Patent Application
20080177724
1. Field
The disclosed embodiments generally relate to displaying a document, and in particular to displaying a ranking of links in the document.
2. Brief Description of Related Developments
A document, when displayed, may include a number of associated links that refer to other locations in the document or to other documents. Currently, there is no displayed or visual indicator of the ranking of links in a document, for example, it may not be possible to see which links are most popular, or what choices, selections, or further navigation others may have made when visiting or viewing the document.
It would be advantageous to indicate a ranking of the links in the document when displayed for viewing.
In one embodiment, a method includes requesting a document for display on a computing device, identifying links within the document, assigning a rank to the links, and displaying at least a subset of the assigned ranks within the document.
In another embodiment, an apparatus includes a browser for requesting a document for display on a computing device, a processor configured to identifying links within the document and assigning a rank to the links, and a display for displaying at least a subset of the assigned ranks within the document.
The foregoing aspects and other features of the presently disclosed embodiments are explained in the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
The disclosed embodiments generally allow a user 105 of a computing device 110 to view a document 115. Links 120 that may be present in the document 115 are indicated with a ranking or visual indicator of the ranking 125. Typically, a user will request a document. The disclosed embodiments include examining the requested document for links that may be present. The links are analyzed and a ranking is assigned and the ranking indicator and link can be displayed within the document. The ranking may be indicated with any suitable visualization, for example, numbers, letters, images, or any recognizable symbol. The indicator can be any desired font, color, size and can be formatted to present in an active fashion, such as blinking, varying shape or sound, or even produce an audio effect. In alternate embodiments any suitable visual, audio or audiovisual effect can be used as an indicator. In one embodiment, only a subset of the links, for example, the top ten, may be indicated. The indicated rank may be displayed within document, for example, proximate the associated link. Generally the display of the document may be unaffected, with the ranking indicators superimposed on the document. Thus, the disclosed embodiments provide additional information about the document being viewed, provide assistance to a user who may desire advice regarding where to navigate, and may provide information about the behavior of others who have viewed the document. The term “rank” as used herein is generally intended to reference a priority or importance assigned to a link or webpage. This can include for example, a manually assigned ranking or an automatically generated ranking. Rankings can be based on any number of factors including for example, the number of times a link is accessed or page visited.
While the disclosed embodiments are described herein with reference to a “document” it should be understood that for purposes of the disclosed embodiments, a document may include information from a web site or a “web page,” an HTML or XML document, a text document, spreadsheet, graphics presentation, powerpoint presentation, PDF document, multimedia file, or any other suitable information presentation format that may include at least one link. Documents may be stored locally within computing device 110 or may be stored remotely. A link may include a reference or path to a location within a document or to another document. A link may include hypertext as is known in the art.
In alternate embodiments, the disclosed embodiments relate to any machine that is capable of displaying a document, for example a reader or browser. In one embodiment, a browser 130 is used to request information from a network 135, such as for example, the Internet. The information can comprise any suitable information that might be stored or found, such as for example, a document or file. The information, which will generally be referred to as a document herein, may include any information that might be made available, on for example, the Internet or World Wide Web, and may include text, images, graphics, photographs, video or other multimedia information. A reader can read and deliver documents from environments other than including the Internet or the World Wide Web.
Referring again to
The term “browser” or “browsing” is used in a known sense herein, to generally mean or refer to software that allows a user to move within a document, from one document to another, from one web page or web site to another, and further allows documents to be displayed, including those from the World Wide Web and the Internet. The term “browser plug-in” is generally used to refer to one or more programs that can be installed to add one or more features or functions to a browser, such as for example, a Web browser. Although the terms “browser” and “browser plug-in” are used herein, the scope of the disclosed embodiments are not intended to be limited by the use of such terms, and in alternate embodiments, any suitable program(s), device(s) or systems that provide the capability to view and retrieve documents and web pages, and add features to such programs or systems, may be used. For purposes of the disclosed embodiments, the term browser will also refer to a browser plug-in.
The user 105 may instruct or request that the browser 130 download data or information, for example from a computer 140 through the network 135. The information may commonly be in the form a document, file or web page of a web site. The form of the data, files or information that can be obtained, retrieved or downloaded is not to be considered limiting as to the scope of the disclosed embodiments. In alternate embodiments, the user 105 may utilize any suitable system or devices to download information and data locally or from the network 135.
