Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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A UNIVERSAL CONTENT REFERENCING, PACKAGING, DISTRIBUTION
SYSTEM, AND A TOOL FOR CUSTOMIZING WEB CONTENT
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) of U.S.
Provisional
Application No. 61/107,960, titled "WEB PAGE CONTENT COLLECTION AND
SHARING" filed on October 23, 2008 in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and
U.S.
Provisional Application No. 61/254,371, titled "A UNIVERSAL CONTENT
REFERENCING, PACKAGING, DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM, AND A TOOL FOR
CUSTOMIZING WEB CONTENT" filed on October 23, 2009 in the U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office, both of which are herein incorporated by reference in their
entirety for
all purposes.
TECHNICAL FIELD
The field of the invention generally relates to a computer tool and in
particular
with a specialized computer tool providing a foldable Internet browser, plug-
in, and
widget.
BACKGROUND
The Internet provides access to unprecedented amount of information and
content.
On the World Wide Web, users may access content provided by web pages on
websites.
A web page provides content or resource of information that is suitable for
the World
Wide Web. Typically a web page is accessed through a web browser running on a
computer which renders the content for presentation to a user. The content is
typically
provided in an HTML or XHTML format and may provide navigation to other web
pages
via hypertext links.
Users of the Internet have numerous tools available for parsing and collecting
content from web pages. User may bookmark web pages using social bookmarking
content collection services, such as Digg, Kaboodle, AddThis, among others, to
collect
web content, RSS feeds, and Podcasts. These services generally allow users to
collect
content provided by a web publisher, but only in the form created, provided,
or specified
by the web publisher.
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Generally a user accesses the content through a web browser. When a user views
a web page using a convention Internet browser, the user may modify how the
browser
displays the content to a minimal extent. For example, the user can increase
the size of
the text displayed, maximize or minimize the browser, and adjust the size of
the window
displaying the content, scroll through content displayed, and may move the
position of
the browser display around the screen. When the window or display of the
browser
presents less than all of the content on a page, various browser functions
(e.g., scroll bars)
permit the user to manipulate the content displayed within the window or
display.
However, there are very few options for a user to customize web content
provided by a
content provider system, such as a website. In addition, it is very difficult
for one user to
share or direct another user to specific content of a website.
SUMMARY
In one general aspect, a computer tool for manipulating displayed content of a
web page by a user device, the software tool comprising instructions
configured to cause
a processing device of a user device to: receive an indication of a user
defined first
portion of the content of a web page displayed by a browser; determine a
remaining
portion of the content of the web other than the first portion; and render
only the first user
defined portion on a display screen of a display associated with the user
device.
The tool may be configured as a plug-in for an Internet browser implemented by
the user device. The tool may be further configured to provide instruction to
cause the
processing device to implemented an Internet browser.
The rendered first portion of the displayed content of the web page is
maintained
as link between the user device and a host device providing the web page.
The computer tool may include instructions to cause a processor to maintain or
periodically access a link between the user device and a host device providing
the web
page to continuously render an updated the first portion of the displayed
content based on
the link.
The computer tool may include instructions to cause a processor associate an
attribute with the first portion.
The attribute may be a Favicon or a logo associated with the web page.
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The computer tool may include instructions to cause a processor associate an
attribute with the first portion, display the attribute in proximity to the
first portion, and
provide functions to manipulate the first portion within the display screen of
the display
associated with the user device.
The computer may include instructions to cause a processor to provide a menu
in
association with the attribute, the menu including functions to cause the
processor to one
or more of toggle between display of only first portion and the first portion
combined
with the remaining portion, to minimize the browser, to close the browser to a
file, and to
expand display of only the first portion to display the browser window in
addition to the
first portion.
The attribute may be a handle associated with the first portion and the
computer to
includes instruction to cause the processor to receive user input associated
with the
attribute as a handle to manipulate a position where the first portion is
rendered on the
display screen of the display associated with the user device.
A method for manipulating the displayed content of a web page by a computer
tool of a user device includes receiving an indication of a user defined first
portion of the
content of a web page displayed by a browser; determining a remaining portion
of the
content of the web other than the first portion; and rendering only the first
user defined
portion on a display screen of a display associated with the user device.
The computer tool may be configured as a plug-in for an Internet browser
implemented by the user device.
The tool may be further configured to provide instruction to cause the
processing
device to implemented an Internet browser.
The method also may include maintaining or periodically accessing a link
between the user device and a host device providing the web page to
continuously render
an updated the first portion of the displayed content based on the link.
The method also may include displaying of a portion of a content of a second
web
page simultaneously with the display of the first portion of the content of
the first web
page.
The method also may include associating an attribute with the first portion.
The attribute may be a Favicon or a logo associated with the web page.
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The method also may include associating an attribute with the first portion,
displaying the attribute in proximity to the first portion, and providing
functions to
manipulate the first portion within the display screen of the display
associated with the
user device.
The method also may include providing a menu in association with the
attribute,
wherein the menu including functions to cause the processor to one or more of
toggle
between display of only first portion and the first portion combined with the
remaining
portion, to minimize the browser, to close the browser to a file, and to
expand display of
only the first portion to display the browser window in addition to the first
portion.
The attribute may be a handle associated with the first portion and the
computer to
includes instruction to cause the processor to receive user input associated
with the
attribute as a handle to manipulate a position where the first portion is
rendered on the
display screen of the display associated with the user device.
The details of various embodiments are set forth in the accompanying drawings
and the description below. Other features and advantages will be apparent from
the
following description, the drawings, and the claims.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Fig. 1 is an exemplary computer system for implementing a computer tool.
Fig. 2 is an exemplary computer device for implementing the computer tool.
Fig. 3 is an example of a screenshot of the computer tool implemented as a web
browser.
Fig. 4 is an exemplary flow chart depicting the steps for using the computer
tool
to select content for display.
Figs. 5 and 6 illustrate an example showing the selection of a portion of a
web
page.
Figs. 7 and 8 illustrate an example of the manipulation of content presented
by the
computer tool shown in Fig. 5.
Fig. 9 illustrates an example of a screen shot of a desktop running on a
computer
having multiple portions of web pages displayed.
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Figs. 10 and 11 illustrate the use of the computer tool of Fig. 8 to select a
portion
of the display of the content of a web page.
Fig. 12 illustrates an example of the presentation of the display of the
selected
content of the web page on a user's desk top.
Fig. 12 illustrates an example of a screenshot of a desktop running on a
computer.
Fig. 14 illustrates an example of the screen display of the desktop of Fig. 13
in
which the computer tool is implemented as part of an Internet browser that is
opened on
the desk top.
Figs. 15 16 illustrate an example of the user selection of a portion of a
webpage
opened by the Internet browser.
Fig. 17 illustrates an example of the computer tool presenting the user
selected
portion of the web page of Fig. 15 within the browser and the association of
Favicon with
the displayed user selected portion of the webpage.
