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Method for inserting interactive HTML objects into an electronic file

1. FIG 8 U S Patent Dec 10 2002 Sheet 10 of 10 US 6 493 733 1 900 2 START FIG 8 STEP 804 902 OPEN A DIALOG BOX IN THE WEB AUTHORING TOOL 904 LAUNCH HTML RENDERING ENGINE IN THE DIALOG BOX 906 OPEN A HTML CODE SERVICE WEBSITE CORRESPONDING TO A URL SELECTED BY THE USER END RETURN 8 STEP 804 FIG 9 0 6 493 733 1 1 METHOD FOR INSERTING INTERACTIVE HTML OBJECTS INTO AN ELECTRONIC FILE TECHNICAL FIELD The invention generally relates to developing hypertext mark up language HTML computer code and more specifically relates to automatically inserting HTML com puter code for interactive HTML objects within a computer application program BACKGROUND With the use of the Internet increasing on a daily basis the appearance of new web sites has increased at a seemingly exponential rate Many of these new web sites are authored by individuals with little or no experience in programming Hypertext Markup Language HTML However web site authors want their web site to look as if a professional HTML programmer designed it Unfortunately hiring a professional HTML programmer can be expensive and beyond the financial means of most individuals One method to make a web site look like it was designed by a professional as well as make it more useful to users is to add interactive HTML object Interactive HTML objects may be graphics or text such as a marquee or a button t
2. 50 55 60 65 8 the user s need to have any knowledge of HTML server side script programming to add an interactive HTML object to their web page Exemplary Operating Environment FIG 1 and the following discussion are intended to provide a brief general description of a suitable computing environment in which the invention may be implemented While the invention will be described in the general context of an application program that runs on an operating system in conjunction with a personal computer those skilled in the art will recognize that the invention also may be imple mented in combination with other program modules Generally program modules include routines programs components data structures etc that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types Moreover those skilled in the art will appreciate that the invention may be practiced with other computer system configurations including hand held devices multiprocessor systems microprocessor based or programmable consumer electronics minicomputers mainframe computers and the like The invention may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a com munications network In a distributed computing environment program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices With reference to FIG 1 an exemplary system for imple
3. Option to insert interactive HTML object into their web page 707 530 531 345 733 740 749 760 The WCC utility provides a user with the ability to custom ize their web page by inserting interactive HTML object 56 References Cited using the same web site authoring computer program U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 5 724 595 3 1998 Gentner 707 501 1 5 845 299 12 1998 Arora et al 707 513 5 956 736 9 1999 Hanson et al 707 513 5 995 101 11 1999 Clark et al 345 711 6 151 609 11 2000 Truong 707 505 6 178 432 1 2001 Cook et al 707 513 6 266 684 7 2001 Kraus et al 707 513 6 278 448 8 2001 Brown et al 345 866 6 321 242 11 2001 Fogg et al 707 513 6 343 302 1 2002 Graham 707 501 1 6 362 840 B1 3 2002 Burg etal 345 835 START J gt 2 OPEN AN ELECTRONIC FILE INA DESKTOP PUBLSIHNG COMPUTER PROGRAM 804 ESTABLISH A WITH THE REMOTE HTML CODE SERVICE WEBSITE THROUGH THE WEB AUTHORING TOOL USED TO CREATE THE ELECTRONIC FILE AUTOMATICALLY DOWNLOAD BLOCK OF HTML CODE ASSOCIATED WITH THE INTERACTIVE CONTENT DATA FROM THE HTML CODE SERVICE WEBSITE DIRECTLY INTO THE ELECTRONIC FILE C gt 9025 module such as desktop publishing computer application program that was used to create the
4. PATENT NO 6 493 733 Page 1 of 1 DATED December 10 2002 INVENTOR S Joshua Michael Pollock et al It is certified that error appears in the above identified patent and that said Letters Patent is hereby corrected as shown below Title page Item 12 Pollack et al should read Pollock et al Item 75 Pollack should read Pollock Signed and Sealed this Sixth Day of January 2004 JAMES E ROGAN Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office
5. menting the invention includes a conventional personal computer 20 including a processing unit 21 a system memory 22 and a system bus 23 that couples the system memory to the processing unit 21 The system memory 22 includes read only memory ROM 24 and random access memory RAM 25 A basic input output system 26 BIOS containing the basic routines that help to transfer informa tion between elements within the personal computer 20 such as during start up is stored in ROM 24 The personal computer 20 further includes a hard disk drive 27 a mag netic disk drive 28 e g to read from or write to a removable disk 29 and an optical disk drive 30 e g for reading a CD ROM disk 31 or to read from or write to other optical media The hard disk drive 27 magnetic disk drive 28 and optical disk drive 30 are connected to the system bus 23 by a hard disk drive interface 32 a magnetic disk drive inter face 33 and an optical drive interface 34 respectively The drives and their associated computer readable media provide nonvolatile storage for the personal computer 20 Although the description of computer readable media above refers to a hard disk a removable magnetic disk and a CD ROM disk it should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that other types of media which are readable by a computer such as magnetic cassettes flash memory cards digital video disks Bernoulli cartridges and the like may also be used in the exemplary op
6. HTML tags as in standard web documents but also contain commands written in scripting language that can be carried out on the server This allows a web developer to add interactivity to a document or to customize the viewing or delivery of information to the client without worrying about the platform the client is running That is the use of server side scripting allows the server to process and store client input and allows the client to interact with server side databases etc at the server site This reduces the amount of information that must be stored at the client s site Next the user selects an insert HTML content option from within the web authoring tool The web authoring tool then opens a dialog box and launches an HTML rendering engine such as Microsoft s TRIDENT module within the dialog box The TRIDENT module is an ActiveX control that manages the downloading parsing and displaying of web pages on a local computer To host the TRIDENT module the web authoring tool must support a collection of Object Linking and Embedding OLE Interfaces The key interface used in this invention is known as IDocHostUIHandler The IDocHostUIHandler interface contains a method which is well known in the art called GetExternal that allows the TRIDENT module to generate a connection between the web authoring tool and scripts contained in a web page After the user selects the insert HTML code option the WCC utility opens a dialog
7. a user wanted to see how the interactive HTML object would look in the web page the user had to incorporate the HTML code into their HTML document save the document as a web page and open the web page using an Internet browser application program By allowing the user to see a graphical representation of a selected interactive HTML object the WCC utility provides an advantage over previously existing methods of inserting interactive HTML objects into a web page by reducing both the time and complexity required to produce a professional 0 6 493 733 1 7 looking web page For example using the WCC utility there is no need for the user to continually insert the HTML code into their web page and view it in a separate web browser Furthermore the WCC utility reduces the possibility of the user introducing errors in the HTML document by elimi nating the need for direct editing of the HTML Once the user is satisfied with how the interactive HTML object will appear in the web page they complete a regis tration process with the HTML code server web site for each interactive object inserted into the web page The HTML code server then provides a URL that points to a web site for reconfiguring the interactive HTML object Typically as part of the registration process the user answers a series of questions which affect how the interactive object will look in the user s web site Configuration information for each interactive HTML obje
8. associated with the interactive HTML object selected by the user Once the registration process is complete the WCC utility 100 activates a client side script at the HTML code service web site The client side script is typically provided by the HTML code service web site hosting the interactive HTML object and is used by the web authoring tool to insert the block of HTML code associated with the interactive HTML object into the electronic file 206 Normally the client side script is written using the JAVA script programming language However those skilled in the art will appreciate that other script programming languages such as VBSCRIPT may be used to create the server side scripts without altering the effect or scope of this invention 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 14 The client side script allows the web page to communi cate directly with the web authoring tool via OLE automa tion OLE automation is a well known mechanism used by used by scripts such as those contained in web pages to interact with other objects The use of client side script allows the block of HTML code associated with the inter active HTML object to be directly inserted into the user s web page which is open in the web authoring tool The client side script also controls how the interactive HTML object will be displayed For example the client side script may contain dimensional information about the interactive HT
9. box within the web authoring application The dialog box contains an opening page which comprises a list box that contains a list of URLs associated with various HTML code service web sites from which the user may retrieve interactive HTML objects The user may edit the URLs such as such as delete an entry or edit a specific entry using standard editing techniques Also the user may add new URLs that are associated with new HTML code service web sites as they become available Once the user has selected a URL the WCC utility launches the TRIDENT component in a dialog box within PUBLISHER 2002 and downloads a first page of the HTML code service web site associated with the selected URL The first page of the web site may include a list box comprising the interactive HTML objects that are presently available for the user to download The user may then select an interactive HTML object from the list to insert into their web page Once the user has selected an interactive HTML object the web site then displays a series of registration pages for the user to respond to in order to receive the block of HTML code associated with the interactive HTML interactive object Alternatively instead of displaying a list box containing the URLs associated with various HTML code service web site the WCC utility may open a web site whose URL is hard coded Upon receiving a user command to insert an interactive HTML object the WCC utility may directly l
10. is a screen display illustrating the final result after inserting the interactive HTML object in the HTML elec tronic file FIG 7 is a block diagram illustrating the interoperability between the Web Content Customization utility and the remote HTML interactive remote server FIG 8 is a logic flow diagram illustrating an exemplary technique for applying the Web Content Customization utility to an electronic file in a web authoring tool FIG 9 is a logic flow diagram for establishing a link with the remote HTML code server web site DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION The present invention may be embodied in a software utility which may be referred to as the WEB Content Customization WCC utility An embodiment of this util ity will be incorporated into Microsoft s PUBLISHER 2002 software system Briefly described the WCC utility allows a user to automatically insert an interactive HTML object into an existing web page without the user having any knowledge of programming in HTML or server side scripts The WCC utility is launched from a web authoring tool such as Microsoft s PUBLISHER 2002 when the user selects the option to insert interactive HTML object into their web page The term software utility typically denotes a software function routine or dynamic link library DLL that is configured as an independent object or module accessible by other software modules through a pre defined set of
11. the ListBot web page typically includes HTML source code similar to the following lt html gt lt head gt lt script gt lt function UpdateObject gt window external WebComponent HTML Click here to sign up lt form action http Avww listbot com reg asp gt lt input type text name email gt lt input type submit value Sign Me Up gt lt input type hidden value 19228 gt lt form gt window external WebComponent URL http www listbot com config asp amp ID 19228 window external Close Window lt script gt lt head gt lt body gt Click here to add the ListBot signup widget to your page lt br gt lt input type button onclick UpdateObject value OK gt lt body gt lt html gt The HTML code prompts the user to select an OK button to download the ListBot signup widget from the web pate Upon selecting the OK button the HTML activates the client side script which in the above example contains the UpdateObject function This function contains a call to windows external that instructs the TRIDENT module to run the GetExternal method which opens a connection directly between the web authoring tool and the web page The direct connection allows the block of HTML code to be directly transferred into the user s web page currently open in the web development application Previously if
12. 208 mie tomy Hen FIG 2 U S Patent Dec 10 2002 304 A de Sheet 3 of 10 US 6 493 733 B1 FIG 3 U S Patent Dec 10 2002 204 200 He Sheet 4 of 10 US 6 493 733 B1 FIG 4 U S Patent 200 Dec 10 2002 BannenNetwork FastCounter Marquee Sheet 5 of 10 US 6 493 733 B1 FIG 5 U S Patent 10 2002 Sheet 6 of 10 US 6 493 733 1 200 BannerNeiwork FastCounter Marquis FIG 5A U S Patent 10 2002 Sheet 7 of 10 US 6 493 733 1 Microsoft Corporation My Homepage 200 208 SATEK BE 802 then click the Jom List br FIG 6 US 6 493 733 Sheet 8 of 10 Dec 10 2002 U S Patent 014 2 914 5 80 TOOL 5 5 5 93501 75 ALIS 3593 0 JAILLOVYSLNI U S Patent Dec 10 2002 Sheet 9 of 10 US 6 493 733 1 800 START 802 OPEN AN ELECTRONIC FILE INA DESKTOP PUBLSIHNG COMPUTER PROGRAM 804 ESTABLISH A LINK WITH THE REMOTE HTML CODE SERVICE WEBSITE THROUGH THE WEB AUTHORING TOOL USED TO CREATE THE ELECTRONIC FILE 806 AUTOMATICALLY DOWNLOAD BLOCK OF HTML CODE ASSOCIATED WITH THE INTERACTIVE CONTENT DATA FROM THE HTML CODE SERVICE WEBSITE DIRECTLY INTO THE ELECTRONIC FILE
