U.S. patent application number 11/290285 was filed with the patent office on 2006-05-04 for methods and apparatus for mouse-over preview of contextually relevant information.
Invention is credited to Clay A. Johnson, John Petropoulos.
Application Number | 20060095424 11/290285 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 27663749 |
Filed Date | 2006-05-04 |
United States Patent
Application |
20060095424 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Petropoulos; John ; et
al. |
May 4, 2006 |
Methods and apparatus for mouse-over preview of contextually
relevant information
Abstract
Challenges to the analysis of search results may be mitigated by
offering preview information when users navigate a
computer-pointing device over pre-designated areas of a search
result page. A separate icon in the pre-designated area enhances
the advantages by providing intuitive preview ability with seamless
and natural control over a variety of preview options, such as the
type of preview information and the manner in which it is
presented. In addition, while operating a preview-enabled search
result page, users' behavior provides data and attributes, which
may be re-incorporated into the searching algorithm to improve the
relevancy of search results.
Inventors: |
Petropoulos; John;
(Hopkington, MA) ; Johnson; Clay A.; (Arlington,
MA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
Stephen M. De Klerk;BLAKELY, SOKOLOFF, TAYLOR & ZAFMAN LLP
Seventh Floor
12400 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles
CA
90025
US
|
Family ID: |
27663749 |
Appl. No.: |
11/290285 |
Filed: |
November 29, 2005 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
09961465 |
Sep 24, 2001 |
|
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|
11290285 |
Nov 29, 2005 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 ;
707/999.003; 707/E17.082 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 3/0481 20130101;
G06F 16/338 20190101 |
Class at
Publication: |
707/003 |
International
Class: |
G06F 17/30 20060101
G06F017/30 |
Claims
1. In a system having a display device and user input mechanisms
including a pointer, a query result page comprising: a plurality of
results, each associated with an item in a data store of
information; a plurality of defined areas, each associated with at
least one such result; a first defined area arranged to intuitively
imply a relation with respect to a first result; a first data item
in said data store, referred by and associated with said first
result; at least one preview window associated with said result
page and displaying preview information regarding said first result
when said pointer navigates over said first defined area, wherein
said preview information comprises browser cognizable content.
2. The invention of claim 1, wherein said preview information
comprises an image of the actual web page referred by and
associated with said first result.
3. The invention of claim 1, wherein said first defined area is at
least partially co-located with a portion of said first result.
4. The invention of claim 1, wherein said first defined area is at
least partially co-located with a preview icon.
5. In a system having a display device and user input mechanisms
including a pointer, a query result page comprising: a plurality of
results, each associated with an item in a data store of
information; a plurality of defined areas, each associated with at
least one such result; a first defined area and a second defined
area arranged to intuitively imply a relation with respect to a
first result, wherein said first defined area and a second defined
area are both at least partially co-located with said first result;
a first data item in said data store, referred by and associated
with said first result; and at least a first preview window and a
second preview window associated with said result page, wherein
said first preview window displays first preview information
regarding said first result when said pointer navigates over said
first defined area, and wherein said second preview window displays
second preview information regarding said first result when said
pointer navigates over said second defined area, said second
preview information displayed being a different type of preview
information than said first preview information displayed when said
pointer navigates over said first defined area.
6. The invention of claim 5, wherein said first defined area is at
least partially co-located with a portion of said query result
pages, said portion including text or graphics and not including a
hyperlink.
7. In a system having a display device and user input mechanisms
including a pointer, a query result page comprising: a plurality of
results, each associated with an item in a data store of
information; a plurality of defined areas, each associated with at
least one such result; a first defined area arranged to intuitively
imply a relation with respect to a first result; a first data item
in said data store, referred by and associated with said first
result; at least one preview window associated with said result
page and displaying preview information regarding said first result
when said pointer navigates over said first defined area, wherein
the first data item includes an actual web page referred by and
associated with said first result, and wherein said preview
information comprises language translation of information residing
on the actual web page referred by and associated with said first
result.
8. The invention of claim 7, wherein at least one preview window is
fixed in size, shape and location upon said query results page.
9-10. (canceled)
11. A method for previewing query results, comprising the steps of:
providing a query result page comprising a plurality of results,
each associated with an item in a data store of information;
providing one or more display windows upon a mouse-over of a
defined area arranged to intuitively imply a relation with respect
to one or more of the plurality of results; displaying in one or
more of said display windows, preview information intuitively
related to text, graphics or hyperlinks that are at least partially
co-located with said defined area; and allowing the user to
navigate in the display window and allowing the user to commit by
clicking through on the display window or a link associated with
each of the plurality of results.
12. The method of claim 11 wherein said defined area is at least
partially co-located with text, graphics or hyperlinks suggesting
an alternative query and said preview information includes
information regarding a search results page associated with said
alternative query.
13. (canceled)
14. A method of providing preview information comprising the steps
of: providing a search result; providing a preview icon associated
with said search result; providing a defined area that is larger
that associated with said preview icon; initiating the loading of
preview information upon mouse-over of the defined area; providing
one or more display windows upon mouse-over of the preview icon;
and displaying in one or more of said display windows, preview
information intuitively related to said search result.
