WO2005071657A1 - Lightweight internet presence using fully adaptive web page - Google Patents

Abstract

This invention provides a process and apparatus for permitting a multiplicity of users to share a single page of the Internet in a variety of unrelated applications. Initially the user, possibly with no prior knowledge of Internet page programming, selects from a list of possible applications for the Web page (106). The user is then granted permission to decorate the Web page using a series of simple point-and-click mouse operations (108). The decorated Web page can be published privately to a single person, to a group, or to the general public, depending upon the application chosen (110). When the Web page is accessed, its application and decoration to date are retrieved, and the entire Web page appearance and behavior are controlled by the information recorded earlier. The user can thus create a presence on the Internet significantly more parsimonious of Internet resources than a normal Internet website.

Description

100. Description 1000. Title of Invention

1010. The title of this invention is: "LIGHTWEIGHT INTERNET PRESENCE USING FULLY ADAPTIVE WEB PAGE".

1020. The inventors of this invention are: Russell P. Blake, U.S. Citizen, residing in Australia at Mount Pleasant, Queensland AUSTRALIA Karla M. Blake, U.S. Citizen, residing in Australia at Mount Pleasant, Queensland AUSTRALIA 2000. Cross Reference to Related Applications 2001. NOT APPLICABLE 3000. Statement Regarding Federally Sponsored Research or Development 3001. NOT APPLICABLE 4000. Reference to Sequence Listing, a Table, or a Computer Program Listing Compact Disk Appendix 4001. NOT APPLICABLE

5000. Technical Field

5020. This invention is in the field of software situated at a remote location (the server), providing software and a user interface on a multiplicity of local computers (the clients.) Specifically this invention pertains to server programs on the World Wide Web, also known as the Web or the Internet, and to the user interface provided in a Web browser to a local client on a personal computer or mobile computing device.