Fig. 18 illustrates an example of presenting only the user selected portion of
Fig.
15 and Favicon on the desktop.
Figs. 19, 20, 21, 22, and 23 illustrate the exemplary use of the logo or
Favicon to
manipulate the display of the user selected portion of the webpage within a
desktop
environment.
Figs 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30 illustrate the exemplary use of an edit
function of
the computer tool to manipulate presentation of web content, to associated
user created
content to the web content, and present the content on the desktop or shared
the content
with others.
Figs. 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, and 40 illustrate the exemplary
ability to
use the computer tool to manipulate the display, arrangement, and placement of
user
selected content within a browser or on the desktop.
Figs. 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, and 47 illustrate the exemplary ability of the
user to
go to a webpage, input user-specific data and cause that webpage to display
information
that has been customized for the user.
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION
The following description provides a computer tool for a web content
interface, a
Universal Content Referencing, Packaging, Distribution System, and a Widget
Generator
provided on a desktop environment of a computer system. The computer tool may
be
implemented as or incorporated into a special browser, as a plug-in to an
existing
browser, a web button, or as a widget to provide access to and manipulation of
user
selected content provided by a web page. The tool also may be used to build
one or more
customized user interfaces on a computer system that present, manipulate,
publish, and
share user selected and/or customized web content.
The computer tool is implemented by a computer or computer system. Fig. 1
shows one block diagram of an exemplary communications system 100. The
communications system 100 includes one or more user devices 101, a service
provider
system 110, other Internet Service Providers and websites 120, system partners
125, and
various communication paths 130. As the communications system 100 is device
and
source agnostic, the communications system 100 is designed to work with any
web-
accessible user device, as explained in further detail below.
The computer or computer system may be any type of electronic device that
presents or renders content, such as a web page, received from the Internet or
World
Wide Web. For example, the computer system may be a consumer electronics
device, a
mobile phone, a smart phone, a personal data assistant, a digital tablet/pad
computer, a
hand held/mobile computer, a personal computer, a notebook computer, a work
station, a
vehicle computer, a game system, a set-top-box, or any other device that can
implement a
user interface and/or browser to communicate with and present content from the
Internet
or World Wide Web.
One example of a computer system is shown in Fig. 2; however, it will be
appreciated that this device is only exemplary and that any number of, types
of, or
configurations of different components and software may be incorporated into
or omitted
from the computer system. For example, the computer system may include a
number of
components including one or more of the following: one or more processing
devices
201, one or more storage devices 202, and one or more communications
interfaces 203.
A user device 101 also may include additional elements, such as input devices
204 (e.g.,
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one or more displays or screens 204 or keyboard, key pad, mouse, pointer,
touch screen
205, microphone 206, etc.), one or more output devices (e.g., speakers 207),
one or more
communications buses 208, controllers 209, removable storage devices 210, and
at least
one power source 211. Additional elements not shown may include a digital
camera, an
optical reader (e.g., a bar code scanner or infrared scanner), and antennas. A
user device
101 also may include one or more associated peripheral devices (not shown),
such as, for
example, a display, a memory, a printer, an input device, an output device,
and speakers.
The processing device 201 may be implemented using any general-purpose or
special purpose computer, such as, for example, a processor, a controller and
ALU, a
digital signal processor, a microcomputer, a field programmable array, a
programmable
logic unit, a microprocessor or any other device capable of responding to and
executing
instructions in a defined manner. The processing device may run an operating
system
(OS) and one or more software applications that run on the OS including
applications that
communicate with content provider systems 110 and present content received
from the
content provider systems 110 to the user. The processing device also may
access, store,
manipulate, process, and create data in response to the applications.
The software applications may include a computer program, a piece of code, an
instruction, or some combination thereof, for independently or collectively
instructing the
processing device to operate as desired. Examples of software applications
include: an
operating system, drivers to control and/or operate various components of the
user device
(e.g., display, communications interface, input/output devices, etc.) a
browser, a mini
browser, scripts, a widget, or other programs that interact with the content
provider
systems to provide content and a user interface for presenting the content,
among other
features. Other browser based tools and plug-in applications also may be used,
such as
Java, Acrobat Reader, QuickTime, or Windows Media Player, and a Flash Player
(e.g.,
Adobe or Macromedia Flash). The applications may be resident in the processing
device
or loaded from a storage device. Once the applications, such as a browser, are
loaded in
or executed by the processing device, the processing device becomes a specific
machine
or apparatus configured to provide a user interface to render and provide
content of the
content provider system. That is to say a processing device programmed in a
certain way
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is physically different from the machine without that program and its memory
elements
are differently arranged.
The software, applications, content, and data may be embodied permanently or
temporarily in any type of machine, component, physical or virtual equipment,
storage
medium or device, or a propagated signal wave capable of providing
instructions or data
to or being interpreted by the processing device. In particular, the
applications or data
may be stored by one or more storage media, memories, or storage devices 202,
210
including volatile and non-volatile memories that store digital data (e.g., a
read only
memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a flash memory, a floppy disk, a
hard
disk, a compact disk, a tape, a DROM, a flip-flop, a register, a buffer, an
SRAM, DRAM,
PROM, EPROM, OPTROM, EEPROM, NOVRAM, or RAMBUS), such that if the
memory is read or accessed by the processing device, the specified steps,
processes,
and/or instructions are performed and/or data is accessed, processed, and/or
stored. The
memory may include an UO interface, such that data and applications may be
loaded and
stored in the memory allowing the applications, programming, and data to be
updated,
deleted, changed, augmented, or otherwise manipulated. The memory may be
removable, such as, for example, a card, a stick, or a disk that is inserted
in or removed
from the user device.
The communications interface 203 may exchange data and content with the
content provider system 110 using various communications paths 130. The
interface
allows the processing device to send and receive information using the
communications
paths 130. The communications interface may be implemented as part of the
processing
device or separately to allow the processing device to communicate using the
communications paths 130. The communications interface may include two or more
types of interfaces, including interfaces for different types of hardware
and/or software to
interact with different types of communications media and protocols and to
translate
information/data into a format that may be used by the processing device.
Similarly, the
interface may translate information/data received from the processing device
to a format
that may be transmitted to the service provider system 110 via a
communications path
130.
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The communications paths 130 may be configured to send and receive signals
(e.g., electrical, electromagnetic, or optical) that convey or carry data
streams
representing various types of analog and/or digital data including content for
presentation
to a user. For example, the communications paths 130 may be implemented using
various communications media and one or more networks comprising one or more
network devices (e.g., network interface cards, fiber media converter,
servers, routers,
switches, hubs, bridges, repeaters, blades, processors, and storage devices).