15-17. (canceled)
18. In a system having a display device and mouse-pointer, a query
result page comprising: a result associated with an item in a data
store of information; a defined area associated with said result; a
first preview window displaying a first type of preview information
upon a mouse-over of said defined area; and a second preview window
displaying a second type of preview information upon a mouse-over
of said defined area.
19. The invention of claim 18 wherein said first preview window is
floating.
20. The invention of claim 18 wherein said first preview window is
fixed upon said query results page.
21. The invention of claim 18, wherein the first data item includes
an actual web page referred by and associated with said first
result, and wherein the first preview information includes only
text from the actual web page.
22. The invention of claim 21, wherein the second preview
information includes the actual web page referred by and associated
with said first result.
23. The invention of claim 21, wherein the second preview
information includes an image of the actual web page referred by
and associated with said first result.
24. In a system having a display device and user input mechanisms
including a pointer, a query result page comprising: a plurality of
results, each associated with an item in a data store of
information; a plurality of defined areas, each associated with at
least one such result; a first defined area arranged to intuitively
imply a relation with respect to a first result; at least one
preview window associated with said result page and displaying
preview information regarding said first result when said pointer
navigates over said first defined area, wherein said preview
information includes an actual web page referred by and associated
with said first result.
25. The query result page of claim 24, wherein the actual web page
displayed in the preview window includes browser cognizable
content.
26. The query result page of claim 25, wherein the browser
cognizable content is selected from the group consisting of gif,
HTML, DHTML, JavaScript, and Flash.
27. The query result page of claim 24, wherein the actual web page
displayed in the preview window includes a controllable functional
attribute.
28. The query result page of claim 27, wherein the controllable
functional attribute is selected from the group consisting of
scroll bar, hyperlink, and mouse-over.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This is a continuation of prior U.S. patent application Ser.
No. 09/961,465, filed on Sep. 24, 2001 which incorporated herein by
reference in its entirety.
[0002] This application is related to U.S. patent application Ser.
No. 09/961,466 entitled "METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR MOUSE-OVER
PREVIEW OF CONTEXTUALLY RELEVANT INFORMATION," by John Petropoulos,
et al., filed on Sep. 24, 2001, which is hereby incorporated herein
by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] 1). Field of the Invention
[0004] The invention relates to searching large amounts of
information and analyzing the results of such a search. In one
broad application of the invention, it relates to the area of web
page searching either on the Internet or on Intranets. Furthermore,
in the web context, the invention relates to improving the
efficiency of analyzing search results and using the data gathered
from efficient analysis to refine and improve the search
process.
[0005] 2). Description of Related Art
[0006] Generally, the usefulness of any type of information is
based upon a critical ability to find and adapt contextually
relevant information in a timely manner. For example, if a cook is
looking for a recipe, the existence of that recipe in an
unidentified book of unknown whereabouts is not at all useful.
Furthermore, even the book's identity and location would not be
useful if it were not somehow readily accessible. Moreover, even if
the cook were in possession of the correct book, without an index
or table of contents, the process of finding and using the recipe
would not be very efficient. Lastly, even an index and table of
contents do not allow a cook to efficiently scan a large offering
of recipes as compared to other techniques such as an index of
pictures of the prepared foods.
[0007] From this illustration, one can easily see the importance of
methods and systems, and the dimensions of information analysis
that are required for efficient information location and retrieval.
In fact, most everyone has learned how to use several simple
systems such as those incorporated in libraries, dictionaries, maps
and books. Few in our world, however, understand the methods and
systems for finding information that is ultimately digitized or
managed by machines such as computers. In the world of
machine-managed information, there have been many propositions and
techniques for solving these information location problems
[0008] Most commonly, the process of finding relevant information
begins by reorganizing the entire universe of accessible
information. For example, the phone company typically organizes
phone numbers in the alphabetical order of the phone owners' names
rather than organizing them in number order or by address. Of
course, this allows users to find a number in the book knowing only
someone's name. This same principle applies in the databasing of
machine-managed information, where for example, a computer-user may
create a database for contact information perhaps using a program
such as Microsoft Access. After creating the database (the
information repository), the computer user must populate it with
data--this being the actual list of contacts. Each contact
(generically called a record in database terminology) might include
a name field, an address field, a phone number field and any number
of other fields pertaining to personal contact information. Once
the database is populated, a user can typically retrieve
information based upon attributes of the data in one or more fields
of the database. In summary, the data reorganizing (or
pre-organizing) facilitates more easy retrieval of relevant
information.
[0009] As databases and the records within them become larger, the
reorganizing task can become larger and impede the ability to
quickly and easily find relevant results. The problem is greatly
increased when the exact form or nature of the records is
inconsistent and not fully predictable. An example of this
situation might be a document database wherein the records
(documents plus attributes) are in variable forms (text, rtf,
Microsoft Word, JPEG, TIFF etc.). In this type of database, a
business manager might be looking for a certain report, but only
recall two vague attributes about the report, possibly the month
the document was created and the names of several people who might
have created it. In this situation, the database will likely return
a long list of documents every document created by one of the
listed people during the specified month. Generally, the manager
would then have very few options for further examining the long
list. She could open each document and look at it or potentially
look at the entire attribute list for each document. These options
are unwieldy and time consuming and may not even ensure
success.
