Claims
- 1. A computer readable medium which includes computer executable instructions, comprising:
a service component for holding one or more service modules that assist a user by providing services that are contextually relevant to content on a user's browser on the user's computer system; a data component for holding data related to one or more service modules; a tracking component for tracking the location identifier of a page on a browser and for communicating page data to a remote computer system; and a receiving component for receiving data or instructions from the remote computer system responsive to the page data.
- 2. The medium of claim 1 further including code for providing a user interface that is coupable to the browser, the user interface being capable of receiving user input and sending the user input to a remote computer system and/or displaying information received from a remote computer system.
- 3. The medium of claim 1 wherein the service component includes one or more of a form filling service, a transaction tracking service, and a comparison shopping service.
- 4. The medium of claim 1 wherein the service component includes code for two or more of a form filling service; a transaction tracking service; and a comparison shopping service.
- 5. The medium of claim 1 wherein code for a proxy object is included on the medium, the proxy object being adapted to facilitate communication between the browser companion agent and a browser associated with a computer system on which the service modules are executed.
- 6. A browser companion agent stored on a computer medium, the agent being coupable to a browser on a user's computer system and a remote computer system, the agent comprising:
a user interface including means for display of information related to one or more associated service modules that assist a user by providing services that are contextually relevant to content on a browser on the user's computer system; a code component for holding executable code related to a service module, the code being receivable from a remote computer system; and a data component for holding data received from a remote computer system, the data being used by a service module to present information to the user interface for display to a user; and a tracking component for tracking the domain of a page presented on the browser and communicating the domain to a remote computer system so that the remote computer system may determine code and/or data to send to the code component and/or data component.
- 7. The agent of claim 6 wherein the user interface further includes a user input area for accepting input from a user for transmission to a remote computer system.
- 8. The agent of claim 6 wherein the code component includes one or more of a form-filling service module, a transaction tracking module and a comparison shopping module.
- 9. The agent of claim 8 wherein the code component includes at least two of the modules.
- 10. The agent of claim 6 wherein the browser comprises a version of Internet Explorer and the browser companion agent comprises a browser helper object.
- 11. The agent of claim 6 wherein a service module comprises a COM object.
- 12. The agent of claim 6 wherein the services are invoked in a predetermined order based on assigned priorities.
- 13. The agent of claim 12 wherein the priority is assignable by the remote computer system.
- 14. The agent of claim 12 wherein the priority is set by one of the service modules.
- 15. The agent of claim 6 wherein the two or more services include common interfaces for sharing data or code in a data or code component.
- 16. The agent of claim 15 wherein two or more services share common data in a data component.
- 17. The agent of claim 6 wherein the data and code components are stored at a higher level accessible by two or more service modules in a global manner.
- 18. The agent of claim 6 wherein the browser companion agent only runs services that are authenticated by a security code.
- 19. The agent of claim 6 wherein predetermined types of data for each domain tracked by the browser companion agent in connection with a service are cached in the data object component, and the data are accessible by a plurality of service modules.
- 20. The agent of claim 19 wherein the data may be called by a service module if a user returns to a previously visited domain in the same session.
- 21. The agent of claim 19 wherein the agent includes code for determining when to cease persisting cached data in memory.
- 22. The agent of claim 6 wherein a proxy object is provided to facilitate communication between the browser companion agent and a main browser.
- 23. The agent of claim 6 wherein a proxy object is provided to facilitate communication between the browser companion agent and a remote computer system.
- 24. The agent of claim 22 wherein the proxy object also facilitates communication between the browser companion agent and a remote computer system.
- 25. The agent of claim 6 wherein the browser companion agent provides a storing mechanism for receiving and storing client-side scripting variables as name and value pairs so that as a user navigates content on a browser, the state of the variables is not lost.
- 26. A method for context personal browsing comprising:
providing a remote computer system, the remote computer system receiving data from a client computer system having a browser companion agent including one or more one associated service modules that assist a user of the client computer system by providing services that are contextually relevant to content on a browser on the client computer system, the data received bv the remote computer system being determined according to the content page present on a browser of the client computer system and/or the user associated with the client computer system; determining from the page data at least one set of data and/or executable code that corresponds to a service module associated with the browser companion agent; and sending the data or code to the browser companion agent for use by a service module.
