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United States Patent6769009
ReismanJuly 27, 2004
Title
Method and system for selecting a personalized set of information channels
Abstract
A method for distributing information to a plurality of user stations each configured for communications with a multiplicity of servers via a non-proprietary network, includes steps for providing each of the user stations with a client interface that enables a user at that user station to select a personalized set of information channels from a listing of available information channels, wherein each information channel carries digital content from at least one of the servers; and providing each of the user stations with the digital content carried by the selected information channels. A corresponding system and user station are also described.
Inventors:Reisman; Richard R. (New York, NY)
Appl. No.:553393
Filed:April 20, 2000
Current U.S. Class:709/201 709/202 709/203 709/216 709/217 709/218 709/219 709/227 709/228 709/231 709/232 709/250 705/26 705/27 705/42 709/200 
Field of Search:705/21,26,27,42 709/200-203,205,213,214,216-221,223-232,237-242,245,246,249,250 710/8-11,38,105,129,131
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Letter from David Stets to Dick Reisman regarding Retrieval Technologies Inc., including company overview, product descriptions for News Machine, Multi-Serve Gateway, and XFE products, features description for New Machine product (printed Nov. 12, 1991), and Press Release for the Transaction Mode Access feature for News Machine, Mar. 10, 1992. .
"News Machine Transaction Mode Access Interface Specification," Retrieval Technologies, Inc., revised Feb. 24, 1992. .
"News Machine System Description," Retrieval Technologies, Inc., revised Jan. 1992. .
"GView: A Software Solution," Delphi Internet Services Corporation (no date). .
"GView Architecture Version 1.1," Delphi Internet Services Corporation (Dec. 31, 1993). .
Functional Specification: GView Delphi Applications Version .03, Delphi Internet Services Corporation, Dec. 31, 1993. .
"CompuServe Communications Toolbox Prospective Developer Information," CompuServe Inc., copyright 1994. .
Dan Skelton, "Remembering the Gameline," www.geocities.com/TimesSqure/I.air/9260/gameline.html (Sep. 16, 2003). .
IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, vol. 37, No. 02B, Feb. 1994, "Use of Containers for Installing/Removing Products"..~
Primary Examiner: Gaffin; Jeffrey
Assistant Examiner: Nguyen; Tanh Q
Attorney, Agent or Firm:Westerlund; Robert A.
Parent Case Text


LIST OF RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a combined Continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 08/641,010, filed on Apr. 29, 1996, and entitled "COMPUTER-IMPLEMENTED TRANSPORT OF ELECTRONIC INFORMATION OBJECTS," which is a Continuation-in-Part of U.S. application Ser. No. 08/251,724, filed on May 31, 1994, and entitled "SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATIC UNATTENDED ELECTRONIC INFORMATION TRANSPORT BETWEEN A SERVER AND A CLIENT BY A VENDOR PROVIDED TRANSPORT SOFTWARE WITH A MANIFEST LIST," which as U.S. Pat. No. 5,694,546 on Dec. 2, 1997, and a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 08/982,157, filed on Dec. 1, 1997, and entitled "COMPUTER-IMPLEMENTED TRANSPORT OF ELECTRONIC INFORMATION OBJECTS," which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,125,388 on Sep. 26, 2000 is a Continuation of the aforementioned Ser. No. 08/251,724 (U.S. Pat. No. 5,694,546). All of the above-identified applications are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
Claims

What is claimed is:
1. A method for distributing information to a plurality of user stations via a server based information distribution service over a network including the Internet, comprising: for each of the user stations, providing the user station with a directory of items, the directory being provided over the network to the user station by the information distribution service; for each of the user stations, enabling a user at the user station to select a personalized set of multiple items from the directory; and for each of the user stations, transferring, via the information distribution service over the network to the user station, information contained in a plurality of information objects corresponding to respective items of the selected personalized set of multiple items, in response to a single triggering action by the user at the user station.

2. The method as set forth in claim 1, further comprising providing each of the user stations with means for viewing the information transferred to the respective ones of the user stations.

3. The method as set forth in claim 1, further comprising providing each of the user stations with viewer software for viewing the information transferred to the respective ones of the user stations.

4. The method as set forth in claim 3, wherein the viewer software comprises an HTML-capable viewer.

5. The method as set forth in claim 1, further comprising for each of the user stations, providing the user station with a customized user interface for viewing the information.

6. The method as set forth in claim 1, further comprising. for each of the user stations, providing the user station with means for enabling the user at the user station to select from the information information of interest to the user at the user station.

7. The method as set forth in claim 5, further comprising, for each of the user stations, providing the user station with means for enabling the user at the user station to select from the information contained at least one of in the information objects corresponding to at least one of the items of the selected personalized set of multiple items, information of interest to the user at the respective one of the user stations.

8. The method as set forth in claim 6, further comprising providing each of the user stations with means for viewing the selected information of interest.

9. The method as set forth in claim 7, further comprising providing each of the user stations with means for viewing the selected information of interest.

10. The method as set forth in claim 6, further comprising automatically storing the selected information of interest for subsequent access by the user at the respective one of the user stations.

11. The method as set forth in claim 6, further comprising providing each of the user stations with means for automatically storing the selected information of interest to the user at the respective one of the user stations in temporary storage locations at the respective one of the user stations.

12. The method as set forth in claim 6, further comprising providing each of the user stations with means for automatically storing the selected information of interest to the user at the respective one of the user stations in persistent storage locations at the respective one of the user stations.

13. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the information contained in the information objects corresponding to the respective items of the selected personalized set of multiple items originates from separate and independent publishers.

14. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the information includes graphical content.

15. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the information includes multimedia content.

16. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the information includes software.

17. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the information includes news updates.

18. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the information includes software updates.

19. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the respective items of the personalized set of multiple items are identified in an object manifest.

20. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the respective items of the personalized set of multiple items are identified in an object manifest by respective generic names.

21. The method as set forth in claim 1, further comprising automatically notifying the user at each respective one of the user stations when an update of the information contained in the information objects corresponding to the respective items of the personalized set of multiple items is available.

22. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the transferring step is carried out using a non-proprietary data transfer protocol.

23. The method as set forth in claim 6, further comprising generating an object manifest for each instance of transferring.

24. The method as set forth in claim 1, further comprising automatically notifying a software entity at the respective one of the user stations when an update of the information contained in at least one of the information objects referred to by the respective items of the personalized set of multiple items is available.

25. The method as set forth in claim 24, wherein the software entity triggers an automatic data transfer to the respective one of the user stations of the updated information, of the user's personalized set of multiple information channels, in response to automatic notification of availability of an update.

26. The method as set forth in claim 22, wherein the server based information distribution service includes at least one server that is an open architecture server.

27. A system for distributing information to a plurality of user stations via a server based information distribution service over a network including the Internet, comprising: first code that provides each of the user stations with a directory of items over the network from which a user at each respective one of the user stations can select a personalized set of multiple items; and second code that effects transport, to each of the user stations, via the information distribution service, over the network, of information contained in a plurality of information objects corresponding to respective items of the personalized set of multiple items, in response to a single triggering action by the user at the respective one of the user stations.

28. A system as set forth in claim 27, further comprising, for each user station, an HTML-capable viewer that enables the user at the respective one of the user stations, to view the information.

29. The system as set forth in claim 27, further comprising, for each of the user stations, a respective customized user interface for viewing the information.

30. The system as set forth in claim 27, further comprising software that enables the user at each user station to select from the information, information of interest to the user at the respective one of the user stations.

31. The system as set forth in claim 29, further comprising software that enables the user at each user station to select from the information, information of interest to the user at the respective one of the user stations.

32. The system as set forth in claim 30, further comprising, for each of the user stations, means for automatically storing the selected information of interest for subsequent access by the user at the respective one of the user stations.

33. The system as set forth in claim 27, wherein the information contained in the information objects referred to by the respective items of the personalized set of multiple items originates from separate and independent publishers.

34. The system as set forth in claim 27, wherein the information includes graphical content.

35. The system as set forth in claim 27, wherein the information includes multimedia content.

36. The system as set forth in claim 27, wherein the information includes software.

37. The system as set forth in claim 27, wherein the information includes news updates.

38. The system as set forth in claim 27, wherein the information includes software updates.

39. The system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the respective items of the personalized set of multiple items are identified in an object manifest by respective generic names.

40. The system as set forth in claim 32, further comprising third code for automatically notifying the user at each respective one of the user stations when an update of the information contained in the information objects corresponding to the respective items of the personalized set of multiple items is available.

41. The system as set forth in claim 30, wherein the second code utilizes a non-proprietary data transfer protocol.

42. The system as set forth in claim 30, further comprising means for generating an object manifest for each instance of transporting.

43. The system as set forth in claim 32, further comprising third code for automatically notifying a software entity at the respective one of the user stations when an update of the information contained in at least one of the information objects referred to by the respective items of the personalized set of multiple items is available.

44. The system as set forth in claim 32, wherein the second code enables a software entity at the respective one of the user stations to trigger an automatic transport to the respective one of the user stations of the information contained in at least one of the information information objects referred to by the respective items of the personalized set of multiple items, in response to automatic notification of availability of an update.

45. The system as set forth in claim 41, wherein the server based information distribution service includes at least one server that is an open architecture server.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to computer-implemented transport of electronic information objects. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method and corresponding system that enables a user at a user station to select a personalized set of information channels from a listing of available information channels.

Electronic publication is an exploding industry in which thousands of new products including magazines and periodicals, software applications and utilities, video games, business, legal and financial information and databases, encyclopedias and dictionaries are purchased by millions of customers. Commonly, such information products are replicated in computer-readable form on magnetic or optical storage diskettes and are box-packaged with printed manuals for distribution to retail stores and direct mail sales. These marketing practices are relatively expensive and involve a significant time lag of at least days or weeks to get a product into a consumer's hands once it is created.

Such costs and delays are generally acceptable for original, high value products such as collections of publications or software application, of which some examples are NEWSWEEK.RTM. Interactive CD-ROM, or disks, which provides a searchable audio-visual library of issues of NEWSWEEK magazine and CINEMANIA.RTM. CD-ROM which provides reviews and other information on newly released films. For time-sensitive, low-value updates, for example, the latest issue of Newsweek or last week's movie reviews, distribution in stored form, on physical media, is slow and the cost may exceed the value of the information in the product.

Thus, electronic transfer from a central computer server to a subscriber's computer over common carriers or wide area networks is an attractive proposition. Similar considerations apply to the distribution of software program updates, although cost and frequency of issue are not such serious constraints. A problem faced in both situations is that of incorporating the received material with the original material so that a fully integrated publication, information database or software program is obtained by the user.

Another class of electronically distributed information product comprises home shopping catalogues of mail order products distributed on optical or other digital data storage disks which may contain text, sound and images from printed catalogues or uniquely created material, for example software application demos. To applicant's knowledge and belief, available products lack any computer order placement capability, requiring orders to be placed by voice call.

Communication between remote computers, not directly interconnected by umbilical cable or a wired network, is enabled by a wide range of hardware devices and software drivers, utilities, applications and application modules. Telephone modems that couple a computer with the telephone network are familiar devices. RF modems that couple computers into wireless networks are less familiar but are beginning to appear in consumer devices known broadly as personal information communicators (PIC's) of which personal digital assistants (PDA's) such as Apple Corp.'s NEWTON.RTM. product are a first generation. New kinds of digital communications devices can be expected to emerge as digital technology replaces analog transmission.

General-purpose, online, modem-accessed, electronic information services, such as PRODIGY, COMPUSERVE and AMERICA ONLINE (trademarks), and some Internet services, provide wide access to timely information products from a central server, but are limited and complex. They provide no means for the integration of downloaded information with information products offered on disk or CD, and provide only rudimentary facilities for local viewing and search of downloaded files.