[0010] An obviously large manifestation of this problem is in
searching the world-wide-web or any web-like information collection
(such as an intranet). Common search tools use various techniques
to relate search terms or queries to web pages or web sites. The
clear object is to find web pages that are most relevant to the
search terms or query. However, given (i) the size and nature of
the Internet and most intranets, and (ii) the skill level of most
users, there is only a small likelihood of returning a single and
perfect match for the search terms or query. Therefore, in order to
increase the likelihood of retuning a perfect match, common search
tools return an extremely long list of possible matches that are
presented to the user in order of machine-determined relevance.
This is very similar to the manager's document search problem
discussed above. In the web context, the user is forced to
click-through to successive documents on the list in order to
determine the actual relevance to the search terms. This is clearly
far less than ideal.
[0011] In order to improve this inefficiency, some products and
services have returned an enhanced list, wherein each listing
contains more information about the underlying record or document.
Some examples of this information are (i) extra presumptively
relevant textual information (ask.com, altavista.com, and
yahoo.com); (ii) address information; (iii) revision information;
or (iv) a small thumbnail image of the web page or document that a
particular listing represents (capitalsearch.ca).
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0012] The inventions described here propose to mitigate the
problems and challenges of analyzing the results of a database
query or Internet or intranet search. In general, the inventions
achieve this result by displaying preview information associated
with each item on a list of results. In a very general sense, the
preview information is a "preview window" containing some relevant
preview information, such as a readable size image of the actual
page or document associated with an item in the results list.
Moreover, the ease of search-result navigation and analysis is
further improved by opening the preview window when the user
navigates over an intuitively connected place on the results page.
The navigation takes place using any pointing or navigation device
on the client system, for example, the mouse pointer, a touch
screen or a sequential or moving highlight caused by a keystroke or
combination of keystrokes. The invention further contemplates that
a dedicated preview icon is beneficial and that such an icon can
function as a menu for controlling previewing or that the icon
could transform into such a menu. In addition to improving search
result analysis the invention proposes improved search algorithms
based upon attribute data from users' use of preview search
results.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0013] A better understanding of the invention can be had when the
following detailed description of the preferred embodiments is
considered in conjunction with the following drawings, in
which:
[0014] FIG. 1 shows a generic search results page (59) and two web
pages (57 & 58) associated with specified results on the
results page.
[0015] FIG. 2 shows a generic search results page, demonstrating
embodiments of the invention.
[0016] FIG. 3 shows a generic search results page, demonstrating
embodiments of the invention.
[0017] FIG. 4 shows a generic search results page, demonstrating
embodiments of the invention.
[0018] FIG. 5 shows potential preview icon implementations.
[0019] FIG. 6 shows a network, including the Internet.
[0020] FIG. 7 is a flow diagram associated with the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0021] I. Concepts in Implementation
[0022] Referring to FIG. 1, web page 59 refers to a generic and
imaginary search-results page as displayed by a generic browser.
The context for search-results page 59 is that an Internet search
for "Jet" has just been completed (thus the word "Jet" remaining in
search entry box 50). A first result 53 is shown along with a
second result 54 and an nth result 56. In addition, web page 57 is
the actual web page referred by and associated with first result 53
(as displayed by a generic browser). Typically, all or some portion
or portions of first result 53 will be a hyperlink or hyperlinks to
web page 57. Preview Icon 63 is associated with search result 53
and will be explained later. Similarly, web page 58 is the actual
web page referred by and associated with second result 54.
Hyperlinks 67 and 68 show that the character strings "737-500 Jets"
and www.Boeing.com serve as hyperlinks perhaps to web page 58 and
the Boeing home page respectively. As discussed in the background,
generally first result 53 is presumptively more relevant to the
search term "Jet" than second result 54 and certainly more relevant
than nth result 56.
[0023] Mouse pointer 52 is a common pointer as may be controlled by
a standard mouse, trackball, keyboard pointer, touch screen or any
user manageable device (hereinafter the term "mouse pointer" is
used in the broadest sense the context permits to refer to any one
or more of these navigation tools). Using various commercially
available software and hardware, mouse pointer 52 can visually
appear as nearly any object a user desires. A user may navigate
around search-results page 59 by using the motion of mouse pointer
52 and a combination of well-known and well-documented
keystrokes.
