U.S. patent application number 11/830350 was filed with the patent office on 2007-12-13 for systems and methods for saving internet content into a handheld internet appliance.
Invention is credited to Joshua Flank, John Miniati, David K. Rensin, George Williams.
Application Number | 20070288583 11/830350 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 25266800 |
Filed Date | 2007-12-13 |
United States Patent
Application |
20070288583 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Rensin; David K. ; et
al. |
December 13, 2007 |
SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR SAVING INTERNET CONTENT INTO A HANDHELD
INTERNET APPLIANCE
Abstract
Systems and methods for transferring Internet content displayed
on a web site in a handheld Internet appliance to a local database
in the handheld Internet appliance are provided. The systems and
methods of the present invention consist of a software solution
that enables users of handheld Internet appliances to automatically
transfer information displayed on web sites to local databases
associated with handheld Internet appliance applications. A user
interface is provided in the web sites for enabling users to
automatically transfer the information displayed on the web sites
into the handheld Internet appliance.
Inventors: |
Rensin; David K.; (Tiburon,
CA) ; Miniati; John; (Menlo Park, CA) ;
Williams; George; (Palo Alto, CA) ; Flank;
Joshua; (Santa Clara, CA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
SMITH FROHWEIN TEMPEL GREENLEE BLAHA, LLC
Two Ravinia Drive
Suite 700
ATLANTA
GA
30346
US
|
Family ID: |
25266800 |
Appl. No.: |
11/830350 |
Filed: |
July 30, 2007 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
09834380 |
Apr 13, 2001 |
7277927 |
|
|
11830350 |
Jul 30, 2007 |
|
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Current U.S.
Class: |
709/207 ;
707/E17.119 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 16/957
20190101 |
Class at
Publication: |
709/207 |
International
Class: |
G06F 15/16 20060101
G06F015/16 |
Claims
1. A method for automatically transferring information from a web
site displayed on a handheld Internet appliance into a local
database in the handheld Internet appliance, the method comprising:
inserting an application program interface in the web site for
determining the information to be transferred; inserting a user
interface in the web site for selecting a plurality of options for
transferring the information from the first web site into the
handheld Internet appliance; and providing a software plug-in to
automatically transfer the information from the web site into the
local database in the handheld Internet appliance, the transfer
performing all necessary format conversions and taking place
independent from a synchronization operation.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the handheld Internet appliance
comprises a wirelessly-enabled personal digital assistant.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein the handheld Internet appliance
further comprises a plurality of local applications, the plurality
of local applications comprising: an address book application; a
calendar application; an e-mail application; a memo pad
application; a to-do list application; a web browser application; a
word processing application; and a spreadsheet application.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the local database stores a
plurality of data records representing information entered by the
user when interacting with a local application in the handheld
Internet appliance.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein inserting the user interface in
the web site comprises inserting a button in the web site, the
button comprising a menu displaying menu options for transferring
the information from the web site into the handheld Internet
appliance.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein the software plug-in comprises
software routines for: retrieving the information from the first
web site to be saved in the handheld Internet appliance; formatting
the information to be saved according to the local database to
which the information is going to be transferred; loading the
formatted information into the local database in the handheld
Internet appliance; and replacing parameters associated with the
information on the second web site's URL.
11. A system for automatically transferring information from a web
site displayed on a handheld Internet appliance into a local
database in the handheld Internet appliance, the system comprising:
an application program interface inserted in the web site for
determining the information to be transferred into the handheld
Internet appliance; a user interface inserted in the web site for
selecting a plurality of options for transferring the information
from the web site into the handheld Internet appliance; and a
software plug-in to automatically transfer the information from the
web site into the local database in the handheld Internet
appliance, the software plug-in performing all necessary data
translations and being invoked in response to a single actuation by
the user.
12. The system of claim 11, wherein the handheld Internet appliance
comprises a wirelessly-enabled personal digital assistant.
13. The system of claim 12, wherein the handheld Internet appliance
further comprises a plurality of local applications, the plurality
of local applications comprising: an address book application; a
calendar application; an e-mail application; a memo pad
application; a to-do list application; a web browser application; a
word processing application; and a spreadsheet application.
