Patent Publication Number: US-2005125375-A1

Title: System and method for customizing web-enabled data in ticker format

Description:
RELATED APPLICATION  
      This application claims the priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 of provisional application Ser. No. 60/486,162 filed Jul. 10, 2003. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD  
      This disclosure relates generally to the field of web-enabled data processing and, more particularly, to a system and method for customizing web-enabled data in ticker format.  
     BACKGROUND  
      Current data providers typically provide display parameters with the requested data. These display parameters include title, icons, chart format, various links and other information used to present the data to a client in a more readable form. Typically, the client cannot customize this presentation. Further, conventional systems normally require that the data provider concurrently provides the data and the display parameters.  
     SUMMARY  
      This disclosure provides a system and method for customizing web-enabled data in ticker format. In one embodiment, a method for customizing web-enabled data in ticker format comprises loading a ticker profile associated with a client. Web-enabled data is retrieved from a data provider in response to receiving a request from the client. The retrieved data is transformed into ticker format based on the loaded ticker profile and communicated to the client. The details of one or more embodiments of the disclosure are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Particular features, objects, and advantages of the disclosure will be apparent from the description and drawings and from the claims.  
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating a system for customizing web-enabled data in a ticker format according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;  
      FIGS.  2 A-B illustrate example web-enabled tickers in accordance with various embodiments of the system in  FIG. 1 ; and  
      FIGS.  3 A-B illustrate a flowchart of an example method for customizing web-enabled data in a ticker format according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.  
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       FIG. 1  illustrates a system  100  for customizing web-enabled data in a ticker format. At a high level, system  100  is a client/server environment comprising at least one client  102 , a server  104 , and one or more data providers  106 , but may also be a standard computing environment or any other suitable environment. In general, system  100  comprises a system for providing client  102  with the ability to customize web-enabled data from one or more data providers  106  based on an associated ticker profile  141 , normally stored on server  104 . For example, system  100  may comprise an enterprise security management system that allows server  104  to retrieve multiple streams of web-enabled data from a plurality of security data providers  106  and customize the security data in a ticker format for presentation to client  102 . System  100  retrieves the appropriate data from data provider  106  and automatically processes the retrieved data to generate HyperText Markup Language (HTML) pages for use by a ticker  216  (illustrated in  FIG. 2 ). The term “automatically,” as used herein, generally means that the appropriate processing is substantially performed by system  100 . It should be understood that automatically further contemplates any suitable user interaction with system  100 . In one embodiment, system  100  allows clients  102  to view multiple data feeds in ticker  216 , which in one embodiment is a scrolling, marquee display within a generic web browser.  
      Each client  102  may include input devices, output devices, mass storage media, processors, memory, interfaces, communication ports, or other appropriate components for communicating client requests  135  to server  104  and viewing the generated output. It will be understood that there may be any number of clients  102  coupled to server  104 . As used in this document, client  102  is intended to encompass a personal computer, workstation, network computer, kiosk, wireless data port, personal data assistant (PDA), one or more processors within these or other devices, or any other suitable processing device. Moreover, “client 102” and “user of client 102” may be used interchangeably without departing from the scope of this disclosure. For example, client  102  may comprise a computer that includes an input device, such as a keypad, touch screen, mouse, or other device that can accept information, and an output device that conveys information associated with the operation of server  104  or clients  102 , including digital data, visual information, or ticker profiles  141 . Both the input device and output device may include fixed or removable storage media such as a magnetic computer disk, CD-ROM, or other suitable media to both receive input from and provide output to users of clients  102  through the ticker display, namely graphical user interface (GUI)  116 .  
