that a
methodology could alternatively be represented as a series of
interrelated states or events, such as in a state diagram.
Moreover, not all illustrated acts may be required to implement a
methodology or procedure.
[0087] FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrating a general processing
flow of a method 900 that can be employed in conjunction with
components that are disclosed or described herein in conjunction
with other figures. The method 900 can be used to obtain additional
content related to content of interest to a user. Specifically, the
additional content can be obtained by analyzing content of a
currently-viewed Web page and locating additional content related
to content of that Web page.
[0088] Processing of the method 900 begins at START block 910 and
proceeds to process block 920. At process block 920, a Web page is
fetched from some location on a network. The network can be a local
area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), an intranet, or the
Internet, among others. Content of the fetched Web page is analyzed
at process block 930. Various analysis algorithms can be employed
to find important or relevant terms in a Web page. Among those
algorithms is the TF-IDF algorithm previously discussed in
conjunction with other figures.
[0089] At process block 940, additional content that is related to
content of the fetched Web page is identified and obtained. This
content can be obtained from a location other than the network
location that provided the Web page being viewed or the Web page
that was analyzed. The content can be related in a variety of ways,
including, but not limited to, being topically related or being
anchored to a URL of the Web page. Specifically, the obtained
content can be created by a current user or by other users who have
made such content available for public or group viewing. At process
block 950, the obtained additional content is presented to a user.
Presentation can occur in an identified region of a human-computer
interface, such as a graphical user interface. Processing of the
method 900 terminates at END block 960.
[0090] FIG. 10 is a flow diagram illustrating a general processing
flow 1000 that can be employed in conjunction with components that
are disclosed or described herein in conjunction with other
figures. The method 1000 can be used to obtain interactive services
that related to content of interest to a user. Specifically, the
interactive services can be obtained by analyzing content of a
currently-viewed Web page and locating interactive services that
are related to content of that currently-viewed Web page.
[0091] Processing of the method 1000 begins at START block 1010 and
proceeds to process block 1020. At process block 1020, a Web page
is obtained from a location on a network. This network can be a
LAN, a WAN, an intranet, or the Internet, among others. At process
block 1030, content of the Web page is analyzed. As in other
examples, the TF-IDF algorithm can be used to analyze the Web page.
Other algorithms can also be used.
[0092] An interactive service, in this example a chat session, that
is related to the content of the Web page is identified at process
block 1040. Identification can be based upon a keyword search for
chatroom topics, among other methods. At process block 1050, a
connection is made to at least one identified chat session and
chatroom content is presented to a user. Processing of the method
1000 terminates at END block 760.
[0093] FIG. 11 is a flow diagram illustrating a general processing
flow of a method 1100 that can be employed in conjunction with
components that are disclosed or described herein in conjunction
with other figures. The method 1100 can be used to obtain
additional content that is related to content of interest to a
user. Specifically, the additional content can be obtained by
analyzing content of a currently-viewed Web page and locating
additional content that can reference content of that
currently-viewed Web page.
[0094] Processing of the method 1100 begins at START block 1110.
Processing then continues to process block 1120 where a Web page is
fetched. The Web page can be fetched from some Web server that can
be local or remote. A remote Web server can be accessed by using a
network such as a LAN, a WAN, an intranet, or the Internet, among
others. At process block 1130, content of the fetched Web page is
analyzed. Analysis of the content of the Web page can be according
to a variety of algorithms, specifically including the TF-IDF
algorithm. Another suitable algorithm can be substituted for the
TF-IDF algorithm.
[0095] Content from Web logs that is relevant to content of the
fetched Web page is identified and obtained at process block 1140.
Web log content can be relevant in a variety of ways. For example,
a Web log can specifically discuss content on the Web page that was
analyzed. A Web log entry can also provide a hyperlink to the
analyzed Web page. Also, a Web log entry can simply discuss the
same or a similar topic as the analyzed Web page. Such Web log
content is presented to user at process block 1150. Processing of
the method 1100 terminates at END block 1160.
[0096] FIG. 12 is a flow diagram illustrating a general processing
flow of a method 1200 that can be employed in conjunction with
components that are disclosed or described herein in conjunction
with other figures. The method 1200 can be used to obtain
additional content related to content of interest to a user.
Specifically, the additional content can be obtained by analyzing
content of a currently-viewed Web page and performing a search to
create a set of results that can be biased in favor of results that
include content that is similar to content of that analyzed Web
page.
[0097] Processing of the method 1200 begins START block 1210. At
process block 1220, a Web page is fetched from some information
server, such as a Web server. The information server can be local
or remote. In the case where the information server is remote, the
Web page can be obtained over a network such as a LAN, a WAN, an
intranet, or the Internet, among others.
[0098] The fetched Web page is analyzed at process block 1230.
Important terms or concepts from the Web page are identified at
process block 1240. Analysis and identification tasks can be
performed using various algorithms, including the TF-IDF algorithms
discussed in conjunction with other figures. Processing of the
method 1200 continues at process block 1250 where a search query is
accepted from the user.