The one or
more networks may include a local area network (LAN), a wide area network
(WAN),
Ethernet, a global area network (GAN), a plain old telephone service (POTS)
network, a
digital subscriber line (DSL) network, an integrated services digital network
(ISDN), a
synchronous optical network (SONNET)/SDH, Passive and Active Optical Newtorks
(PON or AON), a packet switched network, V.92 telephone network modems, IRDA,
USB, Firewire, EIA RS-232, EIA-422, EIA-423, RS-449, RS-485, ITU, Ti and other
T-
carrier links, and El and other E-carrier links, varieties of 802.11, GSM Um
radio
interface, Bluetooth, IEEE 802.11x Wi-Fi, TransferJet, Etherloop , ARINC 818
Avionics
Digital Video Bus, G.hn/G.9960, or a combination of two or more of these
networks.
In addition, the communications paths 130 may include one or more wireless
links (e.g., microwave, radio, and satellite) that transmit and receive
electromagnetic
signals, such as, for example, radio frequency, infrared, and microwave
signals, to
convey information/data signal using any one of a number of communications
protocols,
for example, communications links may include IMT-2000, such as 2G (GSM, GPRS,
EDGE, EDGE Evolution, CSD, HSCSD), 2.5G, 2.75G, 3G (W-CDMA, HSPDA,
HSUPA, UMTS-TDD, FOMA), 4G, and IEEE 802.11 standards such as Wi-Fi or
WLAN. In one example, a communications path 130 may include the Internet or
World
Wide Web.
Data and content may be exchanged between the content provider system 110 and
the user device 101 through the communication interface and communication
paths using
any one of a number of communications protocols. In particular, data may be
exchanged
using a protocol used for communicating data across a packet-switched
internetwork
using, for example, the Internet Protocol Suite, also referred to as TCP/IP.
The data and
content may be delivered using datagrams (or packets) from the source host to
the
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destination host solely based on their addresses. For this purpose the
Internet Protocol
defines addressing methods and structures for datagram encapsulation. Examples
of an
Internet protocol include Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4) and Internet
Protocol Version
6 (IPv6).
The computer tool may be used to access, render, and present content, such a
web
pages and their associated content that are provided by content provider
systems 110.
The content provider system 110 facilitates access to, organization of, and
presentation of
content to users in addition to providing many services. The content provider
system 110
may store and manage content, such as web pages and websites in a location
that is
centralized from the perspective of the user. The central location may be one
physical
location, such as a room, building, or campus providing the hardware
components of the
system. However, in reality the central location may be virtual where services
and
content are accessed from and data is stored over a number of distributed
systems and/or
locations. In other words, although the content provider systems are shown in
Fig. 1 as
being a single entity, other configurations wherein the applications,
services, content, and
data are distributed both in terms of devices and geographical location are
within the
meaning of the system service provider.
The content provider system may includes one or more communications devices,
processors, memories/storage devices, communications interfaces, network
devices, and
communications paths to store, process, manipulate, organize, consolidate,
maintain, and
present communications, content, and data for a user. Descriptions of
communications
devices, processors, memories/storage devices, software, communications
interfaces,
network devices, and communications paths are all described above, and so are
not
repeated again here.
In one example, the content provider system 110 may include a one or more
security devices 141 (e.g., firewalls), web servers 142, an application server
144, an SQL
server, MySQL server, or another database system, 145 and a mirror servers
148, and
associated memory 150 and backup memory devices 152. It is understood,
however, that
the example given in Fig. 1 is for illustrative purposes only, and that
different
configurations, combinations of devices, and numbers of devices may be
provided for
any particular content provider system 110. For example, a cloud architecture
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be used to implement a content provider system 110, as described below. In
addition,
although only one of each server (e.g., 143, 144, 145, and 148) and associate
memories
150 and 152 are shown, it will be appreciated that in actual implementation
there may be
banks of a number of these machines as necessary to handle the number of
users, data,
and traffic that a particular implementation of a service provider system 110
handles.
Although, one configuration is shown in Fig. 1, others may be used. For
example,
other types of hardware may be used, such as various types of computer (e.g.,
a PC or a
Macintosh) featuring any of various processors (e.g., an Intel Core, Pentium,
Celeron,
Server or Workstation processors) running any of several operating systems
(e.g.,
Windows, Mac OS X, Unix, or Linux). In addition, languages such as HTML, XML,
ASP, Ajax, CSS, and various other protocols may be used to link the browser
and its
programming using JavaScript.
In another example, the content provider system may be hosted utilizing an
accelerated cloud infrastructure. A cloud processing network includes a
virtualizer
network of accelerators for virtual servers. The virtualizer utilizes a
Storage Domain
Servers (SDS), network switchers, and a Storage Area Network (SAN) to provide
a
variety of server capacity and functionality that is emulated and provided as
a load-
balanced resource. The network is connected to various servers and their
corresponding
data storage and databases of one or more content providers allowing easy
access to
many different servers having multiple operating systems (e.g., Unix, Linux,
Windows,
Mac OS, Backup). As a result, a variety of server operating systems and
capacity may be
provided to the end user of the user devices 101. The cloud processing network
may be
part of the content provider system 110 or hosted by a third party.
The accelerators provide virtualized servers (8+ cores, 32+GB RAM) with vast
amounts of NAS storage. The accelerators are deployed within the cloud of a
fast
networking and routing fabric (e.g., Force 10), and efficient hardware load
balancers
(e.g., F5 Networks). Various applications, such as Apache, Nginx, MySQL, PHP,
Ruby
on Rails, and JAVA are preinstalled.
The Accelerators use full root access to provide control of setup and security
configurations. The configuration provides accelerators that deliver massive
scalability,
both vertical and horizontal. For example, on the vertical scale the
accelerators come in
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sizes ranging from 1/4GB of Ram up to 32GB of RAM. On the horizontal scale,
application-layer accelerators may be added that use hardware load balancing
to support
potentially hundreds of nodes.
The computer tool may be implemented by a computer or computer system as a
special browser, a plug-in to a browser, or as a widget. In particular, the
computer tool is
used to access, render, and present a web page. In addition, the computer tool
may
provide additional functionality, such as selecting a portion of a web page,
manipulation
of selected content, and sharing of content, in particular web content, such a
content
provided by a web page.
A web page provides content or resource of information that is suitable for
the
World Wide Web. Typically a web page is accessed through a web browser running
on a
computer which renders the content for presentation to a user. The content is
typically
provided in an HTML or XHTML format and may provide navigation to other web
pages
via hypertext links.
A web page may be retrieved from a local computer or from a remote web server.
The web server may restrict access or publish the web page on the World Wide
Web. A
web page is requested and served from a web server using Hypertext Transfer
Protocol
(HTTP), for example, by a content provider system.
