Smart links

• US 20030101413A1
• Filed: 11/26/2001
• Published: 05/29/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 11/26/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Hittle, Jerald Lee, Naam, Ramez, Wang, Ziyi, Calbucci, Marcelo Aizenstein Furman, Klein, Adrian Conor, Reynar, Jeffrey Carey
• Granted Patent: US 7,406,659 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/513
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9558 Details of hyperlinks; Management of linked annotations

Abstract

A system and methods to incorporate, distribute, and execute associated links in online content is provided. The invention contemplates client side processing of online content received from one or more cooperating content servers to incorporate associated links by a client side computing application for display to participating users. The associated links when interacted offer one or more actions including but not limited to offering additional relevant content, executing cooperating applications, and performing searches. The processing of the online content is accomplished by parsing the content and comparing the content with a predefined list of associated links. If a match occurs, the associated link is incorporated for use. The invention further contemplates the automated update of the predefined list of associated links.

Claims

1. A system providing associated links in content viewable by a computing browser-type application capable of receiving and displaying content, comprising:

a helper object, said helper object cooperating with the computing browsing application to parse the content; and

a recognizer, said recognizer cooperating with said helper object to compare said content with a predefined list of key-phrases and/or syntactic rules for recognizing key-phrase candidates.

2. The system as recited in claim 1, further comprising at least one action handler, said action handler executing at least one pre-defined action related to said associated links.

3. The system as recited in claim 1, further comprising an associated link update engine, said associated link update engine operating to automatically update said predefined list of associated links.

4. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein said computing application comprises a content browser computing application.

5. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein said helper object further comprises a first listener and a second listener.

6. The system as recited in claim 5, wherein said first and second listeners comprise at least one set of instructions to monitor and be response to interaction with said computing application.

7. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein said associated links offer features comprising any of a group comprising:

additional associated links, search operations, additional content, and execution of cooperating computing applications.

8. The system recited in claim 7, wherein said additional associated links are related to an underlying associated link.

9. The system as recited in claim 7, wherein said additional content is related to an underlying associated link.

10. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein said computing browser-type application resides on a client computer of a networked computer environment.

11. The system as recited in claim 10, wherein said received content is received from at least one computer server of said networked computer environment.

21. A method to automatically update a predefined list of associated links of the associated link system of claim 1 comprising the steps of:

providing an update engine on a computing application incorporating associated links in online content;

upon the passing of a predefined event, said update engine communicating with an update server to obtain data indicative of an updated associated link list; and

replacing existing predefined associated link lists with obtained associated link lists.

23. A computer readable medium having computer readable instructions for performing the steps recited in claim 21.

12. A method providing associated links in online content, comprising the steps of:

receiving online content by a computing application from a cooperating content server over a communications network;

parsing said received online content by a helper object to generated parsed online content, said helper object cooperating with said computing application;

comparing said parsed online content by at least one recognizer to a predefined list of associated links to identify match true associated links; and

incorporating match true associated links in said received online content by said computing application to generate processed content for display to participating users;

13. The method as recited in claim 12, further comprising the steps of:

displaying said generated processed content to participating users through a cooperating display device; and

monitoring activity by said participating users with said match true associated links of generated processed content to offer content associated with said associated links;

14. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein said monitoring step comprises the steps of:

executing a first listener, said first listener monitoring activity with the top level computing applications session; and

executing a second listener, said second listener monitoring activity with all other computing application sessions.

15. The method as recited in claim 12, further comprising the step of:

executing said match true associated links upon interaction from participating users, said interaction being realized through at least one input from a user interface interfacing with said match true associated links.

16. The method as recited in claim 15, wherein said executing step comprises the step of:

aggregating content associated with said executed associated link;

said aggregated content comprising any of a group comprising additional associated links, additional relevant content related to said executed content, execution commands for search operations, and execution commands to launch cooperating computing applications; and

generating an interactive display pane, said interactive display pane populated with said aggregated content.

17. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein said parsing step comprises the step of:

separating said received online content into phrases; and

communicating said phrases to said recognizer.

18. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein said comparing step comprises the step of:

processing said phrases to identify any words that are contained in said predefine list of associated links.

19. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein said incorporating step comprises the step of:

highlighting said match true associated links such that they appear having a different color and/or format than surrounding non-associated link content.

20. A computer readable medium having computer executable instructions for performing the steps as recited in claim 12.

22. The method recited in claim 19, wherein said replacing step comprises the step of:

modifying said existing predefined associated link lists to include data on said obtained associated link lists.