Method and system for visual network searching

• US 20020023084A1
• Filed: 04/25/2001
• Published: 02/21/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Friskit
• Original Assignee: Friskit
• Inventors: Eyal, Aviv, Shor, Shirley
• Granted Patent: US 7,010,537 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching

Abstract

An embodiment provides for conducting searches on a network. A search request is signaled over the network to a search engine. A search result is received that identifies a plurality of network addresses. Multiple pages are automatically rendered, each page being located by a corresponding network addresses in the search result.

Claims

1. A method for conducting searches on a terminal coupled to a network, the terminal including a display for rendering pages from the network, the method comprising:

identifying a plurality of network addresses, each of the network addresses locating a corresponding page that matches a search criteria;

arranging the corresponding page for each of the network addresses according to a sequence, the sequence providing that the corresponding page for at least one of the network addresses is followed by a subsequent page for another network address in the plurality of network addresses;

rendering the corresponding page for at least one of the network addresses on the display; and

signaling the subsequent page to be rendered on the display while the corresponding page for at least one of the network addresses is rendered on the display.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein signaling the subsequent page to be rendered includes automatically rendering the subsequent page after the corresponding page for at least one of the network addresses is rendered.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein signaling the subsequent page to be rendered is responsive to receiving a user-input while the corresponding page for at least one of the network addresses is rendered.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the sequence is affected by relevance of the corresponding pages to the search criteria.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the subsequent page is rendered on the display so that a transition from a previous page appears to be animated.

6. A method for conducting searches on a network, the method comprising:

signaling a search request over the network to a search engine;

receiving a search result that identifies a plurality of network addresses; and

automatically rendering multiple pages located by network addresses in the search result.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein automatically rendering multiple network pages includes displaying each of the multiple pages according to a sequence.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the sequence indicates a measure of relevance between the page located by each of the network addresses and the search request.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the sequence is predetermined.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein automatically rendering multiple network pages includes displaying each of the multiple pages according to a sequence determined by the search engine.

11. A method for conducting searches on a network, the method comprising:

signaling a search request over the network to a plurality of search engines;

receiving a plurality of search results, each of the plurality of search results being signaled from one of the search engines, each search result identifying a plurality of network addresses;

sorting the search results from the plurality of search engines; and

automatically rendering multiple pages located by network addresses in each of the search results.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein sorting the search result includes selecting an order for the search results based on a preference of a user.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein sorting the search results includes ordering the network addresses in the search result by mixing network addresses from each search result with network addresses from the other search results in the plurality of search results.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising automatically displaying a plurality of subsequent pages in a sequence, each subsequent page being from a corresponding network address in the plurality of network addresses.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein displaying a plurality of subsequent pages in a sequence includes displaying each of the plurality of subsequent pages for a duration before automatically displaying a next page in the plurality of subsequent pages.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein automatically displaying at least a subsequent page includes displaying the subsequent page with the subsequent page without the first page.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising automatically displaying a plurality of subsequent pages in a sequence, each subsequent page being from a corresponding network address in the plurality of network addresses, and each subsequent page being displayed replacing a previously displayed page from one of the plurality of network addresses.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein displaying a user-interface includes displaying a plurality of selectable controls, including a first feature for enabling the user to select a next page from the plurality of network pages.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising displaying a second feature enabling the user to select a previous page that was already displayed.

14. A method for conducting searches over a network, the method comprising:

signaling a search request to a search engine;

receiving a search result that identifies a plurality of network addresses;

displaying a first page from a first network address in the plurality of network addresses; and

automatically displaying at least a subsequent page from a second network address in the plurality of network addresses.

19. A method for conducting searches over a network, the method comprising:

locating a plurality of network addresses in response to a search request from a user;

displaying a user-interface;

displaying a first page located by a first network address;

receiving a signal from the user interacting with the user-interface while the first page is displayed; and

displaying a second page in response to receiving the command.

22. A method for conducting searches on a terminal coupled to a network, the terminal including a display for viewing pages, the method comprising:

signaling a search request over the network to a search engine;

receiving a search result that identifies a plurality of network addresses, the plurality of network addresses including a first network address and a second network address;

rendering a first page from the first network address on the display;

caching a second page from the second network address while the first page is being rendered; and

automatically rendering the second page on the display after caching the first page.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising automatically rendering the first page from the first network address on the display.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein rendering the second page after caching the first page includes replacing the first page with the second page on the display after a duration has elapsed.

25. The method of claim 22, further comprising caching a plurality of subsequent pages while the first page or the second page is being displayed.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising displaying each of the subsequent pages after the subsequent pages are cached.