      GUI  116  comprises a graphical user interface operable to allow the user of client  102  to interface with system  100  to receive one or more data feed, each from one data provider  106 , in ticker format. Generally, GUI  116  provides the user of client  102  with an efficient and user-friendly presentation of data provided by system  100 , such as in a scrolling, marquee fashion. GUI  116  may comprise a plurality of displays having interactive fields, pull-down lists, and buttons operated by the user. In one example, GUI  116  presents the various web-enabled data feeds and receives commands from client  102 . It should be understood that the term graphical user interface may be used in the singular or in the plural to describe one or more graphical user interfaces and each of the displays of a particular graphical user interface. Further, GUI  116  contemplates any graphical user interface, such as a generic web browser, that processes information in system  100  and efficiently presents the information to the user. Server  104  can accept data from client  102  via the web browser (e.g., Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator) and return the appropriate HTML or eXtensible Markup Language (XML) responses.  
      Server  104  includes memory  120  and processor  125  and comprises an electronic computing device operable to receive, transmit, process and store data associated with system  100 . For example, server  104  may comprise a general-purpose personal computer (PC), a Macintosh, a workstation, a Unix-based computer, a server computer, or any other suitable device. According to one embodiment, server  104  may comprise a web server. In short, server  104  may comprise software and/or hardware in any combination suitable to present client  102  with ticker  216 , which includes one or more web-enabled data feeds from one or more data providers  106 . For example, if server  104  comprises a security server, then security server  104  may provide different security views, reporting of security infrastructure, visualization and reporting of security status, reporting of various security products, remote control of security, integration with internal or third party security, and any other suitable information in a ticker format.  
       FIG. 1  only provides one example of computers that may be used with the disclosure. For example, although  FIG. 1  provides one example of server  104  that may be used with the disclosure, system  100  can be implemented using computers other than servers, as well as a server pool. The present disclosure contemplates computers other than general purpose computers as well as computers without conventional operating systems. As used in this document, the term “computer” is intended to encompass a personal computer, workstation, network computer, or any other suitable processing device. Computer server  104  may be adapted to execute any operating system including UNIX, Windows, or any other suitable operating system.  
      Server  104  includes interface  115  for communicating with other computer systems, such as client  102  and data provider  106 , over network  108  in a client-server or other distributed environment. In certain embodiments, server  104  receives ticker profiles  141  from network  108  for storage in memory  120 . Network  108  facilitates wireless or wireline communication between computer server  104  and any other computer. Network  108  may communicate, for example, Internet Protocol (IP) packets, Frame Relay frames, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) cells, voice, video, data, and other suitable information between network addresses. Network  108  may include one or more local area networks (LANs), radio access networks (RANs), metropolitan area networks (MANs), wide area networks (WANs), all or a portion of the global computer network known as the Internet, and/or any other communication system or systems at one or more locations. Generally, interface  115  comprises logic encoded in software and/or hardware in a suitable combination and operable to communicate with network  108 . More specifically, interface  115  may comprise software supporting one or more communications protocols associated with communications network  108  or hardware operable to communicate physical signals.  
      Memory  120  may include any memory or database module and may take the form of volatile or non-volatile memory including, without limitation, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), removable media, or any other suitable local or remote memory component. In this embodiment, memory  120  includes or references at least ticker profile repository  140 , but may also include any other appropriate data. Ticker profile repository  140  stores one or more customizable ticker profiles  141 . Ticker profile repository  140  may receive ticker profiles  141  through interface  115  or from another process running on server  104 . Repository  140  may be of any suitable format including XML documents, flat files, Btrieve files, comma-separated-value (CSV) files, SQL tables, relational database tables, and any other format operable to store at least one ticker profile  141 .  