14. The system of claim 11, wherein the local database stores a
plurality of data records representing information entered by the
user when interacting with a local application in the handheld
Internet appliance.
15. The system of claim 1 1, wherein inserting the user interface
in the web site comprises inserting a button in the web site, the
button comprising a menu displaying menu options for transferring
the information from the web site into the handheld Internet
appliance.
17. The system of claim 11, wherein the local application comprises
the address book application and the option for saving the
information from the web site comprises saving an address from the
web site into the address book application.
18. The system of claim 16, wherein the plurality of options for
launching a second web comprises: launching a second web site to
map an address displayed on the first web site; launching a second
web site to find driving directions to the address displayed on the
first web site; and launching a second web site to find commercial
locations nearest to the address displayed on the first web
site.
19. A handheld Internet appliance comprising a plurality of
software components for transferring information from a web site
into a local database in the handheld Internet appliance, the
software components comprising: an application program interface
inserted in the web site for determining the information to be
transferred; a user interface inserted in the web site for
selecting a plurality of options for transferring the information
from the web site into the handheld Internet appliance; and a
software plug-in to automatically transfer the information from the
web site into the local database in the handheld Internet appliance
independent of a synchronization application and in response to a
single or no actuation by a user.
20. The handheld Internet appliance of claim 19, wherein the
software plug-in comprises software routines for: retrieving the
information from the already open web site to be saved in the
handheld Internet appliance; formatting the information to be saved
according to the local database to which the information is going
to be transferred; loading the formatted information into the local
database in the handheld Internet appliance; replacing parameters
associated with the information on the second web site's URL;
automatically launching a second local application from an already
open local application in the handheld Internet appliance;
automatically launching a web site from the already open local
application; and automatically filling on-line forms of a web site
with a data record stored in the local database in the handheld
Internet appliance.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] This invention relates generally to systems and methods for
saving Internet content into a handheld Internet appliance. More
specifically, the present invention provides systems and methods
for loading Internet content into a local database associated with
a handheld Internet appliance application.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The Internet and the World Wide Web (hereinafter "the web")
have revolutionized the ways in which information is disseminated
and shared. At any given time, the Internet enables millions of
users worldwide to simultaneously access a wide variety of
information and engage in activities as diverse as shopping,
playing games, financial trading, among others.
[0003] At present, users can access Internet information through
various "Internet appliances", which are electronic devices
configured with an Internet access system. Internet appliances
include, but are not limited to, microprocessor based devices such
as personal and portable computers, and handheld appliances such as
personal digital assistants and electronic organizers.
[0004] Typically, the information is accessed through a connection
to a "web page", a multimedia composition that may contain text,
audio, graphics, imagery, video, and nearly any other type of
content that may be experienced through use of a computer or other
electronic device. A web page may also be interactive, and contain
user selectable links that cause other web pages to be displayed,
forms that may be used by the user to submit information requested
in the web page, interactive executable code, or other elements
through which the user may interact with web pages. A group of one
or more interconnected and closely related web pages is referred to
as a "web site".
[0005] A web site has a particular address associated with it
called a Uniform Resource Locator ("URL"). To view a particular web
site, users input its corresponding URL on a "web browser window"
displayed by "web browser software", such as Internet Explorer,
available from Microsoft Corporation, of Redmond, Wash. The web
browser software runs on the user's Internet appliance and is
responsible for fetching the information displayed on the web site
from a "web server" using a transfer protocol such as the HyperText
Transfer Protocol ("HTTP").
[0006] While most of the traffic on the Internet is initiated from
personal computers, the growing demand by mobile business users to
have access to Internet information from anywhere in the world has
led to the development of various Internet access technologies for
handheld Internet appliances such as wireless telephones and
personal digital assistants ("PDAs"). In particular, it has become
increasingly popular to access information available in the
Internet via PDAs, such as the Palm handheld devices manufactured
by Palm, Inc., of Santa Clara, Calif., the Handspring Visor
manufactured by Handspring, Inc., of Mountain View, Calif., and the
HP Jornada manufactured by the Hewlett-Packard Company of Palo
Alto, Calif.
[0007] A PDA provides computing and information storage and
retrieval capabilities for personal or business use, often for
keeping schedule calendars and address book information handy.
