Supplying electronic content to networked appliances
View Patent ↗A system and method communicates data from a web content provider to a wireless computing device (e.g., a PDA, a cellular phone) via a proxy server. The proxy server transforms web content “on-the-fly” into a streamlined format, optimizes it for display, and delivers it to the device, where it is progressively rendered by a browser installed on the device.
1. A method for providing data over an electronic network to a mobile computing device for accessing the data, comprising:
storing a profile associated with the mobile computing device;
receiving a first portion of the data for a single document, the document in a first display format;
determining a second display format accessible by the mobile computing device based on the stored profile associated with the mobile computing device;
changing the first portion of the data in the first display format to a second display format that is displayable by the mobile computing device;
receiving a second portion of the data for the document; and
sending the changed data to the mobile computing device to display on a screen of the mobile computing device before changing the second portion of the data for the document to the second display format.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the stored profile comprises display characteristics indicating bit depth of images displayable on the mobile computing device.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the stored profile comprises types of documents supported by the mobile computing device.
4. The method of claim 1 , the changing comprising:
compressing the first portion of the data.
5. The method of claim 1 , the changing comprising:
converting the first portion of the data from HTML (HyperText Markup Language) to WML (Wireless Markup Language).
6. The method of claim 1 , the changing comprising:
converting the received first portion of the data from HTML (HyperText Markup Language) to HDML (Handheld Device Markup Language).
7. The method of claim 1 , the changing comprising:
converting the received first portion of the data from HTML (HyperText Markup Language) to PQA (Palm Query Application).
8. The method of claim 1 , the changing comprising:
converting the received first portion of the data from HTML (HyperText Markup Language)o XHTML (Extensible HyperText Markup Language).
9. A method for providing data over an electronic network to a mobile computing device for accessing the data, comprising:
storing a profile associated with the mobile computing device, wherein the stored profile comprises display characteristics of the mobile computing device and preferences associated with conversion of documents;
receiving a portion of the data but not all of the data for a single document, the document in a first display format;
changing the portion of the data in the first display format to a second display format based on the stored profile associated with the mobile computing device; and
sending the changed portion of the data to the mobile computing device for display on a screen of the mobile computing device before changing another portion of the data for the document.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the stored profile comprises display characteristics indicating bit depth of images displayable on the mobile computing device.
11. The method as recited in claim 9 , wherein the stored profile comprises types of documents supported by the mobile computing device.
12. An apparatus for converting a format of a document, comprising:
a first module for storing a profile associated with a mobile computing device;
a second module for receiving a portion of data but not all of the data for the document, the portion of the data having a first display format;
a third module for changing the portion of the data for the document in the first display format to a second display format based on the stored profile associated with the mobile computing device; and
a fourth module for sending the changed portion of the data to the mobile computing device for displaying on a screen of the mobile computing device before changing another portion of the data for the document.
13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the stored profile comprises display characteristics indicating bit depth of images displayable on the mobile computing device.
14. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the stored profile comprises types of documents supported by the mobile computing device.
15. A method of providing web content to a wireless computing device, comprising:
storing a profile associated with the wireless computing device;
receiving at a proxy server a first portion of data for a web page;
determining whether a web browsing program of the wireless computing device is capable of displaying the received first portion of the web page data; and
if the web browsing program is not capable of displaying the received first portion of the web page data,
transforming the received first portion of the web page data for display by the web browsing program of the wireless computing device based on the stored profile associated with the wireless computing device,
sending the transformed first portion of the web page data to the wireless computing device,
receiving at the proxy server a second portion of the web page data after the transforming of the received first portion of the web page data has begun,
transforming the received second portion of the web page data for display by the web browsing program, and
sending the transformed second portion of the web page data to the wireless computing device.
16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the stored profile comprises display characteristics indicating bit depth of images displayable on the mobile computing device.
17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the stored profile comprises types of documents supported by the mobile computing device.
18. The method of claim 15 , the transforming comprising:
compressing the received first portion of the web page data.
19. The method of claim 15 , the transforming comprising:
converting the received first portion of the web page data from HTML to WML.
20. The method of claim 15 , the transforming comprising:
converting the received first portion of the web page data from HTML to HDML.
21. The method of claim 15 , the transforming comprising:
converting the received first portion of the web page data from HTML to PQA.
22. The method of claim 15 , the transforming comprising:
converting the received first portion of the web page data from HTML to XHTML.