As the document 115 is rendered to the browser's user interface, which in the example of
Ranking of links may be accomplished using various methods. For example, links may be categorized by the number of times the link has been activated or the corresponding document has been accessed. Links may also be categorized by ratings provided by users. For example, upon viewing a document, a user may provide a rating of the document's content. Links may then be ranked, or categorized in order, based on their respective ratings. Any other suitable ranking may be used. Ranking data related to a links ratings may be stored with the individual document associated with the link or may stored in a remote repository. For example, ranking data may be stored in computer 140. In one or more embodiments, only a subset of the rankings of the links on a document may be indicated. For example, only the link with the highest ranking may be indicated. As another example, only the links with the top most rankings, such as the top five, may be indicated. As a further example, only the link with the lowest ranking may be indicated. As can be seen, any desirable scheme for indicating ranks of the links in a document may be utilized.
As mentioned above, a document being displayed may include one or more links. Computing device 110 is generally equipped to recognize the links and to display a ranking or a visual indicator related to the rankings associated with the links. Computing device 110 may have routines included in the machine readable program source in data storage 225 for performing the functions described herein. In addition, computing device 110 may utilize circuitry 130 either alone or in combination with the routines to perform the functions embodied herein.
Computing device 110 may be able to retrieve data related to ratings or rankings for each of the links from data storage 225 or from a remote storage location. Computing device 110 may have calculation or calculator routines included in the machine readable program source in data storage 225 for calculating rankings from the ranking data, or may simply retrieve the rankings themselves. Alternately, computing device 110 may utilize circuitry 230 as a calculator, or a combination of routines and circuitry 230 for identifying links and determining their rankings. When link rankings have been retrieved or determined, computing device 110 may provide them as overlays on the document 115 (
As mentioned above, the rankings may be indicated within the document 310. In the embodiments shown in
The mobile communications device 700 may also include other suitable features such as, for example, a camera, loud speaker, connectivity port or tactile feedback features. The mobile communications device 700 may have a processor 718 for coordinating the operations of the mobile communications device and for processing user inputs and displaying information on the display 720. A memory 702 may be connected to the processor 718 for storing machine readable program source code adapted to cause device 700 to perform the operations and methods disclosed herein. Memory 702 may also store any suitable information, applications, or programs associated with the mobile communications device 700 such as phone book entries, calendar entries, a web browser, an e-mail client, etc.
Similar to the operations of computing device 110 above, mobile communications device 700 may be equipped to retrieve and display one or more documents, either from a local memory, such as memory 702, or from a remote location. Mobile communications device 700 may be configured to recognize links within the one or more documents, compute a ranking as described herein and provide the document with the ranking indicators to display 720.
Another system suitable for practicing the disclosed embodiments may be embodied as a PDA style device 700′ illustrated in
For voice communication, a microphone 906 is coupled to the processor 918 via voltage regulators 921 that transform the user's speech into analog signals. The analog signals converted to digital signals by an A/D converter (not shown) which are then encoded by the digital signal processor 917 in the processor 918. The encoded speech signal is transferred to the processor 918, which e.g. supports, for example, GSM terminal software. The encoded signals are then transmitted to another device by transmitter/receiver circuit 919. Encoded signals from another device are received by transmitter/receiver circuit 919. Digital signal-processing unit 917 speech-decodes the received signals, which are transferred from the processor 918 to the speaker 905 via a D/A converter (not shown). The speaker then reproduces the sounds from the received signals.
The voltage regulators 921 form the interface for the speaker 905, the microphone 906, the LED drivers 901 (for the LEDS backlighting the keypad 907 and the display 903), the SIM card 922, battery 924, the bottom connector 927, the DC jack 931 (for connecting to the charger 933) and the audio amplifier 932 that drives the (hands-free) loudspeaker 925.
The processor 918 may also include or connect to memory 902 for storing any suitable information and/or applications associated with the mobile communications device 700, 700′ such as phone book entries, calendar entries, etc.
The processor 918 also forms the interface for peripheral units of the device, such as for example, a (Flash) ROM memory 916, the graphical display 903, the keypad 907, a ringing tone selection unit 926, and an incoming call detection unit 928. In alternate embodiments, any suitable peripheral units for the device 700, 700′ can be included.
The software in the RAM 915 and/or in the flash ROM 916 includes instructions for the processor 918 to perform a plurality of different applications and functions. In particular, the applications and functions may include the embodiments disclosed herein, including recognizing when a document includes links, retrieving information related to the rankings of the links, computing the rankings where required, and displaying the rankings.