5500. Background Art

5520. This invention provides a process and apparatus for permitting a multiplicity of users to share a single Web page of the Internet in a variety of totally unrelated applications. End-users of this invention are able to create a wide variety of different presences on the Internet, the display of all of which may be through a single Universal Resource Identifier (URI) targeting a single Internet page. (A URI is used on the Internet to locate a single Internet page or resource, replacing an older term: URL, Universal Resource Locator.) 5521. There have been attempts in the prior art to provide Internet presence for end- users who may previously have no such presence. These attempts are recently exemplified by Weyer in US Patent 6,671 ,674 dated December 30, 2003, and its references. While able to present a multitude of clients with a presence on the Internet, Weyer' s invention incorporates a number of shortcomings typical of similar attempts in the prior art (see e.g. Weyer, References.) These shortcomings include the use of a unique URI for each end-user, use of normal Internet e-mail for communication within the group by whom the invention is employed, and the inability of all members of the group to see all group correspondence. 5522. In the preferred embodiment the present invention dispenses with the use of a unique URI for each end-user. This is economical of Internet resources, as each URI must be accessible to Internet routers throughout the Internet, and the smaller the number of URI's employed, the better the performance of the Internet for all users. This also avoids assigning an Internet URI for what in fact may amount to transient usage or limited visitation. Any URI not taken also remains available for a more important application. The present invention provides for a rich set of applications for an unlimited number of end-users, all through a single URI. 5523. Normal Internet e-mail is subject to a number of inherent disadvantages. All information sent by e-mail is publicly available on the Internet, and visible to the public domain. While it is possible to encrypt e-mail, doing so requires the purchase of encryption technology by both sender and recipient, currently requiring an annual fee, and a non-trivial amount of highly technical mail configuration setup. The present invention enables fully encrypted communication automatically with no setup. 5524. Much as with URI's, each e-mail recipient is required to have a unique identifier. Thus for example in Weyer' s invention each user is assigned both a URI and a unique e-mail identifier. Yet there are a large number of applications in which it is unnecessary for each recipient of a message to have a unique identifier. For example each person in an office, or each member of a sports team could be sent a message addressed to the whole office (or team), using only one address for the whole group, rather than one address for each person in the group. Finally e-mail, once fully received, is stored on a recipient's local computer, so there is no central archive of correspondence among the group, independent of the geographically distributed collection of personal computers owned or used by all of the members of the group. The crash of a local hard drive can result in the complete loss of that portion of the correspondence stored on the unfortunate computer, unless each member of the group keeps all correspondence. Not only is keeping all the correspondence for each group properly sorted on one's personal computer difficult, it is not the default to retain sent messages in every e-mail system, so unless one remembers to tick the correct box, sent messages can easily be lost. This approach also results in a duplication of storage still susceptible to local hazard. The present invention overcomes all these difficulties by automatically providing a secure facility for all communication that is naturally backed up daily as a matter of normal business practice. 5525. Perhaps the worst shortcoming of Internet e-mail is the inaccessibility of correspondence by all members of the group. In its preferred embodiment the present invention, while permitting totally private, encrypted communication in some applications, also allows the entire group to see all of the communication addressed to the group as a whole while retaining its encryption. There are a large number of applications wherein this is a desirable feature, particularly for small groups. The parsimonious use of resources (e.g., URI's, e-mail ID's, and Web pages) by the present invention enables even very small groups to have a totally secure and private Internet presence, all through a single Web page. 5526. Perhaps the most significant feature of the present invention is that it grants to the end-user the ability to create a large variety of different presences on the Internet, with no prior knowledge of the computer language normally used to write Web pages (Hyper Text Markup Language, or HTML.) While a number of commercial products permit the creation of Internet Web pages using point-and-click mouse operations, deployment of the Website and its subsequent management through changes in technology that inevitably occur are still daunting deterrents to many end-users. Furthermore there are a large number of applications that simply do not warrant the deployment of a whole Website, yet for which an Internet presence is clearly desirable. The present invention supports a lightweight Web presence through a single, adaptive Internet page, the decoration and application of which requires no prior computer language experience. _v 5527. The Internet is rife with examples of Web pages that customize limited content based on user identity. For example when a user looks up his or her account at a bank on the Internet, the user first logs in to the bank with a user name and password. The bank then shows a bank balance pertaining only to the user's bank account. The information in the bank account number and bank account balance fields, for example, correspond to the actual bank account for the user who has logged in, and in this fashion the displayed Web page has been adapted to the particular user logging in. However the graphics on the bank's Web page, the format of the table in which the information is displayed on the page, and the size and positions of the various graphical elements oh the page are all set at the bank and are the same for all users. 5528. The present invention supersedes this common application of Web technology by permitting the user complete control over all the audio-visual content and user input response on the Web page, thereby permitting the user thoroughly to alter and transform the Web page to implement a wide variety of applications of his or her own choosing. This is a significant advance over inventions that modify only a portion of web page content based on an existing web page and information retrieved from a database, as in the bank example or as in U.S. Patent 6,484,149 to Jarnmes or in U.S. Patent 5,945,989 to Freishtat. The ability to transform the entire audio-visual appearance of the Web page, and the buttons and other user input elements on the Web page, enabling the application of a single Web page to a wide variety of completely unrelated applications, is not available throughout the prior art. 5529. The capabilities provided with this invention enable a new set of applications which were previously unsuitable for implementation on the Web using traditional URI's and e-mail ID's. For example it would not be economically feasible to establish a website to send a Valentine, and as noted e-mail is not in general a secure media for private communication. This invention permits immediate, secure communication for small, dedicated groups, and is sufficiently parsimonious of Internet resources to permit a private Internet presence to be created for that broad class of applications that addresses the needs of small and very small groups, while still permitting very large groups to participate as well.