27. The method of claim 25, further comprising displaying the subsequent pages automatically and sequentially after the subsequent pages are cached, so that each subsequent page is rendered on the display without another subsequent page being rendered.

29. The method of claim 28, further comprising automatically rendering only the corresponding pages of the verified network addresses.

28. A method for conducting searches over a network, the method comprising:

signaling a search request over the network to a search engine;

receiving a search result that identifies a plurality of network addresses;

for each network address in the plurality of network addresses, verifying that each network address locates a corresponding page; and

signaling a browser only the network addresses that are verified as locating corresponding network pages so as to automatically render at least one of the corresponding pages.

30. A method for conducting searches over a network, the method comprising:

signaling a search request over the network to a search engine;

receiving a search result that identifies a plurality of network addresses;

determining a set of network addresses in the plurality of network addresses that are selectable to render corresponding pages; and

automatically rendering the corresponding pages from network addresses in the set of network pages.

31. The method of claim 30, further comprising caching each the network addresses in the set of network addresses before rendering a corresponding page for that network address.

32. The method of claim 31, including caching at least one of the network addresses while displaying another one of the network addresses in the set of network addresses.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein determining a set of network addresses that are selectable includes excluding any network address in the plurality of network addresses that is broken or unavailable.

35. The system of claim 34, wherein the search module signals the plurality of network addresses so that each of the plurality of addresses is rendered sequentially.

37. The system of claim 36, wherein the search module automatically signals the first network address to the browser to cause the browser to automatically display the first page.

38. The system of claim 37, wherein the first feature is selectable to cause a plurality of subsequent network addresses in the search result to be signaled to the browser.

39. The system of claim 38, wherein the plurality of subsequent network addresses are signaled to the browser so that the browser sequentially displays a page for each of the plurality of subsequent network addresses.

40. The system of claim 39, wherein the browser sequentially replaces a previous page of a previous network address in the search result with a page of a subsequent network address in the search result.

41. The system of claim 36, wherein the user-interface includes a second feature that is selectable to cause a browser to display a previously displayed page of a previous network address in the plurality of network addresses.

34. A system for conducting searches over a network, the system comprising:

a browser that renders a page located by a network address;

a search module coupelable to a search engine to signal the search engine a search request, and to receive a search result in response to signaling the search request, the search module signaling a plurality of network addresses in the search result to the browser so that each of the plurality of network addresses is rendered automatically by the browser.

36. A system for conducting searches over a network, the system comprising:

a browser that renders a page located by a network address;

a search module coupelable to a search engine to signal the search engine a search request, and to receive a search result in response to signaling the search request, the search result comprising a plurality of network addresses from the search result to the browser; and

a user-interface including a first feature that is selectable while the browser is displaying a first page from a first network address in the search result to cause the browser to render a second page from a second network address in the search result.

42. A system for conducting searches over a network, the system comprising:

a browser that renders a page located by a network address;

a search module coupelable to a search engine to signal the search engine a search request, and to receive a search result in response to signaling the search request, the search result comprising a plurality of network addresses, the search module signaling the plurality of network addresses to the browser so that each of the plurality of network addresses is rendered; and

a caching module that automatically caches a page of a subsequent network address in the search result while a page corresponding to another one of the plurality of network addresses is displayed.

43. The system of claim 42, wherein the search module causes the browser module to automatically render the page located by each one of the plurality of network addresses.

44. The system of claim 42, further comprising a user-interface including a first feature that is selectable to cause the browser module to render a subsequent page of a subsequent network address in the plurality of network addresses while displaying a previous page from another network address in the plurality of network addresses.

45. The system of claim 44, wherein the first feature is selectable to cause the search module to signal the browser the subsequent network page.

47. The system of claim 46, wherein the verification module loads each of the plurality of network addresses into the browser to determine if each of the network addresses locate a corresponding page.

48. The system of claim 47, wherein the browser is coupleable to the verification module to be signaled only the network addresses in the plurality of network addresses that are verified to locate the corresponding pages.

49. The system of claim 46, further comprising a caching module that automatically caches a page of a subsequent network address in the search result while a page corresponding to another one of the plurality of network addresses is displayed.

46. A system for conducting searches over a network, the system comprising:

a browser that renders a page located by a network address;

a search module coupelable to a search engine to signal the search engine a search request, and to receive a search result in response to signaling the search request, the search result comprising a plurality of network addresses, the search module signaling the plurality of network addresses to the browser so that each of the plurality of network addresses is rendered; and

a verification module that identifies whether at least some of the plurality of network addresses locate corresponding pages.