System and Method for Visual History Presentation and Management
A method and computer program for managing and presenting a visual history of web pages accessed by a user. This method and computer program is able to create a screen of thumbnail snapshots of web pages for presentation to a user. These thumbnail snapshots are reduced images of the actual web pages themselves that the user has visited. Associated with each thumbnail snapshot is a universal resource locator for the web page. The history of the web pages visited may be displayed in a toolbar which is scrollable.
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This application is a continuation of 09/708,093, filed on Nov. 8, 2000, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR VISUAL HISTORY PRESENTATION AND MANAGEMENT,” which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/607,276, filed on Jun. 30, 2000, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR STORING BOOKMARKS AND HISTORY INFORMATION SPATIALLY ON A DISPLAY.”
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONSThis application is related to co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/607,369 filed on Jun. 30, 2000, entitled “USER INTERFACE CONSTRUCTED FROM COMPONENTS CREATED FROM A SET OF TAGS” co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/609,581 filed on Jun. 30, 2000, entitled “NETWORK WITH MOBILE TERMINALS HAVING WIRELESS ACCESS TO THE INTERNET AND METHOD FOR DOING SAME”, co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/659,416 filed on Jun. 30, 2000, entitled “INTELLIGENT TERMINAL FUNCTIONING AS BROWSER”, and co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. filed on entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR VISUAL BOOKMARK PRESENTATION AND MANAGEMENT” all assigned to and commonly owned by Nokia Corporation of Espoo, Finland and are herein incorporated by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThe invention relates to a system and method for visual history presentation and management. More particularly, the invention is a system and method in which compressed snapshots of web pages may be displayed on a screen to indicate the web sites a user has most recently visited.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONWith the explosion in Internet access and usage individuals have discovered that they may now receive a large amount of information in their homes and offices almost immediately from any number of sources. These sources include everything from the latest news, weather, and sports to stocks, bond and commodity prices. Currently, a typical Internet user would have a browser installed in his local computer or server such as Internet Explorer™ or Netscape™ . Using this browser, the user would access an Internet service provider (ISP), such as America-On-Line (AOL™), via a modem over the local public switched telephone network (PSTN). Once logged onto the Internet server, the user may utilize one of the many search engines, such as Yahoo™ or Lycos™ , to specify search terms. The user may also use a web crawler, spider or robot to attempt to find a product, service or information desired. The search engine or web crawler would then respond with a list of web sites which matched the search terms the user provided. The user would then log onto a web site and view the products or services available for sale or receive the information desired. Further, if the user discovers a web site he prefers, the user may store the universal resource locator (URL) in a favorites' directory for later quick access. This storage of the URL in a favorites' directory is often referred to as bookmarking the entry and the entry is then referred to as a bookmark. In addition to bookmarks, the browser may keep in a history of the web pages visited by storing each URL accessed. Thereafter, the user may revisit the web page by accessing the favorites' directory and searching for a title for the web page associated with a URL. However, once some number of bookmarks has been accumulated, the user may find it difficult to identify the bookmark desired based on the title alone. Further, in some instances the designers of the web page may not necessarily create a title for a web page as in the case of purely graphic web pages. Therefore, the user may be forced to try and recognize the bookmark using solely the URL. The user under the circumstances would find it frustrating to look through a large number of bookmarks by title and URL to identify the web page desired. In addition, the user may often need to access several web pages before discovering the bookmark associated with the desired web page. This also applies to the history file. A user or system administrator would often have to access the web site to determine the nature of the content therein.
To overcome this problem of inadequate description of bookmarks Nielsen in U.S. Pat. No. 5,963,964, issued on Oct. 5, 1999, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference, proposes substituting a thumbnail snapshot of the web page itself for the title or the URL used as a bookmark. However, in the case of a history file, it is still necessary to open the file and access the history by time period.
Therefore, what is needed are a system and method in which a history of web pages accessed may be organized for presentation as web pages so that they may be easily discovered and accessed by a user. The system and method should further present to the user the history of web page access as thumbnail snapshots. Further, this system and method should display these thumbnail snapshots to the user in such a fashion that the user may identify the web page of interest and access it quickly.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONAn embodiment of the present invention provides for a method or computer program for presenting and managing bookmarks. This method begins by having the user enter the name of a map. This map represents a screen layout having several thumbnail snapshots contained in the screen. The user then selects a web page to be stored as a bookmark. The web page is reduced in size to that of a thumbnail snapshot. The user then positions the thumbnail snapshot on the map. Thereafter, the thumbnail snapshot is stored with the map in a bookmark database.