[0099] At process block 1260, the search query accepted from the
user is optionally augmented by adding important terms or concepts
identified from the analyzed Web page to the query. A search, using
the augmented query, is performed at process block 1270.
Augmentation of the query in this manner can be used to bias
results of the search in favor of results that include content that
is similar to content of the analyzed Web page. Searches can also
optionally be refined in a variety of ways, such as by limiting a
query to a current domain or to pages that link to a
currently-viewed page. Other modifications are also possible.
Results of the search are obtained at process block 1280 and can be
presented to a user through some interface. At process block 1285,
the obtained results are optionally reordered. Processing of the
method 1200 terminates at END block 1290.
[0100] In order to provide additional context for implementation,
FIGS. 13-14 and the following discussion is intended to provide a
brief, general description of a suitable computing environment
within which disclosed and described components and methods can be
implemented. While various specific implementations have been
described above in the general context of computer-executable
instructions of a computer program that runs on a local computer
and/or remote computer, those skilled in the art will recognize
that other implementations are also possible either alone or in
combination with other program modules. Generally, program modules
include routines, programs, components, data structures, etc. that
perform particular tasks and/or implement particular abstract data
types.
[0101] Moreover, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the
above-described components and methods may be practiced with other
computer system configurations, including single-processor or
multi-processor computer systems, minicomputers, mainframe
computers, as well as personal computers, hand-held computing
devices, microprocessor-based and/or programmable consumer
electronics, and the like, each of which may operatively
communicate with one or more associated devices. Certain
illustrated aspects of the disclosed and described components and
methods may also be practiced in distributed computing environments
where certain tasks are performed by remote processing devices that
are linked through a communications network or other data
connection. However, some, if not all, of these aspects may be
practiced on stand-alone computers. In a distributed computing
environment, program modules may be located in local and/or remote
memory storage devices.
[0102] FIG. 13 is a schematic block diagram of a sample-computing
environment 1300 with which the subject invention can interact. The
system 1300 includes one or more client(s) 1310. The client(s) 1310
can be hardware and/or software (e.g., threads, processes,
computing devices). The system 1300 also includes one or more
server(s) 1320. The server(s) 1320 can be hardware and/or software
(e.g., threads, processes, computing devices). The servers 1320 can
house threads or processes to perform transformations by employing
the subject invention, for example.
[0103] One possible means of communication between a client 1310
and a server 1320 can be in the form of a data packet adapted to be
transmitted between two or more computer processes. The system 1300
includes a communication framework 1340 that can be employed to
facilitate communications between the client(s) 1310 and the
server(s) 1320. The client(s) 1310 are operably connected to one or
more client data store(s) 1350 that can be employed to store
information local to the client(s) 1310. Similarly, the server(s)
1320 are operably connected to one or more server data store(s)
1330 that can be employed to store information local to the servers
1340.
[0104] With reference to FIG. 14, an exemplary environment 1400 for
implementing various aspects of the invention includes a computer
1412. The computer 1412 includes a processing unit 1414, a system
memory 1416, and a system bus 1418. The system bus 1418 couples
system components including, but not limited to, the system memory
1416 to the processing unit 1414. The processing unit 1414 can be
any of various available processors. Dual microprocessors and other
multiprocessor architectures also can be employed as the processing
unit 1414.
[0105] The system bus 1418 can be any of several types of bus
structure(s) including the memory bus or memory controller, a
peripheral bus or external bus, and/or a local bus using any
variety of available bus architectures including, but not limited
to, Industrial Standard Architecture (ISA), Micro-Channel
Architecture (MSA), Extended ISA (EISA), Intelligent Drive
Electronics (IDE), VESA Local Bus (VLB), Peripheral Component
Interconnect (PCI), Card Bus, Universal Serial Bus (USB), Advanced
Graphics Port (AGP), Personal Computer Memory Card International
Association bus (PCMCIA), Firewire (IEEE 1394), and Small Computer
Systems Interface (SCSI).
[0106] The system memory 1416 includes volatile memory 1420 and
nonvolatile memory 1422. The basic input/output system (BIOS),
containing the basic routines to transfer information between
elements within the computer 1412, such as during start-up, is
stored in nonvolatile memory 1422. By way of illustration, and not
limitation, nonvolatile memory 1422 can include read only memory
(ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), electrically programmable ROM
(EPROM), electrically erasable ROM (EEPROM), or flash memory.
Volatile memory 1420 includes random access memory (RAM), which
acts as external cache memory. By way of illustration and not
limitation, RAM is available in many forms such as synchronous RAM
(SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data
rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), Synchlink DRAM
(SLDRAM), and direct Rambus RAM (DRRAM).