Web pages may consist of files of static text stored within a web server's
file
system (e.g., a static web page), or a web server may construct the (X)HTML
for each
web page when the web page is requested by a browser (e.g., a dynamic web
page). Web
browsers may provide additional tools and plugins, such as scripting to make
web pages
more responsive to user input once the web page is rendered by the client
browser.
Web pages typically include information that tells the browser how to render
the
content for presentation to the user. For example, the information may include
colors of
text and backgrounds and very often also contain links to images and other
media that are
to be rendered in the final presentation to a user. Typically, the information
may include
layout, typographic, and color-scheme information that is provided by
Cascading Style
Sheet (CSS) instructions. The instruction may be embedded in the HTML of the
web
page or may be provided by a separate file that is referenced by the HTML of
the web
page. The latter case is especially relevant where one lengthy stylesheet is
relevant to a
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whole website: due to the way HTTP works, the browser will only download it
once from
the web server and use the cached copy for the whole site.
Images are stored on the web server as separate files; however, HTTP make
provisions to provide related files, such as images and style sheets requested
by the
browser as it processes the web page. For example, an HTTP 1.1 web server
maintains a
connection with the client browser until all resources related to the web page
have been
requested and provided. Web browsers usually render images along with the text
and
other material on the displayed webpage.
Client-side computer code such as JavaScript or code implementing Ajax
techniques may be embedded in the HTML of a webpage or, like CSS stylesheets,
they
may be provided as separate linked downloads specified in the HTML. Scripts
run on the
client computer, if the user allows them to, and can provide additional
functionality for
the user after the page has downloaded.
A web browser may provide a Graphical User Interface, like Internet Explorer,
Mozilla Firefox and Opera, or the web browser may be text-based, like Lynx.
A web page includes content as an information set, may include numerous types
of information that is presented to a user. For example, the web page may
include
information that is able to be seen, heard, or otherwise interact with the end
user.
Information may include: textual information with diverse render variations
and non-
textual information. Non-textual information may include: static images on
raster
graphics, typically GIF, JPEG or PNG; or vector formats as SVG or Flash;
animated
images typically Animated GIF and SVG, but also may be Flash, Shockwave, or
Java
applet; audio, typically MIDI or WAV formats or Java applets; video, WMV
(Windows),
RM (Real Media), FLU (Flash Video), MPG, MOV (Quicktime). The web page may
include interactive information that is more complex that is glued to
interface as provided
by dynamic web pages.
Web page may provide for "on page" interaction, such as interactive text
(e.g.,
DHTML); interactive illustrations (e.g., "click to play" image to games,
typically using
script orchestration, Flash, Java applets, SVG, or Shockwave); buttons (e.g.,
forms
providing alternative interface, typically for use with script orchestration
and DHTML)
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"between pages" interaction (e.g., hyperlinks: standard "change page"
reactivity); forms
providing more interaction with the server and server-side databases.
The web page also may include internal or hidden information, such as
comments; metadata with semantic meta-information, charset information,
Document
Type Definition (DTD), diagramation and style information (e.g., information
about
rendered items, such as image size attributes, and visual specifications, such
as Cascading
Style Sheets (CSS).
The webpage also may include dynamically adapted information elements that
depend on the rendering browser or end-user location (e.g., through the use of
IP address
tracking and/or "cookie" information).
Some information (grouped) elements, such as a navigation bar may be uniform
for all website pages, like a standard. This kind of "website standard
information" is
supplied by technologies like web template systems.
A website is a number of web pages are stored in a common directory of a web
server. A website typically includes a group of web pages that are linked
together, or
have some other coherent method of navigation. The website includes an index
page.
Depending on the web server settings, the index page may have many different
names,
but the most common is index.html. When a browser visits the homepage for a
website,
or any URL pointing to a directory rather than a specific file, the web server
serves the
index page to the requesting browser. If no index page is defined in the
configuration, or
no such file exists on the server, either an error or directory listing is
served to the
browser.
Many modern web pages often require more screen space for all the content that
is associated therewith than is available for a particular display resolution.
Most
conventional browsers provide an interface to control or manipulate the
information that
is presented. For example, some conventional browsers place scrollbars (e.g.,
a bar at the
side and/or bottom of the screen) that allows the user to position the window
to allow the
user to see access all the content associated with the web page. However,
conventional
browsers are limited in the presentation of content. For example, a
conventional browser
generally provides a rectangular window which displays a portion of the web
page to a
user. A user interface may be used to manipulate or move the window relative
to the
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content of the rendered web page. While a user may generally maximize or
adjust the
size of the window that presents the content, the window may still not display
all of the
content associated with the web page.
In addition, modern web pages provide such a large amount of content, that the
user may only be interested in a particular portion of the web page that has
the desired
content. While conventional browsers allow users to bookmark a page to easily
return to
a desired page in the future, every time the user accesses the web page, the
user must still
navigate the window back to the desired content. In addition, when trying to
share
content with another user, the user may cut and paste a URL in an email to the
web page
must provide a special provision to email particular pre-specified content
after receiving a
user input.
The novel computer tool describe herein permits a user to select portions of
content from a web page and display the selected content on the desktop or
computer
screen/display. The computer tool also may be used organize, manipulate and
share the
selected content. The compute tool also can be used to display content from
multiple
web pages simultaneously on the computer screen. The computer tool allows the
content
to be identified using different layers allowing a user to easily move between
layers,
rearrange the sequencing of layers, switch between display of only the
selected content of
the web page, the selected content within an expanded browser, or display of
the selected
content and the remainder of the content of the web page that may be displayed
by the
browser (e.g., similar to a viewing of a web page by a conventional browser).
Because
the content presented by the computer tool is the "live" content from the web
page, the
user may set a refresh rate for updating the selected content that is rendered
on the user's
screen. The computer tool may be implemented as an Internet browser, as a
browser
operating within a browser, as a browser associated with another browser, as a
browser
plug-in or tool, as a web button, or as a tool embedded in a webpage, and as a
widget.
In order to interact with a content provider system 110 and access content a
user
needs to establish a connection or link between the content service provider
110 and a
user device or computer. The user accesses the content using the computer tool
which of
the user device or computer 101 running an application allowing the user
device 101 to
communicate with the content provider system 110. In one example, the computer
tool
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may implement a browser running on the computer. The browser may include any
application that communicates with a web server primarily using hypertext
transfer
protocols HTTP (e.g., HTTP/1.1) along with various plug-ins and tools to
fetch, present,
manipulate, and interact with content and/or provide access to services
provided by the
content provider system 110. HTTP allows the browser to submit information to
servers
in addition to fetching content from them. Content may be located by the
browser using
a uniform resource locator (URL) as an address. Many browsers also support a
variety of
other URL types and their corresponding protocols, such as Gopher (a
hierarchical
hyperlinking protocol), file transfer protocol (FTP), real-time streaming
protocol (RTSP),
and an SSL encrypted version of HTTP (HTTPS). Content may be provided in a
hyper-
text markup language (HTML) that is identified using a MIME content type. The
browser may support a variety of formats in addition to HTML, such as the
JPEG, PNG,
and GIF image formats, and can be extended to support additional formats
through the
use of plugins and/or scripts. The combination of HTTP content type and URL
protocol
specification allows images, animations, video, sound, and streaming media to
be
embedded in the content. Various plug-ins and tools, such as Java, Acrobat
Reader,
QuickTime, or Windows Media Player, and a Flash Player (e.g., Adobe or
Macromedia
Flash).