      Ticker profile  141  is associated with client  102  based on any appropriate characteristic. For example, server  104  may associate ticker profile  141  based on a selection by client  102  or a user group, client ID, IP address, logical location, a security level, or any other suitable characteristic of client  102 . In general, ticker profile  141  provides client  102  with the ability to customize the presentation of data in the ticker. Ticker profile  141  comprises any file including at least one data feed element  142 , which describes at least the appropriate data provider  106  from which the data is to be retrieved, and operable to be processed by server  104 . Ticker profile  141  may be created by client  102 , third party software vendor, or any other appropriate user of the respective product or loaded from a default profile. Ticker profile  141  may be in any electronic format such as, for example, an XML document, comma separated value (CSV) file, EFT record, or any other appropriate data format. In one embodiment, XML is used because it is easily portable, human-readable, and customizable. For example, ticker profile  141  may comprise the following high-level logical format:  
                                                  &lt;Ticker&gt;            &lt;HeaderSection&gt;            . . .            &lt;/HeaderSection&gt;            &lt;FeedDataFormats&gt;            . . .            &lt;/FeedDataFormats&gt;            &lt;FooterSection&gt;            . . .            &lt;/FooterSection&gt;           &lt;/Ticker&gt;                      
 
 Generally, the above logical format provides an easily customizable, yet standard format operable to be used by ticker engine  130 . For ease of understanding, this disclosure will illustrate client  102  customizing ticker profile  141 ; but it will be understood that the customization may be manual or automatic and may be performed by any appropriate user or computer including, but not limited to, software developers, managers, administrators, server  104 , and data providers  106 . According to one embodiment, client  102  may customize the presentation of the data using data feed elements  142  and attributes  143 . 
 
      Data feed element  142  defines an interface to a particular data provider  106 . For example, if system  100  is an enterprise security management system, then each data feed element  142  may retrieve security monitoring status reports or security-related product updates. According to one embodiment, data feed element  142  may include a specific URL to be used to locate the appropriate data provider  106  and retrieve the desired data. An example data feed element  142  is illustrated below:  
                                  &lt;FeedDataFormat dataURL=“http://www.xyz.com”  inputType=“http”&gt;       &lt;FeedTitle&gt;        . . .       &lt;FeedTitle&gt;       &lt;Rolling/&gt;       &lt;ColumnHeaders&gt;        &lt;ColumnHeader&gt;         . . .        &lt;/ColumnHeader&gt;        &lt;ColumnHeader&gt;         . . .        &lt;/ColumnHeader&gt;        . . .       &lt;/ColumnHeaders&gt;       &lt;LinkRule&gt;        . . .       &lt;/LinkRule&gt;       &lt;LinkRule&gt;        . . .       &lt;/LinkRule&gt;       &lt;/FeedDataFormat&gt;                  
 
 The above data feed element  142  is for illustration purposes only and any appropriate language, format, or logical design may be used such that ticker profile  141  is operable to be loaded by server  104  in order to customize the data feeds in ticker  216 . 
 
      Customization of ticker profile  141  is, at least in part, further implemented through the use of attributes  143 . Attribute  143  comprises any element included in ticker profile  141  that tailors the presentation of the data to client  102 . Accordingly, attribute  143  may include, alternatively or in combination, a logical section of ticker profile  141  or display or report characteristics with the section. Attributes  143  may be stored in disparate places in ticker profile  141 , such as tags within an XML file. For example, ticker profile  141  may include the following example tags and exemplary attributes  143 :  
      &lt;Ticker&gt; 
      Attributes  143  ‘Name’ and ‘Description’ are typically used by GUI  116  to display the desired name and description of customized ticker  216 .  
      &lt;created&gt;&lt;updated&gt;&lt;accessed&gt; 
      These attributes  143  may be used by GUI  116  to display various date/time stamps associated with the presentation of the data.  
      &lt;HeaderSection&gt; 
      One attribute  143  in this tag, called ‘frameRowHeight’, is used to control height of the header section frame. It can be specified in pixels, percentage, or ‘*’ (default value) which lets GUI  116  make adjustments based, at least in part, on the remaining space.  
      &lt;HeaderText&gt;The content of this tag is used to specify text string which will be displayed as title text in the top of HTML page. There are five additional attributes  143  which relate to font settings. The ‘font_face’ attribute  143  is the name of the font, which is default to ‘Arial’ font. The ‘font_size’ attribute  143  is ranged from 1 to 7, in which 7 is the largest size, and the default is 4. The ‘font_weight’ attribute  143  can be normal or bold and it&#39;s default to ‘normal’. The ‘font_style’ attribute  143  can be normal or italic and it&#39;s default to ‘normal’. The ‘font_color’ attribute  143  can be any valid HTML color representation and it&#39;s default to ‘004e4e’.  