Such online information services provide their own user interface which is generally unlike that of a disk or CD-based information product, and can be customized very little, if at all, by a publisher using the service for product distribution.

Online services are oriented to extended online sessions which require complex user interaction to navigate and find desired information objects. Initial setup and use is rendered complex by requirements related to extended session use of data networks and the frequent need to navigate across the network, and through massive data collections, to locate desired data items. General-purpose online information services do not provide a suitable medium for electronic information publishers to distribute updates, and the like, because of limited interface flexibility, because a publisher cannot expect all their customer base to be service subscribers, and because of cost and payment difficulties. Such services are centered on monolithic processes intended for national use by millions of subscribers which processes are not readily adaptable.

Online service charging mechanisms are also inflexible and inappropriate for most individual information products, requiring monthly subscription fees of $5-10 or more, plus time charges for extended use, which are billed directly to users, after a user sign-up and credit acceptance process. Such cost mechanisms are too expensive and too complex for distribution of many products such as magazine and other low cost update products. They do not presently permit a publisher to build an access fee into a purchase price or a product subscription.

Recent press announcements from corporations such as AT&T, Lotus, Microsoft and MCI describe plans for new online services providing what are called "groupware" services to offer rich electronic mail and group collaboration functions, primarily for business organizations. Although offering multiple electronic object transport operations such services are believed to have complex setup procedures and software requirements and complex message routing features and protocols, and to lack interface flexibility. Accordingly, they are not suitable for mass distribution of low cost electronic information update products and cannot achieve the objectives of the invention.

Communications Products

Many software products exist that enable one computer to communicate with another over a remote link such as a telephone cable or the air waves, but none enables a vendor substantially to automate common carrier mass distribution of an electronic information product to a customer base employing multiple heterogenous systems with indeterminate hardware and software configurations. Two examples of popular such software products are Datastorm Technologies, Inc.'s PROCOMM (trademark) and CENTRAL POINT COMMUTE (trademark) from Central Point Software, Inc. which are commonly used to provide a variety of functions, including file transfers between, interactive sessions from, host-mode services from, and remote computer management of, modem-equipped personal computers wired into the telephone network.

Counterpoint Publishing's Federal Register Publications

Counterpoint Publishing, (Cambridge Mass.) in brochures available to the applicant in November 1993 offered electronic information products entitled "Daily Federal Register" and "CD Federal Register." "Daily Federal Register" includes communications software and a high-speed modem. Apparently, the communications software is a standard general purpose communications package with dialing scripts that are customized to the needs of the Federal Register products. Accordingly, the cost of a communications package license which may be as high as about $100 at retail must be included within the product cost. Also, Counterpoint Publishing avoids the difficulties of supporting various modems by providing its own standard modem, with the product, building in a cost (about $100-200) which renders this approach quite unsuitable for mass-market distribution of low cost electronic information update products. The resulting product is not seamless either in its appearance or its operation because the communications software is separately invoked and used, and has its own disparate look and feel to the user.

The "CD Federal Register" provides the Federal Register on CD-ROM at weekly intervals for $1,950.00 and CD-ROM disks are shipped to customers as they become available. Back issues are $125 each. Updates are provided by shipping a disk. The Federal Register is a high-value product intended for specialist, business, academic and governmental users. Distribution of updates on CD-ROM, as utilized by Counterpoint Publishing, is not a suitable method for lower value products such as a weekly news magazine, because of the associated costs. Shipping delays are a further drawback.

While the two product "CD Federal Register" and "Daily Federal Register" might be used together, at an additive cost, to provide a combination of archives on CD-ROM plus daily updates obtained and stored until replaced by a new CD-ROM, based on information available to the present inventor it appears that the two products must be used separately. Thus they must apparently be viewed, searched, and managed as two or more separate collections, requiring multiple steps to perform a complete search across both collections, and requiring manual management and purging of the current collection on hard disk by the user.

Xcellenet's "REMOTEWARE".RTM.

Xcellenet Inc. in product brochures copyrighted 1992 and a price list dated Aug. 16, 1993, for a "REMOTEWARE".RTM. product line, offers a range of REMOTEWARE.RTM. software-only products providing electronic information distribution to and from remote nodes of a proprietary REMOTEWARE.RTM. computer network intended for use within an organized, corporate or institutional data processing or management information system. The system is primarily server directed, rather than user initiated and requires an expensive program (priced at $220.00) to run at the user's node whereas the present invention addresses consumer uses which will support costs of no more than a few dollars per node.

Furthermore, REMOTEWARE.RTM. is primarily intended to be used with other REMOTEWARE.RTM. products at the node which other products provide a range of user interface and data management functions, at significant additional cost, each with their own separate user interface presenting a standard REMOTEWARE.RTM. look and feel. In addition, the nodes require a sophisticated central support and operations function to be provided, which may be difficult for an electronic information publisher to accomplish and add unacceptable expense.

REMOTEWARE.RTM. is overly elaborate to serve the simpler objectives of the present invention. Designed for the demanding needs of enterprise-wide data processing communications, the client or node package provides many functions such as background operation, ability to receive calls from the server at any time, ability to work under control of the central server to survey and update system software and files and an ability to support interactive sessions, which abilities are not needed to carry out the simpler information transport operations desired by the present invention. Such capabilities may be desirable in an enterprise MIS environment, but are not appropriate to a consumer or open commercial environment, and bring the drawbacks of complexity, cost, and program size, which may put undesirable operational constraints on the user (and perhaps even compromise the user's privacy). REMOTEWARE.RTM. is too costly and complex for mass distribution of updates to periodicals, cannot be shipped invisibly with an electronic information product and requires specialized server software and operations support that would challenge all but the largest and most technically sophisticated publishers. Accordingly, REMOTEWARE.RTM. is unsuitable for widespread use as an economical means of distributing updates for a variety of electronic information products.

Although it has wider applications, a significant problem addressed by the invention is the problem of economically distributing updates of electronic information products to a wide customer base that may number tens or hundreds of thousands, and in some cases, millions of consumers. At the date of this invention, such a customer base will normally include an extensive variety of computers, operating systems and communications devices, if the latter are present, all of which may have their own protocols and configuration requirements.