6000. Brief Summary of Invention

6020. This invention provides a process and apparatus for permitting a multiplicity of users to share a single Web page of the Internet in a variety of seemingly unrelated applications. 6021. The process that is provided is a sequence of operations that permits a user to: • acquire a lightweight presence on the Internet, • assign an application to that presence, • decorate that presence with the user's choice of audio-visual media, • optionally, permit one or more visitors to view the presence and print certificates granting them access to the presence, and • in some applications continue to decorate the presence. 6022. The apparatus that is provided by this invention includes a special Web page template that has no inherent content but is rather fully adaptive, in that it can be customized prior to display using a number of well-known methods, along with a database that supports the customization of the Web page. This apparatus provides an infrastructure upon which the end-user's Internet presence is constructed. The apparatus itself is never explicitly visible to the end-user, who sees only a series of selections that can be made with clicks of the computer's mouse or other pointing device, and the resulting Internet presence. 6023. For brevity hereinafter the term "Webspot" refers to such a lightweight presence on the Internet, comprised of a fully adaptive Web page, an assigned application, set of decorations, and visitor(s), along with a database supporting the display of same on the Internet. 6024. In the preferred embodiment, a central website is provided for the acquisition and decorating of all the Webspots. This centralizes the marketing effort of the Webspots and permits the user to review the entire range of applications before making a decision as to which Webspot application to acquire. The user starts here by creating a user name and password for use on subsequent visits. These user credentials are stored in the database that supports Webspot acquisition and decoration. 6025. Initially the user, possibly with no prior knowledge of Web page programming, selects from a list of possible applications for the Webspot. The user that initially acquires the Webspot is referred to as its author. There are a large number of possible applications appropriate to a secure, encrypted, private or public lightweight presence on the Internet. By way of example here are but a few of the myriad applications suitable for a Webspot so characterized: • Granting recognition to a person, or a team, for a job well-done; or • Congratulating a couple on the birth of a child; or • Keeping a personal diary; or • Making a confession or telling a secret; or • Dispensing a bit of hard-earned wisdom or knowledge; or • Exchanging of private letters of affection; or • Communicating privately and securely within a geographically distributed, product development team; or • Providing an ongoing history of the evolution of a family; and so forth. 6026. Once the user has selected the application for the Webspot, this selection is stored in a database and associated with the user's name. The choice of application will determine a variety of features the eventual Webspot will support. For example, if the Webspot is to be used to exchange letters of affection, then the Webspot will have to be able to display the past letters that have been written, as well as accommodate the creation of new letters as time goes on. On the other hand if the Webspot is to be used to recognize a job well done by a team at the home office, then there will be only one inscription that recognizes the effort and no need for an ongoing correspondence. In this and similar ways obvious to one skilled in the art the application determines the features exposed on the Webspot. 6027. In like fashion the application choice can be used to target the graphics and sounds available to the user, who now has the ability to decorate the Webspot to his or her taste. Typical components for decoration include Web page background, font characteristics (e.g., font-name, size, and color), photos, artwork, animations, movies, sounds, music, and so forth. The user selects one of these categories with the mouse, and is then given a choice of alternatives appropriate to the Webspot's application. The user's selections are stored in the database; the next time the Webspot is displayed, the user's choices are retrieved, and the appropriate decorations are applied to the fully adaptive Web page template. 6028. Whether the Webspot is visible to the public, a group, a single visitor, or only the author is determined by the application. For example if the author is sharing personal wisdom gained through years of experience, or is granting recognition to someone for a job well done, then they would want the general public to be able to visit the Webspot. If the author is making a confession, then they might not want anyone to be able to read it except themselves and, perhaps, their heirs, in which case the author's credentials could be placed in the will of the author for disclosure upon his or her demise. If two users are exchanging letters of affection then the author establishing the Webspot would likely add only one visitor, and again would likely keep the access credentials secret until some later date. In general after the user has initially decorated the Web page, it will be published privately to a single person, to a group, or to the general public, depending upon the application chosen by the user. 6029. As intimated previously, some applications will entail the further decoration of the Webspot, while others will be published much like a news article and remain unchanged. These permissions are recorded in the database as a feature of the application. 6030. When the Webspot is accessed, its application and decoration to date are retrieved from the database, and the Webspot appearance and user choices are adapted to the information from the database. Thus what is displayed is not determined by the HTML content of the Web page template, but by the customizing information stored for the Webspot in the database. 6031. The non-programming user can herewith create a presence on the Internet significantly more parsimonious of resources than a normal Internet Website. Furthermore, utilizing current Internet line speeds the desired Webspot can be created through a series of simple point-and-click mouse operations in just a few minutes.

7000. Brief Description of the Several Views of the Drawing

7020. The features, objects, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the detailed description set forth below when taken in conjunction with the drawings in which the reference numbers identify correspondingly throughout and wherein: 7021. Fig. 1 shows the process of acquiring and decorating a Webspot. 7022. Fig. 2 shows a database diagram for a set of database tables that could hold the decoration information needed to fill in a blank Webspot template. 7023. Fig. 3 shows the process of viewing a fully decorated Webspot. 7024. Fig. 4 shows a Webspot template that is devoid of content, ready to be filled in with decoration information from the database. 7025. Fig. 5 shows sample code that decorates (a portion) of a Webspot prior to its display, based on the information retrieved from the database. 7026. Fig. 6 shows sample code that decorates (a portion) of a Webspot in a less elegant but more generally applicable manner than that shown in Fig. 5. 8000. Disclosure of the Invention

