Ephemeral list for object-action navigation

• US 20030103090A1
• Filed: 12/05/2001
• Published: 06/05/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Yuen, Jason Thomas, Kelley, John Falk, Heck, Michael P., Garay, Matthew D.
• Granted Patent: US 6,931,416 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/854
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/06 Asset management; Financial planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99937 Sorting
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface

Abstract

An Ephemeral List navigation panel provided in conjunction with an Object-Action navigation tool which is a temporary “parking space” for objects encountered within other portions or modules of the Object-Action navigation tool. The panel represents a history, preferably in the form of a push-down stack, of products and/or objects encountered by the user. Items and objects within the panel are selectable by the user, and may be acted upon as indicated by the user such as adding, deleting, filtering and sorting them. The panel may be populated directly or indirectly by other processes associated with the Object-Action navigation tool, and the panel may cause actions within the other processes directly or indirectly responsive to user actions on the panel.

Claims

1. A method for providing an ephemeral list navigation tool within an Object-Action navigation user interface system, said Object-Action user interface system having one or more semi-independent action modules communicative to a central control process, each of said action modules having a module frame display, said method comprising:

updating an ephemeral list display via command from said central control process to an ephemeral list management process responsive to user-selected actions received by said action modules; and

updating said module frame displays by said action modules via command from said central control process responsive to user-selected actions received by said ephemeral list management process such that there is an apparent interaction and coordination between user-selected actions between said module frame displays and said ephemeral list display.

2. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of updating said ephemeral list display via command from said central control process comprises providing a portion of Hyper Text Markup Language code to said ephemeral list management process.

3. The method as set forth in claim 2 wherein said step of providing a portion of Hyper Text Markup Language code to said ephemeral list management process comprises filtering HTML for certain meta-tags prior to providing said portion to the ephemeral list management process.

4. The method as set forth in claim 2 wherein said step of providing a portion of Hyper Text Markup Language code to said ephemeral list management process comprises performing a “

screen scrape”

prior to providing said portion to the ephemeral list management process.

5. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of updating said ephemeral list display via command from said central control process comprises adding an object to an ephemeral list responsive to a user-selected action on an object in a module frame display.

6. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of updating said ephemeral list display via command from said central control process comprises deleting an object from an ephemeral list responsive to a user-selected action on an object in a module frame display.

7. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of updating said ephemeral list display via command from said central control process comprises sorting a set of objects in an ephemeral list responsive to a user-selected action on an object in a module frame display.

8. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of updating said ephemeral list display via command from said central control process comprises filtering a set of objects in an ephemeral list responsive to a user-selected action on an object in a module frame display.

9. A computer-readable medium encoded with software for providing an ephemeral list navigation tool within an Object-Action navigation user interface system, said Object-Action user interface system having one or more semi-independent action modules communicative to a central control process, each of said action modules having a module frame display, said software causing a processor to perform the steps of:

updating an ephemeral list display via command from said central control process to an ephemeral list management process responsive to user-selected actions received by said action modules; and

updating said module frame displays by said action modules via command from said central control process responsive to user-selected actions received by said ephemeral list management process such that there is an apparent interaction and coordination between user-selected actions between said module frame displays and said ephemeral list display.

10. The computer readable medium as set forth in claim 9 wherein said software for updating said ephemeral list display via command from said central control process comprises software for providing a portion of Hyper Text Markup Language code to said ephemeral list management process.

11. The computer readable medium as set forth in claim 10 wherein said software for providing a portion of Hyper Text Markup Language code to said ephemeral list management process comprises filtering HTML for certain meta-tags prior to providing said portion to the ephemeral list management process.

12. The computer readable medium as set forth in claim 10 wherein said software for providing a portion of Hyper Text Markup Language code to said ephemeral list management process comprises software for performing a “

screen scrape”

prior to providing said portion to the ephemeral list management process.

13. The computer readable medium as set forth in claim 9 wherein said software for updating said ephemeral list display via command from said central control process comprises software for adding an object to an ephemeral list responsive to a user-selected action on an object in a module frame display.

14. The computer readable medium as set forth in claim 9 wherein said software for updating said ephemeral list display via command from said central control process comprises software for deleting an object from an ephemeral list responsive to a user-selected action on an object in a module frame display.

15. The computer readable medium as set forth in claim 9 wherein said software for updating said ephemeral list display via command from said central control process comprises software for sorting a set of objects in an ephemeral list responsive to a user-selected action or an object in a module frame display.

16. The computer readable medium as set forth in claim 9 wherein said software for updating said ephemeral list display via command from said central control process comprises filtering a set of objects in an ephemeral list responsive to a user-selected action on an object in a module frame display.

17. A system for providing an ephemeral list navigation tool within an Object-Action navigation user interface, said Object-Action navigation user interface having one or more semi-independent action modules communicative to a central control process, each of said action modules having a module frame display, said system comprising:

an ephemeral list display controller adapted to update an ephemeral list display via command from said central control process to an ephemeral list management process responsive to user-selected actions received by said action modules; and

a module frame update relay function disposed within said central control process adapted to cause updating of said module frame displays by said action modules via command from said central control process responsive to user-selected actions received by said ephemeral list management process such that there is an apparent interaction and coordination between user-selected actions between said module frame displays and said ephemeral list display.

18. The system as set forth in claim 17 wherein said ephemeral list display controller is adapted to receive portions of Hyper Text Markup Language code from said central control process.

19. The system as set forth in claim 18 wherein said central control process is adapted to filter said HTML portions for certain meta-tags prior to providing said portion to the ephemeral list display controller.

20. The system as set forth in claim 18 wherein said central control process is adapted to perform a “

screen scrape”

prior to providing said HTML portion to the ephemeral list display controller.

21. The system as set forth in claim 17 wherein said ephemeral list display controller and central control process are adapted to add an object to an ephemeral list responsive to a user-selected action on an object in a module frame display.

22. The system as set forth in claim 17 wherein said ephemeral list display controller and central control process are adapted to delete an object from an ephemeral list responsive to a user-selected action on an object in a module frame display.

23. The system as set forth in claim 17 wherein said ephemeral list display controller and central control process are adapted to sort a set of objects in an ephemeral list responsive to a user-selected action on an object in a module frame display.

24. The system as set forth in claim 17 wherein said ephemeral list display controller and central control process are adapted to filter a set of objects in an ephemeral list responsive to a user-selected action on an object in a module frame display.