Patent Publication Number: US-2013254650-A1

Title: System for off-line editing a web page

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims priority of Taiwanese Patent Application No. 101110117, filed on Mar. 23, 2012. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a system for off-line editing a web page, more particularly to a system for off-line editing a web page of a to-be-sold article using a seller electronic device. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     A conventional system for editing a web page of a to-be-sold article usually requires a user electronic device, e.g., a personal computer or a mobile internet device, to communicate with a server via the Internet. Generally, the server provides a user interface that is to be displayed on the user electronic device, and that includes a plurality of options associated respectively with a plurality of properties of the web page. The user can select one of the options and edit the web page by setting the properties associated with the selected one of the options through the user interface. 
     However, it is necessary and inconvenient for the user of the user electronic device to connect to the server via the Internet when editing the web page. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In the present invention, a system for off-line editing a web page of a to-be-sold article using a seller electronic device is provided for overcoming the drawback of the prior art mentioned hereinabove. 
     Accordingly, a system for off-line editing a web page of a to-be-sold article comprises an editing unit to be installed in a mobile electronic device for communicating with a server. The editing unit includes an image generating module, an image frame generating module, and a web page generating module. The image generating module is for generating a first graphical user interface to be displayed on a screen of the mobile electronic device. The first graphical user interface has a plurality of options that are associated respectively with a plurality of properties of the web page and the to-be-sold article. The image generating module further generates a property setting interface in response to selection of a selected one of the options selected by a user of the mobile electronic device. The image frame generating module is for generating an image frame when one of the properties is set by the user through the property setting interface. The image frame is associated with the one of the properties set by the user. The web page generating module is for generating the web page according to the image frame generated by the image frame generating module. The editing unit is configured to transmit the one of the properties to the server so that the server is operable to generate and store article information of the to-be-sold article according to the one of the properties. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which: 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram illustrating a plurality of users using a preferred embodiment of a system for off-line editing a web page of a to-be-sold article using mobile electronic devices according to the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a block diagram illustrating the preferred embodiment of the system; 
         FIG. 3  is a flow chart illustrating a registration procedure for a seller; 
         FIG. 4  is a flow chart illustrating an editing procedure for editing the web page using the preferred embodiment of the system; 
         FIG. 5  is a schematic diagram illustrating a first user interface having a plurality of options to be displayed on a screen of the mobile electronic device; 
         FIG. 6  is a schematic diagram illustrating a property setting interface in response to selection of one of options shown in  FIG. 5 ; 
         FIG. 7  is a schematic diagram illustrating a plurality of image frames associated respectively with the properties set by the user through the property setting interface; 
         FIG. 8  is a schematic diagram illustrating a web page generated by a web page generating module of the system according to the image frame; 
         FIG. 9  is a schematic diagram illustrating a second user interface to be displayed on a screen of another mobile electronic device; and 
         FIG. 10  is a schematic diagram illustrating a search result to be displayed on the screen of said another mobile electronic device. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , a preferred embodiment of a system  1 , according to the present invention, is for off-line editing a web page of a to-be-sold article using a mobile electronic device  21 . The system  1  comprises a server  12  and an editing unit  11  to be installed in the mobile electronic device  21  and another mobile electronic device  22  for communicating with the server  12 . In this embodiment, the editing unit  11  is an application (APP) installed in the mobile electronic devices  21 ,  22 . For example, a user of the mobile electronic device  21  is a potential seller who wants to sell a to-be-sold article using the system  1 , and a user of the mobile electronic device  22  is a potential buyer who wants to purchase a to-be-sold article. 
     Each of the mobile electronic devices  21 ,  22  includes a global positioning system (GPS) and a wireless communication module (not shown) such as a wireless network module for communicating with the server  12 . It can be appreciated that the editing unit  11  may be further installed in more mobile electronic devices  23 ,  24 , i.e., the number of the seller and buyer electronic devices  21  to  24  installed with the editing unit  11  is not limited to the disclosure. 
     The editing unit  11  includes an image generating module  111 , an image frame generating module  112 , a web page generating module  113 , a positioning module  114 , a searching module  115 , a detecting module  116 , and a real-time communicating module  117 . 
     The image generating module  111  is for generating a first graphical user interface  5  to be displayed on a screen of the mobile electronic device  21  (see  FIG. 5 ). The first graphical user interface  5  has a plurality of options  52  to  59  that are associated respectively with a plurality of properties of the web page and the to-be-sold article. The image generating module  111  further generates a property setting interface  6  (see  FIG. 6 ) in response to selection of a selected one of the options  52  to  59  selected by a user of the seller electronic device  21 . 