8000. This invention provides a process and apparatus for permitting a multiplicity of users to share a single Web page of the Internet in a variety of seemingly unrelated applications. The invention can be packaged in such a manner that people unfamiliar with Web page programming languages can have full access to its capabilities. Thus the non- programming user can create a presence on the Internet significantly more parsimonious of Internet resources than a normal Internet Website. 8001. Fig. 1 shows a flowchart delineating the basic steps of the first part of the process provided by this invention. Fig. 1 describes the process at a level of abstraction with sufficient detail to enable one skilled in the art to implement the invention. However numerous additional detailed steps would be added by anyone skilled in the art during implementation. For example in step 100 the user is presented with information concerning the applications which are available for implementation, such as the list presented in paragraph 6025, above. The methods for creating these sorts of advertising materials and presenting them on the Internet are well known in the art and are not included in detail in step 100 of Fig. 1. 8002. Referring to Fig. 1, having perused the features of the various applications available at the facility, the user at 101 makes the decision to provide a personalized presence on the Internet in the form of one of these applications. At 102 the user indicates whether he or she is already a user of the facility presented by this invention. If not, the user is asked in 103 to choose a user name and password to identify himself or herself to the system during future interactions. The software implementing the invention will check to make sure the user name presented has not been used by someone else already; if so it will prompt the user to make another choice. Once a unique user name is selected, in step 104 it is recorded in the database for future use. 8003. Fig. 2 shows an abstract relational database diagram supporting the acquisition, decoration, and presentation of Webspots. One skilled in the art could devise many different database designs for this purpose, and Fig. 2 shows only one of them. Certain aspects of a database system supporting this invention, in particular the order-processing components handling orders for Webspots, credit card transactions, and so forth, have been omitted for clarity, as these are elements well known to any skilled in the art. The dotted lines in Fig. 2 indicate that a table at the start of the dotted line contains a field that is a key to the table at the end of the arrowhead. A key is used to locate a particular record in a table of records. 8004. Table 202 is the Users table, in which the user name and password are stored. Throughout Fig. 2 the suffix "ID" is used to indicate a unique key usually generated by the database system to identify a new record when it is added to the database; in the case of table 202 the user is assigned a unique UserlD that the database system can use to refer to that user. This is merely an optimization over using the unique user name for the same purpose; it is however common throughout the relational database system art and the concept is used frequently in Fig 2. For example when a new Webspot is added to the database when the user selects an application for implementation, that Webspot is assigned a unique WebSpotID by the database system (see table 201 in Fig. 2.) 8005. In the preferred embodiment at the discretion of the implementation information in certain fields in the database is encrypted for additional security. 8006. The user is now registered on the system and can login at step 105, presenting the recorded user name and password and thus initiating a session under said credentials. In the preferred embodiment once the user credentials are verified, all communication between the user and the system providing the services of this invention may be encrypted. 8007. A list of possible applications that can be implemented on the Web page is presented to the user in step 106. In the preferred embodiment this step will occur prior to step 102. The system checks to see if the user is already logged in and if so, immediately adds a chosen application to the user's shopping cart. (The "shopping cart" is a virtual implementation of a retail store shopping cart or trolley, commonly employed in the art for recording sales on the Internet.) Only if the user is not logged in are they directed to step 102. These sorts of variations in the implementation do not materially affect the capabilities of the invention, but may be viewed as presenting a more streamlined user interface. For clarity Fig. 1 shows the simplest flowchart of the first part of the process of this invention, absent such optimizations well known in the art. 8008. The application that the user selects can be used by the implementation to provide some guidelines for the subsequent decoration and use of the Webspot. For example if the user should choose for the application "Pen Pals", then the implementation can assume that the Webspot will be used for an ongoing dialog between two people, and that the dialog will be private to them and not available to the general public. The implementation can limit the audio-visual decorations available for selection by the user to those that it may deem appropriate to correspondence between two friends. Pricing of the chosen application can be used to provide a guideline on how much text can be sent in each letter. Such limitations can be important, since the amount of storage that can be stored in a chain of records by a modern database system is limited only by the physical size of the storage media and the limitations imposed by the database software, if any. In the preferred embodiment in certain applications the user will be given the opportunity to add the new Webspot to a chain of Webspots of the same application that he or she has already acquired. This facility is useful in applications such as an annual holiday letter, where each year a new Webspot is decorated to bring one's acquaintances up to date on the year's events. A chain of Webspots like this is implemented using the "NextWebSpotID" field in table 201. In this way a large number of critical parameters to the behavior and appearance of the Webspot may be determined by the user's choice of application, which is stored in the database in step 107 as item Application in table 201 in Fig. 2. 