Method and system for web navigation using a hyperlink database

SWEDEN (12) PATENTS (13) C2 (11) 522 047

<img file="SE522047C2_D0001.tif" />

(19) SE (51)

International class ¹

G06F 17/30, H04M 1/725, H04Q 7/32

PATENT AND REGISTRATION (45) (41) (22) (24) (62) (86) (86) (83)

Patent issued 2004-01

Application generally available 2003-09 The patent application was filed in 2002-03

Running day 2002-03

Tribal application number

International filing date Filing date for European patent application Deposit of microorganism (21)

<td colspan="2"> 07</td><td>number () 200723-5</td>

<td> 12</td><td></td><td></td>

<td> 11</td><td colspan="2">Application received as:</td>

<td> 11</td><td></td><td></td>

<td></td><td>(X</td><td>Swedish patent application</td>

<td></td><td></td><td>completed international patent application</td>

<td></td><td></td><td>with number</td>

<td colspan="2">I-1</td><td>converted European patent application</td>

<td colspan="2">u</td><td>with number</td>

(30) Priority information (73) (72) (74) (54) (56) (57)

PATENTHOLDERS Printdreams Europe AB, Norgegatan 1 164 32 Kista SEE INVENTOR Alex Miranda Walling, Enskede Gård SEE ALSO Ehrner &amp; Delmar Patentbyrå AB

NAME Method to navigate web pages using a hyperlink database

CALLED PUBLICATIONS: - - SUMMARY. uppfinninger. refers to a mobile system (1) comprising a mobile terminal (10) cooperating with a communication center (5), wherein the mobile terminal is connected to a preferably mobile printing device (11) and can retrieve information from, for example, the Internet via the communication center to print the same using said printer after conversion in the communication center to a write file or a bitmap file. A method is described where web page reading and navigation capabilities are improved by using a program module (40) to store hyperlinks (52) associated with the retrieved information in a database (41) in said communication center (5) in the form of short references or indexes (51) . The reference is depicted on the printout next to the hyperlinks when using the printer. The references can then be used to address desired hyperlinks.

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The numbers in brackets indicate international identification code, INID code. Letters in clamps indicate international document code.

522 047

Summary

The invention relates to a mobile system (1) comprising a mobile terminal (10) cooperating with a communication center (5), wherein the mobile terminal is connected to a preferably mobile printing device (11) and can retrieve information from, for example, the Internet via the communication center to print the same using said printer after conversion in the communications center to a write file or a bitmap file. A method is described where web page reading and navigation capabilities are improved by using a program module (40) to store hyperlinks (52) associated with the retrieved information in a database (41) in said communication center (5) in the form of short references or indexes (51 ). The reference is mapped on the printout next to the hyperlinks when using the printer. The references can then be used to address desired hyperlinks.

Figure for publication: Fig. 1

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Technical field of the invention

The present invention relates to a method for navigating web pages in a mobile system of the kind used for wireless data communication between handheld mobile terminals and the Internet / Intranet.

Description of prior art

The wireless environment of today creates completely different requirements for displaying information compared to the fixed or stationary environment. The need for mobility places high demands on the design of the mobile terminals and associated graphic screens. These are generally too small to be able to display standard data content from the Internet satisfactorily.

New protocols have been proposed to enable optimization of Internet content for the small screens of the data terminals. This optimization basically consists of a substantial reduction of information so that it fits on the small screens. WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) is one such protocol developed just to follow the limitations of the wireless environment.

Other limitations besides the size of the screen are that the Internet standard, such as HTTP or TCP, is not adapted for intermittent coverage, long waiting times and limited bandwidth, which is characteristic of wireless environments.

HTTP sends its commands in an inefficient text format instead of compressed binary format.

Another major problem facing the wireless systems is that an increasing part of the information on the Internet is presented in file formats other than browser-friendly formats (HTML, XML, GIF,

JPG, etc.). Examples of these increasingly common file formats are PDF,

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DOC, XLS, TIFF, EPS and even file formats that are handled by special so-called plug-ins, or additional programs for the browsers. These different file formats require special applications to be installed in the receiver's terminal, which places high demands on memory space, processor capacity, etc. Wireless terminals may not reasonably handle all of these applications, and even if they could, their screens could not display the content satisfactorily.