13. ML object Specifically the dimensional information included in the client side script may consist of the size of the object expressed in pixels in both the horizontal and vertical dimensions Thus the dimensions of the interactive HTML object are passed directly to the web authoring tool using OLE automation for use by the web authoring tool in displaying the interactive HTML object Lastly after the WCC utility opens the HTML code service web site step 906 is followed by the END step which returns to step 804 of FIG 8 The present invention thus provides a method for insert ing interactive HTML objects into an existing web page directly from a web authoring tool such as a desktop publishing computer program without requiring the user to have any prior knowledge of HTML or script programming It should be understood that the foregoing pertains only to the preferred embodiments of the present invention and that numerous changes may be made to the embodiments described herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention We claim 1 A method for inserting an interactive HTML object selected from a plurality of interactive HTML objects stored at a remote location into an electronic file open in a web authoring tool wherein each interactive HTML object is associated with a block of HTML code comprising the steps of opening the electronic file receiving a user command to insert an interactive HTML object i
14. United States Patent US006493733B1 12 10 Patent No US 6 493 733 B1 Pollack et al 45 Date of Patent Dec 10 2002 54 METHOD FOR INSERTING INTERACTIVE OTHER PUBLICATIONS HTML OBJECTS INTO AN ELECTRONIC FILE Denise Tyler Laura Lemay s Web Workshop Microsoft FrontPage TM 97 Sams Macmillan Computer Publishing 75 Inventors Joshua Michael Pollack Kirkland Jan 1997 pp 11 31 Warren Burch Redmond Bill SoftQuad Hot Metal Pro TM 3 0 User Manual SoftQuad Linzbach Bothell Anil K Yadav Inc 1996 5 23 and 119 127 Issaquah all of WA US cited by examiner 73 Assignee Microsoft Corporation Redmond WA US Primary Examiner Stephen S Hong 74 Attorney Agent or Firm King amp Spalding Notice Subject to any disclaimer the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 57 U S C 15446 261 days A method for automatically inserting an interactive HTML object into an existing web page without the user having any 21 Appl No 09 602 124 knowledge of programming in HTML or server side scripts The method is contained in utility and referred as WEB ee Filed Jun 25 2000 Content Customization WCC The WCC utility is Ci IBU CE o ua m G06F 17 21 launched from a web authoring tool such as a desktop 52 US 707 513 707 501 1 publishing computer program when the user selects the 58 Field of Search 707 501 1 513
15. atively the user may manually input the URL of the HTML code service web site in the opening screen in the dialog box 402 However the user is also presented with a list box 504 in the first screen of the dialog box that contains a list of URLs associated with various HTML code service web sites The user may select one of these URLs displayed in the URL window as opposed to manually inputting the desired URL Once the user enters a new URL associated with a new HTML code service web site the WCC utility 100 stores the URL in a memory location Then each time the WCC utility 100 is activated each URL stored in the memory location is displayed in the URL window of the dialog box Additionally the URL of well known HTML code service web sites such as LinkExchange may be hard coded into the WCC utility 100 This allows novice web page authors who may be unfamiliar with HTML web service code sites and where to locate them on the World Wide Web to be able to readily access interactive HTML objects and insert them into their web pages Once the user has selected a URL the WCC utility 100 launches the HTML rendering engine in a dialog box within the web authoring tool and downloads a first page of the HTML code service web site associated with the selected URL Once the user has selected an interactive HTML object the web site then displays a series of registration pages for the user to respond to in order to receive the block of HTML code
16. aunch the TRIDENT module and display the opening page of an HTML interactive code service web site such as LinkExchange Thus whenever the user selects to insert an HTML interactive content data into their web page the WCC utility automatically downloads the opening page of the HTML interactive code service web site into a dialog box running within the web development application Once the registration process is complete the web site providing the object displays the last web page in the 10 15 20 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 6 TRIDENT window This web page contains a block of client side script designed to communicate directly with the host application PUBLISHER 2002 TRIDENT executes this script allowing the HTML code to be directly inserted into the user s web page open in PUBLISHER 2002 and also controls how the interactive HTML object will be displayed Those skilled in the art will appreciate that any script programming language such as VBSCRIPT may be used without altering the effect or scope of this invention As an example a user may wish to include an interactive HTML object on their web site that allows remote users to sign up for an electronic mailing list Various web sites provide this type of object often called a ListBot including the ListBot web page hosted at the LinkExchange web site which is operated by Microsoft Corporation of Redmond Wash To work in conjunction with this invention
17. ble medium of claim 10 wherein the step of automatically downloading the block of HTML code associated with the interactive HTML object comprises activating a block of script associated with the interactive HTML object wherein the block of script is operable for communicating with the web authoring tool and automati cally transferring the block of HTML code associated with the HTML interactive element directly to the web page open in the web authoring tool 13 The computer readable medium of claim 10 wherein the step of automatically downloading the block of HTML code associated with the interactive HTML object comprises downloading a supporting file associated with the selected interactive HTML object selected from the group con sisting essentially of a movie file a sound file and an automation file UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION PATENT NO 6 493 733 Page 1 of 1 DATED December 10 2002 INVENTOR S Joshua Michael Pollock et al It is certified that error appears in the above identified patent and that said Letters Patent is hereby corrected as shown below Column 15 Line 33 TML should read HTML Column 16 Line 13 into web should read into a web Signed and Sealed this Fifteenth Day of July 2003 JAMES E ROGAN Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION
18. ct is stored in a database at the HTML Code Service Web Site The configuration of information is normally accessed through individual web page on the web server that was used to create the object The WCC utility then retrieves the URL associated with the web page which contains the configuration data and displays the page in the TRIDENT dialog box hosted by the web authoring tool Therefore in order for the user to either reconfigure or update the interactive HTML object the user must access the specific web page that contains the configuration data The user may access the web page containing the configuration data in one of two ways First the user may double click on the interactive HTML object when the web page is open in the web authoring tool This causes the WCC utility to retrieve the URL and open the web page containing the configuration data Additionally the HTML code server web site may pro vide the dimensions of the HTML interactive element to WCC utility These dimensions are directly imported into the user s web page and allow the web authoring tool to accurately place the interactive HTML object on the web page Also by providing the dimension of the object the web authoring tool will prevent the user from resizing the object However if the HTML code service web site does not provide the dimensions of the object the web authoring tool will allow the user to resize the interactive element Typically the dimensions are
19. cuted by the processing unit 21 FIG 1 in response to instructions that have been incorporated into the WEB Content Customi zation utility 100 The routine 800 begins at step 802 in which the user opens an electronic file 206 in a web authoring tool and issues a command to insert an interactive HTML object into the electronic file Typically the web authoring tool is a desktop publishing software program However those skilled in the art will appreciate that other application software application programs such word processors or spreadsheet programs may be used to create web pages Step 802 is then followed by step 804 in which the WCC utility 100 establishes a link with a remote HTML code service web site The remote HTML code service web site 702 is accessed through the web authoring tool instead of through a separate web browser This allows the user can access and retrieve interactive objects directly from the remote HTML code service web site without having to exit the web authoring tool and open a separate web browser program Therefore the number of steps required to add interactive HTML content is greatly reduced thereby sim plifying the process of adding interactive content to a web page for the average web page developer Step 804 is followed by step 806 in which a bock of HTML code associated with the interactive HTML object is 0 6 493 733 1 13 downloaded directly into the electronic file 206 from the HTML code s
20. described in terms of the number of pixels for both the width and height of the interactive object Finally once the user has selected the interactive HTML object the WCC utility retrieves a block of HTML code that corresponds to the interactive HTML object and automati cally inserts the block of HTML code into the user s HTML document Retrieval of the block of HTML code is facili tated by the WCC utility calling a block of client side script that is contained at the web page associated with the interactive HTML object Additionally the web site provid ing the interactive object may provide a collection of sup porting files associated with the interactive HTML object such as a movie file a video file an audio file an automation file or the like The web authoring tool will store these supporting files and publish them to the user s web server along with the rest of the user s web pages The WCC utility relieves the user from having to manu ally cut and paste the HTML code into his web page or write the HTML code from scratch The WCC utility provides advantages over the previous methods by simplifying the method of inserting an interactive HTML object into a web page Using the WCC utility the user only needs to select the desired interactive HTML object from an HTML code service web site and the HTML code is automatically downloaded into the user s HTML document This obviates 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
21. eractive object are described in terms of the number of pixels for both the width and height of the interactive object FIG 7 is a block diagram illustrating the interaction between a user who creates a web page using a web authoring tool 702 the user s Internet Service Provider ISP 704 an HTML code service web site providing the interactive HTML document 706 and a remote user 710 over the Internet 708 First the user selects the option to insert an interactive HTML object into their web page This activates the WEB Content Customization utility in PUB LISHER 2002 which launches an HTML rendering engine such as the TRIDENT module The TRIDENT module opens a remote HTML code service web site 706 such as LinkExchange Next the WCC utility retrieves the registra tion web pages from the HTML interactive Code Service Web site 706 The interactive HTML object available at the HTML interactive Code Service Web site 706 is displayed in a dialog box within the web authoring tool 702 The user then decides whether they want to register for an interactive HTML object such as ListBot or FastCounter Once the registration process is complete the WCC utility 100 auto matically retrieves the HTML code associated with the selected interactive HTML object from the HTML interac tive Code Service Web site 706 Next the WCC utility 100 passes the HTML code to the web authoring tool 702 which causes the HTML interactive data content to be displayed i
22. eractive web site with out requiring any user intervention or knowledge of HTML or server side script programming SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention meets the above described needs in a software utility for inserting an interactive HTML object into an electronic file such as an Internet web page Specifically the utility allows a user to select an interactive HTML object from a remote HTML code server web site The utility then automatically inserts the HTML code asso ciated with the interactive HTML object into the user s web page Generally described a WEB Content Customization WCC utility allows a user to automatically insert an interactive HTML object into an existing web page First the user opens the HTML file such as a web page in a web authoring tool The user first selects the option to insert an HTML object into the HTML document Next the WCC utility retrieves the URL address of a remote site that contains interactive HTML objects The WCC utility then automatically establishes a link with the HTML code service web site Next the user selects an interactive HTML object and the WCC utility retrieves a block of HTML code associated with the selected interactive HTML object Finally the WCC utility automatically inserts the interactive HTML object into the electronic file in the web authoring tool 0 6 493 733 1 3 More specifically the WCC utility creates dialog box in the web authoring
23. erating environment Anumber of program modules may be stored in the drives and RAM 25 including an operating system 35 one or more application programs 36 such as the WCC utility 100 other program modules 37 and program data 38 A user may enter commands and information into the personal computer 20 through a keyboard 40 and pointing device such as a mouse 42 Other input devices not shown may include a microphone joystick game pad satellite dish scanner or the like These and other input devices are often connected to the processing unit 21 through a serial port interface 46 that is coupled to the system bus but may be connected by other interfaces such as a game port or a universal serial bus USB A monitor 47 or other type of display device is also connected to the system bus 23 via an interface such as a 0 6 493 733 1 9 video adapter 48 In addition the monitor personal computers typically include other peripheral output devices not shown such as speakers or printers The personal computer 20 may operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more remote computers such as a remote computer 49 The remote computer 49 may be a server a router a peer device or other common network node and typically includes many or all of the elements described relative to the personal computer 20 although only a memory storage device 50 has been illustrated in FIG 1 The logical connections de