8009. The user is then granted permission to decorate the Web page using a series of simple point-and-click operations with a standard mouse. The Internet has grown to provide a relatively rich audio-visual environment for the user to customize. Fig. 2 shows tables for the audio-visual elements currently used frequently on Web pages. These include the page background (table 205, Fig. 2), graphical images (table 203), text (table 207), sounds and music (table 211), and movies (table 212.) The history of the Internet has been such that we can expect this list to grow; said growth in types of decorations is hereby included in this invention. Any element that can be used on a Web page is a potential element for customization by a user on a Webspot. 8010. The author begins decoration by assigning a Title to the Webspot ("Title" field in 201.) This is used by the author and the visitors to distinguish between multiple Webspots that they might have occasion to access. The further presentation of decoration choices to the user is a matter of user interface design and can easily be accomplished by anyone skilled in the art. The amount of control given to the user during the decoration is a tradeoff between providing a rich decoration capability, and complexity of the decoration process. For example table 204 of Fig. 2 permits the user to set the position and dimensions of a graphical image on the Webspot. This can be done by clicking on the screen with the mouse, and dragging the mouse to the opposite corner of a rectangle, thus indicating both the location and size of the image. In an alternative embodiment, the user selects from a fixed number of positions and sizes for images on the Webspot, by simply clicking on the one of several fixed-size frames with the computer's mouse. These examples show that a wide variety of user interfaces are supported by this invention, and easily implemented by anyone skilled in the art. The fields in the tables in Fig. 2 are likewise suggestive, and are sufficient to enable the implementer to build this invention; however they are not an exhaustive list of all possible fields. For example table 210 of Fig. 2 shows fields for whether a sound or musical piece should start automatically ("AutoStart"), and how often it should play ("LoopCount"). Table 210 could also include a field for volume, and even fields for the relative volume of various frequencies (thus enabling the implementation of a virtual audio equalizer); however these extensions are not a requirement of the design, though they are supported by it. A similar statement could be made concerning font characteristics, which for brevity have been omitted from the Fig. 2 tables. Thus the various fields in the tables in Fig. 2 are merely suggestive of the sorts of customization parameters that can be exposed to the user, and support a basic implementation, but are not meant to be an exhaustive list. 8011. The user can also be given the ability to upload his or her own multi -media content to the decorating website from his or her computer or mobile device. A new record is created to refer to the uploaded item in the table corresponding to the type of item uploaded. If an item has been uploaded, the "UserlD" field in tables 203, 205, 211, and 212 holds the UserlD of the user who uploaded the item. This field enables one skilled in the art to display to the user a list of the items only that user has uploaded, so they can be selected for decoration, while those uploaded for other users can be kept private. 8012. When an item is selected for decorating a Webspot, a database record is created to record that intent. These records are created in the tables 204, 206, 208, 210, and 213. They include the WebSpotID of the Webspot being decorated, and the ID of the item being used to decorate the Webspot, namely the BackgroundID, ImagelD, TextPagelD, SoundID, or MovielD, respectively. They may also include additional information, as mentioned in paragraph 8010 such as the size and position of a graphical item on the Webspot. All these database records reflecting the decoration of the Webspot are recorded in step 109 of Fig. 1. The user may also elect to remove or replace various elements of the decoration, which changes are easily reflected in the database of Fig. 2 by anyone skilled in the art. 8013. In step 110 of Fig. 1 the user is given the opportunity to create visitor credentials for anyone the user wants to be able to visit the Webspot. As noted previously the user may wish to remain the only visitor to the Webspot, as in an application in which the user is writing a private diary. The user may wish to grant a single person read-only access to the Webspot, for example if the chosen application is to apply the Webspot as a Valentine. The user may wish to have one other person participate in a dialog, as in the Pen Pals application, in which case the visitor will need to be allowed to write text in response to letters received. The user may wish to grant a large group of people read-only access, as in the case of acknowledging the outstanding performance of a team. Visitor credentials created in this fashion are recorded in the database in tables 202 and 209, along with the permissions each visitor is granted. When a visitor is created by a user in this fashion the creator's UserlD is recorded in table 202; a subsequent attempt to grant access to the same visitor to another Webspot will be verified against this information, preventing another user from choosing the same visitor's name while permitting the original user to re-use the name should that be desirable. 8014. Upon subsequent visits to the Webspot, further decorations may take place, depending on the application. These are recorded in the database of Fig. 2 just as the original decorations were recorded. 