[0107] Computer 1412 also includes removable/non-removable,
volatile/non-volatile computer storage media. For example, FIG. 14
illustrates a disk storage 1424. The disk storage 1424 includes,
but is not limited to, devices like a magnetic disk drive, floppy
disk drive, tape drive, Jaz drive, Zip drive, LS-100 drive, flash
memory card, or memory stick. In addition, disk storage 1424 can
include storage media separately or in combination with other
storage media including, but not limited to, an optical disk drive
such as a compact disk ROM device (CD-ROM), CD recordable drive
(CD-R Drive), CD rewritable drive (CD-RW Drive) or a digital
versatile disk ROM drive (DVD-ROM). To facilitate connection of the
disk storage devices 1424 to the system bus 1418, a removable or
non-removable interface is typically used such as interface
1426.
[0108] It is to be appreciated that FIG. 14 describes software that
acts as an intermediary between users and the basic computer
resources described in the suitable operating environment 1400.
Such software includes an operating system 1428. The operating
system 1428, which can be stored on the disk storage 1424, acts to
control and allocate resources of the computer system 1412. System
applications 1430 take advantage of the management of resources by
operating system 1428 through program modules 1432 and program data
1434 stored either in system memory 1416 or on disk storage 1424.
It is to be appreciated that the subject invention can be
implemented with various operating systems or combinations of
operating systems.
[0109] A user enters commands or information into the computer 1412
through input device(s) 1436. The input devices 1436 include, but
are not limited to, a pointing device such as a mouse, trackball,
stylus, touch pad, keyboard, microphone, joystick, game pad,
satellite dish, scanner, TV tuner card, digital camera, digital
video camera, web camera, and the like. These and other input
devices connect to the processing unit 1414 through the system bus
1418 via interface port(s) 1438. Interface port(s) 1438 include,
for example, a serial port, a parallel port, a game port, and a
universal serial bus (USB). Output device(s) 1440 use some of the
same type of ports as input device(s) 1436. Thus, for example, a
USB port may be used to provide input to computer 1412, and to
output information from computer 1412 to an output device 1440.
Output adapter 1442 is provided to illustrate that there are some
output devices 1440 like monitors, speakers, and printers, among
other output devices 1440, which require special adapters. The
output adapters 1442 include, by way of illustration and not
limitation, video and sound cards that provide a means of
connection between the output device 1440 and the system bus 1418.
It should be noted that other devices and/or systems of devices
provide both input and output capabilities such as remote
computer(s) 1444.
[0110] Computer 1412 can operate in a networked environment using
logical connections to one or more remote computers, such as remote
computer(s) 1444. The remote computer(s) 1444 can be a personal
computer, a server, a router, a network PC, a workstation, a
microprocessor based appliance, a peer device or other common
network node and the like, and typically includes many or all of
the elements described relative to computer 1412. For purposes of
brevity, only a memory storage device 1446 is illustrated with
remote computer(s) 1444. Remote computer(s) 1444 is logically
connected to computer 1412 through a network interface 1448 and
then physically connected via communication connection 1450.
Network interface 1448 encompasses wire and/or wireless
communication networks such as local-area networks (LAN) and
wide-area networks (WAN). LAN technologies include Fiber
Distributed Data Interface (FDDI), Copper Distributed Data
Interface (CDDI), Ethernet, Token Ring and the like. WAN
technologies include, but are not limited to, point-to-point links,
circuit switching networks like Integrated Services Digital
Networks (ISDN) and variations thereon, packet switching networks,
and Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL).
[0111] Communication connection(s) 1450 refers to the
hardware/software employed to connect the network interface 1448 to
the bus 1418. While communication connection 1450 is shown for
illustrative clarity inside computer 1412, it can also be external
to computer 1412. The hardware/software necessary for connection to
the network interface 1248 includes, for exemplary purposes only,
internal and external technologies such as, modems including
regular telephone grade modems, cable modems and DSL modems, ISDN
adapters, and Ethernet cards.
[0112] What has been described above includes examples of the
subject invention. It is, of course, not possible to describe every
conceivable combination of components or methodologies for purposes
of describing the subject invention, but one of ordinary skill in
the art may recognize that many further combinations and
permutations of the subject invention are possible. Accordingly,
the subject invention is intended to embrace all such alterations,
modifications, and variations that fall within the spirit and scope
of the appended claims.
[0113] In particular and in regard to the various functions
performed by the above described components, devices, circuits,
systems and the like, the terms (including a reference to a
"means") used to describe such components are intended to
correspond, unless otherwise indicated, to any component which
performs the specified function of the described component (e.g., a
functional equivalent), even though not structurally equivalent to
the disclosed structure, which performs the function in the herein
illustrated exemplary aspects of the invention. In this regard, it
will also be recognized that the invention includes a system as
well as a computer-readable medium having computer-executable
instructions for performing the acts and/or events of the various
methods of the invention.
[0114] In addition, while a particular feature of the invention may
have been disclosed with respect to only one of several
implementations, such feature may be combined with one or more
other features of the other implementations as may be desired and
advantageous for any given or particular application. Furthermore,
to the extent that the terms "includes," and "including" and
variants thereof are used in either the detailed description or the
claims, these terms are intended to be inclusive in a manner
similar to the term "comprising."
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