Method for document viewing
View Patent ↗What is disclosed is a method by which a client-side handheld device requests a server to convert server-side documents into a compression format prior to transmission of said documents to the client. The server retrieves and converts the requested documents to a raster image that is then compressed according to attributes based on information received from the client device in the initial document request. Instead of having to manipulate multiple formats which the original documents are in and supported by the server, the client-side device is preferably optimized in hardware and/or software to support and otherwise take advantage of the requested compression format. The compressed document is then delivered to the client device, in whole or in part, selectively or progressively over time per individual requests prior to displaying the received data to the end-user. Depending on the requested delivery mode, server-side documents are preferably compressed using wavelet compression methods, such as the JPEG 2000 standard, known in the arts. Through such a compression format, documents of sizes (in total bytes) exceeding one or more Megabytes can be compressed down to as small as 30 kilobytes or less.
1. A method for viewing, on a client-side device, documents requested from a server-side device, the client-side device and server-side device having a communication link therebetween, comprising:
(a) generating a request from a client-side device to be sent to a server-side device, the request identifying a non-rasterized document, a section of the non-rasterized document to be sent to the client-side device, and a compression format corresponding to the client-side device;
(b) the server-side device retrieving, in response to receiving the request from the client-side device, the requested non-rasterized document and identifying the requested section of the requested non-rasterized document;
(c) the server-side device rasterizing the identified section of the requested non-rasterized document;
(d) the server-side device compressing the rasterized section of the requested non-rasterized document into a compressed image having the identified compression format corresponding to the client-side device;
(e) the server-side device communicating the compressed image to the client-side device;
(f) the client-side device decompressing the received compressed image; and
(g) the client-side device displaying the decompressed image.
2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the compression format corresponds to a wavelet compression.
3. The method as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the wavelet compression is done in accordance with a JPEG2000 standard.
4. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the communication link between the client-side device and the server-side device is wireless.
5. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said client-side device is a handheld device.
6. A method for viewing, on a client-side device, documents requested from a server-side device, the client-side device and server-side device having a communication link therebetween, comprising:
(a) generating a request from a client-side device to be sent to a server-side device, the request identifying a non-rasterized document and a compression format corresponding to the client-side device;
(b) the server-side device retrieving, in response to receiving the request from the client-side device, the requested non-rasterized document;
(c) the server-side device rasterizing the requested non-rasterized document;
(d) the server-side device compressing the rasterized document into a compressed image having the identified compression format corresponding to the client-side device;
(e) the server-side device communicating the compressed image to the client-side device;
(f) the client-side device decompressing the received compressed image; and
(g) the client-side device displaying the decompressed image.
7. The method as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the compression format corresponds to a wavelet compression.
8. The method as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the wavelet compression is done in accordance with a JPEG2000 standard.
9. The method as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the communication link between the client-side device and the server-side device is wireless.
10. The method as claimed in claim 6 , wherein said client-side device is a handheld device.