These and other features of this device, method and computer program will become more apparent from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings which show, for purposes of illustration only, examples in accordance with the present invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSThe foregoing and a better understanding of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments and the claims when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, all forming a part of the disclosure of this invention. While the foregoing and following written and illustrated disclosure focuses on disclosing example embodiments of the invention, it should be understood that the same is by way of illustration and example only and the invention is not limited thereto. The spirit and scope of the present invention are limited only by the terms of the appended claims.
The following represents brief descriptions of the drawings, wherein:
Before beginning a detailed description of the subject invention, mention of the following is in order. When appropriate, like reference numerals and characters maybe used to designate identical, corresponding or similar components in differing figure drawings. Further, in the detailed description to follow, exemplary sizes/models/values/ranges may be given, although the present invention is not limited to the same.
The terminal 20 using communications lines 30 connects to an access point 22 coupled to an Internet Service Provider (ISP) 24 through communications lines 32, which is coupled to an Internet 26. Again, communications lines 32 may take the form of any radio frequency based communications or any line or cable based communications system. Since the access point 22 is coupled to the Internet 26 it has an Internet address relative to the Internet address of the ISP 24. Additionally, in an example embodiment, the ISP 24 is coupled to a server 28 that provides the user, through the terminal 20, with specific services and features, which will be discussed in detail ahead. In another example embodiment, the server 28 is coupled directly to the Internet 26 and, hence, the terminal 20 would access the server 28 through the Internet 26.
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Although the example embodiment shows the terminal 20 coupled to the server 28 through the ISP 24, the scope of the present invention, as set forth in the claims, is not limited thereby. For example, the terminal 20 may be coupled directly to the server 28 through the access point 22. Regardless of how the terminal 20 is coupled to the server 28, once the terminal 20 is authenticated, as will be discussed ahead, it can function as an Internet browser to access the Internet 26 with the additional ability to retrieve services and information from the server 28. Furthermore, in the example embodiments set forth herein, the ISP 24 is separate from and not acting as the server 28 and vice versa, even though it is possible to combine them into one unit.
As would be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art and as previously discussed, even though the example embodiments show the access point 22 coupled to the ISP 24 through a communications line 32, the scope of the present invention as set forth in the claims is not limited thereby. For example, the access point 22 can be wirelessly by any means of radio frequency communications or by any wire or cable based communications system coupled to the ISP 24. Thus, in the example embodiments, the terminal 20 accesses the ISP 24 through the access point 22 and, thus, the user can access, navigate through, and retrieve information from the Internet 26 using the terminal 20.
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Generally if the terminal 20 is powered on and authenticated by the server 28, then information or services from the server 28 are downloaded to the terminal 20. The server 28 downloads information, such as profile settings for a group. One profile setting that can be downloaded is language preferences for a shared communication session. Other information or services may include configuration data, driver or application related software or portions thereof, partial sections of system software, or configurable parameters depending on the level of authentication that has occurred with respect to the user. Additionally, the terminal 20 can have access through proper authentication and service purchases, third party publications available from a content provider or vendor 33. This content may include items such as national or international news, related information found in magazine publications or the daily newspaper. As would be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art this information may be purchased by the user and then transmitted by the vendor 33 upon request of the user's group at the server 28 and then to all terminals within the group of the terminal 20; alternatively, the information could be purchased by an operator/owner of the services provided by the terminal 28 and then resold to each group as requested. Thus, a group profile can also include access to the information services of the vendor 33 that can be made available to the group or just the user, depending on the authentication.
There are two levels of authentication that provide access to the services and information of the server 28. The first is at the group level and the second is at the individual level. The group level is a level of authentication that occurs based on the identity of the terminal 20 in order to initiate a shared session. In order to create a group, at least one terminal is needed, but typically there are several terminals 20 that make up a group, and each terminal 20 has a unique identity that allows that terminal access to a shared session at the group level. Furthermore, each group includes a specific group profile and this group profile is downloaded during a shared session from the server 28. Thus, anyone having access to the terminal 20 would have access to the group level information and services, such as calendar functions, e-mail, bookmarks, cookies, and e-publication, all of which are set up for the group. As will be discussed ahead, these same services may be available to the user at the individual level, but the content of the information would vary. The server 28 includes storage capacity for storing data related to the group in a group specific storage unit that can be accessed and used by all terminals within the group once the terminal has been authenticated and the shared session initiated.
