DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

[0089] Aspects of the inventive system, system architecture, and method are now described so that the security features which may advantageously be used with such system, system architecture, and method will be more readily understood. It will be apparent to those workers having ordinary skill in the art in conjunction with the description provided herein, that the inventive security apparatus, data structures, instructions, codes, methods and other aspects may be utilized with StoryMail™ type features as well as with other non-StoryMail systems and methods. Exemplary system architectures and methods are therefore described first, followed by a more detailed description of other security features of the invention. Other aspects of the invention are described in the related applications which are hereby incorporated by reference. While the term storymail or StoryMail may be used to conveniently describe certain types of structures, files, or operations, it will be appreciated that structures, files, or operations that do not formally or exactly satisfy the Storymail criteria but that provide Storymail-like or would otherwise operate with the inventive element may also or alternatively be used.

[0090] Exemplary System Architecture and Method Embodiments

[0091] We first provide a top-level description of some of the key technology components of the invention called a story or other content and systems and methods for authoring, communicating, securing, and rendering such content, along with a description of some of the advantages provided by stories. This description is then followed by several sections that describe the manner in which certain functional and procedural capabilities and/or advantages are achieved in the inventive system. Section headers when provided are provided merely as a convenience to the reader as a guide to portions of the description addressing certain aspects of the invention; however, it will be appreciated that various aspects of the invention are described throughout the description and certain aspects are best described in several portions of the description rather than in a single portion to that relationships may be better understood. Therefore, the description should be considered as a whole with respect to the characteristics or attributes of any structure, system, device, method, procedure, computer program, or other aspect of the invention.

[0092] For purposes of an initial working definition and in somewhat simplified terms, a story as the term is used in this description generally refers to a single, author once, play everywhere file or data/command structure that is interactive either on-line or off-line and that can be used to distribute rich multimedia messages or other rich-media content to all e-mail enabled clients. (More complete as well as alternative definitions of “stories” are described elsewhere in the detailed description.) Next, aspects of an exemplary system to generate, transfer and play stories, according to one embodiment of the present invention, are described. Once this top level description has been provided, the detailed operation of the respective business or operating models and methods of the invention will be described and more readily understood.

[0093] The term e-mail is used here because it represents a form of electronic communication that is known in the art, but it will be appreciated that the inventive system, method, software, business and operating model pertain to much more than what is normally envisioned for conventional e-mail systems and methodologies. The inventive e-mail enhancement, extension, or replacement contemplates some generalized electronic content that is directed to one, a plurality, or a multitude of recipients.

[0094] Recall that in greatly simplified terms, a story is a single, author once, play everywhere file or data/command structure that is interactive either on-line or off-line that can be used to distribute rich multimedia messages or other rich-media content to all e-mail enabled clients. Stories can be used to distribute and coordinate e-commerce transactions, order fulfillment, meeting scheduling, advertisements, catalog item descriptions, customized catalogs and brochures, holiday greeting cards, electronic storybooks, driving directions, vacation slide and picture shows, surveys, real-estate walk thru, medical care pamphlets, pharmaceutical information pamphlets, recipes, business presentations, party invitations, instructional manuals, entertainment, and numerous other applications, particularly where the message consists of more than merely a text or symbolic message. Several of such exemplary applications include, for example, surveys, forms, contracts.

[0095] Story content creation is advantageously automated and dynamically adaptive, because a story is optimized over a plurality of variables to selectively communicate elements of an e-mail message to e-mail client devices and users. Such variables include, for example, client device hardware capabilities, network connection characteristics and user preferences. This is accomplished from a standpoint, for example, of CPU speed, display type, screen size, the existence of and or attributes of audio and/or video capabilities, data scalability, language, use of or not use of audio or visual content, nominal speed or bandwidth of all of the communication links and protocols, and the like.

[0096] In preferred though not all embodiments, a final story is not generated until substantially all such relevant e-mail client information is determined during the time of connection of the client device. In a sense, the system and procedure of the present invention is contrary to other prevailing trends (which attempt to pre-form content so that is available as early as possible) in that StoryMail actually delays composition of the final message until it is ready to be received. For example, if it is determined that an e-mail client cannot view motion video but can display text and play audio, the story will be generated such that it does not include motion video, but rather textual and/or audio elements that communicate the intent of the e-mail publisher within the capabilities of the e-mail client.

[0097] In yet another example, even though a client device may be capable of receiving and rendering a very rich message, if the then prevailing communication channel is only supporting low-speed or low-bandwidth communication, a story is generated such that the richness of the message is reduced so that the message is optimized for the attributes of the client device and the user preferences at that moment in time.