     Further referring to  FIG. 7 , the image frame generating module  112  is for generating an image frame  71  to  74  when a corresponding one of the properties is set by the user through the property setting interface  6 . Each of the image frames  71  to  74  is to be displayed on the screen of the mobile electronic device  21  and is associated with the corresponding one of the properties set by the user. The corresponding one of the properties set by the user is transmitted to the server  12  by the wireless communication module of the mobile electronic device  21 . 
     Further referring to  FIG. 8 , the web page generating module  113  is for generating a web page  8  according to the image frames  71  to  74 . The positioning module  114  is for generating position data to be transmitted to the server  12  using the GPS of the seller and buyer electronic devices  21 ,  22 . 
     Further referring to  FIG. 9 , the image generating module  111  of the editing unit  11  is further for generating a second graphical user interface  9  to be displayed on the screen of the mobile electronic device  22 . The second graphical user interface  9  allows the user of the mobile electronic device  22  to input at least one search information. 
     The searching module  115  is for retrieving the article information stored in the server  12  that matches the search information, and allows the screen of the mobile electronic device  22  to display the web page of the to-be-sold article associated with the article information. 
     The detecting module  116  is for detecting a specification of the screen of the mobile electronic device  22  to generate screen-specification data to be received by the server  12 , so that the server  12  is operable, according to the article information and the screen-specification data, to generate the web page of the to-be-sold article that is to be displayed suitably by the screen of the mobile electronic device  22 . The screen-specification data is indicative of resolution and a size of the screen of the mobile electronic device  22 . The real-time communicating module  117  is for transceiving messages between the mobile electronic devices  21 ,  22 . 
     The server  12  includes a receiving unit  121 , a data-integrating unit  122 , and a storage unit  123 . The receiving unit  121  is a network module such as an Ethernet module or a Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) module for receiving the web page and the properties set by the user of the mobile electronic device  21 . The data-integrating unit  122  and the storage unit  123  respectively generate and store article information of the to-be-sold article according to the properties received from the mobile electronic device  21  and the position data generated by the positioning module  114 . The data-integrating unit  122  is a software and is implemented by a processor (not shown) of the server  12 . Additionally, the storage unit  123  is a data base conforming to structured query language (SQL) language standard. 
     Further referring to  FIGS. 3 and 4 , an example for illustrating a registration procedure for the seller and an editing procedure for editing the web page using the preferred embodiment of the system  1  according to the present invention will be described in the following. First, when the editing unit  11  installed in the seller electronic device  21  is executed, the image generating module  111  is configured to generate the first graphical user interface  5  that is displayed on the screen of the seller electronic device  21 . 
     In step S 31 , the first graphical user interface  5  is configured to allow the user (i.e., the seller) of the mobile electronic device  21  to input member information such as a username, passwords, a shop name, and a location of the shop, such that a registration process can be performed. The server  12  is configured to receive and identify the member information in step S 32 , and then to generate an authentication code to be received through the mobile electronic device  21  in step S 33 . Subsequently, in step  34 , once identity of the seller has been verified, the registration process is completed. 
     In this embodiment, the username is an email address, which should not be an existing email address stored in the server  12 , and the authentication code is sent by email in a form of hyperlink to the seller. After the seller receives the email by the mobile electronic device  21  and clicks the hyperlink, the registration process is completed. It is noted that the location of the shop may be inputted by the user or generated by the GPS of the mobile electronic device  21 . 
     Further referring to  FIG. 5 , in step S 41  of the editing procedure, the image generating module  111  generates the first graphical user interface  5  having a plurality of options  52  to  59  associated respectively with a plurality of properties of the web page  8  and the to-be-sold article. The options  52  to  59  are respectively a title of the web page  8  associated with a name of the to-be-sold article, a picture of the to-be-sold article, colors of the title, a font of the title, colors of a background of the web page  8 , a description of the to-be-sold article, a location  58  of the picture  53  displayed in the web page  8 , and a price  59  of the to-be-sold article. That is to say, the seller may customize the abovementioned properties of the web page  8  and the to-be-sold article as desired. 
     In step  42 , the image generating module  111  is further configured to generate the property setting interface  6  (see  FIG. 6 ) in response to selection of one of the options  52  to  59  by the seller. For example, when the option  54  indicating the color of the title is selected, the image generating module  111  generates the property setting interface  6  that has red, green, and blue (RGB) color (i.e., tricolor) properties to be set by the seller. It is noted that RGB color properties of the colors of the background of the web page  8  may also be set by the seller as desired. 
     Further, referring to  FIG. 7 , in step  43 , the image frame generating module  112  is configured to respectively generate image frames  71  to  74  when the respective properties are set by the seller through the property setting interface  6 . 