In another embodiment, the computer tool may be a plug-in to the browser or a
browser that runs in, with, or in addition to the primary browser. In yet
another
embodiment, the computer tool may be implemented using a resident program or
application (e.g., on a desktop of the user device) called a Widget to access
content,
interact with a browser application, and manipulate content. The widget may be
a
implemented using well designed widget application, such as a Windows Vista
gadget, a
Windows XP running task (taskbar icon), or a Macintosh widget, among others.
The
widget also may open the user interface to provide content from the content
provider
system. For example, if the user selects a portion of the widget, the widget
may launch a
browser or otherwise provide a connection between the content provider system
and the
user device to provide the user selected content.
The computer tool provides a primary point of interaction between the user and
the content provided by the content provider system 110. The web server 143
provides
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content and services to the user through the browser operating on the user
device 101.
The user device 101 establishes a connection with a web server 143 of the
service
provider system 110 using a communications path 130. After the connection is
established, the primary interface of the computer tool is presented as screen
rendered by
a browser on a display of the user device 101. The screen may present a
webpage
provided by the web server 143 that is supplemented by additional programs,
applications, and plugins operating on the user device.
The user interface of the computer tool provides electronic content generated
by
the applications, servers, and databases of a content provider system 110. The
once the
use device 101 establishes a link with the content provider system 110, the
user device
101 and system 110 exchange data. Data may be transmitted from the system 110
to the
browser in a markup language used by a client application, browser resident,
or computer
tool running on the user device 101 and its operating system to render the
page in the user
interface screen. Data also is transmitted from the user device 101 to the
system 110 to
provide indications of user interaction with the user interface (e.g.,
accessing a hyperlink
to another web page or providing a credit card number for payment). The data
sent to the
user device may be in any markup language that may be interpreted by the
client
application, browser, or computer tool running on the user device the webpage
provided
by the user interface using the hypertext markup language (HTML), the
JavaScript
programming language, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and/or the eXtensible
Markup
Language (XML).
In one example, data may be transferred between the service and the user
device
using an HTML and/or XML format to render the page. The user interface may
include
one or more areas, portions, boxes, windows, scroll/slider bars, tools, menus,
buttons, and
tabs. The functionality of the user interface may be accessed or activated
through use of
one or more user inputs of the user device 101. For example, items and content
on the
screen may be selected and manipulated using one or more screen position
indicators or
visual effects (e.g., a pointer, a cursor, a highlighting, a transparency, a
color, an
animation, or an effect) controlled by one or more user input devices (e.g., a
key, a
keyboard/pad, a touch screen/pad, a mouse, a joystick, a track ball, and a
stylus) as is
common in graphical user interfaces (e.g., a pointer controlled by a mouse to
click and
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double-click to activate, select, and drag items within a window, browser, or
desktop
environment).
In most cases, items may be selected, clicked, or tapped to designate,
activate, or
provide some functionality. The following description makes reference to mouse
clicking, such as right mouse clicking or left mouse clicking. For consistency
this
terminology is used throughout the following examples; however, one skilled in
the art
will appreciate that this is only one example of implementing a user selection
and input
within a browser or a computer tool. Other methods may be used with different
interfaces, such as tapping with a finger or stylus on a touch screen. In
addition, different
combinations of inputs may be arranged as desired (e.g., single selection or
double
selection) to instruct the computer to active different functionalities or act
in a desired
manner.
The following examples are described for a computer tool implemented with a
browser application.
Referring to Fig. 3, when the computer tool 305 is implemented as a web
browser
10, it may be a combination of known, conventional functionalities and the
novel
functions associated with the computer tool. In one example, the web browser
may
include a tool bar 315 with common tool bar functions having drop down menus,
such as
File, Edit, View, Go, Bookmarks, Tools, Window, Help, among other. The web
browser
10 also may include a navigation tool bar 320 having conventional buttons for
refreshing
the screen, entering a URL address, moving forward and backward through
WebPages,
searching, printing, and the like. The web browser 310 also may include
buttons to
perform operations associated with the computer tool. For example, the browser
310
may include one or more buttons 325 or devices 325 that permit the user to
create and
delete layers, hide and show layers, move between layers, re-arrange, re-
order, re-stack or
re-name the layers of content in addition to individual items of content. Also
dragging
and dropping between different layers or dragging and dropping layers form one
browser
window or into a different browser window, or into the different browser
windows layer
device is also supported.
One or more manual or automatic page refreshing controls 330 for setting the
refresh rate for a particular item of content, or for a specific layer, all
layers or individual
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items of coped content is provided. The browser may include one or more
buttons 335
for selecting and displaying content from WebPages. These various buttons and
functions may appear as toolbars and the like, associated with content on a
typical
webpage 340. For example, the webpage 340 may include a login portion 345,
generic
content 350 to the web publisher, and user-specific content 355 from the web
publisher.
If the webpage 340 is that of a user's bank, the login portion 345 is used by
the user to
login to the user's account, the generic content 350 may be standard
information about
the bank, and the user-specific content 355 may be the user's account
balances,
transactions, and the like.
A user of the computer tool implemented as a browser of the user device or
computer may desire to create a personalized or custom display on the computer
screen
or desktop that simultaneously displays live content selected by the user from
multiple
web pages. For example, the user may wish to display information from multiple
web
pages that provide personal banking information, personal stock account
information, a
headline web page, a webcam, and a weather information web page. However, the
computer tool allows a user to specify or select a particular user defined
area of a web
page for rendering or presentation. In one example, the remainder of the
webpage is not
presented. In addition, the computer tool allows the user to toggle between
presenting 1)
only the user defined area and 2) the user defined area plus the remainder.
The computer
tool may be used to simultaneously display multiple user defined areas of web
pages
either within a single browser or separately (e.g., on the desktop). As a
result, the user is
able to build customized interfaces that present only the content of a web
page that is
desired by the user.