      &lt;Company Logo&gt; 
      This element can specify an image file name which will be used as a company logo. There are two additional attributes  143 , width and height, which may be used to specify the size of image to be displayed. If these attributes  143  are not specified, then the image may be shown using its default size.  
      &lt;FeedName&gt; 
      The content of this tag is typically used to specify a text string that will be displayed as feed name text in the HTML page. There are five additional example attributes  143  that relate to font settings. The ‘font_face’ attribute  143  is the name of the font, which is default to ‘Arial’ font. The ‘font_size’ attribute  143  is ranged from 1 to 7, in which 7 is the largest size and the default is 3. The ‘font_weight’ attribute  143  can be normal or bold and it&#39;s default to ‘normal’. The ‘font_style’ attribute  143  can be normal or italic and it&#39;s default to ‘normal’. The ‘font_color’ attribute  143  can be any valid HTML color representation and it&#39;s default to ‘004e4e’.  
      &lt;Feed Logo&gt; 
      This element can specify the image file name that is used as feed logo. There are two additional attributes  143 , width and height, which may be used to specify the size of image to be displayed. If these attributes  143  are not specified, then the image will be shown with its original size.  
      &lt;FeedDataFormat&gt; 
      This tag is normally used to specify attributes  143  for a data feed element  142 . There are often a number of attributes  143  within this tag, which are listed below: 
          dataURL: Specify an URL for input source, which will return the data in a particular web-enabled format, such as XML.     inputType: The value may be either “xml” or “http”. If it is “xml”, then the URL specified by dataURL points to a static XML file, otherwise, it might be “http”    update_interval: This is used to specify how often the ticker should query the URL to refresh its content. If the value is 0 (default) then there is no automatic refresh is done. According to one embodiment, the base unit is seconds, so “3” means 3 seconds.     inputTransXslt: If the web-enabled data returned by URL does not meet the syntax of data schema, then client  102  can set this attribute to use additional transformation process that translates incoming data into standard format as specified in data schema.     showDateTime: The value can be “y” or “n”. If “y” then date/time stamp will be shown. The default is “n”.     frameRowHeight: This is used to control height of the feed data frame. It can be specified in pixels, percentage, or ‘*’ (default value) which lets browser to make adjustment (based on the remaining space.)     frameBorder: The value can be “1” or “0”. If it&#39;s “1” then HTML frame border will be shown. The default is “0”.     frameBorderColor: The color of frame border. The value can be any valid HTML color.     tickerBorder: The value can be “y” or “n”. If “y” then a thick black border will be shown around the ticker box. The default is “n”.     width: This is used to specify the width of ticker to be displayed. The default value for this is 300 pixels.     height: This is used to specify the height of ticker to be displayed. The default value for this is 120 pixels.     bg_color: This is used to specify the background color of ticker. The default value is ‘light yellow’.     bg_image: This is used to specify the background image of ticker. The default value is empty string.     font_face: The name of the font, which may default to ‘Arial’ font.     font size: This is ranged from 1 to 7, in which 7 is the largest size and the default is set to 3.     font_weight: It can be normal or bold and is defaulted to ‘normal’.     font_style: It can be normal or italic and is defaulted to ‘normal’.     font_color: It can be any valid HTML color representation and is defaulted to ‘004e4e’. 
 
 &lt;FeedTitle&gt;
       

      The content of this tag is often used to specify a text string that will be displayed as feed title in the HTML page. There is one attribute  143  ‘type’ which is typically either a value of ‘text’ or ‘image’. There are five additional attributes  143  which are all related to font settings. The ‘font_face’ attribute  143  is the name of the font, which defaults to ‘Arial’ font. The ‘font_size’ attribute  143  is ranged from 1 to 7, in which 7 is the largest size and the default is set to 3. The ‘font_weight’ attribute  143  can be normal or bold and defaults to ‘normal’. The ‘font_style’ attribute  143  can be normal or italic and defaults to ‘normal’. The ‘font_color’ attribute  143  can be any valid HTML color representation and, when appropriate, defaults to ‘004e4e’.  
