WO2008132706A1

WO2008132706A1 - A web browsing method and system

Info

Publication number: WO2008132706A1
Application number: PCT/IE2008/000046
Authority: WO
Inventors: Pavel Sykora
Original assignee: Markport Limited
Priority date: 2007-04-26
Filing date: 2008-04-23
Publication date: 2008-11-06

Abstract

A content web page. (2) is downloaded from server (1) to a mobile device (3) via a proxy server (4). The proxy server (4) executes a program, that parses an original content web page into an XML-DOM internal representation. The internal representation is examined for a document (i.e. web page) structure, and the structure is simplified, if necessary. The result is then saved into the proxy server's operational memory (RAM). The proxy server (4) dynamically and intelligently performs segmentation of the simplified page (2) to provide segments. When the original document has been segmented, the proxy analyses the segments to determine if each one has primarily information content or primarily original document navigation content. It preferentially downloads those having primarily information content. However, it may also download those having primarily original document navigation content and user responses to said segments are used for navigation. The segments may be processed before download, to include inter-segment navigation content so that a user may choose a segment from inside another segment. In some cases inter-segment navigation content in a segment can be derived from a link in the original document, to point to a. particular part of another segment, and when present in a downloaded segment can be used for navigation if desired.

Description

"A Web Browsing Method and System"

Introduction

The invention relates to display of content by browsers, particularly those executing on devices having limited screen sizes.

Currently, the majority of web pages use a similar structure. Navigational and comparable irrelevant content can be found at the beginning of the page, followed by the 'main' part (i.e. the relevant information). If a proxy server performs a mark-up simplification (e.g. from XHTML 1.0 Transitional to XHTML Basic, CHTML or to a subset of another generally available mark-up language) and page segmentation, the original web page results in an ordered collection of simplified page segments. In most instances, the collection begins with page segments containing only navigational information. If the first segment is displayed by default, the user has to find the first relevant page segment manually, by skipping the segments with irrelevant content. This both degrades user experience considerably and may also decrease network efficiency.

US698331 (Microsoft) describes a method in which additional content (such as advertising) is only downloaded and displayed if it can be accommodated.

US2004/0139232 (Hewlett-Packard) describes content authoring according to target device.

US2006/0277478 (Seraji et. al.) describes a process in which obstructive user interface elements generated by a browser may be hidden to maximize space for content display.

US2002/0069296 (Aua et at) discloses an arrangement in which a user accesses a proxy and fulfils a target URL in a form, and the proxy reformats a document to be downloaded. Glossary of terms and their definitions:

• cHTML: a.k.a. compact HTML, a subset of HTML 2.0, HTML 3.2 and HTML 4.0 for small information appliances

• device: a terminal with user agent software for downloading and rendering web pages

• small device: a device with a limited screen size and resolution (e.g. a cell phone or PDA)

• XHTML Basic: a subset of XHTML 1.1 for small information appliances

• XHTML Mobile Profile (XHTML MP): a superset of XHTML Basic defined by Open Mobile Alliance

• XML-DOM: Platform and language independent object representation of an XML document.

Summary of the Invention

According to the invention, there is provided a method for downloading content from a server to a user device, the method comprising the steps of:

analysing an original document to dynamically segment the original document, at least one of said segments having primarily information content and at least one other segment having primarily navigation content, and downloading at least one segment having primarily information content.

In one embodiment, the analysis step analyses characters of the original document to determine if original document content is to be part of a primarily-information segment.

In one embodiment, the analysis step parses the original document to identify content indicators.

In one embodiment, the analysis step comprises:

(a) choosing a first segment of the original content, (b) searching for a specified content indicator within mark-up language of the first segment,

(c) if the content indicator is not found, the segment is most likely primarily navigational, and choosing the next segment and going to step (b), and

(d) otherwise, the segment is most likely primarily informational and therefore it is preferentially downloaded to the user for rendering on the device.

In one embodiment, the analysis step parses the original document content to determine a ratio of textual characters to anchor elements, and selects content having a ratio above a threshold for a primarily-information segment.

In one embodiment, the threshold ratio is at least 6.