While an electronic information product vendor might consider licensing or purchasing an existing commercial communications product for distribution with their publication product to enable remote, diskless updating, the high cost of such a solution would generally be unacceptable because a communication package includes a broad range of functionalities not required for the vendor's particular purpose, for example, remote keyboarding. Significantly, a commercial communications package is not susceptible to customization of its user interface and may have its own configuration requirements and installation requirements, with regard to directories, device drivers and the like, which are incompatible with other vendor or user requirements or are simply a nuisance to the user. Thus, a commercial communications product in addition to its cost, cannot be satisfactorily integrated with an information product.

There is accordingly a need for computer-implementable information transport software to enable simple, economical and prompt mass distribution of electronic information products.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This invention solves a problem. It solves the problem of enabling simple, economical and prompt mass distribution of electronic information products.

In one aspect, the present invention provides a method for distributing information to a plurality of user stations each configured for communications with a multiplicity of servers via a non-proprietary network, including steps for providing each of the user stations with a client interface that enables a user at that user station to select a personalized set of information channels from a listing of available information channels, wherein each information channel carries digital content from at least one of the servers; and providing each of the user stations with the digital content carried by the selected information channels.

According to one aspect, the present invention provides a system for distributing information to a plurality of user stations each configured for communications with a multiplicity of servers via a non-proprietary network. Advantageously, the system includes a client interface device that enables a user at each user station to select a personalized set of information channels from a listing of available information channels, wherein each information channel carries digital content from at least one of the servers; and a transporter device that transports the digital content carried by the selected information channels to each of the user stations.

According to another aspect, the present invention provides a method for controlling a user station including steps for effectuating communication sessions between the user station and each of a selected plurality of independently-operated servers via a non-proprietary network; and providing a user interface enabling a user to select a customized set of multiple data object sources from a menu of available data object sources, wherein the customized set of multiple data object sources comprises the selected plurality of independently-operated servers.

According to yet another aspect, the present invention provides a user station configured for communications with a multiplicity of servers via a non-proprietary network. Preferably, the user station includes client interface functionality that enables a user at the user station to select a personalized set of information channels from a listing of available information channels, wherein each information channel carries digital content from at least one of the servers; and transporter functionality that transports the digital content carried by the selected information channels to the user station.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

One way of carrying out the invention is described in detail below with reference to drawings which illustrate only one specific embodiment of the invention and in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of one embodiment of an information transport software component according to the invention installed in a computer workstation and communicating with a complementary centrally located server-resident software module for mass distribution of digitized electronic information objects;

FIG. 2 is a flow block diagram of an information transport operation performed by the software component and module of the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a server-based electronic distribution service employing an inventive information transport software component;

FIG. 4 is a further schematic diagram of the service illustrated in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a prior art communications product employed to transport an information object between a user and a remote server;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram similar to FIG. 5 showing, in a comparative manner, some of the benefits that can flow to a user when an information transport software component, such as that described with reference to FIG. 1, is used for a similar transport operation;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a basic object retrieval embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a product-integrated interface embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a server-enhanced embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of the invention providing update objects via a commercial service;

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of a multiple service routes embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram of an offline Web browser embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 13 is a schematic flow diagram of a hyperlink readdressing or redirection process according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIG. 1, the inventive software component is schematically shown in operative mode installed at a user's computer workstation. The workstation is communications-equipped for communication with remote services, for example by modem, which services are also shown schematically. Only relevant software and hardware components of the system are shown.

Relevant components at the workstation comprise operating system services 10, a containing information product 12, an information transport component or module 14, herein also referenced as a "transporter" which may be a stand-alone product or, in preferred embodiments is embedded or contained in the containing information product 12. Information transport component 14 provides a general purpose facility for sending and fetching information objects between an end user's computer (the client) and a central server. Information transport component 14 is not customized to the containing information product 12, but is intended to be used in conjunction with any of a wide range of electronic information products.

Operating system services 10 provide capabilities for the containing information product 12 and the information transport component 14 to access a readable information storage device 16 which may, for example, be an optical disk drive such as a read-only CD-ROM where product information 17 is stored. In addition, a read/write information storage device 18, for example, a conventional hard disk is accessed via the operating system services 10 for storage of a fetched additional information object 26. The storage media used for hard disks and the like are often described as nonvolatile and the type of storage is frequently referenced as "permanent." however, the more recently used term "persistent storage," which references the manner of storage as well as the physical storage media and distinguishes from transient storage where objects may be automatically erased after some interval, or event, without supervisory control or awareness of the erasure, is a more suitable descriptive term for the purposes of the present invention.

As necessary, different, or modified, information transporter components 14 can be supplied for users of different operating systems or system families, notably DOS (available in several versions, for example from Microsoft Corp, IBM Corporation, Novell, Inc.) Windows (trademark, Microsoft Corp.), Apple Computer Corp.'s operating systems, possibly IBM Corporation's OS/2 (trademark), and any distinct operating systems developed for personal digital assistants, pen-based computers and the like.

Information transport component 14 also uses operating system services 10 for external communication with a communications network 20 through which the information transport component 14 can access a remote server 22, or server-client network, supporting a data storage device 24 where desired additional information object 26 is located.

Communications network 20 can be any electronic distribution system suitable for transporting information objects 26 including wired and wireless common carriers such as telephone networks, cable television systems or networks and mobile telecommunications or data communications networks and extends also to emerging and future systems of providing electronic communication between users of diversified equipment. The term "common carrier" is used herein to embrace all such data communication systems as will reasonably meet the purposes of the invention. The term "modem" is used herein to embrace any network interface device enabling a user station to communicate on such a communications network 20.

While the containing information product 12 can take many different forms, as described herein, and as will also be apparent to those skilled in the art, a preferred embodiment is that of a periodically issuing publication or publications, for example, a news magazine or a collection of patents. Again, the additional information object 26 could be any information of interest to the user, having some relevance to the containing information product 12, but the invention and its unique capabilities enable the additional information object 24 to be fully integrated with the containing product 12 in a manner that can be automated to be transparent to the user.