- 27. The method of claim 26 wherein the service module is one or more of a form filling service, a transaction tracking service, and a comparison shopping service.
- 28. The method of claim 27 wherein the browser companion agent includes at least two of the service modules.
- 29. The method of claim 26 wherein the data or code sent to the browser companion agent is determined by parsing the page for elements matching elements in a database, the elements in the database corresponding to the code or data to send to the remote computer system.
- 30. The method of claim 26 wherein the data or code sent to the browser companion agent is determined by looking up in a database corresponding code or data to send to the remote computer system.
- 31. The method of claim 29 wherein the browser companion agent includes one or more of a form filling service module, a transaction tracking service module, and a comparison shopping service module.
- 32. The method of claim 29 wherein the browser companion agent includes at least two of the service modules.
- 33. The method of claim 30 wherein the browser companion includes one or more of a form filling service module, a transaction tracking service module, and a comparison shopping service module.
- 34. The method of claim 30 wherein the browser companion includes at least two of the service modules.
- 35. The method of claim 26 wherein a data and/or service module comprises a COM object.
- 36. The method of claim 26 wherein the browser comprises a version of Internet Explorer and the companion agent comprises a browser helper object.
- 37. The method of claim 26 wherein the data sent to the remote computer system comprises the location identifier for a page on the browser of the client computer system.
- 38. The method of claim 37 wherein the location identifier comprises a URL for the page.
- 39. The method of claim 26 wherein the data sent to the remote computer system comprises data about the content on the page on the browser of the client computer system.
- 40. The method of claim 26 wherein the data sent to the remote computer system comprises data about the structure of the page on the browser of the client computer system.
- 41. A method, comprising:
from a first computer system, sending a service module for context personalized browsing comprising executable code to a second computer system, the second computer system including a browser companion agent comprising a service component for holding one or more service modules, a service module comprising code relating to providing a user of the second computer system information relating to an actual or potential ecommerce transaction; a data component for holding data related to one or more service modules; a tracking component for tracking the domain of a page presented on a browser and communicating page domain data to a remote computer system; and a receiving component for receiving data from the remote computer systems responsive to the page domain data, the service module being installable in the service component of the second computer system, the service module being sent to the second computer system also being useful to a user considering an ecommerce transaction.
- 42. The method of claim 41 wherein the agent includes a user interface that is coupable to a browser, the user interface capable of receiving user input and sending the input to a remote computer system and/or displaying information received from a remote computer system.
- 43. The method of claim 41 wherein before receipt of the service module the service component holds one or more of a form filling service module, a transaction tracking service module, and a comparison shopping service module.
- 44. The method of claim 43 wherein the preexisting service is at least two of the service modules.
- 45. The method of claim 41 further comprising sending to the second computer system data or code for use in executing an installed data or service module, the data or code being determined by parsing a page present on the browser for elements matching elements in a database, the elements in the database corresponding to the code or data to send to the remote computer system.
- 46. The method of claim 45 wherein the data or code is determined by looking up in a database corresponding code or data to send to the remote computer system.
- 47. The method of claim 45 wherein the service is one or more of a form filling service, a transaction tracking service, and a comparison shopping service.
- 48. The method of claim 47 wherein the service is at least two of the services.
- 49. The method of claim 41 wherein the data and/or service modules comprises a COM object.
- 50. The method of claim 49 wherein the browser comprises a version of Internet Explorer and the companion agent comprises a browser helper object.
- 51. The method of claim 41 wherein the services are invoked in a predetermined order based on assigned priorities.
- 52. The method of claim 51 wherein the priority is assignable by the remote computer system.
- 53. The method of claim 51 wherein the priority is set by one of the services.
Parent Case Info
[0001] This invention claims the benefit of co-pending U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/227,558, entitled “Browser Companion Architecture”, filed Aug. 23, 2000, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference as if set forth in its entirety for all purposes.
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60227558 |
Aug 2000 |
US |