Patent ID: 8762556

Claim:
A computer implemented method for creating an enhanced document object model tree for an original web page published by a web page publisher, the method comprising: receiving, in response to a request for the original web page from the web page publisher, source code of the original web page; parsing the source code of the original web page to identify components of the original web page with content to yield identified components; rendering the original web page to yield a rendered page and determining display coordinates of the identified components by scanning the rendered page; annotating the source code of the original web page by associating the display coordinates with the respective components, thus creating an enhanced document object model (DOM) tree for the original web page; automatically selecting, by the computer, using a rule set determined by the publisher of the original web page, at least one identified component of the original web page to be excluded from the enhanced DOM tree wherein the at least one excluded web page component is not replaced; storing the enhanced DOM tree on a physical storage medium; receiving, in response to a later request for the original web page, an update of the original web page, wherein the update of the original web page is determined by the web page publisher and the update of the original web page comprises at least one of updated content or updated source code; identifying the components in the updated web page that correspond to nodes of the enhanced DOM tree, yielding updated identified components; updating the enhanced DOM tree using the updated identified components, yielding an updated enhanced DOM tree; and storing the updated enhanced DOM tree on a physical storage medium.