Information is accessed by means of an electronically sensitive pad
on which handwriting can be received. Currently available PDAs
contain a number of useful local applications including an address
book, a calendar, a memo pad, a calculator, and a to-do list, among
others. Users are provided with a special pen called a stylus to
write on the pad and "tap" on icons on the PDA screen corresponding
to the PDA applications. In addition, PDA expansion slots may be
used to enhance the PDA capabilities with a digital camera, a GPS
receiver, a scanner, and other devices. Recently developed PDAs
such as the PDA Phone manufactured by Samsung Electronics, Co.,
Ltd., of Seoul, South Korea, and the Kyocera QCP 6035 Smartphone
manufactured by Kyocera Wireless Corp., of San Diego, Calif.,
combine the functionalities of a PDA and a wireless phone into a
single handheld appliance.
[0008] The Internet is accessed on a PDA by means of a wireless
modem and Internet access software. The wireless modem may either
be internally integrated into the PDA such as in the case of the
Palm VIIx, manufactured by Palm, Inc., or connected externally as
an expansion module. External wireless modems include the Thinmodem
manufactured by Card Access, Inc., of American Fork, Utah, and the
various modems manufactured by Novatel Wireless, Inc., of San
Diego, Calif. The Internet access software may consist of a
microbrowser, which is a simpler version of a web browser with
reduced graphic capabilities, and a variety of APIs (application
program interfaces) and associated applications for formatting and
displaying web pages on the PDA screen.
[0009] There are many advantages in being able to access the
Internet with a PDA. The PDA is extremely mobile and can be
utilized by business persons and consumers who are traveling or
otherwise do not have access to a desktop computer. The PDA enables
business persons and consumers to manage, share, and secure the
information needed on a daily basis. A PDA user can access the
Internet to read e-mails, search for a restaurant, obtain a map and
driving directions, purchase airline tickets or shop, all without
the need for a traditional, desktop computer.
[0010] However, accessing the Internet using a PDA has several
drawbacks. First, the wireless Internet connection may be
unreliable, and the user may have to wait a significant amount of
time to receive the requested information. Second, it can be a very
time consuming process, requiring users to work through many
options in order to access the desired information. Lastly, it can
be extremely cumbersome for the user to save the desired
information into the PDA.
[0011] For instance, a user who is accessing the Internet on a PDA
to read e-mail may want to save an e-mail address into the PDA's
address book. To save the e-mail address into the address book, the
user is required to perform a number of steps, including: (1)
connecting to the Internet; (2) starting the e-mail application to
read the e-mail; (3) copying the e-mail address; (4) quitting the
e-mail application; (5) starting the address book application; and
(6) pasting the e-mail address into the address book.
[0012] In order to make travel arrangements on-line and save the
travel information on the PDA's calendar, the user must first
connect to a web site for making travel reservations before
starting the calendar application, and then manually enter the
departure date, time, location and destination, as well as a return
date and time into the calendar. Similarly, a user who is browsing
a financial web site to trade stocks and wants to use the PDA's
calculator application to compute his financial gains for a
particular stock must first connect to the web site to get the
stock pricing information before starting the calculator
application and manually entering the stock pricing information in
the calculator application.
[0013] Alternatively, the user may launch a web site directly from
a local application as described in U.S. application Ser. No.
09/834,376, filed on Apr. 13, 2001. The user must still, however,
manually select the information from the web site and paste it into
the local application. There are currently no mechanisms in place
for the user to automatically load Internet content into a handheld
Internet appliance and to automatically post Internet content
displayed on a web site into another web site. In short, it can be
inordinately difficult and time consuming for the PDA user to
transfer information from the Internet into local applications in a
handheld Internet appliance.
[0014] To address this difficulty, Coola, Inc., of Woburn, Mass.,
has developed a set of APIs and a server technology that enables
users to automatically transfer information from web sites into
handheld Internet appliances. The APIs are used to insert user
interface buttons on the web sites. When the buttons are pressed by
the user, the APIs convert information from the web site into a
special format called "coolet". The coolet is sent to a centrally
located server before transferring the information into the user's
PDA. The information is transferred into the PDA only after the
user synchronizes the PDA with a personal computer.