The inventive information transport component 14 is designed to require a minimum of user input. A bare minimum will be a user's ID which can be entered by the user in a product setup and automatically accessed for information transport, or could by pre-loaded by the vendor from data supplied by the user at purchase.

A product ID is preferably pre-loaded into the containing information product 12 by the information product vendor or publisher to be available for use by the information transport component 14. However, even this may not be required. In an alternative embodiment, the product ID can be automatically incorporated into the product in a product replication process that permits individualized coding of unique ID's. In most cases, a user-actuated menu selection is provided in the containing information product 12 after integration with the inventive information transport component 14 to activate transport of an additional information object, and preferably, selection of transport activation drops down a menu of transport choices such as "FETCH UPDATE", "FETCH CATALOG OF UPDATES", "SEND DATA" and the like, each of which then runs automatically upon selection.

Updating can also be totally automatic, and other than an obviously desirable user notification, be completely invisible to or transparent to the user, running in background on their system, while the user's screen is available for other processing such as running the containing information product 12. Where updates are made available on a known schedule, a totally automated product can be provided that fetches an update without any user intervention, on the specified release date, or as soon thereafter as the user's system, or the containing information product 12, is activated. In practice, most users will probably prefer an opportunity to confirm that the fetch transaction should proceed. A preferred embodiment monitors the user's system clock and alerts a user to the arrival of an update release date and asks the user to confirm that the system should seek and fetch the scheduled update, if available.

Thus, the invention is particularly suitable for importing updates of information or information processing products, such as periodically issuing literature, or software upgrades. Accordingly, additional information object 24 preferably comprises updates which can be integrated with the information product 12 to provide, for example, a coherent body or continuous sequence of materials that can be commonly searched and indexed preferably in a manner giving the user the appearance of a common logical file formed from physically distinct files. The appearance of integration can be achieved by searching new and then old indexes in series and making the search and navigation logic of the containing product smart enough to combine new and old information. For example a new object can have an index file similar to that for the original information product 12. A search engine can first search the new index, then the old one, and then produce a combined set of results. Preferably, the files are not actually merged or otherwise combined as to do so could be unduly complex.

As shown in FIG. 1, the containing information product 12 comprises a user interface 28 enabling the user to view, search, excerpt and print or otherwise export or process selected information items from product information 17. The user interface 28 provides standard information product features, as conventionally supplied by the product publisher, supplemented by appropriate fetch or send options to activate the features of the inventive information transport component 14.

Also shown in FIG. 1 are a database management module 30 and a data structure definition module 32. Database management module 30 provides retrieval-oriented database processing of the information product including indexed searching and selective retrieval capabilities using one or more index keys such as an issue or item number, or full text searching, and may provide hypertext and hypermedia linkages. The data structure definition 32 provides the database structure of relevant files as classified by field or element, name, type, size and the like. After successful completion of a fetch operation, control is returned to containing information product 12 to process the new information in essentially the same manner as the original information, or in any other manner for which it has been equipped.

Major modules comprised in the inventive information transport component 14 are a user interface 34, a communications module 36 and fetch-send protocol 38. In addition, the information transport component 14 preferably comprises its own built-in application programming interfaces (APIs) such as a user interface API 40 and a communications API 42, enabling the information transport component 14's user interface and communications modules respectively, readily to be incorporated with, or plugged into a wide range of containing information products 14. Such incorporation, in the currently best known embodiment of the invention, is effected by software engineers familiar with and having access to the containing information product 12, but future developments may enable the incorporation process to be effected by skilled users.

References herein to an applications programming interface (API) will be understood to embrace any program interconnection technique which supports direct, seamless interaction between one program and another, including procedural calls, object encapsulation, or emerging techniques like Microsoft Corp.'s Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) or Apple Computer's Open Doc.

API 40 is responsible for providing means for the user to interact with the information transport functions of the invention and interface as seen by the user and API 42 is responsible for handling internal processes of communications and data management.

The APIs 40 and 42 are intended to enable the information transport component 14 to be used by a range of product programs controlling a variety of information products and to enable each API 40 and 42 to be free to exercise flexibility and creativity in extending its associated user interface 28, data management module 30 and database structure 32 to fully address the provision of transport functions for the purposes described herein.

API 42 operates on a transport function level involving high level interactions between the containing product 12 or the user (or the optional user interface) and the transporter 14 before and after communications while the detailed low-level interactions between the transporter client and the server during communications are handled by fetch-send protocol 38, without involvement of the containing product 12 or the user. "High level" is used to refer to a level at which software interacts with a user, typically in simple, readily comprehensible, function-oriented, graphic or everyday language terms, while "low-level" refers to a level of detailed procedural interaction with an operating system, or device (modem, port etc.) in obscure program or machine language terms incomprehensible to most users.

Fetch-send protocol 38 is, in the preferred embodiment shown, a component of a novel client-server communications procedure designed to manage the transaction-oriented transmissions required to achieve satisfactory transport of desired server stored information objects, and optionally, central reporting of user information in a predetermined format. Alternatively, one or more existing protocols could be used.

Preferably, the API's 40 and 42 and the fetch-send protocol 38 are structured to use a manifest list to control the exchange of information objects. The manifest list can be provided in fetch-send protocol 38, and can be forwarded to remote server 22 to provide better efficiency, error control, and management of the operation. Alternatively the manifest list may remain resident at the user's station. The manifest is valuable operating at the client station, at the API level, to specify the actions required during a transport session and can in one embodiment comprise a list of send and fetch operations which are individually controlled.

This software mechanism, employing novel communications procedures and applications interfaces that reference an object manifest, provides a new way for performing a wide variety of information exchange functions in a simple, standardized and economical manner.

API Functions

1) Product Setup

In preferred embodiments, API 40 and API 42 include a product setup routine of an application-specific configuration, which is used by the publisher or product developer, prior to publication, to establish seamless compatibility between the containing information product 12 and the information transport component 14 for smooth execution of desired transport functions. A completion status code is also specified.

