Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

David McCauley

Bassam Tabbara

John Rinaldo

Christopher S Heidorn

An information server system is responsive to page specifications to render information pages at a plurality of clients that use different client software and that have widely different characteristics. Information pages are authored in a generic page specification format that is not limited to any particular client or client software. In response to a request for the information page, the server system selects and executes a page renderer that is compatible with the client software of the client requesting the information. The page renderer converts the page specification of the information page to an instruction sequence that is tailored particularly for the requesting client. The conversion is accomplished by selecting and executing a plurality of independently-executable pane renderers.

Adaptive rendering of hypermedia documents

Generating instruction sequences using independently executable pane renderers

A hypermedia-based navigation system includes a plurality of information providers and one or more clients. Databases of available hyperlink targets are maintained by the information providers. Each of the databases is searchable by means of one or more query attributes supported by the database and relating to the available hyperlink targets. A hypermedia document might contain a soft hyperlink, consisting of a query formulation specified in terms of query attributes and of values for said query attributes. A client resolves a soft hyperlink by querying at least one of the databases with the query formulation to locate one or more hyperlink targets having attributes and attribute values that satisfy the query formulation. The soft hyperlink can additionally contain executable rules. The client executes these rules prior to submitting the query formulation to the database. Each rule, when it executes, potentially adds search predicates to the original query formulation. Execution of a particular rule is conditioned upon a set of mandatory attributes associated with the rule. The rule will be executed if and only if its mandatory attributes are bound to actual values by the particular client attempting to resolve the soft hyperlink.

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Seattle, WA, United States of America

David McCauley