U.S. Patent Number: 6,665,659
Methods and apparatus for distributing and using metadata via the internet
Date Filed: February 1, 2000
Date Issued: December 16, 2003
Abstract:
A system for selectively distributing information from a multiplicity of Internet resources to a user in a way that make it easier for the user to quickly identify information of particular interest. The system employs a server for generating a central library of citations, each containing metadata that describes selected information from a resource identified by a URL. The server works in conjunction with a client computer which requests information on a topic or topics of interest by supplying preference data to the server. In response, the server delivers a subset of the citations to the client computer which match the preference data from the client. The client computer places this subset of citations in a local store where they may be compared with user requests by matching the metadata in each citation to criteria specified by the user. In addition, the locally stored citations may be sorted into an particular order in response to a user request. The filtered and sorted citations may then be used to present desired information to the user, either by displaying metadata contained in the citation or by using the URL in the citation to fetch relevant information via the Internet from the original resource.