In one embodiment, the analysis step comprises:

(a) choosing a first segment of the original content,

(b) counting the number of characters of mark-up text nodes which are not inside anchors, (c) dividing the result by the number of anchors in the segment,

(d) if the result is less than a configurable value, the segment is most likely primarily navigational and choosing the next segment and going to step (b), and

(e) otherwise, the segment is most likely primarily informational and therefore it is preferentially downloaded to the user device.

In one embodiment, the method comprises the step of initially simplifying structure of the original document.

In one embodiment, the simplification comprises providing a simplified document object model representation.

In one embodiment, the simplified representation is segmented. In one embodiment, the method comprises the step of inserting inter-segment navigation content into a segment, and subsequently downloading another segment upon receipt of a request from the user using the inter-segment navigation content.

In another embodiment, an item of inter-segment navigation content points to another segment.

In one embodiment, an item of inter-segment navigation content points to a particular part of another segment.

In another embodiment, said item of inter-segment navigation content is derived from a link in the original document.

In one embodiment, at least one segment is provided including primarily original document navigation content, but download priority is given to the segment or segments having primarily information content.

In one embodiment, the segment with primarily original document navigation content is downloaded upon request from the user, and user navigation inputs in said segments are used for further navigation.

In another aspect, the invention provided a computer readable medium comprising software code for performing operations of any method as defined above when executing on a digital processor.

In a further aspect, the invention provides a network server comprising a digital processor and communication interfaces, wherein the processor is adapted to access content and to perform the steps of any method defined above. The server may be a proxy server or a content provider. In another aspect, the invention provides a method performed by a mobile device for processing a received original document, the method comprising analysing the original document to dynamically determine segments of the original document, at least one of said segments having primarily information content and at least one other segment having primarily navigation content, and displaying the segment having primarily information content.

In one embodiment, at least one segment is provided including primarily original document navigation content, but download priority is given to the segment or segments having primarily information content, and the segment with primarily original document navigation content is downloaded upon request from the user, and user navigation inputs in said segments are used for further navigation.

Detailed Description of the Invention

The invention will be more clearly understood from the following description of some embodiments thereof, given by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings in which :-

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing download and display of content;

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic representation of breakdown of an original web page; Fig. 3 is a message sequence diagram illustrating an embodiment in detail, and Figs. 4 to 7 are illustrations of content processed by the method.

Description of the Embodiments

Overview

Referring to the drawings a content web page 2 is downloaded from server 1 to a mobile device 3 via a proxy server 4. The proxy server 4 executes a program that parses an original content web page 2 (shown in Fig. 4) into an XML-DOM internal representation. The internal representation is examined for a document (i.e. web page) structure and the structure is simplified, if necessary. The result is then saved into the proxy server's operational memory (RAM). The proxy server 4 dynamically and intelligently performs segmentation of the simplified page 2 to provide segments 5 (Figs. 5 to 7).

When the original document has been segmented, the proxy analyses the segments to determine if each one has primarily information content or primarily original document navigation content. It preferentially downloads to the device those having primarily information content. The segments may be processed before download, as described below.

Fig. 1 shows initial routing of a particular segment 6 from the set 5, and Fig. 2 shows diagrammatically the original page 2 and the set of segments 5.

More Detailed Description

Original Document Simplification and Segmentation:

Regarding simplifying the original document, this may involve transformation from XHTML 1.0 Transitional to table-less XHTML Basic 1.0. Also, the size of a serialized page segment should be reasonable — i.e. suitable for small devices — e.g. from 2 to 15 Kb (may depend on character set used). If the mark-up is not simplified and the source code of the content page is not a well- formed XML, the program creates an alternative tree internal representation of the content page. The alternative tree internal representation is saved in the operational memory of the proxy server.

Segment Processing:

In the segment processing referred to above, a program running on the proxy server 4 augments the internal representation of the segments 5 with inter-segment navigational hypertext links that allow the user to navigate across segments which are downloaded. Examples are the "Prev", and "Next" links of Figs. 5 and 6. The program also checks original hypertext links within the segments 5 and if they point to elements in other segments, the program changes them to navigational hypertext links pointing to the appropriate segment. Thereafter, the segments 5 are serialized into a XHTML mark-up representation and saved in the RAM of the proxy server 4, so if the mobile device 3 requests another segment, no repeated access from the proxy server 4 to the content provider 1 is necessary.

As shown in Fig. 7, the proxy creates a segment for the original document navigation content, and this can be used for navigation if this segment is downloaded.

Segment Analysis:

In one embodiment, segment analysis involves computing a ratio between the amount of plain textual information and the number of anchor ("<a>") elements used in a segment's body. If this computation result is less than a threshold then, the first segment is chosen by default. The following is an example implemented by the proxy server.

A. Receive the original web page on behalf of the mobile device.

B. Simplify the structure of the page, if necessary.

C. Segment the page into segments with an appropriate size.

D. Revise existing hypertext links to point to another segment as appropriate. E. Add hypertext links for navigation among segments.

F. Choose the first page segment.

G. Count the number of characters of XML DOM (or alternative) text nodes which are not inside anchors (i.e. <a> elements). H. Divide the result by the number of anchors (i.e. <a> elements) in the segment. I. If the result is less than a configurable URL-prefix-dependent threshold value (default = 12), the segment is most likely primarily navigational so choose the next segment and go to step G.

J. Otherwise, the segment is most likely primarily informational and therefore it should be preferentially sent to the device and rendered.

Alternatively, a particular content indicator, not currently specified in the standards, may be introduced to define relevant content to allow a content-indicator method usage. The following is an example.

The following is an example of a method implemented by the proxy server.

A. Receive the original web page on behalf of the mobile device.

B. Simplify the structure of the page, if necessary.

C. Segment the page into segments with an appropriate size. D. Revise existing hypertext links to point to another segment as appropriate.

E. Add hypertext links for inter-segment navigation.

F. Choose the first page segment.

G. Search for the specified content indicator within the segment mark-up.

H. If no content indicator is found, the segment is most likely primarily navigational, so choose the next segment and go to step G. The content indicator may be configured as a particular mark-up element or an attribute with a particular value (e.g. the "class" attribute with the value of "main- contents"). The location or the form that the content indicator takes may be configured on a file on the server. I. Otherwise, the segment is most likely primarily informational and so therefore should be sent to the device and rendered. A major benefit of the Example 1 approach is that the proxy server does not depend on content indicators, which may or may not be fully representative of the extent of navigation content in a segment. It is a generic approach which does not rely on content indicators inserted by authors.

Example

Referring specifically to Fig. 3 a user wants to browse the web page http://www.acision.com/about.aspx on her mobile device. The user sends a request from her mobile device (1). The request is captured by the (transparent) proxy server and the proxy server re-sends the request to the content provider (2). The content provider returns the requested web page (3).

The web page is then pre-processed on the proxy server as follows: • The page (X)HTML code is parsed and the proxy server builds an internal tree representation of the document in its operational memory • For original document simplification, the proxy server starts a program which parses the XHTML code of the original document (example shown in Fig. 4) in the operational memory. Because it is too complex for a further manipulation, the program creates a new structure related to a simplified representation of the document structure (XHTML-MP in this case), but preserving as much information of the original web page (4) as possible. The new structure is saved into the proxy server's operational memory (5).

• To perform segmentation, the proxy server starts a program which traverses the simplified representation of the original document in the proxy server's operational memory. As there is too much information for rendering on a mobile device with a small screen, the program segments the information into segments of approximately 1 kB each. Three segments are shown in Figs. 5 to 7. The program checks hyperlinks and each hypertext link pointing to another part of the page translates into a link pointing to an appropriate segment. Then the program adds inter-segment navigational hyperlinks in the bottom of each segment (6). The links allow navigation from one segment to another. The segments are then converted from the internal tree representation to the final code (XHTML-MP in this case) and saved into the proxy server operational memory (7). Fig. 5 shows a first segment of useful content, Fig, 6 shows a second segment of useful content, and Fig. 7 shows a segment of navigation content.

• A program classifies segments into categories of being primarily informational or primarily navigational. As the first segment (Fig. 7) contains only a logo (i.e. image), a simple form and hypertext links from the navigational part in the top of the original web page, the program classifies the segment as primarily navigational and proceeds with the second segment. As it contains mainly text, the second segment (Fig. 5) is classified as primarily navigational.

• The proxy server sends the second segment to the user (9).

