Patent ID: 6983287

Claim:
A method for transforming content data from a source structure that is readily created and editable by an author without requiring that the author have programming skills, into an output structure that enables efficient access of the content data, so that the content data can be quickly retrieved, delivered, and accessed over a network by a user in response to a search request, comprising the steps of: (a) prior to receiving the search request, predefining the output structure to have a plurality of fields for storing portions of the content data that will be accessible by the user over the network in response to the search request; (b) predefining metadata for the content data, said metadata indicating a subset of the content data that is deliverable over the network for access by the user and indicating relationships between elements of the content data; (c) within the metadata, defining a plurality of entities and a plurality of classes of the content data, wherein each class of the plurality of classes indicates the portions of the content data that are to be included in the output structure, and wherein the plurality of entities defines format and delivery characteristics of individual content data items of the content data to be formatted in the output structure for access by the user; (d) as a function of the metadata, determining in which fields of a plurality of fields of the output structure the portions of the content data are to be stored; (e) obtaining the portions of the content data from the source structure in accord with the plurality of classes and the plurality of entities of the metadata; and (f) storing the portions of the content data in the plurality of fields of the output structure as determined by the metadata.