Referring to Fig. 4, one exemplary process 400 of implementing the computer
tool is provided. First the browser receives an indication of a desired web
page from the
user 401. The browser navigates to the indicated web content to access the
content from
the content service provider 410. In one example, the user would open the
Internet
Browser and navigate to a webpage of interest. The desired web page may be
indicated
by user using standard inputs, such as receiving typed, entered, or otherwise
indicated
URL address a URL field of the browser, or a selection of a bookmark, a
Favicon, a
hyperlink, or any other manner of specifying a desired web page or web
content. Once
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web page of interest is accessed, the browser renders the webpage on a display
window
of the browser 420. The browser then receives an indication of a user defined
area within
the web page selected by a user input 430. The user selects or defines the
area within the
web page using a variety of tools. For example, the browser may provide a user
interface, such as a marquee select tool to define a rectangular area within
the window of
the browser presenting the page corresponding web page indicated by the
marquee select
tool. Such a marquee select tool is currently provided in many graphic
software
packages. Typically, the user moves a position indicator, such as a cursor or
pointer to a
point on the display using a user input device (e.g., a mouse), indicate a
point in the
display (e.g., right clicks and holds the mouse button), and selects the area
(e.g., drags the
pointer diagonally to create rectangle visually indicated, for example, by a
dotted line).
Of course other tools may be used. For example, the selection tool may be
configured to
allow the user to define areas using other shapes, such as square, circles,
ellipses,
triangles, and polygons, among others. In addition, a free style selection
tool, such as a
lasso or magic wand tool, may be provided to define areas of a webpage having
more
complex geometries, miscellaneous shapes, and or shapes with consistent colors
characteristics.
Once the area is defined, the browser receives an indication that the user
desires
to manipulate the defined area of the webpage 450. The user may provide the
indication
using a user input device to select one or more inputs provided by the
browser. In one
example, the user manipulation folds or collapses the browser leaving only the
selected
area for presentation on the display of or associated with the user device.
For example,
the user may select a button on a tool bar or menu, much like the copy button
found on
Microsoft Word, Adobe Reader, Mozilla Firefox and other software programs that
allow
content to be captured. For example, the crop button can be expressed as a
scissor
function that causes the web browser to collapse, reduce in size, or fold upon
itself to
present only that user defined area on the screen of the desktop. In another
example, the
user may select a Favicon from the URL address field to cause the web browser
to
collapse, reduce in size, or fold upon itself to present only that user
defined area on the
screen of the desktop. In another example, the user may select an input, such
as a
minimize button from the title bar may be selected by the user to cause the
web browser
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to collapse, reduce in size, or fold upon itself to present only that user
defined area on the
screen of the desktop. In another example, a button selected may cause the
remainder of
the webpage displayed in the browser window to disappear (or remain
undisplayed). As
a result, the user is able to view a personalized computer display and/or
personalized web
page display showing only the desired content as indicated by the user defined
area.
Once the browser has received in an indication the user wishes to manipulate
the
defined content, the browser associates one or more attributes with the
defined content
460. In one example, the browser displays a "chiclet" somewhere on the boarder
of the
defined area. The chiclet provides a handle that the user may interact with or
select to
manipulate the content and/or active functionality of the browser or computer
tool. In
one example, the chiclet may be a Favicon, a logo, or a user defined logo, a
URL, or
some combination of two or more of these. In one example, the user may
repeatedly
select the chiclet with a user input device to switch back and forth between
1) the
expanded browser showing the defined content or the defined content plus the
remainder
of the web page rendered in the display window of the browser and 2) the
collapsed or
folded browser displaying only the defined content of the web page. In
addition, the
chiclet may be selected by a user input device to move the collapsed/folded
browser
displaying only the user defined content around the display screen of the user
device 101,
much like selecting the title bar of a window in the Window OS allows a user
to move a
display on the desktop. In another example, the user may select the chiclet to
cause a
menu or tool bar to appear to access additional functionality of the browser
while the
browser is collapsed or folded. For example, the user may maximize the
browser,
minimize the browser to a task bar, reduce the browser to just the chiclet
(i.e., close the
display of the user defined content to show only the chiclet on the display),
close the
browser to a file on the desktop, share the content (e.g., with a publish, an
email, or an
instant message function) or access some other user defined functionality that
has been
added to the menu or tool bar.
Figs. 5-9 provide an example of one implementation of the specialized browser
to
manipulate and customize content from multiple webpage's on a display screen
of a user
device. First, referring still to Fig. 5, the user navigates to a webpage 550
with multiple
areas of content 555, 560, 565, 570, 575. For example, consider a webpage 550
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displaying a traffic camera display screen that provides real time display of
traffic
information along particular roads. Display area 560 may be the display of the
traffic
camera and display area 555 may be area of the screen for selecting an
intersection of the
road for displaying. A user may desire to select one intersection for display
on their
screen, for example, to determine the traffic conditions on the drive home
before leaving
work. The user actives the marquee or selection button of the browser to
define an area
160 of the rendered portion of the web page presented by the browser. The
selection or
defining of the web content is indicated by the dashed lines 680 around area
560 of Fig.
5. With the area 560 defined the user next manipulates the area 560 for
display. By
selecting a fold tool button, the computer tool folds or collapse the browser
leaving only
the user defined portion of the page displayed. The display of the webpage
following use
of the fold button is illustrated in Fig. 57, which illustrates only the user
defined portion
160 of the webpage is displayed.
Referring to Fig. 8, the user decides to manipulate the collapsed/folded
browser
displaying only the user defined area 560 from the lower right hand corner of
the display
screen to a different area of the display screen, such as the upper right hand
corner of the
display screen. The defined portion may be manipulated by selecting the
displayed
portion 160 using a user input device and move the displayed portion to the
desire
location on the display screen. In one example, this may be implemented using
a drag a
drop-and-drag function of the OS, desktop, or browser.
The examples of Fig. 9-12 illustrate the computer tools ability share the
customized web content, whether the web content is shared by display on the
user's
desktop, shared or published via a content collection service, or shared by
electronic
communication, such as emailing or instant messaging the content to another
user. When
using the specialized browser, the browser may collect certain data each time
a user
defined portion is viewed, opened, or shared. For example, when the user saves
the
portion of the display to their desk top or personal start page, the data that
is captured can
be a unique URL that shows the display of the user defined portion of the
display of the
web page. The URL string may include an indicator of, the actual geometric
area, or
coordinates of the user defined portion of display of the web page by the
browser such
that the browser renders the same displayed portion of the web page each time
a specific
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folded browser for the specific displayed portion is opened and viewed. The
geometric
area or coordinates of the displayed portion of the web page also may be
included or
stored in a "cookie" associated with the user defined portion. The cookie may
be
provided to a content provider system (e.g., a system that provide the
computer tool as a
plug in to the browser or that provide the specialized foldable browser) or
the publisher
of the web page, or to another user. The cookie may be a cookie and/or a
session cookie.
The cookie may or may not expire. The URL string or cookie also may include a
user
name, identification, information about the domain of the associated web page,
among
other information.