[0024] II. Mouse-over Creates Preview
[0025] Referring back to search-result page 59 as a whole, recall
that this is a result returned after a user has performed a search
on the term "Jet." The user must then analyze those results and
will typically do so using the combinations of keystrokes and the
pointer tool. A feature of the current invention is that the user
is shown preview information when the mouse pointer 52 navigates or
passes over a defined area such as first defined area 60, second
defined area 61, or other defined areas 62, 64, 66, 67, 68
(Hereinafter, the action of navigating or passing the mouse pointer
over a region is referred to as a "mouse-over"). The defined areas
are program-designated (perhaps with JavaScript) areas on results
page 59. While these defined areas could be made visible, they are
generally invisible to the user. In one embodiment, upon a
pre-defined placement or action of the pointer (e.g. a mouse-over),
instructions are sent to the user's web browser to automatically
open an embedded preview window and render the relevant contextual
information inline with the user's results. In various
implementations of the invention, defined areas may be in any shape
or size, located anywhere on the page and may be configured by a
programmer, the user, or any process with sufficient access to the
system.
[0026] III. Many Types of Preview Information
[0027] Differing implementations of the invention allow for
virtually any type of preview information to be shown to the user.
The preview information shown when there is a mouse-over of defined
area 60 will generally be intuitively related to the page content
surrounding defined area 60. For example a mouse-over defined area
60, might cause display of the actual content or the web page
referred by or associated with first result 53 (such as web page
57).
[0028] Rather than displaying the actual content referred by and
associated with a result, the same mouse-over might cause the
system to display information merely related to the actual content
of web page 57. For example, related preview information may
include web pages with relevant and similar content to web page 57.
In addition, related information may also include a list of URLs
representing all or some of the links contained or identified in
web page 57. Similarly, related information might include a list of
URLs of either (i) web pages that link to web page 57 or (ii) the
entire website that web page 57 resides in. With respect to URLs
used as preview information, in some embodiments of the invention
these URLs will function as links. Furthermore, in order to reduce
the appearance of aesthetic information overload, a user or
programmer may control the maximum number of URLs displayed in a
single preview.
[0029] Alternatively, the same mouse-over might cause display of
contextual information about web page 57 such as a view of the home
page associated with web page 57 or other pages within the same
domain as web page 57. In this case, several pages might be
displayed (either overlapping or adjacent) as preview information.
The invention contemplates that the user or a programmer might
configure how to sort the pages returned as preview information,
for example, they may be sorted by relevance to the query, or they
may be in a fixed order such as home page on top.
[0030] The invention also contemplates that the user or a
programmer might configure how to sort the pages returned as
preview information by hits to a page. This is the sorting of the
pages under a specific domain based on the number of hits that each
page has had (not based on a popularity algorithms that requires a
specific query-url pair and would not be appropriate here). For
example, presume a mouse-over of a result indicating the page
www.shoes.com/loafers. The preview may show associated pages
shoes.com ranked only by the search authority's record of the
number of hits that each page has had over a specified period.
Therefore, the user might see #1) shoes.com (300 hits in the past
year); #2)shoes.com/locations (200 hit in the last years) and, #3)
shoes.com/sneakers (100 hits in the last year), etc.
[0031] Other contextual information that might be displayed as a
preview includes the creation date of a web page, the last refresh
date of a web page, the file size of a web page, the number of
links-in on a web page, or the number of links-out on a web page.
Contextual information might also include information regarding the
URL registration pertaining to web page 57 (such as its owner,
location, or registration date.), or information regarding the URL
itself (such as its geographic location). In addition, the same
mouse-over of defined area 60 might cause display of preview
information to aid in further search, such as the identity of web
pages or sites similar or related to web page 57. Similarly, the
preview information might actually be one or more pages from a
similar site. In fact, these two techniques may be cascaded in that
a first preview window may display a list of similar sites or pages
and then as each item in the list is moused-over, a preview of the
referenced site or page may be displayed. Expanding on this
cascading concept, further or more efficient search may be aided by
using preview displays to help drill through a directory structure.
In particular, each mouse-over of an item would display the list of
applicable sub-categories, then each mouse-over of one of the
subcategories would display a further list of sub-sub categories
and so on.
[0032] In the same context, further search efforts might be aided
by providing another set of search results as preview information.
This is particularly applicable to a mouse-over proximate to a
suggested alternative search term or query (virtually all
commercial search tools offer suggestions for alternative search
terms or queries). In this embodiment, the system executes a new
search when the user mouses-over an alternative search term and the
preview window displays what is effectively a new search results
page (typically containing 10 results).
[0033] In addition to being informational in such a way as to aid
analysis, the invention contemplates preview information that is
transformative. For example, a mouse-over of defined area 60 may
cause display of a language translation of web page 57. This
feature and other types of transformative functions can be
implemented generally two ways. One general method is to
pre-transform all or some of the target pages of information at an
appropriate time, such as by submitting the pages to a machine
translator proximate to the return of the search results.
Alternatively, the target information may be submitted to a machine
translator upon the mouse-over of defined area 60. In either case,
the preview information displayed would be the output of the
translator. Another transformative preview might be a definition,
or a list of synonyms or antonyms. The techniques for implementing
this mirror the translation example. For such a transformative
uses, the invention contemplates that the user or a programmer may
designate the file size available for transformation and the
percent of file to be transformed.