[0015] While this solution enables users to easily transfer
information from web sites into their PDAs, it has the drawback of
requiring the user to first synchronize the PDA with a personal
computer before the information is transferred into the PDA.
Considering that PDAs are a mobile device, users often need to
transfer information from web sites into their PDAs while on the
road and without access to a personal computer. For example, users
on business trips who need to handle a business crisis on the road
may need to download information from a web site and transfer the
information into a memo pad on the PDA before boarding on an
airplane. In this case, the user does not have access to the
personal computer and cannot easily transfer the information into
the PDA.
[0016] In view of the foregoing drawbacks, it would be desirable to
provide systems and methods for automatically loading information
available in the Internet into a local database associated with a
handheld Internet appliance application.
[0017] It further would be desirable to provide systems and methods
for automatically transferring information from a web site into a
handheld Internet appliance without requiring a user to synchronize
the handheld Internet appliance with a personal computer.
[0018] It also would be desirable to provide systems and methods
for formatting and inserting user interfaces on a web site
displayed on a handheld Internet appliance to enable a user to
automatically transfer information from the web site into the
handheld Internet appliance.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0019] In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the present
invention to provide systems and methods for automatically loading
information available in the Internet into a local database
associated with a handheld Internet appliance application.
[0020] It is another object of the present invention to provide
systems and methods for automatically transferring information from
a web site into a handheld Internet appliance without requiring a
user to synchronize the handheld Internet appliance with a personal
computer.
[0021] It is also an object of the present invention to provide
systems and methods for formatting and inserting user interfaces on
a web site displayed on a handheld Internet appliance to enable a
user to automatically transfer information from the web site into
the handheld Internet appliance.
[0022] These and other objects of the present invention are
accomplished by providing systems and methods for automatically
transferring Internet content into a handheld Internet appliance.
The systems and methods consist of a software solution that enables
web site content to be "active" when displayed on a handheld
Internet appliance. The active content can be automatically loaded
into local databases associated with handheld Internet appliance
applications, or it can be posted to another web site displayed on
the handheld Internet appliance. The web sites are formatted for
display on the handheld Internet appliance and include user
interfaces to enable users to transfer information from a web site
into the handheld Internet appliance applications or into another
web site. The information is transferred automatically, without
having to wait for users to synchronize the handheld Internet
appliance with a personal computer prior to having access to the
information.
[0023] In a preferred embodiment, the systems and methods of the
present invention involve three main software components: (1) a web
site API; (2) a software plug-in; and (3) a user interface. The web
site API is inserted into each web site from which users may
transfer information to their local handheld Internet applications.
The API invokes the software plug-in that implements the functions
required to automatically load information from a web site into
local databases of handheld Internet appliances or into other and
to automatically post the information into another we site. The
information that can be loaded from a particular web site is
defined by the API inserted on that web site. The software plug-in
also enables users to launch a web site directly from a local
application as described in U.S. application Ser. No. 09/834,376,
filed on Apr. 13, 2001. In addition, the software plug-in
automatically fills on-line forms on web sites with data stored in
local handheld Internet appliance databases as described in U.S.
application Ser. No. 09/834,379 filed on Apr. 13, 2001.
[0024] In a preferred embodiment, the web site API is referred to
as the OneTap.TM. API, the software plug-in is referred to as the
OneTap.TM. software plug-in, and the user interface is referred to
as the OneTap.TM. user interface.
[0025] Advantageously, the present invention enables users to
automatically transfer information from web sites into local
handheld Internet appliance databases without requiring users to
synchronize the handheld Internet appliance with a personal
computer prior to having access to the information.
[0026] In addition, the present invention inserts user interfaces
on web sites displayed on a handheld Internet appliance to enable
users to automatically transfer information from the web site into
the handheld Internet appliance.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0027] The foregoing and other objects of the present invention
will be apparent upon consideration of the following detailed
description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings,
in which like reference characters refer to like parts throughout,
and in which:
[0028] FIG. 1 is a schematic view of the system and the network
environment in which the present invention operates;
[0029] FIG. 2 is a schematic view of the software components of the
present invention;
[0030] FIG. 3 is an illustrative view of the HTML source code of a
web page containing the web site API;
[0031] FIG. 4 is an illustrative view of the HTML source code of
FIG. 3 formatted for display on the handheld Internet
appliance;
[0032] FIG. 5 is a flowchart for using the systems and methods of
the present invention to automatically save information from a web
site into a local database of a handheld Internet appliance;
[0033] FIG. 6 is an illustrative view of menu options accessible
from a web site displaying an address; and
[0034] FIG. 8 is an illustrative view of a handheld Internet
appliance screen displaying a web site containing an address that
may be loaded into the handheld Internet appliance.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0035] Referring to FIG. 1, a schematic view of the system and the
network environment in which the present invention operates is
described. Handheld Internet appliance 20 uses a wireless modem and
Internet access software to connect to Internet 22 by means of a
wireless network represented by base station 21. Handheld Internet
appliance 20 may consist of a personal digital assistant (PDA) such
as the Palm handheld devices manufactured by Palm, Inc., of Santa
Clara, Calif., the Handspring Visor manufactured by Handspring,
Inc., of Mountain View, Calif., and the HP Jornada manufactured by
the Hewlett-Packard Company of Palo Alto, Calif. Handheld Internet
appliance 20 may also consist of appliances having the functions of
a PDA and a cellular phone, such as the PDA Phone manufactured by
Samsung Electronics, Co., Ltd., of Seoul, South Korea, and the
Kyocera QCP 6035 Smartphone manufactured by Kyocera Wireless Corp.,
of San Diego, Calif.
[0036] Handheld Internet appliance 20 has an electronically
sensitive pad and screen on which handwriting can be received and
visualized. Handheld Internet appliance 20 typically contains a
number of useful local applications including an address book, a
calendar, a memo pad, a calculator, a to-do list, a web browser,
and a word processing application, among others. Additional
software applications such as games, spreadsheet programs, document
processors, dictionaries, and others, may be easily added to
handheld Internet appliance 20. Users are provided with a special
pen called a stylus to write on the pad and "tap" on icons on the
screen corresponding to the available applications. Handheld
Internet appliance 20 has a main menu to display the application
icons to the user. In addition, expansion slots may be used to
enhance the capabilities of handheld Internet appliance 20 with a
digital camera, a GPS receiver, a scanner, and other devices.
[0037] To protect the data saved in handheld Internet appliance 20,
a synchronization technology may be used to synchronize the data
from handheld Internet appliance 20 to a personal computer. Like a
personal computer, handheld Internet appliance 20 has an operating
system to manage its applications, input and output functions and
devices, memory sharing, among other functions. Examples of
currently available operating systems for handheld Internet
appliance 20 include the Palm OS, developed by Palm, Inc., and the
Windows CE, developed by Microsoft Corporation, of Redmond,
Wash.
[0038] Handheld Internet appliance 20 connects to Internet 22 by
means of a wireless modem. The wireless modem may be internally
integrated into handheld Internet appliance 20 such as in the case
of the Palm VIIx, manufactured by Palm, Inc., or connected
externally as an expansion module. External wireless modems include
the Thinmodem manufactured by Card Access, Inc., of American Fork,
Utah, and the various modems manufactured by Novatel Wireless,
Inc., of San Diego, Calif. In addition to the wireless modem,
handheld Internet appliance 20 requires Internet access software to
enable users to connect to the Internet. The Internet access
software may consist of a microbrowser, which is a simpler version
of a web browser with reduced graphic capabilities, and a variety
of APIs (application program interfaces) and associated
applications for formatting and displaying web pages on the PDA
screen.
[0039] Handheld Internet appliance 20 has software plug-in 27 to
implement the functions required to automatically load information
from web site 23 into local databases of handheld Internet
appliance 20 and to automatically post information from web site 23
into another web site. In addition, software plug-in 27 enables
users to launch a web site directly from a local application as
described in copending, U.S. application Ser. No. 09/834,376, filed
on Apr. 13, 2001, and to fill on-line forms on web sites with data
stored in local handheld Internet appliance databases as describe
in copending, U.S. application Ser. No. 09/834,379 filed on Apr.
13, 2001.
[0040] In a preferred embodiment, the web site API is referred to
as the OneTap.TM. API, the software plug-in is referred to as the
OneTap.TM. software plug-in, and the user interface is referred to
as the OneTap.TM. user interface.