      &lt;Rolling&gt; 
      Ticker  216  may display the feed content(s) and roll it up in specified speed to make it appear like slow moving animation scroller. There are 3 additional attributes  143 . Attribute ‘speed’ is used to specify how fast the rolling move should take. The default value for ‘speed’ is  100  milliseconds. Attribute ‘special_effect’ is often one of ‘none’, ‘pause’ or ‘translucent’ and the default is ‘none’. Attribute ‘pause interval’ is meaningful only when ‘special_effect’ is either ‘pause’ or ‘translucent’ and its default is set to 3000 milliseconds.  
      &lt;Refresh&gt; 
      When used, GUI  116  displays the feed content(s) continuously by using next content to replace the old content which makes it have a flash visual effect. This tag may include two attributes  143 . Attribute ‘interval’ is used to specify how long the current content should stay before showing next content. The default value for ‘interval’ is 3000 milliseconds. Attribute ‘special_effect’ is normally one of ‘none’, ‘fading’ or ‘slide’ or ‘typing’ and the default is ‘none’.  
      &lt;ColumnHeaders&gt; 
      This element may be used to indicate that &lt;ColumnHeader&gt; tags may be used. There is one optional attribute  143 , ‘visible’, which is used to specify whether the column headers should be shown. If it is ‘y’, the default, then every column header is shown, unless the individual column&#39;s &lt;ColumnHeader&gt; tag has an attribute ‘visible’ with value ‘n’ and, in that case, the specific individual column header won&#39;t appear. If the attribute is set to ‘n’, then no column header text will be visible.  
      &lt;ColumnHeader&gt; 
      May be used to identify string name for each column header of input data (if there is more than one column, i.e. there are more than one &lt;VAL&gt; tag in each &lt;REC&gt; tag of incoming data). The number of &lt;ColumnHeader&gt; tags are normally the same as the number of &lt;VAL&gt; tags within each incoming data&#39;s &lt;REC&gt; tags. Attribute  143  ‘visible’ may be used to identify whether this column (its header text and all its value in each row) should be visible or invisible.  
      &lt;LinkRule&gt; 
      This element may specify which column (or specific row data) to build a link for, and how it might be built. If the “Match” attribute  143  is “DataValue” then the attribute “Criteria” could be a valid regular expression. In the following example, the attribute of RULE tag is used to build a link for column 1 data, and the content of RULE tag is the format specifier used to create the link.  
                                    &lt;LINK_RULE Match=“columnNumber”       Criteria=“1”&gt;http:!!@node:@port/SMP/servlet/epPCMServlet?Auditname=@p1&amp;am       p;Auditnode =@p2&lt;!LINK_RULE&gt;                  
 
 where @p1 is for column  1  data and @p2 is for column  2  data. Moreover, there are two other variables @node and @port that are available, which respectively represent the data provider  106  node name and port number. 
 
 &lt;FooterSection&gt;This tag includes one attribute  143  called ‘frameRowHeight’, which is used to control height of the header section frame. It can be specified in pixels, percentage, or ‘*’ which lets browser to make adjustment (based on the remaining space.). The default value is ‘8%’ if not specified. 
 
 &lt;InfoLink&gt;
 
      The content of this tag is used to specify a text string that is displayed as a hyperlink in the HTML page after “More Info:” string in footer section. There are optional five attributes  143  which are all related to font settings.  
      It will be understood that the preceding example elements, tags, and attributes  143  are for illustration purposes only. Ticker profile  141  may be in any logical or physical format operable to be processed by server  104  and include none, some, or all of the illustrated tags and attributes  143 , as well as additional attributes  143  or tags not illustrated.  
