Abstract: Methods for automatically generating a wrapper for extracting web data and corresponding computer systems are disclosed. In one arrangement, a first wrapper is used to generate a second wrapper. The first wrapper extracts target data from one or more target web pages hosted by one or more target web servers. The second wrapper is capable of extracting the same target data from the same one or more target web pages without using a web browser engine to perform a) sending requests to the one or more target web servers, and/or b) processing replies from the one or more target web servers. The generation of the second wrapper comprises analysing one or both of the following: (i) code defining the first wrapper, (ii) interactions between the first wrapper and the one or more target web servers that occur during execution of the first wrapper.

Abstract: Methods for automatically generating a wrapper for extracting web data and corresponding computer systems are disclosed. In one arrangement, a first wrapper is used to generate a second wrapper. The first wrapper extracts target data from one or more target web pages hosted by one or more target web servers. The second wrapper is capable of extracting the same target data from the same one or more target web pages without using a web browser engine to perform a) sending requests to the one or more target web servers, and/or b) processing replies from the one or more target web servers. The generation of the second wrapper comprises analysing one or both of the following: (i) code defining the first wrapper, (ii) interactions between the first wrapper and the one or more target web servers that occur during execution of the first wrapper.

Abstract: A system for automatically generating a wrapper for an entire website, the wrapper characterizing the structure of the website, the system having a plurality of functional elements, including at least one annotation module to classify components of a page and generate an annotated, a page classification module to identify functional and informational components of an annotated page, and an action module to identify an action to be taken to further navigate the website, wherein at least one of the annotation module, page classification module and action module is operable in response to a plurality of domain-specific rules, where a domain is understood as a conceptual domain such as real estate, used cars, or electronics.

Abstract: A system for automatically generating a wrapper for an entire website, the wrapper characterising the structure of the website, the system having a plurality of functional elements, including at least one annotation module to classify components of a page and generate an annotated, a page classification module to identify functional and informational components of an annotated page, and an action module to identify an action to be taken to further navigate the website, wherein at least one of the annotation module, page classification module and action module is operable in response to a plurality of domain-specific rules, where a domain is understood as a conceptual domain such as real estate, used cars, or electronics.

Abstract: A system for automatically generating a wrapper for an entire website, the wrapper characterising the structure of the website, the system having a plurality of functional elements, including at least one annotation module to classify components of a page and generate an annotated, a page classification module to identify functional and informational components of an annotated page, and an action module to identify an action to be taken to further navigate the website, wherein at least one of the annotation module, page classification module and action module is operable in response to a plurality of domain-specific rules, where a domain is understood as a conceptual domain such as real estate, used cars, or electronics.

Abstract: A method and a system for information extraction from Web pages formatted with markup languages such as HTML [8]. A method and system for interactively and visually describing information patterns of interest based on visualized sample Web pages [5,6,16-29]. A method and data structure for representing and storing these patterns [1]. A method and system for extracting information corresponding to a set of previously defined patterns from Web pages [2], and a method for transforming the extracted data into XML is described. Each pattern is defined via the (interactive) specification of one or more filters. Two or more filters for the same pattern contribute disjunctively to the pattern definition [3], that is, an actual pattern describes the set of all targets specified by any of its filters.

Abstract: The disclosed teachings provide methods and systems for efficient evaluation of XPath queries. In particular, the disclosed evaluation methods require only polynomial time with respect to the total size of an input XPath query and an input XML document. Crucial for the new methods is the notion of “context-value tables”. This idea can be further refined for queries in Core XPath and XSLT Patterns so as to yield even a linear time evaluation method. Moreover, the disclosed methods can be used for improving existing methods and systems for processing XPath expressions so to guarantee polynomial worst-case complexity.

Abstract: A method and a system for information extraction from Web pages formatted with markup languages such as HTML [8]. A method and system for interactively and visually describing information patterns of interest based on visualized sample Web pages [5,6,16-29]. A method and data structure for representing and storing these patterns [1]. A method and system for extracting information corresponding to a set of previously defined patterns from Web pages [2], and a method for transforming the extracted data into XML is described. Each pattern is defined via the (interactive) specification of one or more filters. Two or more filters for the same pattern contribute disjunctively to the pattern definition [3], that is, an actual pattern describes the set of all targets specified by any of its filters.

Abstract: The disclosed teachings provide methods and systems for efficient evaluation of XPath queries. In particular, the disclosed evaluation methods require only polynomial time with respect to the total size of an input XPath query and an input XML document. Crucial for the new methods is the notion of “context-value tables”. This idea can be further refined for queries in Core XPath and XSLT Patterns so as to yield even a linear time evaluation method. Moreover, the disclosed methods can be used for improving existing methods and systems for processing XPath expressions so to guarantee polynomial worst-case complexity.