[0098] Sometimes, the message may be optimized or nearly optimized to be received within any time constraints that may be imposed, however, unlike systems and methods that must satisfy real-time or near real time constraints, the story need not provide real-time delivery, as it is intended to be a messaging and communication system, method, and operating model, rather than a real-time rich-media broadcast or streaming system. In this regard, a story is a fully aware e-mail message that is optimized to substantially deliver the intent of an e-mail publisher across the broad range of all e-mail client architectures.

[0099] A story may further be optimized to comply with a predefined set of user defined preferences, making each story beneficially configurable for physically challenged individuals. This is because for every logical element (either text, sound, images, video, or the like logical elements) there is an underlying textual description of that logical element. In addition, there are contextual logical elements included as may be needed to insure that the intent of the message may be easily understood in text or audio only representations. An example of such contextual logical element would be a text element that provides an overview of what is on the screen to be rendered as text or audio in cases where some or all of the screen's visual elements can not be seen by the recipient on the receiving device.

[0100] In a preferred embodiment, all logical elements have corresponding semantic information so that it can be known or determined which elements to use under varying circumstances. For example, the aforementioned contextual logical text element would have associated semantic flags packaged with it inside a story indicating that the element contains text providing an overview of the elements displayed on a screen for use when it is known that the recipient cannot view the screen. Such a case might be when a story player application is used to render and control a rich media message for someone whose only means of communication to the rich media message playing application is over a voice only telephone connection. In other embodiments, an audio representation, either recorded or generated by a text to speech engine may provide audio information backup—contextual information, or semantic information rather than text. In this manner an individual can read text and the text can automatically be articulated for a blind individual.

[0101] In one embodiment, the inventive system, method, and operating model are designed to interface with a peripheral device that generates a Braille or other tactilely sensible indicia corresponding to the story. This peripheral device may either be linked to a conventional client device, such as a computer, or integrated within the device. Using semantics, there is always an alternative sensory presentation mode.

[0102] Stories are self contained and lightweight, meaning that stories have relatively small memory and processor requirements and can be played on client devices the types and sophistication of which are virtually unlimited. A story is self contained because in at least one embodiment, a story is actually a single file that is made up of a number of component logical files. Each component file encapsulates, for example, one or more of computer program instructions, control information, user input forms, validation procedures, and/or multimedia content. Each component logical file is respectively compressed and all of the component logical files are combined, packaged, compressed again to generate the single story file.

[0103] A story is lightweight not only because when it is executed, or played, a story's contents are selectively and sequentially decompressed. But also because a story only includes those elements that are optimized and compatible with the e-mail client's hardware capabilities and network connection characteristics, making stories lightweight (thin) enough to run on inexpensive information appliances or other devices. In fact one of the great advantages of the StoryMail system is its ability to support the hardware capabilities and network connection characteristics of virtually any client device. In fact, a story can even be played on a client device that is not multimedia enabled because a story always has a set of text that describes, or narrates any non-textual element of the story. The story also contains semantic flags indicating the circumstances under which to render all text or non-textual elements.

[0104] A story according to embodiments of the invention is reliable because it is played in a novel run-time environment, wherein, unlike an HTML Web page where there may be links to other servers to provide further information, a story is a self-contained unit. The novel run-time environment is largely deterministic because of the self contained cooperative multitasking system employed in the playback engine and the explicit input buffer coding instructions with fixed size memory buffers. So if it runs correctly one time on one device it will almost certainly run correctly most of the time on all devices.

[0105] A run-time environment such as this is more reliable than, for example a pre-emptive multitasking system using the device's threading mechanism, or an architecture which allows for variable size buffering. Also in story messaging all content is present on the target device before the story is run. So unreliable connections to other devices or content on a network are unnecessary and part of a story cannot be missing since they are packaged together in a single logical file.

[0106] Because a story is self contained and reliable, creation of story content can be completely automated, devices made today will be able to handle future content without upgrades. This provides for intelligent content specific scaling and compression, it is easily stored and exchanged between e-mail clients as a single file, for example, that can be: embedded in a Web page, embedded in an e-mail attachment, stored in ROM, streamed from a server, run as a MIME type, run as an ActiveX component, run as a plug-in, and/or run as an ActiveX component.

[0107] Most story enabled devices will run or play a story in a window, or in a non-windowed operating environment such as occur on in basic or thin client devices, on a display device screen. Such devices include, for example, a desktop computer, notebook computer, personal data assistant (PDAs), telephone, set-top box, movie marquee, informational kiosk, Internet e-mail appliances, billboard, microwave oven, point-of-sale displays, gasoline pump, vending machine, instructional appliance, automobile display device, global positioning system (GPS), point-of-sale display, and myriad of other device types are supported. In fact, a story can even be played on a client device that is not multimedia enabled because preferred embodiments of the inventive story always have a set of text that describes, or narrates any non-textual element of the story, along with semantic information describing the role of each logical element. In one embodiment, a device may play a story entirely with voice commands and automatically articulated responses.