The application-specific configuration posts user and product ID information, as needed to process password or other access code authentication and posts files information, including designation of an application work directory and a transporter work directory for performing the transporter functions of information transport component 14.

Additionally, the application-specific configuration sets up an appropriate decompression (or compression for send objects) technique according to the expected format and condition of fetched information objects 46, which information is pre-coded into communications component 36.

The application-specific configuration established through API 40 selects either a standard user interface, as furnished with information transport component 14, or an application-controlled user interface. Control settings are established for connection problem handling, disk error handling, abort and server condition handling, access denial, unavailability of information object files and any other error situations which may occur during transport.

If desired, optional, advanced controls for scheduled automatic calling can be included in the application-specific configuration used in preparing the containing information product 12 for publication.

Preparation of containing information product 12 and incorporation of information transport component 14 therein, with an application specific configuration, as described is carried out prior to publication to build a customized, ready to run version of the product with automated update capability.

Communications API 42 establishes a product-specific transport method choice list for selection of an appropriate file transfer protocol as between direct dial, data network dial, and other modes of transport. Communications protocols specify necessary connection parameters such as access number and network addressing or other routing information. Optional script choices can provide for different modes of transport.

These product-specific configurations and protocols enable information transport component 14 to be packaged in executable form with containing information product 12, with all necessary product-specific components and settings, including a standard user interface if selected, ready for inclusion in the product package.

If desired, at the option of the information product publisher, a standard user interface may be included. Such an optional standard user interface can have all facilities needed to select transportable objects from a predefined list, perform all user setup functions, and invoke information object transport.

Additional options are standard software that would allow the user to search, view and print the transported objects totally independently of the user interface and database search components of the containing product. Both such options enable a publisher to exploit the inventive transport product for efficiently and economically providing updates without having to make changes to the publisher's containing product, simply by configuring the transporter or information transport component 14 and physically including it, and the optional components, within the containing product.

A standard viewer might handle only ASCII text, but it preferably could provide for other useful formats such as standard word processor, spreadsheet or database formats, or multimedia formats such as video, sound and HTML (hypertext markup language), a format becoming popular on the Internet and which provides the ubiquitous Web pages for the Internet's World Wide Web.

API Functions

2) User Setup

Compatibility with the user's system is effected by API 40 establishing a user-specific configuration, and creating or updating the necessary control files.

Parameters established in the user-specific configuration include a setup ID number to permit use of multiple setups, for example, for different transport options, and a product ID number.

The user-specific configuration posts user ID information and a password or other access code authentication and posts files information, including disk and drive designation for work and data directories. Autocall options and a completion status code are also specified.

API 40 provides information for communications module 36, specifying a user communications protocol for the user's hardware, operating system, line configuration, and so on. Thus, for a standard telephone connection, comm port, speed (baud rate), interrupt settings, modem type and control strings, dial prefix, dial 9, pulse or tone, call waiting shut-off, and the like are specified, as appropriate. Additionally, the user communications protocol includes access number and connection parameters, optionally with script selection for routing choices via data networks, and so on.

The resultant user-specific configuration and communications protocols generated through API 40 create a setup ready to call and places it in the designated transporter work area. A validation procedure checks entries and reports obvious errors in parameter settings.

Preferably, multiple product ID setups are provided to enable multiple information products to use the transporter with an appropriate, compatible transporter version. Preferably also, the user-specific configuration accommodates shared use of the transporter work areas by multiple information product applications resident on the same user's system.

Mechanism of Fetch-send Protocols 38 (User) and 44 (Server)

User fetch-send protocol 38 working in cooperation with server fetch-send protocol 44 controls the desired information object transport function, calling remote server 22 and exchanging data objects. It performs or supervises communications between the user's system and remote server 22.

Communications module 36 uses a setup ID number specified through API 40 or 42, selects which setup to use for a call, calls remote server 22 using protocol 38, and in a preferred embodiment, sends an object manifest comprising a send object list, a fetch object list or both. Such manifest is created under control of user interface 28 from a pre-existing set of choices supplied with the product or obtained during previous update operations, or both.

Alternatively fetch-send protocol 38 may refer to a pre-existing manifest list stored at the user's station, or may be directed by remote server 22 to select one of multiple pre-existing manifest lists stored at the user's station. As another alternative, although it is convenient and advantageous to transmit the manifest list to the server 22, the relevant status and management information can simply be used locally by communications module 36 and be integrated into the individual fetch and send protocols.

A send object list comprises object action codes specifying the type of server action required, if any, object names, object sizes and response object size, if any. A fetch object list comprises object names, object sizes and an object availability date.

A completed object manifest is employed to convey the status of the transport operation and to provide for additional information transport, if desired. The completed object manifest adds the following to the request object manifest: send object additional information; object acceptance codes returned by server 22; time of acceptance; and a response object name, if called for by the object action code.

For a fetch operation, the completed object manifest adds the following to the request object manifest: fetch object additional information; a fetch confirmation or failure code; the time of completion or failure and a revised availability date if the requested fetch object was unavailable.

If a scheduled update or polling option is present and selected, a scheduling or polling indicator is included, and a completion of processing or import function to call through API 42 is specified.

A completion status code terminates the fetch or send operation and returns control to the information product application or the provided user interface.

Information Transport Using Communications Module 36

Communications module 36 employing the described fetch-send mechanism comprised by cooperating protocols 38 and 44 performs the functions necessary to complete an information transport operation, as described herein, under a variety of circumstances, with tolerance for a common range of error conditions, open drives, inadequate disk space, lost line connections and the like, without losing control of the user's system. Using correct, verified ID, naming and routing information, the information transport operation employing the inventive information transport component 14 is less error-prone than many computer users would be were they effecting the transport operation with conventional technology requiring them to enter routing and storage information and the like, manually.

Communications module 36 verifies that all send objects are as specified, that all fetch objects are scheduled to be available, verifies that sufficient disk space is available for all fetch objects and for compressed transmission copies of all objects, and returns an error report if any of these requirements is not fulfilled.