In an example embodiment, the group level authentication is based on the identity of the hardware of the terminal 20 and the authentication occurs automatically to initiate the shared session once the terminal 20 is powered on. Even though the authentication at the group level occurs automatically, the scope of the invention as set forth in the claims is not limited thereby. For example, the terminal 20 could request input from the user in order to initiate the group level authentication process. Once the terminal 20 is authorized to access the services, then each user of a terminal 20 is able to access information and services that are available to all users in the group as well as initiate an individual communication session to access individual information and services available only to that user, provided the user has a profile associated with group and associated with the terminal that has established the shared session that is in progress.
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As indicated above, anyone having access to the terminal 20 would have access to the group level information and services, because authentication is based on the terminal 20 and occurs automatically and the shared session is always active when the terminal 20 is powered on. Even though any user of the terminal 20 can have access to information and services at the group level, only a designated user can change the group or take actions on behalf of the group. In an example embodiment, one or two users within the group are typically designated to have administrative rights for the group. The user/users with administrative rights are called a group administrator. The group administrator has the right to alter group profiles and the information related to the group administrator is stored in the server 28 and administration access can be authenticated by a password. The group administrator, once authenticated, can alter the group profile settings, add or delete terminal profiles form the group profile, and add or delete user profiles form the group profile.
One group setting that the group administrator can select is the language setting for the shared sessions. However, each user can select his or her own language preference for the individual sessions. For example, in a multilingual group, the group language can be one specific language, while the language for each user may be different during the individual session for that user. Then depending on the session type, which is either family or individual, the terminal 20 will show text in the selected language, which is established in the group or individual profile, respectively.
Additionally, the group administrator can have access to purchasing services that may require the ordering party to be of legal age for the purpose of ordering or purchasing additional services, such as news or publication services. Thus, while all users of the terminal would have access to group level services, such as access to the Internet 26, they would not be able to make administrative decision, unless they were authenticated as the group administrator. Accordingly, the group is protected from unauthorized or unwanted alteration of group profile as well as financial commitments from occurring at the group level from the terminal 20, especially given that the identity of the user of the terminal 20 is not unknown at the group level yet that user has access to the server 28 as well as the Internet 26 through the terminal 20 coupled to the ISP 24.
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Using the Internet address of the global address server 36, the terminal 20 is coupled to the global address server 36 and sends a request in order to obtain the Internet address of the server 28. Once the terminal 20 has the Internet address of its server 20, it is then connected to the server 28. The server 28 authenticates, using the unique identity of the processor 78 of the terminal 20, that the terminal 20 has shared or group access privileges. Accordingly, the terminal 20 is authenticated and logged onto the server 28 to begin a shared session at a shared or group level. Thus, the user can now access services or retrieve information from the server 28 or the Internet 26. In order for the user to initiate an individual session and retrieve individual information, the user must use the terminal 20 and provide further authentication to the server 28 to gain access at the individual level. Then each terminal includes a unique identification and which is reserved and used by members belonging to the same group. Each of the unique identifications of the terminals is recognized in the server 28 to be used by the members of the group. Every member belonging to the respective group may use the same terminal. When one or more terminals, each of the terminals having a unique terminal identification, is switched on, then each terminal belonging to the same group requests from the global address server 36 with terminal unique identification the address of the server 28 in which the applications and services are stored and ready for use. Then each of the terminals belonging to the same group will get address of the same server 28 into which each of the terminals are connected. As would be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, either at shared/group or at individual level, the user is able to the retrieve the information related to the group of users as well as browse the Internet 26 to retrieve information.
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Before entering into a discussion of the remaining figures it should be noted that the flowcharts shown in
However, if the terminal 20 is powered on, then the terminal 20 establishes a connection to the access point 22 and, hence, to an ISP 24 and a global address server 36. Thereafter, in operation 408, the terminal obtains the Internet address of its server from the global address server 36.