24. ering engine such as TRIDENT reduces the complexity for the user to insert interactive HTML objects into their web pages FIG 5 is an illustration of the window 200 displaying the electronic file 210 and a dialog box 502 using the WCC utility 100 The dialog box 402 is opened in response to the WCC utility 100 receiving a user command to open an HTML code service web site The dialog box 402 contains a first window 504 which displays a list of interactive HTML object that the user may choose to insert into their web page The interactive HTML object that the user selects using the pointing device 212 is highlighted thereby pro viding a visual indication interactive HTML object the user has selected to insert into the electronic file 210 For example in the present illustration the first window con tains a ListBot a FastCounter a BannerNetwork and a Marquee interactive HTML objects The pointing device 212 is positioned over the ListBot object which causes the selection to be highlighted thereby indicating that the user has selected the ListBot interactive HTML object to insert into their web page 206 FIG 5A is an illustration of an alternative embodiment of the present invention In the alternative embodiment the dialog box 402 may also comprise a second window 506 that shows a graphical representation of the interactive HTML object which is highlighted in the first window 504 The graphical representation is a preview of how the
25. ervice web site 702 The download process is controlled by a block of client side script that is provided by the remote HTML code service web site In addition to the block of HTML code supporting files may also be directly downloaded into the electronic file Supporting files may be video files audio files animation files or the like which are called by the block of HTML code to enhance the interactive HTML object Step 806 is then followed by the END step FIG 9 is a logic flow diagram illustrating routine 804 in FIG 8 which the WCC utility 100 establishes a link to the HTML code service web site Routine 804 begins at step 902 in which the WCC utility 100 opens a dialog box in the desktop publishing computer program Step 902 is followed by step 904 in which the WCC utility 100 launches an HTML rendering engine such as Microsoft s TRIDENT module within the dialog box TRI DENT is an ActiveX control that manages the downloading parsing and displaying of web pages on a local computer The TRIDENT module forms the core of web browser application programs such as Microsoft s INTERNET EXPLORER and manages the basic functions of download ing and displaying web pages Thus only the basic functions of downloading and displaying web pages are run in the dialog box Step 904 is then followed by step 906 in which the WCC utility 100 opens the HTML code service web site that corresponds to the a URL selected by the user Altern
26. ervice web sites may be hard coded into the WCC utility 100 so that they always appear in the list box 404 Additionally the list box may 404 also contain the 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 10 URLs of each HTML code service site that the user has previously registered with Furthermore the user may at any time manually edit the URLs in the list box 404 such as delete an entry or edit a specific entry using standard editing techniques Additionally the dialog box 402 may contain an address bar 406 so that the user may manually input the URL of an HTML code service web site that is not currently listed in the list box 404 The WCC utility 100 then launches an HTML rendering engine such as Microsoft s TRIDENT module from within the web authoring tool The web authoring tool hosts the HTML rendering engine in the dialog box 402 Typically the HTML rendering engine manages the basic functions of downloading and displaying web pages For example the HTML rendering engine downloads and opens the web page associated with the URL currently highlighted in the address bar 406 and displays it in the dialog Having a web authoring tool host the HTML rendering engine in a dialog box 402 eliminates the need for the user to exit the web authoring tool and open a separate web browser application program to access the HTML code service web site Thus by allow ing the web authoring tool to host an HTML rend
27. gramming HTML and are gener ally not What You See Is What You Get WYSIWYG One method to help web site authors insert interactive HTML object into their web pages was to provide the HTML code for the interactive HTML object over the Internet One such web site that provides interactive HTML object over the Internet is LinkExchange operated by Microsoft Corpo ration of Redmond Wash However the LinkExchange service only partially solves this problem LinkExchange will host all the necessary scripts on the server so users are not faced with the complexity and expense of creating these scripts themselves But LinkExchange only provides users with minimal help in creating web pages that interact properly with the server side scripts Upon completion of a 10 15 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 2 registration process LinkExchange provides the web site author with a customized block of HTML that corresponds to an interactive HTML object However the task of insert ing the HTML code into the web page is left up to the user Unfortunately this can often be a difficult task Specifically the user must go through a multi step process to incorporate the interactive HTML object into the web page For example the user must first create the web page in a web authoring tool Next the author must register with the LinkExchange or any similar interactive HTML object web site Finally the user must incorporate the pr
28. inter faces However a utility within the meaning of this specification may also be incorporated into a computer operating system or application program such as a web authoring tool The invention therefore encompass any type of software module or system that performs the methods of the WCC utility described in this specification and is not limited to a particular object configuration such as a dynamic link library DLL In addition although the present invention is described in the context of a desktop publishing program those skilled in the art will appreciate that the invention is applicable to other programs that allow a user to edit a web page such as dedicated web authoring tools word processing programs presentation programs drawing programs spreadsheet programs and the like The WCC utility provides a user with the ability to customize their web page by inserting interactive HTML objects using the same web site authoring computer program such as a desktop publishing computer program that was used to create the web page The WCC utility first receives a user command to insert an interactive HTML 0 6 493 733 1 5 object into an existing web page Typically interactive HTML objects require some level of support on a web based server For example most interactive HTML objects rely on server side scripts Server side scripts such as Microsoft s Active Server Pages are text files that contain not only text and
