Software and method that enables selection of one of a plurality of online service providers
View Patent ↗A novel electronic information transport component can be incorporated in a wide range of electronic information products, for example magazine collections, to automate the mass distribution of updates, such as current issues, from a remote server to a wide user base having a diversity of computer stations. Advantages of economy, immediacy and ease of use are provided. Extensions of the invention permit automated electronic catalog shopping with order placement and, optionally, order confirmation. A server-based update distribution service is also provided. In addition, an offline web browser system, with hyperlink redirection capabilities, a novel recorded music product with automated update capabilities and an Internet charging mechanism are provided.
1. A method for automatically building a web package at a server, the method comprising:
receiving, from a user station, at the server an indication that at least two hyperlinks from a set of hyperlinks have each been explicitly selected by one or more selection methods on the user station;
retrieving, at the server, a set of hyperlinked content elements that are associated with the at least two explicitly selected hyperlinks from a plurality of network-based content providers, wherein each content element in the set of hyperlinked content elements is stored at one of the network-based content providers; and
assembling the set of hyperlinked content elements retrieved from the plurality of network-based content providers into a web package at the server,
wherein each of the hyperlinks from the set of hyperlinks refers to a respective web server, wherein respective web servers are operated independently of each other.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the indication is performed by a web aggregator that is operated independently of the respective web servers.
3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving the indication of a selection made by a server log function.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein retrieving the set of hyperlinked content elements further comprises accessing multiple web servers associated with respective network-based content providers using a selection tool.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the accessing multiple web servers includes performing a web crawler function, or a web spider function.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein retrieving the set of hyperlinked content elements further comprises accessing a plurality of web packages using a selection tool.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the accessing selection tool includes performing a web crawler function, or a web spider function.
8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising accessing a plurality of aggregators of web packages using a selection tool.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the accessing using a selection tool includes performing a web crawler function, or a web spider function.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein assembling the retrieved set of hyperlinked content elements further comprises one or more of sorting the retrieved set of hyperlinked content elements, reordering the retrieved set of hyperlinked content elements or relocating the retrieved set of hyperlinked content elements within the web package.
11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
automatically repeating the retrieving and assembling, based on a prior instance of receiving the indication that at least two hyperlinks from the set of hyperlinks have each been explicitly selected, wherein the automatic repeating the retrieving and assembling is based upon occurrence of a user station trigger or server trigger.
12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the at least two explicitly selected hyperlinks are selected from a plurality of previously visited network-based content providers.
13. The method of claim 11 , further comprising determining whether to automatically repeat the retrieving and the assembling based upon a schedule.
14. A method comprising:
tracking, at a server, a plurality of Universal Resource Locators (URLs) associated with a content retrieval, each of the URLs being explicitly selected by a particular user using one or more selection methods;
assembling the plurality of explicitly selected URLs and a set of hyperlinked content elements associated with the plurality of URLs at the server, wherein the set of hyperlinked content elements is retrieved from a plurality of network-based content providers; and
organizing the plurality of URLs and the set of hyperlinked content elements associated with the plurality of URLs into a directed database tree at the server,
wherein each of the URLs refers to a respective web server, wherein respective web servers are operated independently of each other.
15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising automatically repeating the tracking, assembling and organizing, based on a prior instance of receiving an indication that the URLs associated with the content retrieval have each been explicitly selected, wherein the automatic repeating the tracking, assembling and organizing are based upon the occurrence of one or more predetermined conditions.
16. The method of claim 14 , wherein tracking a plurality of URLs comprises one or more of tracking URL selections from a user station, retrieving URLs from a server log, accessing and retrieving URLs from a plurality of web pages, accessing and retrieving URLs from a plurality of web packages, or accessing and retrieving URLs from an aggregator of web packages.
17. The method of claim 14 , wherein organizing the plurality of URLs comprises connecting the plurality of URLs and the set of hyperlinked content elements associated with the plurality of URLs by hyperlinks.
18. A non-transitory tangible computer-readable storage medium for automatically building a web package at a server, having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, if executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:
receiving, from a user station, at the server an indication that at least two hyperlinks from a set of hyperlinks have each been explicitly selected by one or more selection methods on the user station;
retrieving, at the server, a set of hyperlinked content elements that are associated with the at least two explicitly selected hyperlinks from a plurality of network-based content providers, wherein each content element in the set of hyperlinked content elements is stored at one of the network-based content providers; and
assembling the set of hyperlinked content elements retrieved from the plurality of network-based content providers into a web package at the server,
wherein each of the hyperlinks from the set of hyperlinks refers to a respective web server, wherein respective web servers are operated independently of each other.
19. The non-transitory tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 18 , wherein receiving the indication is performed by a web aggregator that is operated independently of the respective web servers.
20. The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 18 , wherein the operations further comprise receiving the indication of a selection made by a server log function.
21. The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 18 , wherein retrieving the set of hyperlinked content elements further comprises accessing multiple web pages associated with respective network-based content providers using a selection tool.
22. The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 21 , wherein the accessing multiple web pages includes performing a web crawler function, or a web spider function.
