US 6,185,588 B2 · Method and apparatus for printing worldwide web pages in accordance with operator selected formatting

Abstract

A method and apparatus prints copies of internet pages from the worldwide web, in accordance with operator-selected formatting instructions. A plurality of internet page record locators are selected and recorded in memory of the data processing system, preferably grouped in a directory such as a Bookmark, Favorite, or Hotlist directory. Operator-specified formatting instructions are then obtained. The formatting instructions may relate to attributes such as page headers, page footers, page break location, pagination, cover sheets, table of contents, the content allocation and placement among the printed pages, as well as the presence or absence of internet identification titles, and the presence or absence of visually perceptible internet links or internet icons from the Internet pages. Finally, the formatted internet pages are printed, utilizing the printer associated with the data processing system, in accordance with the particular operator-selected format requirements which are associated with the selected internet pages.

Claims27

Dependent claims

A method for generating presentation-ready documents from web pages in accordance with operator-specified presentation instructions, said method comprising:

obtaining a list identifying one or more web pages containing a plurality of elements;
retrieving a copy of each identified web page;
obtaining presentation parameters specifying which of said plurality of elements are to be presented in a document and specifying a format in which said specified elements are to be presented;
and
in response to a first presentation request, producing a presentation-ready document in accordance with said presentation parameters.

2 more elements

A data processing system for generating presentation-ready documents from web pages in accordance with operator-specified presentation instructions, said data processing system comprising:

a processor and data storage in communication with said processor;
a web page formatter residing in said data storage and executable by said processor, said web page formatter including:
a source page selection mechanism for obtaining a list identifying one or more web pages containing a plurality of elements;
a web page retrieval mechanism for obtaining a copy of each identified web page;
a presentation parameter selection mechanism for obtaining presentation parameters from said operator, said presentation parameters specifying which of said plurality of elements are to be presented in a document and specifying a format in which said specified elements are to be presented;
and
a document producer for producing a presentation-ready document in accordance with said presentation parameters in response to a first presentation request.

4 more elements

A program product for use with a data processing system, wherein the program product generates presentation-ready documents from web pages in accordance with operator-specified presentation instructions, said program product comprising:

a source page selection mechanism for obtaining a list from an operator, said list identifying one or more web pages containing a plurality of elements;
a web page retrieval mechanism for obtaining a copy of each web page in said list;
a presentation parameter selection mechanism for obtaining presentation parameters from said operator, said presentation parameters specifying which of said plurality of elements are to be presented in a document and specifying a format in which said specified elements are to be presented;
a document producer for producing a presentation-ready document in accordance with said presentation parameters in response to a first presentation request;
and
a computer usable medium encoding said source page selection mechanism, said web page retrieval mechanism, said presentation parameter selection mechanism, and said document producer.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Method and apparatus for printing worldwide web pages in accordance with operator selected formatting

Life of this patent

Method and apparatus for printing worldwide web pages in accordance with operator selected formatting

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims27