Patent Publication Number: US-2016239473-A1

Title: Method and System for Auto-Populating Smart Templates with Data from Multiple Sources with Structured and Unstructured Data

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The invention relates to methods and systems for assembly of data and particularly for creation of pages suitable for display through a web browser. 
     2. Description of the Related Technology 
     U.S. Pat. No. 8,196,035, entitled Adaptation of a Website to Mobile Web Browser, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein shows a system for harvesting data from a website and formatting the data for display in a mobile web browser. 
     There are platforms available, such as WordPress and Squarespace for website content management. These content management platforms require a high level of author interaction and management to prepare, assemble, format and present web content. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is an object of the invention to provide a simplified website authoring tool and content management system. 
     It is an object of the invention to provide a method and system for auto-populating smart templates. 
     It is an object of the invention to auto-populate smart templates with data from disparate sources. 
     It is an object of the invention to auto-populate smart templates with structured and unstructured data. 
     It is an object of the invention to provide a system and method that starts with existing web content and uses that content and the properties of a smart template to populate the template with some or all of the existing web content and to add additional content suggested by the existing content. 
     It is an object of the invention to populate the smart template with unstructured content contained in the existing content, unstructured content suggested by the existing content, structured content contained in the existing content and/or structured content suggested by the existing content. 
     It is an object of the invention to provide a smart template having a data memory containing a plurality of memory cells programed to define a structured data template; and a plurality of memory cells set to define one or more containers in the structured data template. A plurality of memory cells may be associated with said one or more containers set to contain program instructions. The program instructions may contain one or more rules controlling the content loaded to the container(s). A plurality of memory cells may be set to contain content according to the rules. The plurality of memory cells set to contain content may be set to contain structured and/or unstructured data. The rules may include rules to identify content and use the identification to control the container. The rules may include rules to classify content and use classification to control a container. The rules may include rules to manipulate content and store manipulated content in one or more of said containers. 
     Structured data is data that resides in a known format. Unstructured data is data that does not reside in a known format. Unstructured data files often include text and multimedia content. Examples of unstructured data include email messages, word processing documents, videos, photos, audio files, presentations, web pages. Note that while these sorts of files may have an internal structure, because the data format is not fixed and may be complex they are considered unstructured. 
     Additional sources of unstructured data applicable here include data obtained from social networking sources and data obtained from many html-based web pages. 
     Sources of structured data particularly relevant to the present system and method include directory-based data such as telephone number and address directories. 
     A smart template is a data structure that includes programming logic controlling the selection and formatting of content. 
     A smart template is an active data structure that may be compatible with one or more display modes. For example display, a computer monitor mode; a tablet mode; and a smart phone mode. The smart template may be compatible with any number of display sizes and/or shapes. 
     The system may be directed to a data source such as a website URL or a Facebook page. The system operates to harvest data from the data source and uses the information obtained to locate additional data for incorporation into the template. 
     For example if the system identifies a company name in the data source, it may execute a directory lookup to determine a telephone number and address. 
     The telephone number and address may be added to the template. The address may be used to find a map showing the location and surrounding area. The map may also be incorporated into the template. Alternatively a URL may be added to the template to retrieve the map data each time the web page is retrieved. 
     Other examples of data that can be used to locate further data for incorporation into a presentation template include: 
     
       
         
           
               
               
               
             
               
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                 Identified Data 
                 Other Data Source 
               
               
                   
                   
               
             
            
               
                   
                 Name 
                 Contacts 
               
               
                   
                 Location 
                 Pictures, Webcam images 
               
               
                   
                 Conditions 
                 Weather Forecast 
               
               
                   
                 Contacts 
                 Connections 
               
               
                   
                 Company Name 
                 Investor Information 
               
               
                   