      Returning to server  104 , illustrated server  104  also includes processor  125 . Processor  125  executes instructions and manipulates data to perform the operations of server  104  such as, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or a field-programmable gate array (FPGA). Although  FIG. 1  illustrates a single processor  125  in server  104 , multiple processors  125  may be used according to particular needs and reference to processor  125  is meant to include multiple processors  125  where applicable. In the embodiment illustrated, server  104  includes ticker engine  130  that processes external data based on ticker profiles  141 . Ticker engine  130  could include any hardware, software, firmware, or combination thereof operable to receive a client request  135  from client  102 , retrieve data from data provider  106  on a target machine in a suitable format, and automatically transform the data into ticker format displayed by any generic web browser, such as GUI  116 . Further, ticker engine  130  may allow client  102  or the software product vendor to submit or customize ticker profiles  141 . For example, ticker engine  130  may be written in any appropriate computer language including C, C++, Java, Visual Basic, Perl, and others. It will be understood that while ticker engine  130  is illustrated as a single multi-tasked module, the features and functionality performed by these engine may be performed by multiple modules such as, for example, a data retrieval module, a transformation module, and a presentation engine. Moreover, while not illustrated, ticker engine  130  may comprise a child module of another local or remote software application. In one embodiment, ticker engine  130  loads ticker profile  141  and automatically formats data into the desired ticker format based on the loaded ticker profile  141  and presents the resulting ticker  216  to client  102 .  
      Data provider  106  typically comprises a third party web server or an enterprise agent residing on a target machine. It will be understood that the target machine may be remote or on-site; further, the target machine may represent a separate process running on server  104  or client  102  without departing from the scope of this disclosure. Generally, data provider  106  receives requests from server  104  and retrieves data from the software product residing on target machine. Once the data has been gathered, data provider  106  may communicate the data to server  104  or server  104  may retrieve the data from data provider  106 , as appropriate. Server  104  compiles web-enabled data from the appropriate data providers  106  and transforms it into ticker  216 .  
      In one aspect of operation, client  102  communicates a client request  135  to server  104 . Before client request  135  is received by server  104 , system  100  may require that client  102  log on to server  104  as appropriate. For example, if system  100  comprises an enterprise security management system, then server  104  may first verify client  102  accepting before client request  135 . Once server  104  receives client request  135 , server  104  loads ticker profile  141  associated with requesting client  102 . According to one embodiment, if there is no ticker profile  141  associated with requesting client  102 , then server  104  may load a default ticker profile. Server  104  then processes client request  135  to produce ticker  216  with the appropriate data feeds. For example, if server  104  comprises webserver components, then server  104  may use the Apache Jakarta Tomcat servlet engine or other similar component to process client request  135 . Based upon client request  135 , ticker engine  130  communicates server request  136  to data provider  106  in order to retrieve the desired web-enabled data. According to one embodiment, there may be more than one data provider  106  necessary to fulfill client request  135 . Accordingly, as illustrated in  FIG. 1 , a first data provider  106   a  may receive a first server request  136   a  and a second data provider  106   b  may receive a second, and at least partially different, server request  136   b.  After suitable processing, the requisite data provider  106  communicates output  137 , which comprises web-enabled data. For example, first data provider  106   a  may communicate output  137  a in XML format. Once output  137  is received by server  104 , ticker engine  130  formats the data into ticker  216  based on the loaded ticker profile  141 . For each data feed  142  specified in ticker profile  141 , ticker engine  130  often generates an HTMLet, each of which is included in a master HTML page  138  that is communicated to requesting client  102 .  