     For example, when the options  54 ,  53 ,  57  and  59  associated respectively with the colors of the title, the picture of the to-be-sold article, the description of the to-be-sold article, and the price of the to-be-sold article are selected, the respective associated properties are to be set by the seller and the image frame generating module  112  generates image frames  71  to  74  associated respectively with the properties of the options  54 ,  53 ,  57  and  59 . In this embodiment, the description of the to-be-sold article is inputted as “Unused black iPhone 4S”, and the price of the to-be-sold article is set as “$199”. Since setting of RGB properties of the color of the title has been described in step  42 , further details of the same are omitted. 
     As to the picture of the to-be-sold article, an image file stored in the mobile electronic device  21  can serve as the picture. Alternatively, the picture  53  of the to-be-sold article may be obtained by an image capturing element (not shown), which generates another image file, of the mobile electronic device  21 . 
     Additionally, the property representing one of the options  58  corresponding to the location of the picture includes coordinate data indicative of a position of the picture to be displayed in the web page  8 . The coordinate data includes four coordinate points indicative of location of four corners of the picture to be displayed in the web page  8 . 
     It should be noted that the property, which is set by the user and indicates at least one of the title the web page associated with a name of the to-be-sold article, the colors of the title, and the font  55  of the title, the colors of the background of the web page, the location of the picture displayed in the web page, the description of the to-be-sold article, and the price  59  of the to-be-sold article, is stored in the mobile electronic device  21  in a text form. 
     As shown in  FIG. 8 , in step  44 , the web page generating module  113  is configured to generate the web page  8  displayed on the screen of the seller electronic device  21  according to the image frames  71  to  74 , each of which is associated with a corresponding one of the properties set by the user. Note that the web page  8  may be stored in the mobile electronic device  21  in an image format. 
     Hereafter, in step  45 , when the seller is about to upload the properties and the web page  8  of the to-be-sold article to the server  12 , the communication module of the mobile electronic device  21  is configured to upload the web page  8  and the properties stored in the mobile electronic device  21  in response to selection of one of the options  51  indicative of “ready to sell”. 
     Subsequently, in step  46 , the data-integrating unit  122  and the storage unit  123  of the server  12  are respectively configured to generate and to store the article information of the to-be-sold article according to the properties and the position data generated by the positioning module  114 . 
     Afterward, further referring to  FIG. 9 , the image generating module  111  of the editing unit  11  is configured to generate a second graphical user interface  9  displayed on the screen of the mobile electronic device  22 . The second graphical user interface  9  allows the user of the mobile electronic device  22  (i.e., the buyer) to input at least one search information. 
     In this embodiment, the second graphical interface  9  has four options  91  to  94  that are respectively associated with a name of the to-be-sold article, a position of the to-be-sold article, a price of the to-be-sold article, and a description of the to-be-sold article, and that are to be arbitrarily selected by the buyer. For example, when the description of the to-be-sold article associated with one of the options  94  is inputted as “black iPhone” by the buyer, and then another one of the options  95  associated with a search action is subsequently selected, the searching module  115  is then configured to retrieve the article information stored in the server  12  that matches the search information (i.e., “black iPhone”) inputted by the buyer. It can be appreciated that a location of the mobile electronic device  22  is taken into consideration while retrieving the article information stored in the server  12 . 
     Later, the editing unit  111  is configured to allow the screen of the mobile electronic device  22  to display the web page of the to-be-sold article associated with the article information. As shown in  FIG. 10 , for example, there are three to-be-sold articles having an article information matching the search information associated with the title of the to-be-sold article of “black iPhone”. As can be seen, colors of the title and location of picture displayed in the web pages 8 of the three to-be-sold articles are different. 
     It should be noted that since the specification of the screens of the mobile electronic devices  21 ,  22  may be different, the detecting module  116  is configured to detect the specification of the screen of the mobile electronic device  22  to generate screen-specification data to be received by the server  12 . By this way, the server  12  is configured, according to the article information and the screen-specification data, to adjust the web pages 8 of the to-be-sold articles so as to generate a search-result image  10  to be displayed suitably on the screen of the buyer electronic device  22 . 
     Additionally, the real-time communicating module  117  is configured to transceive messages between the mobile electronic devices  21 ,  22 . It can be appreciated that the communication between the seller and the buyer may be conduct by means of any available software (e.g., Microsoft® Network (MSN) or What&#39;s APP) or Short Message Service (SMS). 
     To sum up, the web page generating module  113  of the editing unit  11  generates the web page  8  according to the image frames  71  to  74  associated with the properties set by the seller. Further, since the properties set by the seller are stored in the mobile electronic device  21  in a text form and the web page  8  is stored in the mobile electronic device  21  in an image format, it is not necessary to connect to the server  12  while editing the web page  8 . 
     While the present invention has been described in connection with what is considered the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is understood that this invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiment but is intended to cover various arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent arrangements.