System And Method For Template-Based Assembly Of Publications

1 . A system for template-based assembly of an electronic publication, comprising:

a template provider that provides a template, the template specifying a markup for the electronic publication and having a plurality of content slots;

a content provider that provides content;

a publisher that formats the content according to the template, the publisher comprising a language processor that automatically traverses the template and applies the content to the at plurality of content slots; and

an electronic reading device that displays the formatted content.

2 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising:

an advertisement provider that provides at least one advertisement;

wherein the template further comprises advertisement slots, and the language processor applies the advertisements to the advertisement slots of the template.

3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the language processor uses an XML dialect.

4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the publisher is part of the electronic device.

5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the content provider and the template provider are the same entity.

6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the content comprises at least one newspaper article.

7 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the at least one advertisement is streamed to the publisher.

8 . A method for template-based automatic assembly of an electronic publication, comprising:

receiving at least one template from a template provider;

traversing one of the at least one templates to identify a content slot;

retrieving content for insertion into the identified content slot;

applying a markup to at least one portion of the content;

formatting the content by inserting at least a portion of the content into the identified content slot; and

rendering the formatted content on an electronic reading device.

9 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

traversing the template to identify an advertisement slot;

receiving an advertisement for insertion into the identified advertisement slot; and

wherein the step of formatting the content by inserting at least a portion of the content into the identified content slot further comprises:

inserting the advertisement into the identified advertisement slot.

11 . The method of claim 8 , wherein a plurality of templates are received, and the method further comprises:

receiving a selection of a desired template of the plurality of templates from a user.

12 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the content comprises at least one newspaper article.

13 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the advertisement is streamed.

14 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the advertisement is targeted to a characteristic of a user.

15 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the advertisement comprises a plurality of advertisements, and the advertisements change as the formatted content is rendered.

16 . A computer readable medium comprising instructions to perform the steps of:

receive content for an electronic publication;

receive a plurality of templates, each template specifying a markup for the electronic publication and having a plurality of content slots;

receive a desired template selection from a user; and

render the content according to the selected template.

17 . The computer readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the step of render the content according to the selected template comprises:

traversing the desired template to identify the content slots;

retrieving content for insertion into the identified content slots; and

formatting the content by inserting at least a portion of the content into the identified content slot;

18 . The computer readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the step of render the content according to the selected template comprises:

traversing the desired template to identify an advertisement slot;

receiving an advertisement for insertion into the identified advertisement slot; and

inserting the advertisement into the identified advertisement slot.

19 . The computer readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the content is a newspaper article.