[0108] It is noted that although applicant describes embodiments of the inventive structure, method, computer program, operating model, and structure and organization of content used in or in conjunction with other aspects of the invention, the underlying inventive concept and indeed many embodiments of the invention do not require all features described here. Many such structures and procedures though advantageous and desirable are optional. Including text behind each logical element of the story is a preferred embodiment. Therefore, with respect to the structure and content of a story described here, it should be understood for example, that not all stories must contain underlying text behind each logical element of the story.

[0109] These optimizations make a story very flexible, scalable, and powerful. Unlike some conventional systems and methods, a story maintains a focus on the intent of the message and preserves that message intent in spite of its ability to selectively communicate elements to client devices and users.

[0110] For example, in conventional video streaming systems the primary goal has been to maintain real-time transmission of the video stream and to relax quality to the point where almost all picture quality has been lost if necessary to maintain continuous operation. For an advertiser promoting a high-end product, such as example a diamond ring, it is very important to maintain the quality and clarity of the product image. If the transmitted image(s) of the diamond ring make the ring appear undesirable, the entire purpose for the advertisement is lost. Therefore, attempts should be made to customize composition of the message so that where possible the bright high-resolution image of the diamond ring is presented to the receiver, and if such presentation is not possible then to provide an alternative possibly textual description of the ring which creates the same desire to own product as the bright clear image would. This particular example really illustrates the notion of selecting or substituting content to maintain the intent all of the StoryMail™ message independent of the device hardware capabilities or network connection characteristics and even to some extent independently of user preferences.

[0111] The inventive structure and method may be applied to on-line auctions as well and provide significant benefits here. For example, a story message provides rich product descriptions complete with BID forms; bid limit exceed notifications providing a bidder a chance to upgrade a bid from a form embedded in the message without requiring the bidder to go to the action web site; and, bid accepted notification with transaction completion automation.

[0112] Traditionally, on-line auctions require composing a product description that may not scale up and down depending on the device. Traditional on-line auctions typically require repeated visits the site to determine if a bid is accepted. Furthermore, traditional on-line auctions generally require further visits to a Web site or the placement of a phone call to complete a transaction.

[0113] It can be appreciated that stories can be used at point of sale to provide looping demonstrations and/or advertisements of a product. For example, a story can be embedded in read-only-memory (ROM) of microwaves, stereos, set top boxes, and the like. Playback of such a story can be in the store that displays the story 180 enabled product for sale. The manner in which the story is played back may be modified by each viewer according to view preferences. For example the underlying content may have English, French, Spanish, and Russian audio and text content that may be selected by the viewer. Such input may be buttons on the playback device, a touch screen device, voice input, or other input devices as are known in the art. Additionally, story enabled devices, for example, soda machines, can be implemented to play media rich advertisement stories that can be updated using only a phone line to upload a different story. The content of such story may be communicated, for example overnight to a large variety of different device types, yet will be playable by all such device types.

[0114] There are other exemplary applications for stories, for example, stories can also be used for meeting scheduling, advertising, catalog item descriptions, holiday greeting cards, electronic storybooks, driving directions, vacation slide and picture shows, surveys, real-estate walk throughs, medical care pamphlets, pharmaceutical information pamphlets, cooking or production recipes, business presentations, instructional manuals, entertainment, and numerous other applications where the message consists of more than merely the text message.

[0115] We now describe aspects of an inventive next generation e-mail system that is used to generate, distribute, and play stories. In one embodiment, a story that is sent as a message from a server to a client device is called StoryMail. Referring to FIG. 1 , there is a block diagram that illustrates aspects of an exemplary embodiment of a StoryMail system 300 . StoryMail System 300 (also referred to simply as system 300 ) is a distributed client/server system with server peering.

[0116] Sender/publisher 310 is connected across I/O interface 312 to user interface 314 . Sender/publisher 310 , for example, can be a general-purpose computer, provides at least a subset of the information and content used to generate and transmit a story to sending story server 302 . In other words, parts of a story may reside on any server anywhere or computer that can be addressed, that is connected to network 306 . In this case, sender/publisher 310 provides links, for example, a Uniform Reserve Locator (URL) address of the document or other resource to be included in the story. Sender/publisher 310 includes a number of components which are described in greater detail below in reference to FIG. 2 .

[0117] I/O interface 312 can be any type of I/O interface, for example, a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus interface, a SCSI interface, or the like. Sender/publisher 310 is also connected across I/O interface 308 to network 306 . As an alternative to 312 , I/O interfaces 308 and 309 can be used if information is passed through network 306 . I/O interfaces 308 and 309 can be any type of I/O interface, for example, a modem connected to a public telephone network, a leased line, or a wireless radio wave or optical interface. Network 306 , for example, can be a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN).