[0041] Handheld Internet appliance 20 contains a number of local
databases corresponding to each local application to store the data
records entered by the user. For instance, the address book
application of handheld Internet appliance 20 has a local database
associated with it to store the addresses in the address book, and
the calendar application of handheld Internet appliance 20 has a
local database associated with it to store the calendar items.
[0042] Users of handheld Internet appliance 20 connect to Internet
22 to access e-mail and various web sites, such as web site 23,
that are formatted for proper display on the screen of handheld
Internet appliance 20. Web site API 24 is inserted into web site 23
for invoking software plug-in 27 in handheld Internet appliance 20.
Web site API 24 is required for software plug-in 27 to load
information from web site 23 into local databases in handheld
Internet appliance 20 and to post the information from web site 23
into another web site. The information from web site 23 that can
loaded into handheld Internet appliance 20 or posted to another web
site is defined by web site API 24. When a user requests web site
23 on handheld Internet appliance 20, transcoding server 25 checks
web site 23 to verify the presence of web site API 24.
[0043] Transcoding server 25 also properly formats web site 23 for
display by handheld Internet appliance 20. In addition, if web site
API 24 is present on web site 23, transcoding server 25 inserts
user interface 26 on web site 23 with links to software plug-in 27.
User interface 26 consists of a button that, when tapped, displays
a menu for saving selected information from web site 23 into a
local database in handheld Internet appliance 20. The menu lists
options that may be selected by the user to save information from
web site 23 into handheld Internet appliance 20. For example, the
menu may list an option for saving a restaurant address displayed
on web site 23 into the address book of handheld Internet appliance
20. Each item listed on the menu has a link to software plug-in 27
to properly save the information displayed on web site 23 into a
local database in handheld Internet appliance 20.
[0044] Referring now to FIG. 2, a schematic view of the software
components of the present invention is described. The software
components consist of: (1) web site API 24; (2) software plug-in
27; and (3) user interface 26.
[0045] Web site API 24 is inserted into each web page containing
information that may be saved by a user into handheld Internet
appliance 20. API 24 invokes software plug-in 27 to save
information from web site 23 into local databases in handheld
Internet appliance 20. API 24 also defines the information from web
site 23 that can be loaded into the local databases or posted to
another web site. For example, in a web site displaying travel
reservations, the API may define the departure and arrival date and
times to be saved into the local database associated with the
calendar application, and in a web site displaying a restaurant
address, the API may define the address to be saved into the
address book application or posted into a web site that maps the
restaurant address. In this case, the address replaces the
parameters in the web site's URL associated with an address to be
mapped.
[0046] Software plug-in 27 implements the functions required to
automatically transfer information from web site 23 into local
databases in handheld Internet appliance 20, and to automatically
post the information from web site 23 into another web site.
Software plug-in 27 implements the following functions: (1)
retrieves the information from web site 23 to be saved in handheld
Internet appliance 20; (2) formats the information to be saved
according to the local database to which the information is going
to be transferred; (3) loads the formatted information into a local
database in handheld Internet appliance 20; and (4) replaces
parameters associated with the information on a web site's URL. In
addition, software plug-in 27 enables users to launch a web site
directly from a local application as described in U.S. application
Ser. No. 09/834,376, filed on Apr. 13, 2001, and to fill on-line
forms on web sites with data stored in local handheld Internet
appliance databases as described in U.S. application Ser. No.
09/834,379 filed on Apr. 13, 2001.
[0047] User interface 26 lists options that may be selected by the
user to save information from web site 23 into handheld Internet
appliance 20. User interface 26 consists of one or more buttons
that, when tapped, display a menu for saving information from web
site 23 into a local database in handheld Internet appliance 20.
For example, the menu may list an option for saving a restaurant
address displayed on web site 23 into the address book of handheld
Internet appliance 20.
[0048] Referring now to FIG. 3, an illustrative view of the HTML
source code of a web page containing the web site API is described.
HTML source code 28 shows contact information 29 that may be saved
by the user into the address book application. HMTL source code 28
also contains XML code 30 corresponding to web site API 24.