      FIGS.  2 A-B illustrate examples ticker  216  in accordance with various embodiments of system  100 . Generally, ticker  216  allows server  104  to provide data from one or more data providers  106  to client  102  in a customized ticker format. This customized format includes scrolling, background, images, fonts, rolling, refreshing, and any other suitable data presentation characteristic. According to one embodiment, illustrated in  FIG. 2A , ticker  216  a is created with one master HTML page  138  and one or more HTMLets. Illustrated example ticker  216  a includes a ticker format of header  217   a,  ticker name  218   a,  three data feeds  219   a,  and footer  220   a.  Header  217   a  normally displays a text string at the top of ticker  216   a.  Ticker name  218  generally displays the name given to this particular ticker format. Graphical data feed  219   a  corresponds to a data feed element  142  in ticker profile  141 . Data feeds  219   a  may each display data retrieved from the same data provider  106  or different data providers  106  without departing from the scope of this disclosure. Footer  220   a  displays a text string at the bottom of ticker  216   a.  In short, this ticker format is defined by ticker profile  141 , such as the following XML example:  
                                                  &lt;HeaderSection&gt;            &lt;HeaderText&gt;             . . .            &lt;/HeaderText&gt;            &lt;FeedLogo&gt; or &lt;FeedName&gt;             . . .            &lt;/FeedLogo&gt; or &lt;/FeedName&gt;           &lt;/HeaderSection&gt;           &lt;FeedDataFormats&gt;            &lt;FeedDataFormat&gt;             . . .            &lt;/FeedDataFormat&gt;            &lt;FeedDataFormat&gt;             . . .            &lt;/FeedDataFormat&gt;            &lt;FeedDataFormat&gt;             . . .            &lt;/FeedDataFormat&gt;             . . .           &lt;/FeedDataFormats&gt;           &lt;FooterSection&gt;            &lt;InfoLink&gt;             . . .            &lt;/InfoLink&gt;           &lt;/FooterSection&gt;                      
 
       FIG. 2B  illustrates another embodiment of ticker  216  in accordance with system  100 . The illustrated example ticker  216   b  comprises a ticket name  218   b  and a single data feed  219   b.  In this embodiment, ticker  216   b  is embedded in a generic webpage displayed using GUI  116 . For example, the webpage may present data from a central security server, while data feed  219   b  illustrates data from a third party in ticker format such as scrolling, automatically refreshing, and other suitable ticker characteristics. As with  FIG. 2A , this ticker format is defined by ticker profile  141 , such as the following XML example:  
                                                  &lt;HeaderSection&gt;            &lt;HeaderText&gt;             . . .            &lt;/HeaderText&gt;           &lt;/HeaderSection&gt;           &lt;FeedDataFormats&gt;            &lt;FeedDataFormat&gt;             . . .            &lt;/FeedDataFormat&gt;           &lt;/FeedDataFormats&gt;                        
 It will be understood that ticker  216 , illustrated by example tickers  216   a  and  216   b,  is for illustration purposes only and may include any number of HTMLets or data feeds  219  and may be defined using any appropriate ticker profile  141 . 
 
      FIGS.  3 A-B illustrate a flow chart of an exemplary method  300  for presenting a customized ticker  216 , including one or more data feeds, to client  102 . Method  300  is described in respect to system  100 . However, any other suitable system may use method  300  to customize tickers  216  based on ticker profiles  141  without departing from the scope of this disclosure. Generally, method  300  describes server  104  retrieving multiple data feeds from data providers  106  and presenting ticker  216  to client  102  based on customizable ticker profile  141 . More specifically, server  104  uses attributes  143  to tailor the presentation of the data retrieved from data providers  106  during any step in method  300 , as appropriate.  
      Server  104  receives ticker profile  141  from client  102  via network  108  at step  302 . At step  304 , ticker engine  130  compares the received ticker profile  141  to a profile schema, normally stored in memory  120 . At decisional step  306 , ticker engine  130  determines if ticker profile  141  conforms to the profile schema. If ticker profile  141  does not conform to the profile schema, then server  104  communicates an error message to client  102  at step  308 . Then, ticker engine  130  associates a default ticker profile with client  102  at step  310 . In an alternative embodiment, ticker engine  130  may process the non-conforming ticker profile  141  such that it can conform to the profile schema without departing from the scope of this disclosure. Returning to decisional step  306 , if the ticker profile conforms to the profile schema, then ticker engine  130  associates ticker profile  141  with client  102  at step  312 . Once ticker profile  141  has been associated with client  102 , then ticker engine  130  stores ticker profile  141  in ticker profile table  140  for subsequent access by server  104  at step  314 . Once ticker profile  141  has been associated with client  102 , then processing proceeds to steps  316  through  346  where a client request  135  from client  102  is processed.  