Each time the user activates the specialized browser to view and/or interact
with
the user defined portion 1150 of the display of the web page, the data may be
provided to
the browser provider, a third party data collection service, and/or the
publisher of the web
page, and/or another user. The browser provider and/or the publisher may be
informed
that the web page is being viewed and which portion of the page is being
displayed. An
e-mail address, username and/or password, may be required to use the described
functionality. When e-mailing or sharing the user defined portion 1150 with
another
user, when the other user receives the user defined portion of the display of
the web page,
data associated with the other user also may be transfer to the browser
provider and/or the
publisher of the web page. Similarly, if the user defined portion of the
display of the web
page is shared with a content collection service, there also may be an
optional transfer of
data, or user information, to the browser provider, the content collection
service, and/or
the publisher of the web page.
The transfer of data indicating the user defined portion that is being
presented to
the user and/or shared with other user provides valuable information for web
publishers
and other companies. For example, the information is useful for marketing,
advertisement, research, and other purposes, such as the arrangement and/or
selection of
what content should be provided on a web page and where the content should be
provided on the web page. The information also is useful tracking user web
browsing
and behavior.
As described above, because one or both of the browser provider, a third party
data collection service, and/or the web page publisher have the ability to
determine what
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portion of the display or content of the web page is being rendered for the
user on the
user's display, advertisements or other selected information can be displayed
to
correspond with the user defined portion of the web page. For example, for any
particular user, an advertisement may be placed or caused to appear in the
user defined
portion of the display of the rendered web page. The advertisement may
temporarily
replace the entire user defined portion that is being displayed, appear in
some portion of
the area, or a link to the advertisement may be provided in the area, such as
a hyperlink
that opens a new browser providing the advertisement or causing the link to
expand
within the area to show the advertisement or some portion thereof.
As described above, because the browser provider, a third party data
collection
service, and/or and the web publisher have the ability to know what part of
the display of
their web page is being displayed on the web page, advertisements or other
selected
information can be displayed on the displayed portion of the web page. For any
particular user, the advertisements can be caused to appear only on the
selected portion of
the display of the web page, such as by scrolling around the displayed
portion,
temporarily replacing the entire displayed portion, or some level in between.
Referring now to Figs. 13-18, another example of the computer tool and
foldable/collapsible browser are provided while illustrating features of the
tool. Fig. 13
illustrates a screen display of a user where the screen is set to display a
desktop top
environment. It is understood the browser is not limited to a desktop
environment and
that this examples are for illustration only. Other display environments, for
example,
such as those found on networked computers or personal devices, such as smart
or mobile
phone also may be used, in fact any display that is capable of rendering a
browser
interface and content may be used with the embodiments described herein.
Various
folders, files, and shortcuts, including a shortcut to a browser, are
displayed on the
desktop. In addition, although the following examples make reference to a user
input
using a mouse and cursor, these exemplary embodiment are for illustration only
and any
user input device and sequence of user inputs, such as tapping, clicking,
typing, scrolling,
selecting, highlighting, among others may be used to input user commands to a
user
device or computer system, as is well known in the art. Fig. 13 shows a mouse
cursor has
been placed over the shortcut icon for the browser. Fig. 14 illustrates that
the user has
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selected the browser with the mouse and has opened the browser. The browser
may be a
specially designed folding or collapsing browser as described herein that
includes or
implements the computer tool or may be any commercially available browser that
provides for additional functionality of the computer tool as a plug-in, add
on, or the like.
As shown, the browser provides a set of tools that allow the user to
manipulate web
content via the foldable browser or computer tool. The tools include a
function to select a
user definable area of the browser display rendering content for presentation
to the user,
such as various marquee and/or lassoing tools to select content.
Fig. 15 illustrates a screen displayed by the browser when the user navigates
to a
hypothetical webpage, www.abcdwebsite.com, and activates one of the marquee
tools as
indicated by the cursor arrow being placed over the rectangular marquee
selection tool.
Fig. 16 illustrates the selection of a user defined area of browser display
screen using the
rectangular marquee selection tool. The selection may be performed using
functionality
and techniques that well known in the art. The selection process defines an
area within
the displayed portion of the web page rendered by the browser and dividing the
rendered
content into two portions: 1) the user defined area selected being the first
portion of the
displayed content of the web page, and 2) the remaining area of the web page
content.
As illustrated in Fig. 17, the user activates a "crop" button on the browser
tool bar
to crop the remaining area outside the border (i.e., the dotted line created
by the marquee
tool), leaving only the user defined portion or first portion displayed within
the display
window of the browser.
In one example, the crop function merely limits the display of content to the
user
defined area of the web page using one of a number of techniques known in the
art. For
example, the display of the content may be configured such that an algorithm
determines
which pixels or part of the rendered content displayed in the window has been
selected
and which part of the displayed content is outside of the selected displayed
content.
Activating the crop function causes the software to select for display only
those pixels
that are within the selected first portion of displayed content. In one
example, this may
be thought of as a user defined window
Figs. 18 and 19 also illustrate another feature of the invention, an attribute
button
that appears adjacent to the first portion of the displayed content of the web
page. The
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attribute button serves one or more functions. At one level, the attribute
button may be
used to cause the second portion of the displayed content of the web page to
be displayed
along with the already-displayed first portion. At another level, the
attribute button may
be used as an identifier of the content that is being displayed. For example,
the attribute
button may display a logo associated with the webpage being displayed. If the
webpage
is that of a web published having a capital W as its logo, the attribute
button may have a
capitalized W displayed within it. Thus, a user could quickly recognize the
source of the
displayed content. The logo being displayed could also be part of the domain
name. It is
expected that the logo could be specified by the web publisher as is currently
the situation
for the logo displayed to the right of the URL for some web pages, e.g.,
www.washingtonpost.com, www.mail. ooo le.com, etc.
Fig. 19 illustrates an embodiment of the invention in which the URL for the
web
page is displayed along with the logo of the web content publisher. In this
manner, a user
of the Internet who wants to capture and share displayed web content will be
able to
provide an attribution to the original publisher or provider of the web
content. Figs. 20-
22 further illustrate that the logo can be a control tool to manipulate the
display of the
web content. For example, a user can use the mouse to click on the logo and
have the
ability to minimize web content displayed to be merely a desk top shortcut to
the web
content. In Fig. 20, the user clicks on the logo and a drop down menu appears.
In Fig. 20
the only option available is to close the display. Other options that could be
placed on the
drop down menu are the ability to print the display, email the URL or other
pointer to the
display to share the display with others, minimize the display and the like.
In Fig. 21, by
closing the display, all that remains on the desktop is a file or short cut
(not shown) to the
web content. In Fig. 22, by minimizing the display, all that remains on the
desktop is a
button that can be clicked on to cause the display to be displayed again, the
result being
illustrated in Fig. 23.