8015. Sufficient information is now available in the database to permit the user to print certificates that can be distributed to prospective visitors to the Webspot, step 112 of Fig. 1. In the preferred embodiment each application has a dedicated website through which the Webspots of that application are accessed. There are several important advantages that accrue to this embodiment. First the dedicated website can be tailored artistically to support the application. For example an application that reserves the visitor a spot in Heaven can show an artist's impression of the Gates to Heaven, and play music appropriate to the moment. Upon presentation of their visitor credentials at the gates, the visitor is granted access to the Webspot that has been created for them. Having a dedicated website for each application also keep the visitor clear of the marketing effort surrounding Webspot creation that, perforce, saturates the user experience at the central website where Webspots are acquired and decorated. Though they may be interested in purchasing a Webspot of their own some day, a visitor to a spot in Heaven does not want to be inundated with advertising along the golden pathway. In addition to providing a richer, highly focused visitor experience, employing a dedicated website as a port of entry to an application of Webspots permits that portal website to be registered separately with Internet search engines. Approximately 85% of all website traffic originates with search engines. Since Webspot applications vary widely in purpose, the ability to register them individually with search engines is an important consideration in the marketing of Webspot applications. As a result of these considerations, in the preferred embodiment the certificate printed by the user in step 112 of Fig. 1 directs the visitor to the portal website for the Webspot application, and includes the visitor's credentials for access to the Webspot. 8016. A visitor wishing access to a Webspot therefore starts at the portal website for the Webspot application. Fig. 3 shows a flowchart depicting the second part of the process provided by this invention: visiting a fully adaptive Web page formatted to the wishes of its author. The visitor makes a request on the Internet to visit the portal website 300. The server where the portal website resides first requests the visitor to provide the visitor name and password created by the original user in step 110 of Fig. 1. In the preferred embodiment the author can also visit the Webspot at the portal, presenting his or her user name and password as visitor credentials. The visitor's local computer sends the visitor credentials across the Internet to the portal website server. The portal website server verifies these with the database server connected in the preferred embodiment via a local intranet, step 301. In an alternative embodiment the website server and the database server are the same computer system; this is a choice determined by system performance and cost considerations and otherwise has no impact on the facilities afforded by this invention. If the visitor credentials are not valid the visitor is asked to try again to present valid credentials 302. 8017. Having verified the visitor credentials, the portal website server 303 retrieves a list of the Webspots of this application that this visitor is capable of accessing from table 209 joined with table 201. If there is only one such Webspot, that Webspot's decoration information can be retrieved from the database forthwith in step 305. Otherwise the visitor is presented with a choice of Webspots to visit in step 304, distinguished by the Webspot Title assigned by the author during decoration. When a Webspot is selected, then the selected Webspot's decoration information can be retrieved from the database in step 305. 8018.. Once the information to format the fully adaptive Web page has been retrieved from the database, the Web page can be modified to match the decoration desired. Figs. 4 and 5 depict the particulars of this process. 8019. The history of the Internet in recent years is one of increasing flexibility in the display of content with Web pages. Initially Web pages written in HTML were static, and the information displayed could not be modified without replacing the Web page on the server. This inflexible approach was initially supplanted by Dynamic HTML (DHTML), which uses script software in JavaScript or Visual Basic that executes on the user's personal computer to dynamically alter the HTML code before it is displayed to the user. More recently DHTML has been supplanted by Active Server Pages (ASP). ASP software operates at the server to modify the contents of the HTML page before it is presented to the script code on the visitor's computer. For the purposes of this invention the advantage of ASP over older technologies is the ready access to the database on the same server or a nearby server, since accessing a server database from a script running on the client computer is very involved. While it is possible to implement this invention in DHTML, it is much more convenient to do so using the newer technology of ASP. 8020. Even within ASP there is a wide degree of latitude in the implementation of this invention. In order to focus on the contribution of this invention rather than a myriad of alternative implementation details, our illustrations rely on the .NET Framework programming environment manufactured by Microsoft Corporation. The sample code presented in Figs. 4 and 5, and based on the .NET Framework, therefore represents the most modern and simplest approach to the implementation of this invention: as will be seen it is not the only approach, but any skilled in the art will quickly understand the various tradeoffs between implementation alternatives, and would employ all the available technologies to best advantage in a given implementation. 8021. Fig. 3 shows an ASPX template page that is devoid of any initial content. It is a clear descendent of traditional HTML for Web page development. This simple template contains only one TABLE at 406, one IMAGE at 408, and one LABEL at 409. A real implementation would be likely to include additional elements, but Fig. 3 has enough structure to enable anyone skilled in the art to construct a fully functional implementation. 8022. While the simplified Web page template of Fig. 4 contains no explicit formatting content, the definition of HTML always includes some default decoration decisions. For example the default background of the page described by the code in Fig. 4 is white. Any text displayed will by default appear in black. There is a host of other default behaviors attached to the various HTML elements. In addition to these defaults, the implementer of this invention could establish additional defaults. For example a Christmas card application might by default contain a title of "Merry Christmas", whereas a Hanukah card application's title might default to "Happy Hanukah". Providing such defaults can make the user's job of decorating the Webspot easier and quicker. The selection of what defaults to provide for the various applications is therefore a design decision left to the implementer. The contribution of this invention is that it permits the implementer to override any default HTML behavior, and permits the implementer to pass this capability on to the end-user. 8023. IMAGE at 408 has just a few attributes. "runat=server" tells the compiling software to make this ASP element visible to code at the server. "ID='image01"' gives a unique name to the IMAGE that will be accessible to code executing on the server. "VISIBLE^false" tells the visitor's web browser not to display this element on the client's computer. The LABEL at 409 has a similar attribute, with the result that the TABLE at 406 has nothing to display as yet. The subsequent lines in Fig. 4 contain HTML syntax required to define the end of each HTML element. 