Another problem with mobile devices compared to fixed network computers is the input of characters into the wireless environment. Most handheld mobile devices are too small to accommodate a keyboard or other methods of entering characters, such as a T9 entry or handwriting recognition, while typing on the display with a pen-like object, has been found to only marginally increase the speed . Input of characters is therefore not only slow but also unreliable because typos are easily done in such small devices. These restrictions make web browsing / browsing less user-friendly.

Summary of the Invention

It is an object of the present invention to overcome the aforementioned problems by providing a method, and a mobile system comprising mobile terminals, so that standard optional Internet content and services can be obtained and visualized regardless of the user's location and where the limitations and difficulties of entering new text, for example, Internet addresses no longer exist.

It is also an object of the invention to improve the read / surf functionality in connection with the presented mobile system.

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522 047 PRV 00-00-1

The object is achieved by a method of navigating the Internet and / or an intranet in a mobile system, which comprises a printer device and a mobile terminal which cooperate with a communication center via any mobile network according to the appended claim 1.

Furthermore, the invention provides a mobile system comprising a mobile terminal which cooperates with a communication center via any mobile network adapted for wireless data communication, the mobile terminal being connected to a built-in or separate printer device according to the attached claim 10.

Further objects of the invention will become apparent, directly or indirectly, from the following.

By having a mobile terminal provided with an attachable, preferably mobile printer device, it is able to visualize information on substantially larger areas than is available with small screens. In addition, the information becomes clearer on a print surface than on a computer screen. The connection to the mobile terminal is preferably wireless, such as through IR or Bluetooth, for example. A user of the mobile terminal enters the Internet or the intranet via the mobile network and the communication center. A desired web page is addressed, retrieved, and processed by the communications center before being transmitted to the user's mobile terminal, after which the web page is forwarded to the printer for printing.

The only file format that such a terminal needs to handle is bmp or prn, so-called bitmap files or print files. The transformation from all existing file formats on the Internet to bitmap files is accomplished at the server level in the communications center. This allows the hardware and software structure of the mobile terminals to be very simple and

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522 047 manufacturing costs can be kept very low. The servers, on the other hand, can be very powerful, with the necessary applications stored thereon, whereby the applications are needed for interpreting all existing file formats.

In this environment, the problem of securely and quickly entering characters during web navigation is solved by a method and system utilizing said method, where a search for hyperlinks is performed during said filter transformation. A database comprising said hyperlinks attached to short references, eg consecutive numbers, is set up with a dynamic lookup table in the communication center. These short references are presented on the print area next to the hyperlinks, and by selecting such a reference, the user can address a related Internet link without having to enter the entire address.

Brief description of the drawings

The features of the invention are believed to be novel and are shown in detail in the appended claims. However, the invention itself, both in organization and operating method, together with further objects and advantages thereof, can best be understood by reference to the following description with the accompanying drawings, in the several figures, in which:

Figure 1 shows a schematic new of the system and method according to the invention, and

Figure 2 shows an example of a printout generated using the method and the invention in accordance with the invention.

Detailed description of embodiments

International Patent Application PCT / SE01 / 02204, which is hereby incorporated by reference, discloses a mobile system for accessing and visualizing Internet content and services, where a mobile terminal, which preferably has a wireless

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522 047 connection to a mobile printer device, can present information on substantially larger areas than is available with small screens. The only file format such a terminal needs to be able to handle is bitmap files. The aforementioned application proposes that a transformation from all existing file formats on the Internet to write files be achieved at the server level. The write file can be converted to a bitmap file and then sent to the mobile terminal. Thereby, a mobile user can download any file from the Internet and after the conversion in a communications center to a write file or a bitmap file, be able to receive it in a mobile printer through a preferably wireless connection. In an alternative embodiment, it is also possible to convert the retrieved file to a bitmap file directly and then send it to the printer device. The mobile printer device may comprise a receiver, but preferably the write or bitmap file is received by the mobile terminal and forwarded to a separate mobile printer via, for example, IR or Bluetooth, or any other wireless technology. A fixed connection between the mobile terminal and the printer is also conceivable.

In accordance with one embodiment of this invention, a mobile system such as that described in PCT / SE01 / 02204 and in FIG.

