Content replacement in electronically-provided archived material

Abstract

A document, publication or a portion of a publication containing collateral information (e.g. advertisements) is delivered in electronic form, preferably appearing electronically as it appears in traditional printed form. Collateral information associated with the document, publication or portion of the publication is dynamically replaced, enabling the user to potentially receive more useful and relevant information and enabling the publisher to potentially generate new revenue from the replaced collateral information.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A method for providing archived material comprising: 
 retrieving a first instance of archived material comprising a plurality of items; and    determining that at least one of the plurality of items is substitutable;    selecting a new item according to at least one rule;    generating a second instance of archived material by replacing the at least one substitutable item in the first instance with the new item.    
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising charging a fee to a provider of the new item for replacing the at least one substitutable item with the new item.  
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising rendering the second instance of archived material.  
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first instance is retrieved from a data store resident on a first computing device, and wherein the method further comprises transmitting the second instance to a second computing device communicatively coupled to the first computing device.  
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the substitutable item comprises a substitutable advertisement and the new item comprises a current advertisement.  
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the substitutable item has a first position on a page and a first size, the new item has a second position on the page and a second size and the first size is substantially identical to the second size and the first position is substantially identical to the second position.  
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein at least a particular one of the plurality of items is described by meta-data.  
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the meta-data comprises geometric data which specifies the position of the item on a page.  
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the meta-data comprises category data that specifies that the particular one of the items is either text, collateral content, or an image.  
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the meta-data comprises temporal relevancy data which represents a date beyond which the item is substitutable.  
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the meta-data comprises a link to information related to the item.  
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the related information comprises at least one of: a document, a text item, an image item, a collateral content item, and a coupon.  
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the meta-data comprises business information.  
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the business information comprises at least one of item provider, item owner, item sponsor, and cost.  
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining that at least one of the plurality of items is substitutable is based on the at least one item being outdated.  
     
     
         16 . A system for rendering archived material comprising: 
 a first data store which stores a plurality of instances of archived material, wherein at least one of the instances comprises a plurality of items;    a second data store which stores a plurality of rules for replacing at least a first one of the plurality of items with a second item; and    a software module which creates a second instance of archived material based on the first instance by replacing the first item with the second item.    
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the first item comprises a first advertisement which is a substitutable advertisement, and wherein the second item comprises a second advertisement which is a current advertisement.  
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the first advertisement is determined to be substitutable by comparing a date on which a request is received with an expiration date associated with the first advertisement, wherein said date on which said document request is received is later than said expiration date.  
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the second advertisement is determined to be current by comparing a date on which a request is received with an expiration date associated with the second advertisement, wherein said system date predates said expiration date.  
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the data store of instances of archived material is resident on a first computing device and wherein the system further comprises a module which transmits the second instance to a second computing device communicatively coupled to the first computing device via a communications network.  
     
     
         21 . A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a data structure associated with an item, the item comprising a portion of a document that appears on a page, the data structure comprising: 
 a first data field comprising category data of the item, wherein the category data describes a type of item, the type of item comprising one of: text, an image, and an advertisement;    a second data field comprising geometric data of the item, wherein the geometric data describes one of a physical location of the item within a page and the size of an item; and    a third data field comprising relevancy data, wherein the relevancy data comprises a date beyond which an item is outdated.    
     
     
         22 . The computer readable medium of  claim 21 , the data structure stored thereon further comprising: 
 a fourth data field comprising a link, wherein the link comprises a reference to information related to the item.    
     
     
         23 . The computer readable medium of  claim 22 , the data structure stored thereon further comprising: 
 a fifth data field comprising business information, wherein the business information comprises at least one of a provider of the item, an owner of the item, a sponsor of the item, and a cost associated with the item.    
     
     
         24 . A computer-readable medium including computer-executable instructions for performing steps comprising: 
 reading a node representative of a document;    determining, based on the first node, that the document comprises a plurality of items, each of the items being represented by one of a plurality of second nodes; and    for each second node: 
 determining the geometric boundaries of the item represented by the node; and  
 placing a piece of content associated with the item within the geometric boundaries of the item,  
   wherein a first one of the items has a temporal constraint associated therewith, and wherein the act of placing a piece of content associated with the first item comprises identifying a piece of content that meets the temporal constraint.    
     
     
         25 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 24 , wherein said piece of content that meets the temporal constraint comprises a revenue-generating advertisement, wherein the advertisement's generation of revenue is dependent upon the time that the advertisement is either printed or included in an electronically-provided document.