APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR RETRIEVING INFORMATION OVER A COMPUTER NETWORK UTILIZING A HAND-HELD PORTABLE DEVICE

摘要

A personalized information retrieval from a network (4) is enabled through a user configuration file which is created and/or edited by the user and stored in a database server (8). The file specifies what information the user would like to retrieve from the network and how that information is to be displayed. When a user attempts to retrieve information from the network, the system server (20) responds to the request by uploading one or more request-servicing software modules, identifying the requesting user, and retrieving the user's configuration file from the database server. The system server then retrieves and formats network information in accordance with the configuration file. Finally, the formatted information is forwarded to the user's access device (6) for display. By providing network users with a personalized information retrieval scheme, the invention allows each user to tailor the retrieval of information to the user's personal needs and to the capabilities of the user's network access device.