23. The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 18 , wherein retrieving the set of hyperlinked content elements further comprises accessing a plurality of web packages using a selection tool.
24. The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 23 , wherein the selection tool includes a web crawler or a web spider.
25. The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 18 , wherein the operations further comprise accessing a plurality of aggregators of web packages using a selection tool.
26. The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 25 , wherein the accessing using a selection tool includes performing a web crawler function, or a web spider function.
27. The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 18 , wherein assembling the retrieved set of hyperlinked content elements further comprises one or more of sorting the retrieved set of hyperlinked content elements, reordering the retrieved set of hyperlinked content elements or relocating the retrieved set of hyperlinked content elements within the web package.
28. The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 18 , wherein the operations further comprise:
automatically repeating the retrieving and assembling, based on a prior instance of receiving the indication that at least two hyperlinks from the set of hyperlinks have each been explicitly selected, wherein the automatic repeating the retrieving and assembling is based upon occurrence of a user station trigger or server trigger.
29. The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 28 , wherein the at least two explicitly selected hyperlinks are selected from a plurality of previously visited network-based content providers.
30. The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 28 , wherein the operations further comprise determining whether to automatically repeat the retrieving and the assembling based upon a schedule.
31. A tangible computer-readable storage medium, having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, if executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:
tracking, at a server, a plurality of Universal Resource Locators (URLs) associated with a content retrieval, each of the URLs being explicitly selected by a particular user using one or more selection methods;
assembling the plurality of explicitly requested URLs and a set of hyperlinked content elements associated with the plurality of URLs at a server, wherein the set of hyperlinked content elements is retrieved from a plurality of network-based content providers; and organizing the plurality of URLs and the set of hyperlinked content elements associated with the plurality of URLs into a directed database tree at the server,
wherein each of the URLs refers to a respective web server, wherein respective web servers are operated independently of each other.
32. The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 31 , wherein the operations further comprise repeating the tracking, assembling and organizing, based on a prior instance of receiving an indication that the URLs associated with the content retrieval have each been explicitly selected, wherein the automatic repeating the tracking, assembling and organizing are based upon the occurrence of one or more predetermined conditions.
33. The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 31 , wherein tracking a plurality of URLs comprises one or more of tracking URL selections from a user station, retrieving URLs from a server log, accessing and retrieving URLs from a plurality of web pages, accessing and retrieving URLs from a plurality of web packages, or accessing and retrieving URLs from an aggregator of web packages.
34. The non-transitory tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 31 , wherein organizing the plurality of URLs comprises connecting the plurality of URLs and the set of hyperlinked content elements associated with the plurality of URLs by hyperlinks.
35. The method of claim 1 , wherein retrieving the set of hyperlinked content elements further comprises retrieving a set of hyperlinked content elements that are associated with one of the at least two hyperlinks from the plurality of network-based content providers.
36. The non-transitory tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 18 , wherein retrieving the set of hyperlinked content elements further comprises retrieving a set of hyperlinked content elements that are associated with one of the at least two hyperlinks from the plurality of network-based content providers.
37. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving, from the user station, at the server an indication that at least two hyperlinks from a set of hyperlinks have been selected on the user station is derived from a selection by name or topic, wherein the name or topic is associated with one or more hyperlinks.
38. The non-transitory tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 18 , further comprising receiving, from the user station, at the server an indication that at least two hyperlinks from a set of hyperlinks have been selected on the user station is derived from a selection by name or topic, wherein the name or topic is associated with one or more hyperlinks.
39. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more selection methods includes selecting a descriptor corresponding to a Uniform Resource Locator (URL).
40. The method of claim 39 , wherein the one or more selection methods includes selecting the descriptor from a list of descriptors of potential interest.
41. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more selection methods includes at least one of a drag-and-drop selection mechanism, a paste-and-copy mechanism, or a separately windowed routine employing a file manager.
42. The non-transitory tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 18 , wherein the one or more selection methods includes selecting a descriptor corresponding to a Uniform Resource Locator (URL).
43. The non-transitory tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 42 , wherein the one or more selection methods includes selecting the descriptor from a list of descriptors of potential interest.
44. The non-transitory tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 18 , wherein the one or more selection methods includes at least one of a drag-and-drop selection mechanism, a paste-and-copy mechanism, or a separately windowed routine employing a file manager.
45. The method of claim 14 , wherein the one or more selection methods includes selecting a descriptor corresponding to each of the plurality of URLs.
46. The method of claim 45 , wherein the one or more selection methods includes selecting the descriptor from a list of descriptors of potential interest.
47. The method of claim 14 , wherein the one or more selection methods includes at least one of a drag-and-drop selection mechanism, a paste-and-copy mechanism, or a separately windowed routine employing a file manager.
48. The non-transitory tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 31 , wherein the one or more selection methods includes selecting a descriptor corresponding to each of the plurality of URLs.
49. The non-transitory tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 48 , wherein the one or more selection methods includes selecting the descriptor from a list of descriptors of potential interest.
50. The non-transitory tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 31 , wherein the one or more selection methods includes at least one of a drag-and-drop selection mechanism, a paste-and-copy mechanism, or a separately windowed routine employing a file manager.