29. interactive HTML object will appear in the user s web page Using the example from above a preview of how the ListBot inter active HTML object will appear in the user s web page is displayed in the second window 506 Once the user is satisfied how the HTML object appears the user uses the pointing device 212 to double click on the selection Although the selection of a interactive HTML object is described using a pointing device such as a mouse those skilled in the art will appreciate that other devices such as the keyboard a stylus pen a trackball or any other pointing device may be used without altering the scope of the invention FIG 6 is an illustration of the window 200 displaying the electronic file 210 after the user has selected the interactive HTML object from the dialog box 402 shown in FIG 4 The electronic file 210 contains the new interactive HTML object 602 that the user selected in the pop up dialog box 402 The HTML code associated with the interactive HTML object is automatically transmitted from the remote HTML code 0 6 493 733 1 11 service web site to the web authoring tool which automati cally inserts the HTML code associated with the interactive HTML object into the electronic file The interactive HTML object that the user has selected automatically appears in the electronic file 206 The insertion of the HTML code into the electronic file 206 does not require any additional interaction on the
30. ion of the HTML interactive object in the electronic file may be provided by the HTML code service web site or may be specified by the user The HTML code service web site providing the interac tive HTML object may choose to specify predetermined dimensions for the content In this case the authoring application will reserve an area on the page of the correct size If the web site does not specify dimensions the authoring application will allow the size of the content to be adjusted by the user through the use of an input device The Webster providing the interactive object contains a block of JavaScript specially designed to communicate directly with the host application the web authoring tool This communication takes place via OLE automation Those skilled in the art will be familiar with OLE automation as a standard mechanism used by scripts such as those contained in web pages to interact with other objects This allows the HTML code service web site to automatically download a block of HTML code associated with the interactive HTML object directly into the electronic file open in the web authoring tool This provides several advantages over the previous methods of inserting HTML objects into electronic files First the user never sees the block of code associated with the interactive HTML object The WCC utility allows for the block of HTML code to be downloaded to the web authoring tool and inserted into the electronic file w
31. ith the ListBot feature is automatically transferred between the LinkExchange web site and PUBLISHER The ListBot feature contains a block of JAVA script that is executed by the TRIDENT module which transfers the HTML content and instructs PUB LISHER how to insert the interactive HTML object The user then simply saves the web page with the customized ListBot feature and posts their web page on the ISP server Thus there is no need for the user to have any knowledge of HTML or server side script programming Once the transfer is complete the ListBot feature appears on the user s web page open in PUBLISHER 2002 The new web page will automatically contain the customized ListBot feature provided by the LinkExchange web site Once the web page is hosted by the ISP a remote user may access the PUBLISHER created web site and access the ListBot fea ture After opening the user s web page the remote user submits their e mail address The information is transmitted across the Internet to a standard server side script hosted at the LinkExchange web site which then automatically adds the new e mail address to the user s customer mailing list in PUBLISHER FIG 8 is a logic flow diagram illustrating routine 800 for applying the WEB Content Customization utility 100 FIG 1 to add a interactive HTML object to an electronic file 206 open in a web authoring tool Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the logic flow diagram of FIG 8 is exe
32. ithout the user ever viewing the block of code Secondly the WCC utility reduces the complexity inserting interactive HTML objects into files by running the HTML rendering engine within the web authoring tool That the invention improves over the drawbacks of web authoring systems for creating interactive HTML object and accomplishes the advantages described above will become apparent from the following detailed description of the exemplary embodiments and the appended drawings and claims BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES FIG 1 is a block diagram of a personal computer that provides the operating environment for an embodiment of the present invention 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 4 FIG 2 is a screen display illustrating a technique for displaying an HTML electronic file opened in an authoring computer application FIG 3 is a screen display illustrating the Web Content Customization utility for selecting the insert HTML code option from a drop down menu FIG 4 is a screen display illustrating the Web Content Customization utility for selecting a URL associated with an HTML code service web site FIG 5 is a screen display illustrating the Web Content Customization utility for displaying a selected interactive HTML object FIG 5A is a screen display illustrating an alternative embodiment of the Web Content Customization utility for displaying a selected interactive HTML object FIG 6
33. n the user s web page The user then uploads the newly created web page which contains the customized HTML interactive data object to their Internet Service Provider 704 Next a remote user 710 browsing the Internet 708 selects the user s newly created web page on the user s ISP 704 The remote user 710 then may access the newly added interactive HTML object Once the remote user 710 begins interacting with the interactive HTML object on the user s web page 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 12 any information provided by the remote user is transmitted to a standard script hosted on the HTML interactive Code Service Web Site 706 which then adds the information to the user s web page For example suppose a user created a web page using Microsoft s PUBLISHER 2002 and wanted to add a ListBot feature to their web page The user would first open the web page in PUBLISHER 2002 and select the option to insert HTML content from the drop down menu This causes the WCC utility to launch the TRIDENT module in a dialog box running in PUBLISHER 20002 The WCC utility 100 then opens a list box containing a list of the interactive HTML object that the user can insert into their web page Once the user selects the ListBot feature the LinkExchange web site displays the registration page s specific to that particular ListBot feature After the user completes registration process the HTML code associated w