[0034] The preview information may also be pre-arranged by the
programmer for the benefit of the providing of a message that may
or may not intuitively relate to the defined area. An example of
this type of preview information would be a logo, an advertisement,
an instruction or any text or graphic message designated by the
programmer. In this same context, the programmer of a web page may
tag certain information on her pages for use by those accessing the
web page, especially robots (like crawlers and spiders) assembling
information to aid users to find the page. These tags would define
what preview information the web page creator intends for use by a
preview-generating search tool.
[0035] As discussed in examples above, the invention allows for the
type of preview information to be fixed or user-programmable.
Specifically, a user or programmer may decide what type of preview
information is displayed either dynamically (based upon operational
context such as the page content and user mousing/keystrokes) or in
a fixed way (e.g., the page referred by and associated with the
result is always displayed). In one embodiment, all the information
displayed is configurable in the "conf"file and is determined by a
programmer that owns or controls the web page displaying the search
results. A "conf" or configuration file sets the variable
parameters of an application. For example a configuration file sets
the number of search results for a results page (typically 10), but
this number can be increased or decreased in the configuration
file. In some ways the Page Setup feature in MS Word is similar to
a configuration file. In the first instance (page size) the
configuration file is managed by the back end (meaning by the
programmer at the website or search provider) while in the Page
Setup example the conf file is accessible to the user.
[0036] Accordingly, in various embodiments, the invention may be
deployed such that a user or the programmer may select one or more
of the following: location of the defined area (either as a
technical location on the page or by relation to visible text or
graphics on the page); size of the defined area; and which type of
preview information to associate with the each defined area.
[0037] IV. Preview Icons
[0038] Result analysis is clearly aided by previewing web page 57
when there is a mouse-over of defined area 60. This is because web
page 57 is the actual web page referred by and associated with
first result 53 and defined area 60 is intuitively related-by
partial co-location--to first search result 53. The intuitive
connection and analysis benefit remains for any approximate
co-location of a search result with a defined area. In addition,
however, a strong intuitive connection is made between a search
result and a separately located defined area if the defined area
overlaps some visual indication of its relevance and/or it is
logically located with respect to the search result. There are
several embodiments of the current invention that exploit this
principle. Referring again to FIG. 1, preview icon 63 is located on
web page 59 in a place that is logically related to first result
53. Furthermore, defined area 64 is on web page 59 partially
co-located with preview icon 63. When the user mouses-over defined
area 64 (and approximately over preview icon 63), the preview
information is displayed (in this case web page 57).
[0039] The preview icon 64 offers advantages in that it alerts a
user to the preview feature and then allows the user to
purposefully select preview using only navigation of mouse pointer
52. Furthermore, the preview icon 63 may be a control panel to
control the users options for some or all of the functionality
related to the preview function. In addition, the preview icon may
transform (either by click, time latency or other input mechanism)
into a control panel for the same reasons.
[0040] V. Multiple Previews Per Result
[0041] The invention contemplates that two or more previews may be
used with the same result. Referring again to FIG. 1, nth result 56
is partly co-located with both defined area 66 and defined area 62.
The invention provides that mousing-over each defined area will
produce a different preview result, for example different types of
preview information (discussed above) or different mechanisms for
the presentation of the preview (discussed below).
[0042] VI. Displaying Previews
[0043] The invention contemplates that the preview information may
be displayed in any manner that the client system may facilitate.
Commonly, the preview information may be displayed in a Frame
opened proximate to the time of the mouse-over. In particular, one
embodiment calls for an Inline Frame that opens proximate to the
time of the mouse-over and endures approximately until the
mouse-over ends or the user exercises a commit or control. However,
the preview information may also be displayed in one or more new
browser windows opened under or over the current window or in a
window which already exists on results page 59 such as preview
window 55, which can be located anywhere on results page 59.
Excepting the fixed preview window concept, the invention
contemplates that the user can dynamically control the location of
the preview window, its size and the duration of its visibility.
This allows the user to leave the preview window open while freeing
the cursor to move elsewhere and perform other functionality. This
feature can be implemented with standard Windows-type mouse and key
movements. In the case of a fixed preview window 55, all the same
attributes are also controllable, but typically only by a
programmer with sufficient access. In addition, the invention
contemplates that a programmer or user may control all the
functional attributes of a preview window. The following are
examples of these controllable functional attributes: (i) the use
of a scroll bar;(ii) enabling a hyperlink so that a mouse-over or a
click on a link within a previewed page is active and results in a
call to the referenced page; (iii), enabling further mouse-over,
which allows the user to use her mouse-over in the preview pane; or
(iv), or disabling java, or other languages including but not
limited to javascript, flash, VBScript, Jscript, or DHTML. Lastly,
either a user or programmer might also control content filtration
such a enabling a porn filter with the use of a preview. This would
be useful in protecting those sensitive to explicit information and
may be performed by passing the preview information through a
filter prior to its display in a preview window. In addition, the
preview function in general allows users to minimize their exposure
to undesired information.