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Processing then proceeds to operation 418, in the individual session the user retrieves information and uses the individual level services provided by the server. In operation 420, it is determined if the user wants to terminate the individual session and return to the shared level. If it is determined that the user does not want to terminate the individual session, then the user continues the individual session at the individual level and the process returns to operation 418. However, if it is determined that the user wants to terminate the individual session, then at operation 422, the individual session is terminated and the user goes from the individual level to the shared or group level. Thereafter in operation 424, it is determined if the terminal 20 is still powered on. If the terminal is powered on, then the process returns to operation 412 with the user at the shared or group level in a shared/group session. However, if the terminal is turned off, then the shared session is also terminated that the terminal 20 is logged off of the server 28 and the process ends in operation 426.
Therefore, once the server authenticates the terminal 20, then a shared session begins at the shared/group level. Once the user is recognized as an individual user, then an individual session is initiated. Consequently, an individual session remains in effect until the user explicitly terminates the individual session, whereas a shared/group session remains in effect until the terminal is turned off. Additionally, during a shared session when a predetermined period of time expires without any input from the user, then the terminal 20 can enter standby mode in order to conserve battery life until the terminal 20 (in the case of a mobile terminal) receives an input from the user. Other features can be included, such as termination of the individual session if no input is received from the user after a predetermined period of time.
The processing illustrated in
However, if the user accesses a web page then processing proceeds to operation 620.
In operation 620, it is determined if the web page accessed is different from the last entry in the history. This is done in order to a sure that duplicate thumbnail snapshots of the same web page without the year in toolbar 73 or display 70. If the web page is the same as the last entry in the history then processing loops back to operation 620 until the change in web pages occurs. Again, this prevents multiple identical entries of a web page from being placed in toolbar 73 or display 70. However, if the user has accessed a new web page previously not stored in the history then processing proceeds to operation 625. In operation 625 the web page is accessed and reduced in size to a thumbnail snapshot. This thumbnail snapshot appears in the lower left-hand corner of display 70 or toolbar 73 for the user to view. Thereafter, in operation 635 the remaining thumbnail snapshots are moved to the right as shown in toolbar 73 and display 70 in
Therefore, a history of web sites accessed is maintained and visually presented to the user. This history would be depicted as either in the form of a toolbar 73 which the user could manipulate to access and entire history or simply as a portion of a display 70.
The benefit provided by the example embodiments of the present invention is that the user may revisit desired web pages by viewing thumbnail snapshots. The most recent thumbnail snapshots of web sites accessed are displayed for the user and may be quickly selected for reviewing.
While we have shown and described only a few examples herein, it is understood that numerous changes and modifications as known to those skilled in the art could be made to the present invention. For example, the layout of a screen may vary based upon individual needs. Further, example embodiments of the present invention may be incorporated into any browser for accessing a history. Still further, the positioning a history on a screen may be done by the user or performed by an automatic function based on alphabetical order or date of access to the web site. Therefore, we do not wish to be limited to the details shown and described herein, but intend to cover all such changes modifications as are encompassed by the scope of the appended claims.
Claims
1. A method comprising:
- accessing a web page;
- reducing the size of the accessed web page to a thumbnail snapshot;
- comparing the accessed web page content to a previously accessed web page content; and
- displaying the thumbnail snapshot of the accessed web page in an area of a screen if the accessed web page content and the previously accessed web page content are not the same, wherein the thumbnail snapshot provides one or more options that, when selected, store the thumbnail snapshot as a bookmark.
2. The method recited in claim 1, wherein prior to the reducing the size of the accessed web page to a thumbnail snapshot, further comprising:
- checking a history file to determine if the accessed web page is in the history file; and
- reducing the size of the web page only when the accessed web page is not in the history file.
3. The method recited in claim 2, wherein the thumbnail snapshot is displayed to in a toolbar.
4. The method recited in claim 3, wherein the toolbar is able to scroll and display a plurality of thumbnail snapshots from the most recent to the least recent.
5. The method recited in claim 1, further comprising:
- displaying one or more thumbnail snapshots of bookmarked web pages in a second area of the screen.
6. A computer program embodied on a computer readable medium and executable by a computer, that, when executed performs, a method comprising:
- accessing a web page;
- reducing the size of the accessed web page to a thumbnail snapshot;
- comparing the accessed web page content to a previously accessed web page content; and
- displaying the thumbnail snapshot of the accessed web page in an area of a screen containing history information only if the accessed web page content and the previously accessed web page content are not the same.