      Server  104  receives client request  135  from client  102  at step  316 . It will be understood that client  102  communicating client request  135  and client  102  that communicates ticker profile  141  may be the same or different clients  102  without departing from the scope of this disclosure. At decisional step  318 , ticker engine  130  determines if there is a ticker profile  141  associated with requesting client  102 . Ticker engine  130  may determine whether there is a ticker profile  141  associated with client  102  using any appropriate technique or any characteristic of client  102  or client request  135 . If there is not a ticker profile  141  associated with client  102 , then the default ticker profile  141  is loaded at step  320 . Otherwise, ticker profile  141  associated with client  102  is loaded by ticker engine  130  at step  322 . Once a suitable ticker profile  141  has been loaded, ticker engine  130  generates a master HTML page  138  based on ticker profile  141  at step  324 . Next, at step  326 , server  104  communicates the generated master HTML page  138  to client  102  via network  108 . After master HTML page  138  has been generated and communicated to client  102 , processing proceeds to step  328  to  346  where individual data feeds  142  are processed and communicated to client  102  in a ticker format.  
      According to one embodiment, master HTML page  138  does not yet include individual data feeds from data providers  106 . Accordingly, at step  328 , ticker engine  130  selects a first data feed element  142  from ticker profile  141 . Once data feed element  142  has been selected, ticker engine  130  retrieves web-enabled data from the appropriate data provider  106  at step  330 . It will be understood that data provider  106  may be internal or external to system  100  and may comprise a third party data provider without departing from the scope of this disclosure. Next, at step  332 , ticker engine  130  generates an HTMLet, which may be a small piece of HTML code, based on the retrieved web-enabled data. Once the HTMLet has been generated by ticker engine  130 , ticker engine  130  determines if there are more data feed elements  142  in ticker profile  141  at decisional step  334 . If there are more data feed elements  142  to be processed, then execution returns to step  328  where the next data feed element  142  is selected from ticker profile  141 . Otherwise, substantially all of the generated HTMLets are inserted into master HTML page  138  to create ticker  216  and communicated to client  102  at step  336 .  
      After the first set of HTMLets have been generated and communicated to client  102 , ticker engine  130  determines if there is a refresh rate attribute  143  specified for any particular data feed  142  at decisional step  338 . If there is no refresh rate attribute  143  specified for any data feed  142 , then processing ends for this particular request by client  102 . Otherwise processing proceeds to step  340 , where ticker engine  130  retrieves updated web-enabled data from the data provider for the specified data feed  142 . Next, ticker engine  130  generates an updated HTMLet based on the updated retrieve data at step  342 . Once the updated HTMLet has been generated, server  104  communicates the updated HTMLet to client  102  at step  344 . Processing then proceeds to decisional step  346 , where ticker engine  130  determines if additional data feeds  142  include refresh rate attributes  143  as defined in ticker profile  141 . If there are additional data feeds elements  142  with refresh rate attributes  143 , then execution returns to step  340 . Otherwise processing ends for this particular client request  135  by client  102 .  
      The preceding flowchart and accompanying description illustrate only an exemplary method  300  for server  104  to provide customized tickers  216  to client  102  using associated ticker profile  141 . However, system  100  contemplates server  104  using any suitable technique for performing these tasks. Thus, many of the steps in this flowchart may take place simultaneously and/or in different orders than as shown. Moreover, server  104  may use methods with additional steps, fewer steps, and/or different steps, so long as the methods remain appropriate.  
      Although the present disclosure has been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions and alterations can be made hereto without departing from the sphere and scope of the disclosure as defined by the appended claims.