8024. In line 400 of Fig. 4 is the code that ties this ASPX page to the code that runs on the server before this Web page is presented to the user. The "CodeBehind" phrase gives the name of the file that will execute on the server. The "Language" attribute describes the software language in which the CodeBehind software is written, in this case C# (pronounced "C-Sharp"), the successor to C++. The "Inherits" phrase places the unique names (ID's) of the elements on this ASPX page into the namespace "SpecialWebSpots.WebSpots" for access by the CodeBehind file when it executes on the server. 8025. A fragment of the CodeBehind file WebSpot.aspx.es is shown in Fig. 5. For brevity only enough code is shown to illustrate the process of formatting the Webspot; additional formatting would be implemented in a fashion analogous to the one illustrated in Fig. 5 by one skilled in the art. In Fig. 5 those parts in italics indicate keywords or syntax determined by C# and the .NET Framework, with the remaining words supplied by the implementer of this invention. Line 500 of Fig. 5 declares use of an external namespace called "DataBase". This namespace provides methods to access the database to retrieve information about the WebSpot in a manner well known in the art. Line 501 declares the start of a procedure that will format the Webspot using the code entered within it. Line 502 declares an integer called "webSpotID" and retrieves its value from the Session state. The Session state is a .NET Framework service that stores information relevant to the current login session, and is one of several alternatives for storing session state. In this case the WebSpotID of the Webspot the visitor wants to access, which was determined above in paragraph 8017, was at that time placed into the Session state using the key "WebSpotID". Line 502 simply retrieves the number for use in the subsequent lines of code. 8026. Line 503 declares a new variable of the class "DataBaseAccess". This is a class in the namespace DataBase that provides procedures for retrieving information from the Webspot database. Line 504 declares a new string of characters called "backgroundFileName" and initializes this string with data from the database. The call to "DataBaseAcess.GetWebSpotBackground" takes as input the "webSpotID" number, and returns the name of the file that holds the background image that the user selected to decorate this Webspot. In line 505 the ASPX attribute "BacklmageUrl" of element "tblWebSpot", declared in line 406 of Fig. 4, is assigned the name of the background image just retrieved from the database. This has the effect of decorating the background of the Webspot. Notice by looking at line 406 that the font attributes for the page could also be set at this point, although doing so has been omitted for brevity. 8027. In line 506 the number of images the user has placed on this Webspot is retrieved. This is used to control the loop in line 507, which is executed once for each image the user selected to decorate the Webspot. The code from 508 through 515 locates an unused image on the page, such as the one declared in line 408 of Fig. 4, and assigns it the filename, size and position of the image selected by the user during the decoration phase. (The width of an image determines its height when the aspect ratio is kept constant; therefore specifying the width on line 515 also determines the height of an undistorted image.) On line 516 the "VISIBLE" attribute of the image is set to true, thus reversing the initial state set on line 408, and rendering the image visible on the Webspot. 8028. Other elements of the Webspot, such as text, sounds, music, and movies would all be formatted with code similar to the code of Fig. 5, as will be readily apparent to any skilled in the art. In addition user input elements such as buttons, checkboxes, and textboxes could likewise be formatted and displayed according to the information previously recorded in the database. While most of these elements have extensions that permit them to be run at the server, for completeness it is important to note that not all HTML elements can be modified by the simple technique exposed in Figs. 4 & 5. For HTML elements which cannot be readily exposed to server code in this fashion, there is a slightly more cumbersome alternative which accomplishes a much more general result. 8029. For example the EMBED element of HTML is one of many that cannot be exposed to server code in the .NET Framework. EMBED is an HTML element needed by some older but still widely used Web browsers to play music in the background. Fig. 6 shows how code running in the same CodeBehind module as Fig. 5 can emit an entire HTML element such as EMBED by using the Write method of the .NET Framework Response object. 8030. The C# code of Fig. 6 can be thought of starting at or beyond line 521 of Fig. 5. In the first line 600 of Fig. 6 we obtain the name of the file containing the music the author has selected from the database, much as we obtained the background file name in 504. In line 601 we declare the first part of the EMBED HTML element. In line 602 we declare the third part of the EMBED element. In line 603 we concatenate the first and third parts of the EMBED element with the musicFileName in the middle, forming a complete, traditional line of HTML code that is written into the Web page being sent to the visitor. 8031. Although for clarity in Fig. 6 we have modified only the SRC attribute of the EMBED element, it will be obvious to any skilled in the art that the other attributes of EMBED could just as easily have been modified by information from the database. In this fashion not only can each attribute of the element be controlled by the information in the database, each and every element on the HTML page can be emitted, even if they do not have any server exposure through the .NET Framework's runat=server convention. Any skilled in the art will understand from this observation that this method, though less elegant than the method illustrated in Fig. 5, is fully general, and permits a completely adaptive Web page to be constructed even in those cases where server exposure is normally absent in the current art.