[0049] Referring now to FIG. 4, an illustrative view of the HTML
source code of FIG. 3 formatted for display on the handheld
Internet appliance is described. HTML code 31 is the formatted
version of HTML code 28 of FIG. 3 for proper display on handheld
Internet appliance 20. Upon encountering XML code 28 corresponding
to web site API 24, transcoding server 25 formats HTML code 28 to
replace XML code 30 with link 32. Link 32 is a link to the
appropriate function of software plug-in 27 to save contact
information 29 into a local database of handheld Internet appliance
20. In case handheld Internet appliance 20 is running the Palm OS,
link 32 consists of a "palmcall". Link 32 also contains user
interface 33, represented by a "Save Contact" button. When tapped
by the user, "Save Contact" button invokes software plug-in 27 to
save contact information 29 into a local database in handheld
Internet appliance 20.
[0050] Referring now to FIG. 5, a flowchart for using the systems
and methods of the present invention to automatically save
information from a web site into a local database of a handheld
Internet appliance is described. At step 35, the user launches a
web site displaying information that the user may want to save into
the handheld Internet appliance. For example, if the user is
accessing a web site for making travel reservations, the user may
want to save the travel reservation into the calendar application
of the handheld Internet appliance or send an e-mail to his
secretary with the travel reservation information included as an
e-mail attachment.
[0051] The web site has a user interface to enable the user to save
the web site content into the handheld Internet appliance. The user
interface consists of a button inserted on the web site that, when
tapped, displays a menu listing options that may be selected by the
user for saving the web site content into the handheld Internet
appliance. For example, the menu may list a "save address" option
for saving an address displayed on a web site into the local
database associated with the address book application, a "mark
date" option for saving a travel departure date on the local
database associated with the calendar application, and saving a
restaurant address displayed on web site 23 into the address book
of handheld Internet appliance 20.
[0052] At step 36, software plug-in 27 retrieves the information to
be saved into a local database in the handheld Internet appliance.
The information may be, for example, an address, a date, a travel
reservation, or any other content displayed on web sites properly
formatted for the handheld Internet appliance. At step 37, the user
selects a local application in handheld Internet appliance 20 for
saving the web site content. For example, if the user is saving an
address into the handheld Internet appliance, the user selects an
option in the menu for saving the address into the local database
associated with the address book application.
[0053] Referring now to FIG. 6, an illustrative view of menu
options accessible from a web site displaying an address is
described. Menu options 41a-d are displayed in response to a user's
tap on a button provided on a web site displaying an address. The
button is defined by web site API 24 inserted on the web site's
HTML source code. Web site API 24 is also responsible for selecting
the address on the web site that is active for loading into the
handheld Internet appliance.
[0054] Menu option 41a enables the user to save the address
displayed to the local database associated with the address book
application. Menu option 41b enables the user to get a map to the
address displayed on the web site. By selecting option 41b, a
mapping web site is displayed on the handheld Internet appliance
with a map to the address selected. The user does not need to
manually enter the address into the mapping web site. Rather,
software plug-in 27 automatically replaces the address parameters
on the mapping web site's URL with the address selected by the
user. Similarly, menu option 41c launches a web site displaying
driving directions to the address selected, while menu option 41d
launches a web site displaying commercial locations that are
nearest to the address selected.
[0055] Referring now to FIG. 7, an illustrative view of a handheld
Internet appliance screen displaying a web site containing an
address that may be loaded into the handheld Internet appliance or
posted to other web sites is described. Handheld Internet appliance
screen 42 is displaying a web site containing address 43 to a
coffee shop. A user taps onto a button inserted on the web site by
web site API 24 to open menu 44. Menu 44 enables the user to save
address 43 to the address book, launch a web site to display a map
to address 43, get driving directions to address 43, and find
commercial locations near to address 43.
[0056] Although particular embodiments of the present invention
have been described above in detail, it will be understood that
this description is merely for purposes of illustration. Specific
features of the invention are shown in some drawings and not in
others, and this is for convenience only and any feature may be
combined with another in accordance with the invention. Steps of
the described processes may be reordered or combined, and other
steps may be included. Further variations will be apparent to one
skilled in the art in light of this disclosure and are intended to
fall within the scope of the appended claims.
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