1, along with a functionality, which will be described in more detail.

In Fig. 1, a user is shown, the user having a mobile terminal 10. When the user wishes to retrieve some information from any source to his printer device 11, preferably a hand-held and hand-driven mobile printer device (such as, for example, presented by the same applicant in SE 0102542-8 ), he or she sends a request 30 over any communication network 31 to a communication center 5. The communication network 31 can, as described above, be any network, such as for example translation of priotext.doc; 2003-06-12

522 047 pel SMS, WAP, Internet or telephone. The communication center 5 includes several interface units 32 for receiving write orders from the communication network. A central unit 33 of the communication center 5 then processes the received order. The user's identity is authenticated through a database 22 which includes the users' profiles.

Central unit 33 uses different interface devices 34 to access information from external resources through various communication networks 35, which may be web pages on the Internet, intranets, electronic mail or uniform messaging servers, fax servers, online databases accessed through the Internet, telephone networks, satellites, wired or wireless. or any combination thereof.

For example, if the user wishes to retrieve electronic mail, the interface unit 34 consists of a mail agent. Thus, the information retrieved is compiled and formatted in the central unit 33 to enable printing of the requested file to the user's printer device 11, which is preferably mobile.

The communication center 5 has several interface units 36 to enable delivery to the user's printer device 11 over several communication networks 37 via the mobile terminal or directly to the printer device. Thus, the downloaded file is then printed by the user's printer device 11.

The present invention preferably works with the above described techniques and includes a method for simplifying web page navigation.

In accordance with Fig. 1, the information retrieved from the various communication networks 35 in the central unit 33 is compiled and formatted into a write file or a bitmap file,

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522 047 suitable for printing by the mobile disc device 11. By allowing a program module 40 in the communication center 5, and preferably in the central unit 33, to look for hyperlinks in the retrieved information, a database 41 can be created to copy and store the hyperlinks on a preferred way.

This database is preferably located in communication center 5. Program module 40 scans the downloaded web page for all hyperlinks and stores them in database 41, each associated with a reference. The references should preferably be very short, such as, for example, consecutive numbers starting in 1. It is obvious and within the scope of the invention that references other than consecutive numbers can be used. For example, the references can consist of letters (a, b, c, ... etc.)

The database 41 is preferably dynamic so that the program module 40 sets up a new set of references each time a new web page is requested and retrieved by the user. Furthermore, the database should preferably be separated from the user profile database 22, but this is not necessary.

The desired web page is preferably transmitted to the mobile terminal 10 from the communication center 5 and further to the mobile printer device 11. The program module is arranged to attach said short indexes or references 51 to the hyperlinks 52, so that the print surface visualizes these references adjacent to, or in the immediate vicinity of, the , hyperlinks on the print surface. This is shown in Figure 2, where an example of an Internet web site is provided, including some hyperlinks 52. A user who wants to read the content related to one of the hyperlinks depicted on the downloaded web page only needs to address the corresponding reference 51 instead of the entire full Internet address on his mobile terminal.

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522 047 PRV 00 064

There are a number of conceivable ways to implement said addressing of the hyperlinks. PCT / SE01 / 02204, as referred to above, shows how to address the bay of any web page by using a voice-controlled interface as a receiving means to receive the address and pass it on to the communications center 5 for processing. Similarly, when addressing a web page using the present invention, the user can only say the reference corresponding to the hyperlink he wishes to address, for example three or five to his mobile terminal. The voice-controlled interface may be pre-programmed to recognize, for example, all numbers from 1-50. Because database 41, which controls which references belong to which hyperlinks, is dynamic, so that the most recently downloaded web page's associated hyperlinks are stored, the addressing will be correct regardless of which web page was originally downloaded. Accordingly, the references correspond to the most recently requested and downloaded web page.

Other conceivable ways to address hyperlinks using the references may be, for example, by sending an SMS from the mobile terminal to the communication center 5 over an SMS bridge or by having a dialogue with the communication center over a WAP bridge, thereby using the keyboard on the the mobile terminal when selecting a reference associated with a desired hyperlink. Addressing can be realized in a number of different ways and can be received on a plurality of recipient means and the scope of the invention should not be limited to the technique chosen.

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