[0044] Previews are not necessarily limited to visual information,
they can be comprised of audio or any other sensory information
that may be encoded in a web page or result and then conveyed to a
user over a network for re-creation by the user's client
machine.
[0045] VII. Relating Icons and Defined Areas
[0046] Referring to FIG. 2, preview window 250 is fixed at the top
of the page. As discussed earlier, the invention contemplates that
preview windows may be placed wherever esthetically or functionally
useful. Also on FIG. 2, first result 251 corresponds with defined
area 254 and preview icon 257. In this case, defined area 254 is
larger and shaped differently than preview icon 257. This
arrangement may have several advantages. First, for quicker
navigation and previewing, the larger defined area facilitates
showing the preview if the pointer gets close to the preview icon.
Second, the larger defined area 254 may be used as an indication
that the pointer is approaching the preview icon 257. This
indication may initiate the loading of the preview and thereby have
some or all of the loading completed by the time the pointer
mouses-over the icon 257. Adding another defined area more
precisely co-located with icon 257 may enhance this technique.
Having two defined areas in this configuration (one larger than
icon 257 and one precisely co-located), allows the system to begin
loads when the point gets in the area of icon 257 but only display
preview information if there is an actual mouse-over the icon 257.
This will make the load time appear to be smaller than it actually
is. This technique could also be combined with other techniques to
speed the loading of information. For example, loading speed may be
increased by limiting the nature of the information such as a
limitation to text or compressed graphics. Loading may also be
accelerated by limiting the quantity of information loaded such as
by specifying a size limit (bytes) or degrading the image by
loading only some of the information (e.g. every other bit of a bmp
file).
[0047] Continuing on FIG. 2, first result 251 may contain various
information, including a title, descriptive text, excerpt text and
a link to the referred web page. Any one or combination of these
items may be individually co-located with a defined area that will
provide a preview during a mouse over. By using multiple defined
areas, a variety of information about the referred web page could
be previewed simply by navigating the mouse pointer, for example,
mousing-over the title might cause a preview of contextual
information about the referred page, mousing-over the descriptive
or excerpt text might cause a preview of the actual referred page,
and mousing-over the link might cause a preview of information
about the link. It is noteworthy that, except for the link, any of
the information items (title, text etc.) need not be
hyperlinks.
[0048] A Further discussing FIG. 2, second result 252 corresponds
with defined area 255 and preview icon 258. In this case, the
invention contemplates that the defined area may be smaller that
the preview icon. In addition, FIG. 2 shows third result 253, which
corresponds to defined area 256 and preview icon 259. While defined
area 256 and preview icon 259 are not shown precisely co-located,
the drawing is provided to indicate that the invention contemplates
perfectly co-located and co-shaped defined areas and preview icons,
which of course might include preview information such as text.
[0049] VII. Floating Preview Windows
[0050] Referring now to FIG. 3, first result 350 corresponds with
defined area 354 and preview icon 355. When the mouse pointer is
over defined area 354, floating preview window 358 appears and
displays whatever preview information has been defined. Floating
preview window 358 covers whatever information is below it on the
web page. The invention contemplates that floating preview window
358 may cover the web page portions below it (presumably second
through fifth results in this case) either completely, in opaque
fashion or semi-translucent fashion. The invention contemplates
that a semi-translucent window would allow the user to
simultaneously see the information in the window and below the
window on the web page.
[0051] Referring again to FIG. 3, result 351 is partially
co-located with defined area 356 and defined area 356 is
approximately co-located with the title of Sixth result 351. In
this arrangement, a mouse-over in the area of the title will cause
the floating preview window 358 to appear and display the program
designated preview information. Similarly, the arrangement
surrounding seventh result 352 allows the same type of preview to
arise from a mouse-over in the area of the result text (which is
partially co-located with defined area 357).
[0052] In any case of a floating preview window (and most other
preview windows), the invention contemplates that a user may use
any combination of pointer navigation and clicks or keystrokes to
commit (click-through) to the result, or initiate controls over the
preview window such as its endurance, location and size or event
the type of preview information.
[0053] IX. Multiple, Simultaneous Preview Windows
[0054] Referring now to FIG. 4, a search result web page is shown
with three preview windows 454, 456 and 457. The invention
contemplates preview information displaying simultaneously in two
or more windows or frames contained on one or more display devices
(or any device that may appropriately reproduce the type of preview
information). The invention further contemplates any of the
following: all the windows may be fixed on the web page; all the
windows may float or appear during the mouse-over; or some windows
may be fixed on the web page and others may appear or float during
the mouse-over. For example, in one embodiment, a mouse-over
defined area 45) would display the web page referred by and
associated with result 451 in preview window 457. Simultaneously,
contextual information regarding result 451 would display in
preview window 454 and the home page associated with result 451
would display in preview window 456. In another example, preview
window 457 would have the same purpose as the first example, while
preview windows 454 and 456 would display information associated
with the next and previous search results respectively. These
examples are only illustrative of the concepts that multiple
preview windows may be used to display any of the preview
information discussed herein using windows that are either fixed or
appearing during mouse-over.