34. nto the electronic file and in response to receiving a single user command to insert an interactive HTML object performing the sequence comprising the steps of retrieving a URL address associated with the remote location from a memory location establishing a link with the remote location associated with the URL receiving a user command selecting at least one inter active HTML object from the plurality of interactive HTML objects retrieving the block of HTML code associated with the interactive HTML object from the remote site and inserting the block of HTML code associated with the interactive HTML object into the electronic file open in the web authoring tool 2 The method of claim 1 wherein the step of establishing a link with the remote site comprises opening a dialog box in the web authoring tool launching an HTML rendering engine in the dialog box opening the remote site inside the rendering engine 3 The method of claim 2 wherein the step of retrieving the block of HTML code associated with the interactive HTML object from the remote site comprises displaying the plurality of interactive HTML objects in the dialog box 0 6 493 733 1 15 receiving a user command selecting at least one of the plurality of interactive HTML objects and transferring the block of HTML code associated with the selected interactive HTML object from the remote location to the electronic file open in the web authoring to
35. o open a URL However creating interactive HTML object from scratch is not a simple task and is typically beyond the ability of most web site authors For example many interactive HTML objects require the support of server side scripts on the web server e g Active Server Pages ASPs Computer graphics interface etc Normally these server side scripts are complex to write and are typically beyond the ability of the average web site author Furthermore if the server side scripts for the interactive HTML object are written incorrectly they can pose a serious security threat for the Internet Service Provider ISP servers As a result many ISPs often require a premium price for hosting a web site with server side scripts Additionally the HTML code that is required to interact with the server side scripts is equally complex for the average web site author to write As a result many companies have created web site authoring tools which claim to facilitate the creation of HTML objects without requiring the web site author to have any knowledge of HTML or server side script programming Unfortunately these tools are often unable to produce the HTML code required for interacting with server side scripts Furthermore the tools that do support this type of HTML use outdated functions such as Insert HTML Code Fragment which require the web site author to have a working knowledge of pro
36. ol 4 The method of claim 2 further comprising storing a URL associated with the interactive HTML object in a memory location associated with the web authoring tool 5 The method of claim 2 wherein the dialog box com prises a window displaying a plurality of interactive HTML objects that the user can transfer from the remote site 6 The method of claim 2 further comprising activating a block of script associated with the interactive HTML object wherein the block of script is operable for communicating with the web authoring tool and automatically transferring the block of HTML code associated with the HTML interactive element directly to the electronic file open in the web authoring tool 7 A method for inserting an interactive HTML object selected from a plurality of interactive HTML objects stored at a remote location into an electronic file open in a web authoring tool wherein each interactive HTML object is associated with a block of HTML code comprising the steps of opening the electronic file receiving a user command to insert an interactive HTML object into the electronic file and in response to receiving a single user command to insert an interactive TML object performing the sequence comprising the steps of retrieving a URL address associated with the remote location from a memory location establishing a link with the remote location associated with the URL comprising the steps of opening a dialog bo
37. or insert ing an interactive HTML object selected from a plurality of interactive HTML objects stored at a code service web site into web page open in a web authoring tool wherein each interactive HTML object is associated with a block of HTML code the method comprising the steps of receiving a user command to insert an interactive HTML object into the web page and in response to receiving a single user command to insert an interactive HTML object performing the sequence comprising the steps of retrieving a URL address associated with the code service web site from a memory location downloading a first page of the code service web site into a dialog box open in the web authoring tool wherein the first page displays the plurality of inter active HTML objects receiving a user command selecting at least one inter active HTML object automatically downloading the block of HTML code associated with the interactive HTML object in the web page open in the web authoring tool and displaying the interactive HTML object in the web page open in the web authoring tool 11 The computer readable medium of claim 10 wherein the step of downloading the first page of the code service web site comprises opening a dialog box in the web authoring tool launching an HTML rendering engine in the dialog box and displaying the plurality of interactive HTML objects that the user can download from the remote site 12 The computer reada
38. ovided HTML code into their web page by manually inserting the block of customized HTML code into the existing HTML code Another problem with using the HTML interactive code web sites is that the user cannot access the web site from the application program they are using to develop their web page The user must first exit the web authoring tool and open an Internet browser application program such as INTERNET EXPLORER developed by Microsoft Corpo ration of Redmond Wash to access the HTML code server web site Once the user retrieves the interactive HTML object they must manually insert the HTML code them selves into the web page Then if the user wants to view the interactive content they must save the web page in the authoring application and open the web page in the Internet browser application program This process of having to use a separate Internet browser application to view the interac tive HTML object in the user s web page is both time consuming and confusing to the average web page devel oper This in turn can lead to users making numerous errors in building their web pages and ultimately leads to user frustration Thus there is a general need in the art for a more convenient and efficient method for inserting interactive HTML object into a web page There is a further need for a method for inserting interactive HTML objects into a web page which automatically retrieves all the required HTML code from the HTML int