Communications module 36 performs communications, then returns a completed object manifest, and logs all activity in a transporter log file. If an optional scheduling/polling feature is selected, the communication is deferred until the scheduled time.

These general objectives are achieved by carrying out the following process steps after an application (or optionally a transporter user interface) requests a transport function:

1) Local validation of the request returning a failure code if the request is improperly specified.

2) Compression of all send objects for transmission and placing them in the designated transporter work area.

3) Connection attempts to remote server 22, returning a failure code if necessary. Connections are made via phone line or network. The system handshakes and identifies the call to the server.

4) Presentation of the object manifest, if utilized, for validation and action.

5) On receiving a go-ahead, transport of each send object, logging each as sent, and receipt of object acceptance codes from the server and logs them, when received.

6) Receipt of all fetch objects from the server, placing them in the transporter work area, and logs them as received. Fetch object names may be precise, or generic or alias names may be used to request a latest installment.

7) Receipt and logging of a completed object manifest from the server. (If receipt of response objects is implied by the action codes, first receives a revised object manifest, and fetches the response objects, then receives the completed object manifest.)

8) Disconnection from server.

9) Decompression and unpacking of all fetch objects into application work area, and logs completion status.

10) Returns control to the application (or optional transporter user interface).

The product checks the completion code, and completed object manifest to deal with any error conditions. The application performs any required import processing on fetched objects to integrate the data and indexes with prior data, as desired, to enable seamless use. If desired, import processing can include, or offer as a user selection, file maintenance functions relevant to the information product including, for example, file purging to remove obsolete information files and preserve the user's storage space. Specifications of files to be deleted can be included with the original product or with a fetch object. In either event the responsibility for accurate specification is passed to the vendor, relieving the user of the risk of making erroneous deletions and anxiety attendant thereon. After such import processing the containing information product (or the optional separate user interface) then returns control to the user for use of the received data.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the identification of files in the object manifest, or for file maintenance functions as the user station, or for any other purpose of the invention, can be effected generically, for example by using wild card characters, as is customary in file specification, and which effectively permits multiple objects to be specified as a class related by file name characteristics, or related individually, thereby providing options for specifying of such class of multiple objects to proceed at one time or in a series of transports over time. Other algebraical identification methods can be used which may reference object versions in series or comparable characteristics.

The foregoing steps are illustrated in the flow block diagram of FIG. 2. When containing information product 12 issues an information transport call 51, setup filter 52 runs setup routine 54 if this is a first call and no information transport setup was run on installation of containing information product 12. At block 56, an object manifest is retrieved for pre-transport preparation at block 58. After prepping, a call to server 22 is established at block 60 and when the connection is made, and a handshake performed, one or more objects is transported at block 62.

After completion of transport and receipt of a completion manifest, server 22 is disconnected at block 64, received objects are decompressed and unpacked at block 66 and stored in a designated disk storage location at block 68. Object storage triggers containing information product 12's import processing to assimilate the information update with the original information product at block 70, following which a completion report is issued at 72 and control is returned to the containing information product 12 at 74.

Optional Schedule Function

An optional transport function module for scheduled or poll-responsive information object transport can be provided to defer the fetching of an update or to defer another information transport operation to a specified later time, or until called by the server.

The optional transport function schedules a request, waits, then automatically performs the transport operation at the scheduled time. In polling mode, it activates (and, if necessary, interrupts and then reactivates) the user station's ability to receive calls.

Mechanics of the optional transport function include a request for an ID number, an indicator for calling or polling mode and a schedule iterating a call time, a retry protocol, call activation and timing, along with an authentication procedure for the server and a completion status code.

Client-server Communications Protocol

Communications between the information transport component 14, functioning as a client, and the server 22 follow a predefined communications procedure having cooperative user components comprising user fetch-send protocol 38 and server fetch-send protocol 44.

Server-client intercommunication can be broken down into five steps, a) login, b) manifest transmission, c) send operation, d) fetch operation and e) logout, as described in more detail below.

a) Login

Login establishes a session with an authorized client. A handshake process between user protocol 38 and server protocol 44 identifies the user's transporter client system to remote server 22 by product ID and user ID, and a password or other authentication code. A failure reason code is given to rejected clients.

b) Manifest Transmission

Preferably, via user protocol 38, the user system issues an information object transport request manifest to server 22. Server 22 verifies its ability to meet the request by returning a manifest acknowledgment specifying which elements will be processed and provides reason codes for declined elements. Alternatively, as stated previously, manifest functions can be listed in individual send and fetch protocols.

c) Send Operation

If the user system outputs a send object, through information transport component 14 and protocol 38, server 22 receives and accepts the send objects and stores them, identified by product ID and user ID. Error control and retry mechanisms are employed and successful receipt of the send object is acknowledged and logged.

If the action code calls for a response object, the server obtains necessary processing from a pre-designated external source (corresponding to the product ID and action code) and returns the response as a fetch object, called a response object.

d) Fetch Operation

The server obtains requested fetch objects by product ID and object name and forwards them to the transporter at the user. Error control and retry mechanisms are employed and successful transmissions are acknowledged and logged.

e) Logout The server transmits the completed object manifest to the transporter, confirms and logs receipt, and ends the session.

The Inventive Transporter Compared with a Conventional Communications Product

FIGS. 5 and 6 illustrate schematically the simplicity and ease-of-use benefits the invention provides FIG. 6 to a user 100 in fetching an information object from a remote server 22 as compared with the use of a conventional communications product (FIG. 5), such, for example, as CENTRAL POINT COMMUTE (trademark) or PROCOM (trademark).