[0055] X. A Technical Example
[0056] Some of the more technical attributes of the invention are
demonstrated with this example of a user's experience. The user
enters a search query into a search system on a client-computing
device. The search system returns a results page having JavaScript
and DHTML technology. Like the other search results pages discussed
herein, the results page also has a finite number results, each
including a title, some descriptive text and the relevant URLs.
Some or all of the URLs may be web hyperlinks to web pages relevant
to the search query. When the user mouses-over a defined area
(which corresponds to a hyperlink in this case), JavaScript
operates to open a window near the mouse pointer. The resident web
browser then fetches the page of preview information and displays a
scaled version of the page (in this case 33%) in the window. The
page may include gifs, HTML, DHTML, JavaScript, Flash and other
browser cognizable content. The user may then commit by clicking
through on the preview or the link. The user may also initiate a
menu or control system for controlling the function of the
available preview functions. Finally, the user may simply move the
pointer away, which will cause the window to close.
[0057] In this example, the size of the preview box is controlled
by a set pixel height and width of the Iframe attribute. The
content is shrunk by setting the "ZOOM" stylesheet attribute, which
is part of the Cascading Style Sheet offering within Internet
Explorer 5.5.
[0058] A sample hyperlink follows:
[0059] <a class=link on MouseOver="return previewWindow({grave
over ( )}<IFRAME height=600 width=800
src=http://www.wine-lovers-page.com/STYLE=zoom:33%;></IFRAME>{gr-
ave over ( )});"on MouseOut="nd(
);"href=http://comet.directhit.com/fcgi-bin/RedirURL.fcg?url=http://www.w-
ineloverspage.com/&qry=wine&rnk=4&cz=2661b9d2a06c9edc&src=DH_comet_SRCH>-
;-Wine Lovers' Page/Front Page</a>
[0060] This link instructs the browser to open up an inline frame
that is 800.times.600 pixels with the resulting page's URL as its
source. It then reduces the size of this frame, and it's content by
66% (to 33% scale) and places the inline frame underneath the
user's mouse pointer.
[0061] XI. Enhanced Preview Icon
[0062] Referring to FIG. 5, three potential preview icon
implementations are shown 550, 551 and 552. Referring to preview
icon implementation 550, preview icon 556 is partially co-located
with defined area 553 so that when a mouse-over occurs in the area
of preview icon 556 (precisely anywhere over defined area 553), the
preview information will display. Advancing on this concept is
preview icon implementation 551, wherein preview icon 557 is
divided into two regions, each region being partially co-located
with its own defined area, in this case 554 and 555. The concept of
separating regions in the preview icon allows the user to
dynamically and automatically determine what to preview. One
example is to allow the user to select between a text-only preview
and a full preview--allowing users to choose a preview based upon
their patience for the loading of the speed of their
connections.
[0063] Advancing further on the concept, preview icon
implementation 552 demonstrates that the preview icon may have
several regions to offer choices or may even be a collection of
apparently separate icons for the same reason. Of course, each
region would be associated with a proximately located defined area
(not shown for preview icon implementation 552). In practice, a
user would simply mouse-over a portion of the preview icon to
indicate an instruction for the system to display the designated
preview. The invention contemplates that a user might commit to the
preview with a click or keystroke combination.
[0064] Advancing yet further on the concept, a preview icon may
change form upon the users choice, indicated by a mouse click, a
keystroke or combinations of those actions. For example, a search
result page may feature preview icons resembling implementation
550. After display of the preview information, the user may click
on preview icon 556 causing it to transform to a menu-type preview
icon like implementation 552. The invention contemplates that the
preview icon may transform into any other type of preview icon or
into any type of menu system, such as the common menu systems for
MS Windows-based software products. The invention also contemplates
that a click or keystroke combination with respect to a more simple
preview icon implementation (like 550) may separately initiate a
control menu system or create a separate preview icon allowing more
complex controls of the preview functions (like implementation
552).
[0065] XII. Network Context
[0066] During the past several years, many believe that the
interconnection between computers (the "network") has become more
prominent and important than the computing itself. For this reason,
the invention shall be briefly explained within the context of the
network. Referring to FIG. 6, an imaginary and typical network is
shown including the Internet. User computers 657 connect to each
other as well as other portions of the network through switching
devices 650 such as hubs, routers, switches, bridges and other
devices, which are commonly known in the area of networking. The
network also includes servers 653 (many of which include mass
storage devices such as disk drives) and the Internet 651. Other
intelligent devices may attach to the network such as dedicated
storage devices and virtually all forms of intelligent machines and
appliances. All of these items are connected together by a series
of information links including switching devices 650. Some links
may use conductive wires and others may be wireless (using radio
waves or light), or fiber optic (using light and light-carrying
cable). Information is carried across the network in small pieces,
typically called packets or frames. A system originating
information will create packets, put an address on the packets and
send them out over the network destined for the addressed system.
Intermediary switching devices 650 or servers 653 or other
intelligent devices may manipulate the packets. They may
disassemble and reassemble the same or different packets, add or
delete data and information or send original messages to the
addressee or source. The packets containing the original
information eventually propagate through the network and reach
their destination.