Figs. 24-28 illustrate that the software tool can include an editing
functionality
which allows a user to select and collect displayed web content, add their own
content to
the web content, and then cause that combined content to be displayed on their
desktop or
shared with others. The content illustrated in Fig. 29 can be accessed and an
edit button
of the software tool activated. With the edit button activated, the user can
draw, annotate,
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or otherwise add content to an area marqueed or selected of the displayed
content (Fig.
24). By clicking on the logo button associated with the selected web content,
the user can
cause the web content outside the selected area to be hidden from view. Thus,
the
selected web content will be displayed with an overlay of the user-added
content (Fig.
25). The user then can further select web content from the displayed web page
(Fig. 26)
and cause that additional content to be displayed with the other already-
selected content
from that web page (Fig. 27). Those two, selected items of web page content
can be
moved independently of each other (Fig. 28). This is because, in one
embodiment of the
invention, each item displayed from that web page is displayed from a separate
browser
window rather than both being from the same browser window. In other
embodiments,
the items can be from within the same browser window, such as by having the
items be
movable objects within the browser window such as by using functionalities
such as
DHTML, AJAX, and the like.
Fig. 29 illustrates the use of the logos to toggle the web page content behind
or in
front of an already-opened item, such as a document (Fig. 29). Fig. 30
illustrates the use
of the logo to provide a drop down menu with an option to lock the placement
of the
selected web content on the desk top. This can configured to lock all the
selected web
content or only one item of the multiple items of selected web content.
Figs. 31-40 illustrate the ability to manipulate the display, arrangement and
placement of the items on the desktop. As illustrated in Fig. 31, the user can
take one of
the items of web content and manipulate a display around the item. This
provides the
advantageous ability to enhance the aesthetics of the content displayed from
the Internet.
Fig. 31 illustrates the user creating a colored border around the selected
content. The
logo associated with the web content then can be attached to the newly created
border or
to the original web content (not shown). Fig. 32 illustrates the ability to
then alter the
placement of the other item of web content into the colored border surrounding
the first
displayed web content.
In Figs. 33-35, the user is able to draw borders around the items of web
content
and combine them into one connected display. In Fig. 33, the user goes to a
webpage and
selects an item for capture. In Fig. 34, the user then selects a second item
for capture.
The first item selected is within a oval marquee while the second item
selected is based
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upon using a freehand marquee tool. The freehand marquee tool captures a
portion of a
video display from the webpage as well as surrounding portions of the webpage
that
border the video display. In Fig. 35, the user has captured the selected items
of web
content and eliminated the remainder of the web content from view. The logos
associated
with the selected items can be used to move the items around on the desk top.
Fig. 35
illustrates where the video item has been placed with the combined items of
Fig. 32.
Fig. 36 illustrates the ability to move the two items separately without
affecting
the unmoved item. In addition, Fig. 36 illustrates the ability to add a third
item of web
content, such as a link on a webpage, to the desk top display. This can occur
when a user
is interested in articles referenced in a blog. The articles may vary from day-
to-day but
the link remains present in the same position on the blog. In this way, the
user can click
on the link on their desktop to see the article referenced by a link in a
blog. Fig. 37
illustrates the ability to use a tool associated with the items of content to
manipulate their
display, such as panning, rotating or moving the displayed item of content.
Figs. 38 and 39 are related to Fig. 36 by showing that the position of the
displayed
link within the selected display can be manipulated on the user's display. In
other words,
the user can select an area of the display of a webpage, capture and display
only that
selected area of the webpage on their display or desktop, and then move the
webpage
with the border created by the user. As illustrated in Figs. 38 and 39, the
user has created
a triangular border around the display of the webpage. That triangular border
captures
the link displayed on the webpage. The user can attach scroll bar to the
cropped content
that will allow the user to scroll through the content of that webpage. The
scroll bar can
be attached or snapped to the border of the object. Once that triangular
shaped item is
displayed on the user's desktop, the user can use the scroll bar to scroll up
or down and/or
left or right on that webpage. However, the only part of that webpage that
will be
displayed on the user's desktop will be that portion of the display of the
webpage that fits
within the triangular border selected by the user. In this manner, the user
can scroll up or
down to see if there are other links of interest. This capability
advantageously provides
the user with a small window to the webpage of interest, minimizing the use of
valuable
screen space on the desk top while also providing the user the ability to move
the display
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of the webpage within that small window so as to be able to view the entire
webpage
display, but not all at one time.
Figures 40 and 41 illustrate the ability of the user to move the scroll bar
associated with the window to different edges of that window. The relative
angle of the
scroll bar to the window can be configured to cause the webpage displayed
within that
window to move at the same angle as the angle of the scroll bar.
Figs. 42-47 illustrate the ability of the user to go to a webpage, input user-
specific
data and cause that webpage to display information that has been customized
for the user.
In particular, Figs. 42-48 illustrate the use of a weather webpage to obtain
current and
forecasted weather conditions for an area of interest to the user. In Figs. 42
and 43, the
user goes to the webpage and enters in data enabling the webpage to show the
weather
conditions for the area of interest. Fig. 44 illustrates the user's selection
of three items of
web content display of interest. This selection is indicated by the dashed
lines around the
temperature, clock and extended forecast items. In Fig. 45, the user has
eliminated from
display the web display that exists outside the selected areas. In Fig. 46,
the user has
moved the selected items relative to each other. Figs. 45 and 46 also show
that a shortcut
to a file is present on the desktop. This shortcut may be to previously
selected and
captured web content. By activating that content, such as by clicking on the
shortcut to
the content, the content is displayed (Fig. 47). That content can be moved
relative to the
other web content displayed on the desktop by the user.
Various methods readily available to one of ordinary skill in the art of
software
programming can be used to select an item from a web page for display. One
method that
can be used is through dynamic HTML, or DHTML. DHTML is a collection of
technologies used together to create interactive and animated web sites by
using a
combination of a static markup language (such as HTML), a client-side
scripting
language (such as JavaScript), a presentation definition language (such as
CSS), and the
Document Object Model. DHTML allows scripting languages to change variables in
a
web page's definition language, which in turn affects the look and function of
otherwise
"static" HTML page content, after the page has been fully loaded and during
the viewing
process. Thus the dynamic characteristic of DHTML is the way it functions
while a page
is viewed, not in its ability to generate a unique page with each page load.
The DHTML
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can be used to determine the area of the webpage display being selected and
then
additional programming can be used to differentiate the selected are from the
area of
webpage display outside of the selected area. Numerous webpages provide
example of
the code used to select and capture web content.
While several particular forms of the invention have been illustrated and
described, it will be apparent that various modifications and combinations of
the
invention detailed in the text and drawings can be made without departing from
the spirit
and scope of the invention. For example, references to materials of
construction,
methods of construction, specific dimensions, shapes, utilities or
applications are also not
intended to be limiting in any manner and other materials and dimensions could
be
substituted and remain within the spirit and scope of the invention.
Accordingly, it is not
intended that the invention be limited, except as by the appended claims.