Claims

9000. Claims 9001. We claim: 1. A process and apparatus that permit a single page of the Internet to be shared among a multiplicity of users, this invention incorporating specifically: an adaptive Internet page template, the entire appearance and behavior of which Internet page template can be determined at the time the page is visited; and a database for recording information relevant to the appearance and behavior of said Internet page; and a process for permitting users to specify the appearance and behavior of said Internet page; and, a process for visiting said Internet page. 9020. 2. The invention of claim 1 wherein the application of the Internet page is selected by a user from a list of possible applications; and wherein the information concerning the application of the Internet page and the user who has chosen it are stored in a database to control subsequent retrieval and display of the Internet page. 9021. 3. The invention of claim 2 wherein the Internet page to be decorated may be grouped with other pages of the same application already decorated by the same user for display and management as a group, all of which said decorated pages are displayed through the same Internet page template. 9022. 4. The invention of claim 2 wherein the visual and audio characteristics of the Internet page are selected from a list of possible characteristics by the end-user; and wherein this information concerning the audio and visual content of the Internet page are stored in a database to control and shape subsequent retrieval and display of the Internet page; and wherein the amount of textual, audio, and graphical information that can be accessed via the Internet page is in any instance limited only by the physical storage and software capabilities of the database. 9023. 5. The invention of claim 4 wherein the end-user can establish a list of visitor credentials which permit one or more other end-users to visit the Internet page; and wherein these visitor credentials for the Internet page are stored in a database to control subsequent access to and display of the Internet page for these visitors.

9024. 6. The invention of claim 5 wherein the initial end-user and visiting end- users can continue to modify the appearance of the Internet page; and wherein all such continuing modifications are stored in a database to control subsequent retrieval and display of the Internet page for all visitors. 9025. 7. The invention of claim 5 wherein a special Internet website is provided for access to a particular application of the Internet page, said Website being tailored specifically to the intended application of the Internet page, and registered as such with Internet search engines. 9026. 8. The invention of claim 7 wherein the initial end-user can print a certificate for a visitor to the Internet page, said certificate stating: the application to which the Internet page is confined in this instance; and the visitor's credentials for accessing the Internet page; and the URI of the special Internet website for gaining access to Internet pages with said application.