[0118] Network 306 is connected across I/O interface 304 to sending story server 302 . Sending story server 302 , for example, is a general-purpose computer or device for generating and transmitting stories to client devices, such as conventional e-mail server 332 , story enabled client 336 , conventional e-mail client 340 , and story enabled device 344 . A greater detailed description including aspects of an exemplary embodiment of sending story server 302 is provided below in reference to FIG. 4 . I/O interfaces 304 , 308 , 309 , 324 , 326 , 330 , 334 , 338 , and 342 can be any type of I/O interface, for example, a modem connected to a public telephone network, a leased line, or a wireless radio wave interface.

[0119] In one embodiment, the system of the invention includes receiving story server 328 , for example, is a general-purpose computer or device for transmitting stories to client devices, such as those client devices listed above. One difference between receiving story server 328 and sending story server 302 , for example, is that sending story server 302 is able to generate stories and distribute stories, whereas receiving story server 328 is not able to generate stories but is able to distribute already generated stories. Receiving story server 328 is beneficial because it may contain functionality which can be used to eliminate the need for providing that same functionality in story enabled clients 336 and story enabled devices 344 . This is advantageous because the computation and/or memory capacity of such devices is normally more limited than that of the servers 328 . In addition, since there are likely to be many more story enabled clients 336 and story enabled devices 344 , the implementation costs are lower if the functionality is contained on the servers 328 rather than on the story enabled clients 336 and story enabled devices 344 . Examples of such functionality include proxy server functions, placing stories into in-boxes, and security features such as decryption, authentication and digital signature verification.

[0120] In one embodiment, network 306 is connected to conventional e-mail server 332 which is a traditional e-mail server used by a number of machines connected to network 306 to distribute and collect e-mail messages. Procedures for a machine to distribute and collect e-mail messages are known in the art. Conventional e-mail server 332 provides story messages to both non-story enabled devices, for example, conventional e-mail client 340 , as well as story enabled clients and devices, for example, story enabled client 336 and story enabled device 344 . As will be described in greater detail below, the presence of conventional e-mail server 332 is not necessary for story enabled client 336 or story enabled device 344 to receive stories. However, the presence of conventional e-mail server 332 is necessary for conventional e-mail client 340 to receive a story enabled message. In one embodiment, a story enabled message will not include a story, but rather includes information indicating that a richer message, or story underlies the story enabled message. This embodiment is described in greater detail below in reference to FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 .

[0121] Story enabled client 336 includes, for example, computer program applications and data for playing a story received from a story server, for example, sending story server 302 and/or receiving story server 328 Story enabled client 336 is, for example, a general-purpose computer, a notebook computer, a personal digital assistant, a telephone, a set-top box, an Internet e-mail appliance, a movie marquee, an informational kiosk, a billboard, a gasoline pump, a vending machine, an instructional appliance, an automobile display device, a GPS system, a point-of-sale display, and the like. Story enabled client 336 starts life as a conventional email client 340 . It becomes story email client 336 when story enabling software is downloaded or installed from a network or direct connection to another device. Story device 344 has the story enabling software built in by the manufacturer.

[0122] Conventional e-mail client 340 is a typical e-mail client, for example, a general-purpose computer that is not able to execute, or play a story. However, conventional e-mail client 340 is able to receive e-mail messages that include information indicating that a richer content message, or story is behind the e-mail message. In one embodiment, besides including information that a story underlies the e-mail message, the e-mail also includes, for example, an e-mail message that delivers the publisher's 310 message in a traditional e-mail format. Such traditional e-mail formats include, for example, text, HTML and/or attachments. Such an embodiment is advantageous for a number of reasons. For example, while conventional e-mail client 340 will not be able to play a story without upgrading its computer program applications, it will still receive content that corresponds to publisher's 310 message or promotion. Additionally, the message can be forwarded to another e-mail client device, for example, story enabled client 336 , wherein the richer message will be available to the other client device.

[0123] In one embodiment, conventional e-mail client 340 upgrades its capabilities to enable it to play a story. In a situation where conventional e-mail client 340 upgrades its computer program applications to enable it to play a story, conventional e-mail client 340 would become a story enabled client 336 . In one embodiment, conventional e-mail client 340 can perform such upgrades, for example, by downloading a story player from a web site or an FTP site, or by loading a story player from a CD-ROM or diskette. In a preferred embodiment, conventional email client 340 upgrades by responding to a link provided in the email message, wherein the link points to a download image or site.

[0124] Story enabled device 344 is manufactured with story functionality built in. Such devices include networked household appliances, cell phones, smart cards, and pagers.

[0125] Each client device 336 , 340 , and 344 includes, for example, an e-mail program (not shown) that respectively receives and/or delivers e-mail respectively from/to one machine connected to network 306 from/to another machine connected to network 306 . To facilitate such reception and delivery, an email program utilizes Internet email protocols, for example, known POP3 or IMAP protocols. In one embodiment, such an e-mail program is a conventional e-mail program, such as Microsoft Outlook Express®. In another embodiment, the e-mail program is a special e-mail program designed specifically to receive and/or transmit stories to another client or device across network 306 .

