Inputting data to a web page

• US 10,095,675 B2
• Filed: 05/21/2009
• Issued: 10/09/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/22/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Akiyama, Koji, Sawano, Yoshiaki, Shibutani, Yashuhiro, Takahashi, Yasuaki
• Primary Examiner(s): Paula, Cesar B
• Assistant Examiner(s): Faber, David
• Application Number:
  US12/470,358
• Publication Number:
  US 20090292981A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,428 Days
• Field of Search: 715221-226, 715769, 715770
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0486 Drag-and-drop
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging

Abstract

A system for inputting data to a web page that is selectively accessed and displayed through a web browser executing on a computing device includes an electronic scratch pad on the computing device that is configured to identify data entry fields on an accessed web page and to retrieve a label corresponding to any identified data entry field of the web page. The electronic scratch pad records the label and any user input that is input using a user input device to the corresponding data entry field.

Claims

1. A system for inputting data to a web page that is selectively accessed and displayed through a web browser, said system comprising:

a terminal;

a storage area on the terminal to store label information and input information, wherein;

at the time of activating the web browser, the storage area is initialized after which the storage area contains no information; and

in response to movement of a cursor from a data entry field, input information corresponding to the data entry field is stored in the storage area;

an electronic scratch pad stored in the storage area on said terminal that is configured to identify data entry fields on an accessed web page and to retrieve a number of first labels corresponding to any identified data entry field of said accessed web page; and

a synonym table stored in the storage area that associates label names with a four digit synonym identifier, wherein label names having the same four digit synonym identifier are identified as synonyms;

in which;

said electronic scratch pad records said number of first labels and any user input that is input into a data entry field of the accessed web page, said user input and said number of first labels stored by said scratch pad being continuously displayed to a user of said computing device while said web browser is open;

in response to said web browser activating a new web page, said electronic scratch pad automatically enters a latest user input from multiple user inputs for a corresponding label into a data entry field on said new web page that has a second label that corresponds to one of said number of first labels for a data entry field from a previous web page into which that user input was previously entered; and

in response to said second label on said new web page being a synonym with said one of said first label from said accessed web page, updating the corresponding label information on said scratch pad to indicate both the first label and the second label.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the synonym table that equates different, synonymous labels for said data entry fields.

3. The system of claim 1, in which said computing device comprises a display unit on which both said web browser and said electronic scratch pad are displayed.

4. The system of claim 3, in which said display unit displays lines drawn between labels for data entry fields shown on said electronic scratch pad and corresponding labels on a currently-accessed web page in said web browser for data entry fields of said currently-accessed web page.

5. The system of claim 3, in which said display unit displays lines drawn between previous user input shown on said electronic scratch pad and corresponding data entry fields of said currently-accessed web page.

6. The system of claim 1, in which said electronic scratch pad accepts user input made with said user input device directly to said electronic scratch pad and stores that user input in association with a designated label.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a label information table listing a number of extracted labels and an identifier for each extracted label; and

an input information table to associate input information with an extracted label, the input information table comprising extracted input information and an identifier of a corresponding extracted label.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the user input that is input using a user input device is a search parameter.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein said electronic scratch pad records multiple user inputs for a corresponding label.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein automatically entering user input from a previous web page into a data entry field on said new web page comprises entering a latest user input from the multiple user inputs.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the web browser displays a travel search web site.

9. A method for inputting data to a web page that is selectively accessed and displayed through a web browser executing on a computing device, said method comprising:

identifying data entry fields on an accessed web page with an electronic scratch pad on said computing device and retrieving a first label corresponding to any identified data entry field of said web page based on a positional relation to the identified data entry field, in which the first label is a string in a source code which describes the web page;

recording said first label with said electronic scratch pad;

recording, in response to movement of a cursor from a corresponding data entry field, in said electronic scratch pad any user input that is input using a user input device to the corresponding data entry field;

associating, in a synonym table, label names with a four digit synonym identifier, wherein label names having the same four digit synonym identifier are identified as synonyms;

in response to a second label on a new web page being a synonym with said first label from said accessed web page, updating the corresponding label information on said scratch pad to indicate both the first label and the second label;

terminating said electronic scratch pad together with the web browser when all web pages are closed; and

erasing said stored user input in response to said web browser closing.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

accessing said new web page with said web browser; and

automatically entering user input with said electronic scratch pad from a previous web page into a data entry field on said new web page that has said second label that corresponds to the first label for a data entry field from a previous web page into which that user input was previously entered.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising equating different, synonymous labels for said data entry fields using the synonym table stored in a storage unit of said computing device.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising displaying both said web browser and said electronic scratch pad on a display device of said computing device.

13. The method of claim 10, in which, upon selection by a user with said user input device of previous user input displayed in said electronic scratch pad, entering that selected previous user input into a corresponding data entry field of a currently-accessed web page.

14. The method of claim 13, in which said selection by a user comprises dragging said previous user input from a display of said electronic scratch pad and dropping said previous user input in said corresponding data entry field of said currently-accessed web page.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising displaying lines drawn between labels for data entry fields shown on said electronic scratch pad and corresponding labels on a currently-accessed web page in said web browser for data entry fields of said currently-accessed web page.

16. A computer program product for inputting data to a web page that is selectively accessed and displayed through a web browser executing on a computing device, said computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith for an electronic scratch pad, the computer readable program code comprising:

computer readable program code configured to;

initialize a storage area of a terminal after activating the web browser, wherein after initialization the storage area contains no information;

identify data entry fields on a web page accessed by said web browser and to retrieve a number of first labels corresponding to any identified data entry field of said web page,

record said number of first labels;

in response to movement of a cursor from a corresponding data entry field, record any user input that is input using a user input device to the corresponding data entry field, in which said user input and said number of first labels stored by said scratch pad are continuously displayed to a user of said computing device while said web browser is open,

assign a four digit identifier to each first label, wherein labels having the same four digit identifier are identified as synonyms;

in response to said web browser activating a new web page, automatically entering user input from a previous web page into a data entry field on said new web page that has a second label that corresponds to one of said number of first labels for a data entry field from a previous web page into which that user input was previously entered;

in response to said second label on said new web page being a synonym with said one of said first label, based on the four digit identifiers for the second label and first label, from said accessed web page, updating the corresponding label information on said scratch pad to indicate both the first label and the second label; and

in response to identifying a new label on said new web page, adding said new label to said scratch pad without storing corresponding input information in said scratch pad.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, in which said electronic scratch pad selectively inputs said user input to a data entry field of a subsequent web page accessed by said web browser where said second label for said data entry field of said subsequent web page corresponds to one of the number of first labels for a data entry field into which said user input was originally entered by a user.