In the prior art embodiment of FIG. 5, many operations require active participation by the user who, for example, must at least initiate any pre-transport preparation 104 of the information object, such as checking the specifications, checking work space available to store a fetched object and conducting any other preliminary checks. The user has to activate a communications product 102, specify a call route, and after the call connection is established, specify the objects and initiate a transport operation. Communications product 102, operating in a cooperative manner with remote server 22, will execute establish call connection 60 after the call route (phone number) has been specified and will execute transport objects 62 after the objects to be transported are specified by the user. Disconnection 64 is usually effected by a user executing a call termination command, which if the user is inattentive, or inefficient, may be delayed longer than necessary to complete the transport operation, running up unnecessary line or air time charges.

After completion of the transport operations, user 100 has to deactivate the communications product 102 and then initiate any required storing and processing of the fetched product 106. While some of these steps may be automated via one or more batch files, scripts or macros, a vendor of a containing information product 12 has great difficulty in furnishing such a batch file or macro for a mass market distribution because of the different systems and communications products encountered in a mass market, which systems and products have a variety of different specifications, performance characteristics and unique, incompatible scripting languages.

Equally, while some more skilled users 100 might be able to write their own batch files without undue difficulty to automate some of these steps. Many users will lack the ability or the inclination to do so. Also the effort would not be justified for a single transport operation. Nor is the result of such efforts likely to match the ease and simplicity of the results achieved by the present invention which enables even a first update to be obtained effortlessly with the software running in unattended mode, after initiation.

FIG. 6 clearly shows how the inventive information transport component 14 relieves user 100 of many tedious communication functions such as activating a communications product, specifying a call route, specifying the objects to be transported and deactivating the communications product. In addition, preferred embodiments of the invention also relieve the user of optional pre-transport preparation 104 and execution of store-and-process-fetched-product 106 if these functions are appropriate to the containing information product.

Referring to FIG. 6, user 100 selects a transport operation from a user interface screen in containing information product 12, whereupon the latter calls information transport component 14 to activate transport. Information transport component
14 implements any necessary pre-transport preparation 104 and then, employing its own communications module 36, and server fetch-send protocol 44, proceeds in unattended mode, without requiring user intervention to establish call connection 60, to execute transport object 62 and automatically perform a disconnect 64, as described herein.

Automatic transport control and disconnection is a useful feature of the invention providing economy of line or air time charges and reducing congestion on the communications carrier. Using conventional communications products, (especially with online services) the duration of the connection may be unnecessarily extended by the delays and potential errors inherent in user control, resulting in increased communications costs and failures. The inventive transporter 14 provides software control of the connection duration, enabling it to be confined to a period sufficient to effect said unattended object transfer, enhancing efficient use of the communications medium.

Also as described, the operation can be monitored or controlled by employing an object manifest and is facilitated by the use of pre-specified addresses and transport characteristics. After satisfactorily completing the transport, the information transport component 14 automatically deactivates and returns control to containing information product 12, preferably with a satisfactory completion report which containing information product 12 notifies to user 100 through the containing information product 125 user interface.

If the transport object 62 was a product update, optionally a store-and-process-of-fetched-object 106 is initiated by information transport component 14 and execution of the store and process operation may be passed to the containing information product 12. The user can now use the updated product.

As FIG. 6 shows, when read, in comparison with FIG. 5, the invention enables a user 100 to be relieved of all duties save for minimal selection and notification functions, while no complex added functionality is demanded of containing information product 12. Optional store-and-processor-fetched-object 106 is contemplated as requiring only minimal modification of existing containing information product 12 functions while other more complex procedural and detailed transport related functions are handled by the information transport component 14.

Some non-limiting examples illustrative of practical commercial and industrial applications of the invention will now be described.

EXAMPLE 1

A News Magazine Distributed on CD-ROM

Some weekly news magazines offer subscriptions to a quarterly CD-ROM which contains multimedia material plus a searchable full-text database of the most recent quarter's weekly magazine issues and enabling application software. Newer issues are not provided until the next quarterly disc is mailed. Accordingly the CD-ROM electronic magazine product steadily becomes out of date and its value lessens.

The invention incorporates an information transport component 14 with a news magazine product stored on a CD-ROM 16, to enable a user to fetch an information object 46 in the form of new issues (and their associated search indexes) from a remote server 22, as they become available, for example weekly. The fetched updates are stored on a consumer's computer hard disk storage device 24. Because of the size of rich content multimedia files, the updates are limited to text material including full texts of interim issues and associated files such as indexes. Because it knows the storage location of the updates, the next CD-ROM issue can include, as an install option, or upon first access, a request to delete the old now-outdated updates from hard disk 24, creating space for new updates.

User interface 28 in conjunction with user interface 34 contains code providing a menu selection enabling a user to activate the update fetch operation and then to provide integrated or seamless access to the combined data, searching both the hard disk storage device 24 and the CD, using both sets of indexes, so that the contents are viewable as a single collection, although an additional independent searching/viewing function for the updates could be provided, if desired.

A product setup routine adapts the information transport component 14 to work with the news magazine CD-ROM's existing software for creation of a user interface, searching and viewing. Communications options may be limited to direct telephone dial only. A simple user interface addition controls a setup process allowing the user to enter a unique user ID, provided with each copy of the CD-ROM distribution disk, and to create predetermined work areas on the user's hard disk.

A schedule of updates with names, dates, and files sizes is provided in the containing news magazine product on the CD-ROM and is accessed via user interface 28 in conjunction with user interface 34 to create a fetch object manifest 48. Optionally, user interface 28 in conjunction with user interface 34 creates a send object manifest 48 to control transport of user demographics for market analysis or for renewals, or the like, in the opposite direction from the user to the server, with the send operation being triggered whenever the next transport operation is activated, or optionally, by allowing the user to trigger it.

A fetched information object 46, such as an update, is automatically decompressed and stored on hard disk storage device 18 as additional information object 26 for integration with the original CD-ROM product so that the user can view both the update and the original issues, and run searches across the entire collection.

Optionally, initial location of additional information object 26 may be an application work area location on storage device 18, and communications component 36 may be pre-set to pass control via API 42 to database management module 30 which will do further processing to integrate additional objects in accordance with the existing database structure 32 to provide a more complete level of integration permitting, for example, viewing of combined menus, nullification of obsoleted items, and cross-linking