[0126] Referring to FIG. 2 , there is a block diagram that illustrates aspects of an exemplary sender/publisher 310 , according to one embodiment of the present invention. Sender/publisher 310 includes processor 142 connected across local bus 144 to memory 146 . Processor 142 is used to execute computer program applications 148 and fetch data 150 from memory 146 . Local bus 144 can be any type of bus, for example a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus, as long as local bus 144 has a set of signal lines that can be used by processor 142 to transfer information respectively to and from memory 146 .

[0127] Data 150 includes, for example, database 152 representing any combinations of textual information, motion video, audio, forms, automation scripts, a story recipient list and any other message content, communication, or the like, that may be sent in an electronic format. A form can be any type of form or document, for example, a purchase order form, a registration or an application form. Typically a form provides an inquiry and provides some instructions for answering or responding to the inquiry. Database 152 is a standard database that can be created and managed using any of a number of conventional database tools.

[0128] In one embodiment, database 152 includes, for example, textual descriptions in more than one language of a number of products, digital or binary images of the products, motion videos to advertise and illustrate the products, product identification numbers, audio clips to advertise and describe the products, and/or recipient information, such as a list of e-mail addresses to which to send a story. Desirably, for every non-textual item of data in database 152 , a textual description of that item of data is available. For example, if database 152 includes a color photo of a particular toy, there will be a corresponding text description of that toy.

[0129] In a preferred embodiment, a digital or binary image can have a set of scaled and color depth versions of the binary image. For example, if database 152 includes a 300 dots per inch (dpi) 24-bit color binary image of the cover of a book, database 152 will also include a 1-bit black and white representation of the image, an 8-bit and 16-bit gray scale representation of the image, and various resolutions of each of the resolutions, such as 100 bit and 200 bit resolutions.

[0130] In a preferred embodiment, scaling of logical story elements can occur at three different times: (1) when generating the message; (2) when executing the procedural elements of the message; and, (3) while the message elements are being rendered by the hardware specific functions (e.g., the HAL functions) that connect a portable story playback engine to actual device specific hardware.

[0131] For example, in one preferred embodiment, sending story server (see FIG. 1 ) scales the story content when generating the message to conform to the story enabled clients' 336 hardware capabilities, network connection characteristics, and specified user preferences at the time that such information are determined (see FIG. 7 , step 228 ). In yet another preferred embodiment, story player 194 (see FIG. 5 ) scales the content of the story when the procedural elements of the story are executed, or played. For example, a digital image may be scaled from 300 dpi to 200 dpi while the digital image is being displayed. In yet another embodiment, story players 194 HAL may scale the story to fit into a particular display screen size and/or add scroll bars to the display so that an entire story can be viewed.

[0132] Document 154 is author once information created by using a number of structured document languages, for example, extensible markup language (XML), and Excel spreadsheet format, database records extracted with SQL, and the like. In a preferred embodiment, Document 154 is an XML document. Document 154 can be created in a number of different ways. For example, Document 154 can be created using any of a number of known XML Editors, Word processors, device drivers, and the like.

[0133] Referring to FIG. 3 , there is a block diagram that illustrates aspects of an exemplary Document 154 used by sending story server 302 (see FIG. 1 ) to generate a message/promotional story 180 , according to one embodiment of the invention. FIG. 3 uses a structured document syntax pseudocode that does not conform to any one particular structured document syntax, but is rather used only for purposes of illustrating the invention In a preferred embodiment, XML document 154 includes a tag that identifies a particular storyteller 172 (see FIG. 4 ) and a unique identifying attribute of the particular storyteller 172 .

[0134] The pseudocode describes a set of tags that each respectively in turn describes an element, wherein each tag is followed by an equals sign (“=”) and a corresponding textual description that defines some other property of the element. The property can be either an absolute description string, an embedded document, or a string that includes a URL and a document name. If a descriptive property is a URL and document name, the URL will be accessed and the identified document downloaded when document 154 is parsed by story server 302 (see FIG. 4 ) during one time processing of document 154 , as described in greater detail below in reference to FIG. 4 .

[0135] Line 400 includes a tag that identifies a “STORYTELLER ID” element, which is followed by an attribute of the element, “ecoupon 5”. “Ecoupon 5” identifies a unique storyteller 172 (see FIG. 4 ) in story server 302 (see FIG. 1 ). In this example, ecoupon 5 storyteller 172 will be used to generate a form and a user interface to be used by a sender/publisher 310 (see FIG. 1 ) to generate and distribute one or more ecoupon stories 180 (see FIG. 4 ) to distribute to one or more customers as dictated by sender/publisher 310 (see FIG. 1 ). Storytellers 172 are described in greater detail below in reference to FIG. 4 .