39. part of the user For example the user does not have to manually cut and paste the HTML code into his web page or write the HTML code from scratch The user only needs to select the desired interactive HTML object from the dialog box 402 FIG 4 and the HTML code is automatically downloaded into the electronic file 206 This provides an advantage over prior methods in that the user does not have to have any knowledge of HTML or server side script programming to add interactive HTML object 602 to their web page Returning to the above example the illustration shows the ListBot interactive object 602 inserted into the electronic file 206 Additionally the WCC utility 100 may also return a URL that points to a web site for reconfiguring the interactive HTML object Typically as part of the registration process the user answers a series of questions which affect how the interactive object will look and behave in the user s web site In order for the user to reconfigure the interactive object or update the interactive object the user must access the corresponding web page The WCC utility 100 retrieves the URL associated with the web page that contains the con figuration data and saves the URL in a memory location Furthermore the WCC utility 100 may also retrieve the dimensions of the HTML interactive element from the HTML code server web site The dimensions are directly imported into web authoring tool Typically the dimensions of the int
40. picted in FIG 1 include a local area network LAN 51 and a wide area network WAN 52 Such networking environments are commonplace in offices enterprise wide computer networks Intranets and the Internet When used in a LAN networking environment the per sonal computer 20 is connected to the LAN 51 through a network interface 53 When used in a WAN networking environment the personal computer 20 typically includes a modem 54 or other means for establishing communications over the WAN 52 such as the Internet The modem 54 which may be internal or external is connected to the system bus 23 via the serial port interface 46 In a networked environment program modules depicted relative to the personal computer 20 or portions thereof may be stored in the remote memory storage device It will be appreciated that the network connections shown are exemplary and other means of establishing a communications link between the computers may be used Exemplary Embodiments FIG 2 is an illustration of the window 200 showing a typical prior art screen display in Microsoft s PUBLISHER 2000 desktop publishing program A window 200 includes a title bar 202 and a drop down menu bar 204 The contents of the web authoring tool are viewed in a viewing area 206 which in this illustration contains a web page 206 The web page 206 contains objects such as text graphics pictures videos audio sounds clip art and the like The window 200 also contains a
41. pointing device 208 which allows the user to select objects within the window or issue commands FIG 3 is an illustration of a typical screen display in Microsoft s PUBLISHER 2002 desktop publishing program illustrating how the user selects the command to inset interactive HTML object The user selects the Insert option from the drop down menu bar 204 using the pointing device 208 Upon selection of the Insert option a drop down window 302 appears with a list of various objects that may be inserted into the electronic file 206 For example the user may insert a Picture an Object a Text Box an HTML Fragment or a Hyperlink These elements are not meant to be an exhaustive list and those skilled in the art will appreciate that various other elements such as Clip Art video and audio sounds may be inserted into the electronic file from the Insert drop down menu 302 Using the pointing device the user then selects the HTML Code option 304 from the Insert drop down menu 302 FIG 4 is an illustration of the window 200 displaying the electronic file 210 and a dialog box 402 using the WCC utility 100 The dialog box 402 appears in response to the user selecting the HTML code selection 304 FIG 3 The dialog box 402 comprises a list box 404 which contains a list of the URLs associated with HTML code service web sites that the user may access to retrieve interactive HTML objects Several of the URLs associated with the established HTML code s
42. tool and launches an HTML rendering engine in the dialog box The WCC utility then opens the HTML code service web site in the rendering engine in the dialog box The dialog box contains at least one window that displays a list of the available interactive HTML object that the user may select Once the user selects an interactive HTML object the WCC utility then transfers the associated HTML computer code from the remote site to the web authoring tool where the WCC utility automatically inserts the HTML computer code into the electronic file The WCC utility may also store an identifying indicia such as a uniform resource locator URL associated with the web site that provided the interactive HTML object When the user wishes to reconfigure the interactive HTML object this URL is used by the HTML rendering engine to retrieve the appropriate web page This removes the need for the user to remember a complex sequence of steps required to reconfigure the object Also this URL may contain data that identifies the user or identifies the particular object This allows the program to bring the user to the relevant web page immediately bypassing or simplifying the log on process Furthermore the web site providing the interactive con tent includes some client side script such as JavaScript or VBScript that automatically delivers the HTML to the authoring application The WCC utility then inserts the HTML data into the electronic file The posit
43. web page The WCC utility creates a dialog box in the web authoring tool and opens the remote site in the dialog box The dialog contains at least one window that displays a list of the available interactive HTML object that the user may select Once the user selects an interactive HTML object the WCC utility then transfers the associated block of HTML code from the remote site to the web authoring tool where the block of HTML is inserted directly into the electronic file 13 Claims 10 Drawing Sheets 900 START FIG 8 STEP 804 OPEN DIALOG BOX IN THE WEB AUTHORING TOOL LAUNCH HTML RENDERING ENGINE IN THE DIALOG 906 A OPEN A HTML CODE SERVICE WEBSITE CORRESPONDING TO A URL SELECTED BY THE USER END RETURN FIG 8 STEP 804 US 6 493 733 Sheet 1 of 10 Dec 10 2002 U S Patent 179 LS WOO 7 95 SWWHDOH NOLLWOMddly WALSAS SNILVH3dO OHANOV 001 ANILAN NOLLYZINOLSNO ANSINOO 9 5 0 WALSK WALSAS 1N A 5 535044 2 WALSAS 06 U S Patent Dec 10 2002 Sheet 2 of 10 US 6 493 733 1
44. x in the web authoring tool launching an HTML rendering engine in the dialog box and opening the remote site inside the rendering engine selecting at least one interactive HTML object from the plurality of interactive HTML objects retrieving the block of HTML code associated with the interactive HTML object from the remote site and automatically inserting the block of HTML code asso ciated with the interactive HTML object into the electronic file 8 The method of claim 7 wherein the step of retrieving the block of HTML code associated with the interactive HTML object from the remote site comprises displaying the plurality of interactive HTML objects in the dialog box receiving a user command selecting at least one of the plurality of interactive HTML objects and transferring the block of HTML code associated with the selected interactive HTML object from the remote location to the web authoring tool 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 16 9 The method of claim 7 further comprising activating a block of script associated with the interactive HTML object wherein the block of script is operable for communicating with the web authoring tool and automatically transferring the block of HTML code associated with the HTML inter active element directly to the electronic file open in the web authoring tool 10 A computer readable medium containing computer executable instructions for performing the method f

Method for inserting interactive HTML objects into an electronic file

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