The mobile device renders the second segment (10) and the user can read its content. The user sees that the second segment has been displayed first, and after reading the second segment, she wants to see the first segment with primarily navigational content (because she might want either to navigate to another page of the website or use the form for searching information within the website). Because the method described here is preserving all of the content of the original web page 2, the user is allowed to navigate to the first segment using hypertext links in the bottom of the segment. After using the "Prev" link, the mobile device sends a request for the first segment (Fig. 7) to the proxy server (11) and the proxy server finds the first segment in its operational memory (12) and returns the first segment to the user's mobile device for rendering (13, 14).

It will be appreciated that the invention achieves a much improved utilization of screen space, providing a better user experience while preserving the original web page information. This is achieved (by the proxy server) independently of the user device and browser characteristics. The invention is not limited to the embodiments described but may be varied in construction and detail. For example, the analysis may be performed by a content server and, if so, the content server may communicate directly with the user device or via a proxy server. Furthermore, the analysis may be performed by a user device, in which case there is preferential display rather than preferential download. In this aspect, the device receives the full original document and performs the processing to preferentially render the segments.

Claims

1. A method for downloading content from a server to a user device, the method comprising the steps of:

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the analysis step analyses characters of the original document to determine if original document content is to be part of a primarily-information segment.

3. A method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the analysis step parses the original document to identify content indicators.

4. A method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the analysis step comprises:

(a) choosing a first segment of the original content,

(b) searching for a specified content indicator within mark-up language of the first segment,

5. A method as claimed in either of claims 1 or 2, wherein the analysis step parses the original document content to determine a ratio of textual characters to anchor elements, and selects content having a ratio above a threshold for a primarily-information segment.

6. A method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the threshold ratio is at least 6.

7. A method as claimed in either of claims 5 or 6, wherein the analysis step comprises:

(a) choosing a first segment of the original content,

(b) counting the number of characters of mark-up text nodes which are not inside anchors,

(c) dividing the result by the number of anchors in the segment,

(d) if the result is less than a configurable value, the segment is most likely primarily navigational and choosing the next segment and going to step (b), and (e) otherwise, the segment is most likely primarily informational and therefore it is preferentially downloaded to the user device.

8. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, comprising the step of initially simplifying structure of the original document.

9. A method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the simplification comprises providing a simplified document object model representation.

10. A method as claimed in claims 8 or 9, wherein the simplified representation is segmented.

11. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, comprising the step of inserting inter-segment navigation content into a segment, and subsequently downloading another segment upon receipt of a request from the user using the inter-segment navigation content.

12. A method as claimed in claim 1 1 , wherein an item of inter-segment navigation content points to another segment.

13. A method as claimed in either of claims 11 or 12, wherein an item of intersegment navigation content points to a particular part of another segment.

14. A method as claimed in claim 13, wherein said item of inter-segment navigation content is derived from a link in the original document.

15. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein at least one segment is provided including primarily original document navigation content, but download priority is given to the segment or segments having primarily information content.

16. A method as claimed in claim 15, wherein the segment with primarily original document navigation content is downloaded upon request from the user, and user navigation inputs in said segments are used for further navigation.

17. A computer readable medium comprising software code for performing operations of a method as claimed in any preceding claim when executing on a digital processor.

18. A network server comprising a digital processor and communication interfaces, wherein the processor is adapted to access content and to perform the steps of a method of any of claims 1 to 16.

19. A network server as claimed in claim 18, wherein the server is a proxy server.

20. A network server as claimed in claim 18, wherein the server is a content provider.

21. A method performed by a mobile device for processing a received original document, the method comprising analysing the original document to dynamically determine segments of the original document, at least one of said segments having primarily information content and at least one other segment having primarily navigation content, and displaying the segment having primarily information content.

22. A method as claimed in claim 21, wherein the analysis step analyses characters of the original document to determine if original document content is to be part ofa primarily-information segment.

23. A method as claimed in claim 22, wherein the analysis step parses the original document to identify content indicators.

24. A method as claimed in either of claims 21 or 22, wherein the analysis step parses the original document content to determine a ratio of textual characters to anchor elements, and selects content having a ratio above a threshold for a primarily-information segment.

25. A method as claimed in any of claims 21 to 24, wherein at least one segment is provided including primarily original document navigation content, but download priority is given to the segment or segments having primarily information content, and the segment with primarily original document navigation content is downloaded upon request from the user, and user navigation inputs in said segments are used for further navigation.