[0136] Line 402 includes a tag that identifies a “PRODUCT VIDEO” element, which is followed by an attribute of the element that identifies a particular MPEG motion video, “BOOKRETAILER.COM\PROMO24\ISBN12980.MPG” that is to be distributed in a story 180 (see FIG. 4 ). In this example, the motion video is identified by a URL link to the author's database 152 (see FIG. 2 ) and a corresponding motion video document.

[0137] Lines 404 and 406 include tags that identify respective product picture elements, wherein each respective tag identifies a specific binary image (or other digital image or graphic) that has a respective different pixel resolution. For example, line 404 includes a tag that identifies a “PRODUCT PICTURE 100DPI” element, which is followed by an attribute of the element that identifies a 100 dpi binary image, such as the JPEG image “BOOKRETAILER.COM\PROMO24\ISBNL2980 100DPI.JPG”. Whereas, line 406 includes a tag that identifies a “PRODUCT PICTURE 200DPI” element, which is followed by an attribute of the element that identifies a 200 dpi binary image, such as the JPEG image “BOOKRETAILER.COM\PROMO24\ISBNI2980 200DPI.JPG”. Both binary image files are identified by respective URL links to the author's database 152 (see FIG. 2 ) and a corresponding JPEG document.

[0138] Lines 408 and 410 include tags that identify respective audio file elements, wherein each respective tag identifies a specific audio file that is implemented in a different language. In particular, line 408 includes a tag that identifies a “PRODUCT AUDIO ENGLISH” element, which is followed by an attribute of the element that identifies an audio file that is implemented in English (“BOOKRETAILER.COM\PROMO24\ISBNL2980 ENG.WAV”). Whereas, line 410 includes a tag that identifies a “PRODUCT AUDIO SPANISH” element, which is followed by an attribute of the element that identifies an audio file that is implemented in Spanish (“BOOKRETAILER.COM\PROMO24\ISBNL2980 SPAN.WAV”). Both audio files are identified by respective URL links to the author's database 152 (see FIG. 2 ) and a corresponding WAV document. These tags are merely illustrative and not exhaustive of the type of tags, file elements, and/or identifiers that may be used.

[0139] Lines 412 through 418 include tags that identify respective text file elements, wherein each respective tag identifies a specific text file with analogous intent written in a different language. In particular, line 412 includes a tag that identifies a “PRODUCT TEXT ENGLISH” element, which is followed by an attribute of the element that identifies an ASCII text file that is implemented in English (“BOOKRETAILER COM\PROMO24\ISBNL2980 ENG.TXT”). Whereas, line 414 includes a tag that identifies a “PRODUCT TEXT MANDARIN” element, which is followed by an attribute of the element that identifies a unicode text file that is written in Mandarin (“BOOKRETAILER.COM\PROMO24\ISBNL2980 MANDARIN.UNI”) and the like. Each text file of these examples is identified by respective URL links to the authors database 152 and a corresponding text or unicode document.

[0140] Line 420 includes a tag that identifies a respective “PRODUCT SKU” (stocking unit) number element, which is followed by an attribute of the element, in particular an absolute value that identifies the promotion's targeted product's SKU. Line 422 includes a tag that identifies a respective “FULFILLMENT SERVER URL” element, which is followed by an attribute of the element, in particular a URL for the promotion's fulfillment server. A procedure for using such a fulfillment server is described in greater detail below in reference to FIG. 7 .

[0141] Lines 424 - 428 includes tags that identify story 180 (see FIG. 4 ) recipient or customer information. For example, Line 424 includes a tag that identifies a “FIRST NAME” element, which is followed by an attribute of the element, in particular, the name “DAVE”. Line 426 includes a tag that identifies an “EMAIL ADDRESS” element, which is followed by an attribute of the element, in particular an e-mail address, such as for example to “someone @ somewhere . com” that identifies the recipient's e-mail address, and the like.

[0142] Line 430 includes a tag that identifies a respective “MASTERDATABASE ID” that is used by sending story server 302 (see FIG. 1 ) to identify those portions of a master parts database to use for a particular message/promotion. In one embodiment of the invention, sending story server 302 returns the message/promotion ID 430 to sender/publisher 310 (see FIG. 1 ), such that the message/promotion ID 430 is unique to any other message/promotion IDs in a master parts database. Such a message/promotion ID can be used by publisher 310 to modify and/or delete the information that corresponds to a message/promotion in a corresponding master parts database. Such a master parts database is described in greater detail below in reference to FIG. 4 . In one embodiment, such a message/promotion ID is used by publisher 310 to send a corresponding message/promotion to recipients in batches, each batch job referencing the message/promotion ID.