[0067] In the context of the current invention, searching or
querying typically originates at a user computer 657, and the query
typically travels over the network to a data source (usually, but
not always associated with a server 653). An intelligent system
services the query at or near the data source and sends the result
back, over the network, to the user computer 657 that originated
the request. While the entire process might occur on a single
computer or system, the network is typically the medium that allows
search and query of very large information stores and for this
reason disserves mention along with the current invention. In most
embodiments of the current invention, virtually all the preview
information must traverse the network. Control information also
usually traverses the network but sometimes may exist in a program
at the user' terminal.
[0068] Within the network context, there are several architectures
that may be used to construct systems that exploit the invention.
Some examples follow. In one implementation, the preview document
may be retrieved from a cache maintained near the data store and
probably by the authority that performs the search. In this
instance, before forwarding across the network to the user, the
preview information can be accessed local to the database and the
preview page could be pre-cleansed of offensive content such as
unwanted JavaScript.
[0069] In a second implementation, whether cached or not, the
preview information can be converted to an image file at the site
of the search provider. Like the pre-cleansing above, this would
avoid offensive program content. However, this may also increase
latency to deliver the preview across the network to the user
machine.
[0070] In yet a third implementation, the search provider might
place a re-direct between the user and the preview information (in
this case HTML). This layer between the user and the search service
creates an opportunity to remove offensive program content.
[0071] The possibilities for architectures are limitless and might
include using Java orJavaScript techniques disable offensive
content or to speed up the pages' entrance into the users' browser
cache.
[0072] In addition to highlighting architectural options, the
network context also raises implementation options. For example,
consider the case when the user mouses-over the first result and
the system calls across the network for preview information
relating to that first result, presumably from the search
authority. The search authority may then identify the first result
as part of a special group or program and return preview
information according to that special status rather than the
preview information otherwise applicable to the first result. This
type of special grouping or status may be part of a paid inclusion
program to generate revenue for the search authority.
[0073] XII. Improving Search Results
[0074] Preview information provides users with a tool to
efficiently and thoroughly evaluate search results prior to
committing to a click through. There are aspects of the users'
evaluation processes that may be useful in factoring how well the
search result matched the query for any particular user and query.
Referring to FIG. 6, a client system 657 may be configured to
monitor the keystrokes, mousing and related timing for a user
reviewing a search results page that was generated elsewhere on the
network and is viewed on the client system 657. The results of the
monitoring (or attributes) may then be sent across the network to
the either the search provider or the owner of the web page hosting
the search.
[0075] At a very high conceptual level, this is explained with
reference to FIG. 7, wherein a query or search 751 is submitted to
an algorithm 752 for searching a large data store 753. The
algorithm 751 and/or the data store 753 may contain information
about millions of documents and web pages but also about common
queries and relevance factoring. A combination of the algorithm 751
and the data store 753 generate a results page 754, which generally
lists documents or web pages that relate to the query in the order
of their perceived relevance. The invention contemplates that the
user's use of preview information is monitored while the user
evaluates the results page. More particularly, the invention
contemplates that there is monitoring of any or all of the
following: (i) which result is being previewed by order or rank,
(ii) the length of each preview, (iii) the order of previewing,
(iv) the number of results previewed per page, and (v) whether
there is a click-through. These attributes of the user behavior may
be forwarded across the network to a program-designated place and
later used in a consideration process, which will lead to
conclusions about the relevance of the results originally
presented. These conclusions can be used to alter the algorithm
and/or data so that the same or similar queries will yield more
relevant results.
[0076] Some examples of conclusions that can be made from
monitoring attributes are as follows.
[0077] A long duration of preview time indicates more relevance to
a particular result and, depending on that result' original
ranking, a higher relevance ranking may be due. A very short
duration indicates the opposite.
[0078] The number or percentage of previews per search page
indicates how easy the user could find an acceptable document. For
example, if the user previewed only two documents before a
click-through, then an acceptable result was easy to find. If the
user previewed all the results on a results page, then the result
was less easy to find, and the eventual click-through was less
likely to have been ideal to the user (the assumption is that she
settled after looking for a while).
[0079] The rank of a previewed site may be relevant in that a
preview indicates user interest. Therefore, if the original rank
was low, there may be cause for alteration.
[0080] The order of preview is also of interest in that previewed
results are presumptively more relevant and non-previewed results
were seemingly easily eliminated and therefore presumptively far
less relevant.
[0081] These techniques may be combined with other searching
techniques such as those discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,182,068
entitled Personalized search methods.
[0082] XIV. Non-Limitation
[0083] Because many varying and different embodiments may be made
within the scope of the inventive concept herein taught, and
because many modifications may be made in the embodiments herein
detailed in accordance with the descriptive requirement of the law,
it is to be understood that the details herein are to be
interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.
[0084] Titles and subtitles used in the text are intended only as
focal points and an organization tool. These titles are not
intended to specifically describe the applicable discussion or
imply any limitation of that discussion.
* * * * *
References