Method and apparatus for improved information representation

1. A computer implemented method of representing source content to allow for flexible access comprising:

receiving source content;

determining one or more categories for said source content;

extracting one or more notes from said source content, said one or more notes assigned to one or more categories

presenting a portion of said notes to a user;

formatting said presenting for an access device according to one or more templates;

formatting said presenting for a display device so that more notes are displayed on larger display areas and fewer notes are displayed on smaller display areas; and

providing control selections allowing selectable display of notes in a note set regardless of display size.

2. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

making said notes available for user access over at least two different user interfaces.

3. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

providing control indications allowing a user to selectively access one or more unpresented notes.

4. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

formatting said presenting based on a user information goal.

5. The method according to claim 1 wherein said source content comprises HTML multimedia content.

6. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

providing folder control indications to allow a user to select a presentation from multiple available note sets.

7. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

applying a set of parsing rules in an automatic parser for extracting notes from said source content.

8. The method according to claim 7 wherein said parsing rules comprise rules that identify key sentences from sentence structure and punctuation.

9. The method according to claim 7 wherein said parsing rules comprise rules that identify important names or phrases by reference to a database.

10. The method according to claim 7 wherein said parsing rules further comprise rules that identify principal material in said content.

11. The method according to claim 7 further comprising:

identifying a classification for said source content; and

using said classification in selecting parsing rules to apply to said source content.

12. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

identifying a classification for said source content; and

using said classification in determining said one or more categories.

13. The method according to claim 12 wherein said identifying a classification is performed manually.

14. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

accepting user search criteria associated with one or more of said categories; and

locating a document based on finding said search criteria in said one or more categories.

15. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

exporting one or more notes into Word, Excel or other common user file formats.

16. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

storing said notes in a database.

17. The method according to claim 1 wherein said parsing places single word subjects or sets of proper nouns into some categories.

18. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

using a rule set to determine central content of a source and distinguish said central content from side bar text and links using a set of conditional rules; and

using a rule set to determine a beginning and an ending of said central content.

19. The method according to claim 1 wherein:

a template provides an indication of how to present information to a user that may change based on a user request or a user purpose.

20. The method according to claim 1 wherein:

a request for a first particular type of information will be presented notes related to said first particular type of information while accessing a same source content with a different request will be presented different notes from said same source content.

21. The method according to claim 1 wherein:

a template provides an indication of how to present information to a user that may change based on a particular access device.

22. The method according to claim 1 wherein:

said templates are used by a server-side process to influence the format and content downloaded to a particular client.

23. The method according to claim 1 wherein:

said templates are used by a client-side process to arrange and present received notes data.

24. A computer assisted system able to represent source content to allow for flexible access comprising:

means for receiving source content;

means for determining one or more categories for said source content;

means for extracting one or more notes from said source content, said one or more notes assigned to one or more categories

means for presenting a portion of said notes to a user;

means for formatting said presenting for an access device according to one or more templates;

means for formatting said presenting for a display device so that more notes are displayed on larger display areas and fewer notes are displayed on smaller display areas; and

means for providing control selections allowing selectable display of notes in a note set regardless of display size.

25. A computer assisted system able to represent source content to allow for flexible access comprising:

interface logic able to receive source content;

logic able to determine one or more categories for said source content;

extraction logic able to extract one or more notes from said source content, said one or more notes assigned to one or more categories;

a presentation interface able to present a portion of said notes to a user;

one or more templates providing formatting for an access device such that more notes are displayed on larger display areas and fewer notes are displayed on smaller display areas; and

control selections allowing selectable display of notes in a note set regardless of display size.