7. The computer program recited in claim 6, wherein prior to the reducing the size of the accessed web page to a thumbnail snapshot, further comprising:
- checking a history file to determine if the accessed web page is in the history file; and
- reducing the size of the accessed web page only when the web page is not in the history file.
8. The computer program recited in claim 7, wherein the thumbnail snapshot is displayed in a toolbar.
9. The computer program recited in claim 8, wherein the toolbar is able to scroll and display a plurality of thumbnail snapshots from the most recent to the least recent.
10. The computer program recited in claim 6, further comprising:
- displaying one or more thumbnail snapshots of bookmarked web pages in a second area of the screen.
11. The method of claim 1, wherein the area of a screen containing only history information displays a plurality of thumbnail snapshots of previously accessed web pages simultaneously.
12. The method recited in claim 1, wherein the screen is embodied in a cellular phone or a personal digital assistant.
13. The method recited in claim 5, wherein the screen is embodied in a cellular phone the thumbnail snapshots of the bookmarked web pages being arranged in a polar spatial organizational scheme.
14. The computer program recited in claim 6, wherein the screen is embodied in a cellular phone or a personal digital assistant.
15. The computer program recited in claim 10, wherein the thumbnail snapshots of the bookmarked web pages are arranged in a polar spatial organizational scheme.
16. A terminal, comprising:
- a processor;
- a screen; and
- a computer program embodied on a computer readable medium and executable by the processor for presenting and managing a history of web pages accessed, when executed performing a method comprising: accessing a web page; reducing the size of the accessed web page to a thumbnail snapshot; comparing the accessed web page content to a previously accessed web page content; and displaying the thumbnail snapshot of the accessed web page in an area of the screen containing history information only if the accessed web page content and the previously accessed web page content are not the same.
17. The terminal recited in claim 16, wherein, when executed, the computer program, prior to the reducing the size of the accessed web page to a thumbnail snapshot, further performs:
- checking a history file to determine if the accessed web page is in the history file; and
- reducing the size of the accessed web page only when the web page is not in the history file.
18. The terminal recited in claim 16, wherein the thumbnail snapshot is displayed in a toolbar.
19. The terminal recited in claim 18, wherein the toolbar is able to scroll and display a plurality of thumbnail snapshots from the most recent to the least recent.
20. The terminal recited in claim 16, wherein, when executed, the computer program further performs:
- displaying one or more thumbnail snapshots of bookmarked web pages in a second area of the screen.
21. The terminal recited in claim 16, wherein the area of a screen containing only history information displays a plurality of thumbnail snapshots of previously accessed web pages simultaneously.
22. The terminal recited in claim 16, wherein the terminal is a cellular phone or a personal digital assistant.
23. The terminal recited in claim 20, wherein the thumbnail snapshots of the bookmarked web pages are arranged in a polar spatial organizational scheme.
24. A terminal comprising:
- means for accessing a web page;
- means for reducing the size of the accessed web page to a thumbnail snapshot;
- means for comparing the accessed web page content to a previously accessed web page content; and
- means for displaying the thumbnail snapshot of the accessed web page in an area of a screen if the accessed web page content and the previously accessed web page content are not the same, wherein the thumbnail snapshot provides one or more options that, when selected, store the thumbnail snapshot as a bookmark.
25. The terminal of claim 24, further comprising means for:
- checking a history file to determine if the accessed web page is in the history file prior to the reducing the size of the accessed web page to a thumbnail snapshot; and
- reducing the size of the web page only when the accessed web page is not in the history file prior to the reducing the size of the accessed web page to t thumbnail snapshot.
26. The terminal of claim 24, wherein the thumbnail snapshot is displayed to a toolbar.
27. The terminal of claim 26, wherein the toolbar is configured to scroll and display a plurality of thumbnail snapshots from the most recent to the least recent.
28. The terminal of claim 24, further comprising:
- means for displaying one or more thumbnail snapshots of bookmarked web pages in a second area of the screen.
Type: Application
Filed: Jun 25, 2007
Publication Date: Oct 11, 2007
Applicant: NOKIA CORPORATION (Espoo)
Inventors: Arto Astala (Vantaa), Charlotta Willstedt (Linkoping), Marcus Davidsson (Linkoping)
Application Number: 11/767,884
International Classification: G06F 3/048 (20060101);