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     Various objects, features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments of the invention, along with the accompanying drawings in which like numerals represent like components. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  illustrates an embodiment of a system including a smart template. 
         FIG. 2  illustrates an embodiment of a smart template system. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Before the present invention is described in further detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the particular embodiments described, as such may, of course, vary. It is also to be understood that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only, and is not intended to be limiting, since the scope of the present invention will be limited only by the appended claims. 
     Where a range of values is provided, it is understood that each intervening value, to the tenth of the unit of the lower limit unless the context clearly dictates otherwise, between the upper and lower limit of that range and any other stated or intervening value in that stated range is encompassed within the invention. The upper and lower limits of these smaller ranges may independently be included in the smaller ranges is also encompassed within the invention, subject to any specifically excluded limit in the stated range. Where the stated range includes one or both of the limits, ranges excluding either or both of those included limits are also included in the invention. 
     Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. Although any methods and materials similar or equivalent to those described herein can also be used in the practice or testing of the present invention, a limited number of the exemplary methods and materials are described herein. 
     It must be noted that as used herein and in the appended claims, the singular forms “a”, “an”, and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. 
     All publications mentioned herein are incorporated herein by reference to disclose and describe the methods and/or materials in connection with which the publications are cited. The publications discussed herein are provided solely for their disclosure prior to the filing date of the present application. Nothing herein is to be construed as an admission that the present invention is not entitled to antedate such publication by virtue of prior invention. Further, the dates of publication provided may be different from the actual publication dates, which may need to be independently confirmed. 
     According to an embodiment of the invention,  FIG. 1  shows an advantageous process for constructing network resources. The network resources may be in the form of a web page or pages. Initially a seed  101  is provided to a data collection engine  102 . The seed  101  is utilized to initiate a search for content. The seed generally identifies the subject of the resource to be constructed. In the case of a corporate website, the seed  101  may be the corporate name or domain name. Other seeds may be used to construct network resources by collection of content related to the seed identification. The search engine  102  advantageously may implement program logic and rules in order to initiate queries based on the seed. 
     The queries may be for structured or unstructured data. The data collection engine  102  may be connected to a network  103 , for example the internet. The data collection engine  102  may issue queries through the network  103  to one or more content providers  104 . The content providers  104  may be dedicated or general purpose. A dedicated content provider may return a known content type in response to a predetermined query format. For example, the content provider  104  may provide content in the form of a map in response to a query on an address. Other examples could be telephone directories or weather services. A general purpose content provider is typically more flexible, but the returned content is less predictable. For example, a search engine, such as Google, may operate as a content provider and in response to a search term yield a reference description and URL for one or more additional resources. The data collection engine  102  may have sufficient intelligence and/or rules to enable it to seek additional content based on URLs or any other content returned by a content provider. 
     The data storage and analysis unit  105  may access the retrieved content from the data collection engine  102 . The data storage and analysis unit  105  may be a rule-based system that may analyze content such as content accessed by the data collection engine  102 , ascertain if the content is potentially useful, determine if the content satisfies a rule and/or may be used to seek collection of additional content. The data storage and analysis unit  105  may communicate with the data connection engine  102  in response to content received, which in turn may issue further queries to one or more content providers  104  through network  103 . 
     The data storage and analysis unit  105  stores content in database  106 . The template population unit  107  includes a processor  108  and smart template  109 . 
     The template population unit  107  may be connected to database  106  in order to access retrieved content. The template population unit  107  may be connected to the data storage and analysis unit  105  in order to trigger further queries for data collection. 
       FIG. 2  shows an example of the operation of a smart template  109 . The smart template may be a data structure that includes program instructions  110 . The program instructions  110  may include rules  201 . The rules  201  may rely on a template map  203  and may operate on data contained in database  202 . Database  202  may include indexed content for potential inclusion in the smart template. Database  202  may be the same as database  106  and/or may include content from database  106 . Database  202  may include query responsive content and default content. The rules  201  may initiate a query to the database for collected content corresponding to an area specified by the template map  203 . The rules  201  may retrieve collected content for a particular portion of a template map if available in database  202 . If the requested content is not available in database  202 , the rules may retrieve default content for such portion. The smart template  109  may also include program instructions to control loading the template according to the template map with content retrieved from database  202 . The smart template  109  may be stored in database  205 . Database  202  and  205  need not be separate physical units and may be included in a single database management system. 
     According to a preferred embodiment, logic may be provided to pre-populate a template to manage web content. The system may examines pre-existing content and may use a rule-based approach for the pre-population. A default format may be used or a user may select a format or style. The format may be used as or incorporated into a content map. 
     Advantageously, an operator or designer can modify or supplement certain aspects of the content and format. 
     The system may use an identifier indicating the platform configuration in order to manage content so that it is consistently rendered across platforms. 
     Advantageously, content in the smart template may be divided into elements. Any element may be edited, moved or restyled. Elements may also be added or removed. Various features may be organized as elements. Examples are tables, headings, paragraphs, buttons and media. 
     The theme of the content may also be modified. Theme modifications may apply across elements and may include color, font, buttons, navigation options, etc. 
     Thus, specific apparatus for and methods of auto-populating smart templates with data from multiple sources with structured and unstructured data have been disclosed. It should be apparent, however, to those skilled in the art that many more modifications besides those already described are possible without departing from the inventive concepts herein. The inventive subject matter, therefore, is not to be restricted except in the spirit of the disclosure. Moreover, in interpreting the disclosure, all terms should be interpreted in the broadest possible manner consistent with the context. In particular, the terms “comprises” and “comprising” should be interpreted as referring to elements, components, or steps in a non-exclusive manner, indicating that the referenced elements, components, or steps may be present, or utilized, or combined with other elements, components, or steps that are not expressly referenced.