[0143] It can be appreciated that document 154 can include any number of user defined elements and respective attributes of such defined elements. As will be discussed in greater detail below, recipient information, for example, that information illustrated in lines 424 - 428 , can be supplied to sending story server 302 (see FIG. 1 and FIG. 4 ) at any time through a number of different mechanisms.

[0144] In a preferred embodiment, for at least a subset of the non-textual data in Document 154 , a textual description of that non-textual data is identified in Document 154 . In yet another embodiment, for every textual description, there is a corresponding text description identified in more than one language, for example, English and Spanish text descriptions. In yet another embodiment, if Document 154 identifies an audio file in a particular language, Document 154 also identifies other audio files that have analogous content to the audio file in different languages. It may also provide a textual transcription and/or a summary of the audio files for presentation when the receiving device does not provide audio playback or the recipient chooses not to receive the content in an audio format. In yet another embodiment, if document 154 includes a binary image (either embedded or via a URL) having a particular resolution, document 154 also includes other resolutions of the binary image. Including such multiple resolutions of a binary image is beneficial for the reasons discussed in greater detail above. Furthermore, not only may the binary or digital images be different resolution, they may be different types of files, such as for example, a bit-mapped image (*.bmp), a TIFF format image (*.tif), a JPEG compressed image (*.jpg), or the like.

[0145] Applications 148 includes, for example, one or more of the following computer program applications: (a) a Web browser (not shown) such as Netscape Navigator® or Microsoft Internet Explorer®, for accessing a Web page served from sending story server 302 ; (b) any of a number of commercially available XML Editors for creating document 154 . Other applications may also be stored or provided, for example, multimedia authoring systems, story mail applications, templates for other applications such as spreadsheets, multimedia and/or XML database managers.

[0146] Sender/publisher 310 also includes, for example, a database stored or referenced which includes at least a subset of the content necessary to represent the information and data in a story.

[0147] Referring to FIG. 4 , there is a block diagram that illustrates aspects of an exemplary sending story server 302 , according to one embodiment of the invention. Server 302 , includes processor 162 connected across local bus 164 to memory 166 . Processor 162 is used to execute computer program applications 168 and fetch information from data 170 . Local bus 164 can be any type of bus, for example, a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus, as long as local bus 164 has a set of signal lines that can be used by processor 162 to transfer information respectfully to and from memory 166 .

[0148] There may be any number of sending story servers 302 and receiving story servers 328 (see FIG. 1 ). In such a system 300 , each server 302 and 328 will respectively communicate directly with another respective server 302 and 328 , or with one or more conventional e-mail servers 332 (see FIG. 1 ) using one or more communication protocols, for example, SMTP/ESMTP/MIME/HTTP communication protocols. (For purposes of this description, wherever SMTP is used, ESMTP is also applicable). Sending story server 302 , using information that is provided both by sender 302 and story enabled client 336 , generates and distributes stories 180 as e-mail, or StoryMail. Such information can be provided to sending story server 302 through a number of different mechanisms. For example, the information may be provided if sender/publisher 310 (see FIG. 1 ) sends document 154 across I/O interface 308 to server 302 . (The contents of document 154 are described in greater detail above).

[0149] In one embodiment, sending story server 302 also serves one or more documents on the World Wide Web (WWW) identified by a unique Uniform Resource Locator (URL) that allows a user of sender 302 to input information through network 306 into server 302 that will be translated into document 154 . There are a number of known computer programs that are used to translate information into a structured file format, for example, XML. Aspects of an exemplary procedure used by sending story server 302 , sender/publisher 310 , and story enabled client 336 to exchange information to generate, distribute and play story 180 are described in greater detail below in reference to FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 .

[0150] Applications 168 includes, for example, composition engine 170 , storyteller 172 , e-mail engine 173 , and other applications 174 . Each of these applications 168 , and in particular, composition engine 170 , storyteller 172 , and e-mail engine 173 work cooperatively to build story 180 . Composition engine 170 provides, for example, a framework of data structures, a run-time model, a compiler, an application programming interface (API), and conventions for building an almost endless variety of different stories 180 that conform to a story run-time model. The story run-time model is designed such that a story playback engine on a story client can be simple in complexity and fast. The run time model provides a lightweight cooperative multitasking multimedia and central application framework. (Such a run-time model described in greater detail below).

[0151] Composition engine 170 passes information provided by sender/publisher 310 (see FIG. 1 ), such that the information is represented in a procedural data format that is not a flat data format. Advantageously the technologies are designed for the procedural content to be fully computer-generated, that is, without manual user intervention. (Manual building is possible but it is not preferred or even desirable.) In one embodiment of the invention, industry standard XML interfaces are used to completely automate one time processing of such provided information, such that existing authoring tools and content formats, for example, JPEG, AVI, MPEG, MP 3 , and the like, are supported through a simple yet powerful transcoding mechanism of the invention.

