Evolving interactive dialog box for an internet web page

• US 20020029243A1
• Filed: 04/04/2001
• Published: 03/07/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PayPal, Inc. (PayPal Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Inventors: Melet, Todd B., Melet, Stone J.
• Granted Patent: US 6,917,961 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/202 Interconnection or interaction of plural electronic cash registers [ECR] or to host computer, e.g. network details, transfer of information from host to ECR or from ECR to ECR
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15

Abstract

A host Web page includes an evolving interactive dialog box wherein an Internet user may enter user data to be processed. When the user completes entering user data in a first revolution of the interactive dialog box, the first revolution is replaced with a second revolution of the evolving interactive dialog box without disturbing or affecting any other part of the host Web page being displayed. Beneficially, the first and second revolutions may be communicated to a user computer together with and at a same time as the host Web page. Also, the second revolution may include a variety of data which is selected or customized to match the user data submitted in the first revolution. Each revolution of the evolving interactive dialog box may be comprised of any combination of general textual data entry fields, category (pull-down) menus, contact information data entry fields, and opt-in/opt-out buttons. The evolving interactive dialog box may also include dynamically selectable features, such as font type, font size, font color, box shape, box dimension(s), background colors, foreground colors, etc.

Claims

1. A method of processing user data from a user computer, comprising:

communicating to the user computer via the Internet a Web page including a first dialog box having a data entry field, wherein the Web page is configured to replace the first dialog box with a second dialog box while display of a remainder of the Web page at the user computer is not changed in response to an indication by a user that user data has been entered into the data entry field of the first dialog box;

receiving from the user computer user data entered into the data entry field of the first dialog box; and

selecting response data corresponding to the user data, and

including the response data in the second dialog box, the second dialog box replacing the first dialog box without changing display of the remainder of the Web page at the user computer.

2. The method of processing user data of claim 1, wherein selecting the customized data, comprises:

establishing a plurality of predefined responses; and

selecting one of the predefined responses as the response data.

3. The method of processing user data of claim 1, wherein selecting the customized data, comprises:

establishing a plurality of keywords;

establishing a plurality of predefined responses each corresponding to a keyword;

searching the user data to detect one of the keywords; and

selecting a predefined response corresponding to the detected keyword as the response data.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the customized data comprises a hyperlink to a Web page selected according to the user data.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the customized data comprises a plurality of hyperlinks to plurality of Web pages selected according to the user data.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the customized data comprises an image.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the customized data comprises text data.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein a background color of the first dialog box is selected from a plurality of colors according to a color scheme of the Web page.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving from the user computer an e-mail address for a user.

10. A method of processing user data from a user computer, comprising:

communicating to the user computer via the Internet a Web page including a first dialog box having a data entry field, wherein the Web page is configured to replace the first dialog box with a second dialog box while display of a remainder of the Web page at the user computer is not changed in response to an indication by a user of the user computer that user data has been entered into the data entry field of the first dialog box; and

receiving from the user computer user data entered into the data entry field of the first dialog box, the second dialog box replacing the first dialog box without changing display of the remainder of the Web page at the user computer,

wherein both the first and second dialog boxes are communicated to the user computer prior to receiving the user data from the user computer.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein both the first and second dialog boxes are communicated to the user computer at a same time as the Web page is communicated to the user computer.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the data entry field comprises a category menu.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the category menu is a pull-down menu.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the first dialog box includes any combination of elements of a group consisting of a category menu, a text data entry field, and a contact information data entry field.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the Web page is further configured to display a clickable box when initially loaded and in response to a user selecting the clickable box, displaying the first dialog box.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein both the first and second dialog boxes are communicated to the user computer prior to receiving the user data from the user computer.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein when valid data has not been entered into the first dialog box, a third dialog box comprising an alert message replaces the first dialog box without changing display of the remainder of the Web page at the user computer.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the at least one selected characteristic comprises one selected from the group consisting of a box dimension, a font type, a font size, a text color, a box shape, a background color, and a foreground color.

16. A method of processing user data from a user computer, comprising:

communicating to the user computer via the Internet a Web page including a first dialog box, wherein the Web page is configured to replace the first dialog box with a second dialog box while display of a remainder of the Web page at the user computer is not changed in response to an indication by a user of the user computer that user data has been entered into the first dialog box;

receiving the indication by the user that user data has been entered into the first dialog box; and

determining whether valid data has been entered into the first dialog box, wherein when valid data has been entered into the first dialog box, the second dialog box replaces the first dialog box without changing display of the remainder of the Web page at the user computer.

19. A method of creating an evolving interactive dialog box, comprising:

supplying a blank on-line form for requesting creation of the evolving interactive dialog box and selecting at least one characteristic thereof;

receiving a completed on-line form, including at least one selected characteristic of the evolving interactive dialog box;

automatically generating code readable by a Web browser for displaying the evolving interactive dialog box including the selected characteristic; and

communicating the code to a remote computer.