Mobile terminals 1050, 1006 may be similar to and have the same capabilities as mobile terminals 700, 700′ described above. The mobile terminals 1050, 1006 may be connected to a mobile telecommunications network 1010 through radio frequency (RF) links 1002, 1008 via base stations 1004, 1009. The mobile telecommunications network 1010 may be in compliance with any commercially available mobile telecommunications standard such as, for example, GSM, UMTS, D-AMPS, CDMA2000, FOMA and TD-SCDMA or other such suitable communication standard or protocol.
The mobile telecommunications network 1010 may be operatively connected to a wide area network 1020, which may be the Internet or a part thereof. An Internet server 1022 has data storage 1024 and can be connected to the wide area network 1020, as is for example, an Internet client computer 1026. The server 1022 may host a www/wap server capable of serving www/wap content to the mobile terminals 1050, 1006. In alternate embodiments, the server 1022 can host any suitable transaction oriented protocol. For example, a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 1030 may be connected to the mobile telecommunications network 1010 in a familiar manner. Various telephone terminals, including the stationary telephone 1032, may be connected to the PSTN 1030.
The mobile terminal 1050 may also be capable of communicating locally via a local link 1001 to one or more local devices 1003. The local link 1001 may be any suitable type of link with a limited range, such as for example Bluetooth, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) link, a wireless Universal Serial Bus (WUSB) link, an IEEE 802.11 wireless local area network (WLAN) link, an RS-232 serial link, etc. The local devices 1003 can, for example, be various sensors that can communicate measurement values to the mobile terminal 1000 over the local link 1001. The above examples are not intended to be limiting, and any suitable type of link may be utilized. The local devices 1003 may be antennas and supporting equipment forming a WLAN implementing Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX, IEEE 802.16), WiFi (IEEE 802.11x) or other communication protocols. The WLAN may be connected to the internet. The mobile terminal 1050 may thus have multi-radio capability for connecting wirelessly using mobile communications network 1010, WLAN or both. Communication with the mobile telecommunications network 1010 may also be implemented using WiFi, WiMax, or any other suitable protocols, and such communication may utilize unlicensed portions of the radio spectrum (e.g. unlicensed mobile access (UMA)).
As implemented in any of mobile terminals 1050, 1006, or Internet client 1026, the present embodiments include the capability of recognizing links within a document, retrieving information related to the rankings of the links, computing the rankings where required, and displaying the rankings. It should be noted that when implemented in a network system such as system 1000, links within a document may refer to locations within the document, other documents stored locally within for example, mobile terminals 1050, 1006, Internet client 1026.
Alternately, the documents may be stored remotely from the implementing device, for example in data storage 1024 connected to Internet server 1022. As such, the documents may be accessed by any number of devices for presentation. It should be understood that the documents may be stored and retrieved from any accessible location in communication system 1000.
The disclosed embodiments may also include software and computer programs incorporating the process steps and instructions described above that are executed in different computers.
Computers 1102 and 1104 are generally adapted to utilize program storage devices embodying machine readable program source code which is adapted to cause the computers 1102 and 1104 to perform the method steps disclosed herein. The program storage devices incorporating aspects of the disclosed embodiments may be devised, made and used as a component of a machine utilizing optics, magnetic properties and/or electronics to perform the procedures and methods disclosed herein. In alternate embodiments, the program storage devices may include magnetic media such as a diskette or computer hard drive, which is readable and executable by a computer. In other alternate embodiments, the program storage devices could include optical disks, read-only-memory (“ROM”) floppy disks and semiconductor materials and chips.
Computer systems 1102 and 1104 may also include a microprocessor for executing stored programs. Computer 1102 may include a data storage device 1108 on its program storage device for the storage of information and data. The computer program or software incorporating the processes and methods incorporating aspects of the disclosed embodiments may be stored in one or more computers 1102 and 1104 on an otherwise conventional program storage device. In one embodiment, computers 1102 and 1104 may include a user interface 1110, and a display interface 1112 from which aspects of the disclosed embodiments may be accessed. The user interface 1110 and the display interface 1112 can be adapted to allow the input of queries and commands to the system, as well as present the results of the commands and queries.
The disclosed embodiments generally provide a user with the ability to view links within a document and a ranking associated with at least some of the links. This provides additional information about the document and provides the information conveniently within the document. The rankings may aid the user in navigating further and also provide an understanding what links others may have valuable or perhaps not so valuable.
It should be understood that the foregoing description is only illustrative of the present embodiments. Various alternatives and modifications can be devised by those skilled in the art without departing from the embodiments disclosed herein. Accordingly, the embodiments are intended to embrace all such alternatives, modifications and variances which fall within the scope of the appended claims.