[0152] To accomplish this, composition engine 170 performs one-time processing of the provided information such that the resulting procedural format of the information for example, is a sequenced set of data, for example, computer program instructions or operation codes (op codes), control information, parameters and media parts. The phrase “sequenced set” means that the data is organized into a time line that dictates the rendering and navigational characteristics of a story 180 . This time line may include procedural tests, branches, jumps, conditional statements, and the like so that the rendering may not ultimately be perfectly linear or sequential.

[0153] For example, such a sequenced set of data may include a first set of computer program instructions to display a graphic. The first set of computer program instructions is followed, for example, data used by a story player to display navigational buttons on the story receiving devices display. Desirably, each media part is assigned an absolute priority that controls when and if a particular media part will be rendered.

[0154] The computer program instructions specify operations to render graphical user interface (GUI) components, media parts, and provide procedural control to user interaction with the GUI components. The control information, for example, provides offsets into the sequenced set of data that indicate where particular media parts are located. In one embodiment, control information also provides a set of semantics and flags for each logical element of a story to maintain the intent of the message on all receiving devices.

[0155] In yet another embodiment, control information, for example, includes an array of hot spots, one hot spot for every logical element. Such logical elements include, for example, button controls, text input controls, bitmaps, areas wherein motion video will be displayed, text boxes, decorative elements, and the like. Each hot spot is associated with a rectangular region of the receiving devices' screen display (if one is available). The rectangular region facilitates event identification. Such event identification is associated with user instantiated events. For example, if a user selects, for example, with a mouse device, a region identified by the rectangle associated with a particular hotspot, the operating system will generate a button click event which, as will be described in greater detail below is processed by a story player in the context of the logical element selected.

[0156] Each hot spot is further identified as being either active or inactive. An active hotspot is a hotspot that generates an event when a user selects a region within the rectangular area associated with the hotspot. In contrast, an inactive hotspot does not generate an event when a user selects a region within the rectangular area.

[0157] In a preferred embodiment, each hotspot area is implemented as a bitmap. Aspects of an exemplary procedure for a story player to use an array of hot spots to play a story is described in greater detail below in reference to FIG. 6 .

[0158] In addition to areas the hotspot array may also contain semantic and alternative rendering element identifiers (ids) for logical elements other than areas For example, a hotspot's semantic flags may indicate that there is overview test available that describes the overall purpose of a screen of information, and the hotspot may also contain the id of the overview text element of the story.

[0159] Aspects of control and control information include memory buffer creation, memory buffer loading, branching, condition or searching, layout, subroutines, linkage between different sequences of instructions, decompression and compression and file packaging, e-mail access for sending messages, requests for subfiles.

[0160] In one embodiment, each opcode, parameter and offset is a 32-bit word. This is beneficial for a number of reasons. For example, portability and adaptability are supported by the use of fixed size 32-bit words A 32-bit fixed size word is advantageously used for representing a large dynamic range of value and is highly compressible because both instructions and parameters are designed to have mostly small integer values. The fixed size makes things very scalable and processor words are always aligned along the word boundary.

[0161] Because of this suitably chosen fixed size, the playback code, or the story 180 is also small and reusable. Parameters and opcodes can be processed by the same code and operation, for example, addition operations can be performed without the need for size conversion of the code An additional advantage is that the opcodes and data are aligned in memory for fast access. Aspects of an exemplary procedure to use such a procedural data layout to play story 180 are described in greater detail below in reference to FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 .

[0162] Such one-time processed information is stored by composition engine 170 as a set of master parts data into master parts database 178 . Desirably, each set of master parts data is identified by a unique identifier that can later be used by sender/publisher 310 to access, modify, and delete the contents of a particular set of master parts data. in master parts database 178 . The set of master parts data can be used by sender/publisher 310 (see FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 ) to generate and distribute any number of stories 180 to targeted e-mail enabled clients.

[0163] In one embodiment, composition engine 170 is eminently portable, meaning that it may also be embedded in other devices besides sending story server 302 . For example, composition engine 170 may be embedded, for example, into a digital camera. A single global data structure allows the implementation of composition engine 170 code as a set of C++ objects, composition engine 170 code is reusable and can be instantiated more than one time. An additional advantage of this is that applications including composition engine 170 will be easy to build. Furthermore sizes of all program variables are explicitly defined and there is built-in support for little-endian and big-endian systems. A thin hardware extraction layer (HAL) and the ability for all text to be represented in ASCII or Unicode also supports portability. In combination, all of these aspects make a story quickly and easily portable to a broad range of devices, able to handle nearly all the computer programming instruction sets or languages.

[0164] Story teller 172 includes, for example, a set of programmed logic that will select at least a subset of a particular set of master parts data in master parts database