Novel web site player and recorder

• US 20040041835A1
• Filed: 09/03/2002
• Published: 03/04/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 09/03/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Qiu-Jiang Lu
• Original Assignee: Qiu-Jiang Lu
• Inventors: Lu, Qiu-Jiang
• Application Number:
  US10/233,651
• Publication Number:
  US 20040041835A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/748
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation

Abstract

The present invention provides and utilizes a novel finding that the vastly scattered remote Internet content, although very different than the local physical VCR or DVD medium, can be automatically and continuously displayed (i.e. playable). A method is provided to turn a web browser into a web site player whose operation is similar to that for a VCR or a DVD player. That is, a user presses a button, sits back, and watches an entire web site played page by page. Recording, forward display and backward display of web pages within a web site are practiced by building a sequence of web page addresses and performing an automatic continuous consecutive display for the web pages whose addresses are contained in the sequence.

Claims

1. A method for providing a web site player that automatically and continuously displays web pages within a web site, the method comprising:

providing a software module that implements a group of buttons contained in a toolbar, which is integrated into a web browser;

providing a sequence of web page addresses that are corresponding to web pages to be displayed;

performing an automatic continuous consecutive forward display or backward display for web pages whose addresses are contained in said sequence, in cooperation with said buttons;

stopping the automatic continuous consecutive forward display or backward display with one of said buttons; and

re-building said sequence with a different set of web page addresses for a different web site,

whereby a user can sit back and watch a web site played page by page, and whereby the user can switch and play different web sites without requiring special software modules for each individual web site.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the web page addresses contained in said sequence are used to perform an automatic continuous consecutive forward display or backward display of the corresponding web pages.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the automatic continuous consecutive forward display or backward display is operated with said buttons that are embedded in a web browser toolbar rather than in a web page.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the toolbar can be either horizontal or vertical.

6. A first method for building the address sequence in claim 1, the method comprising:

identifying the address of the web page currently being displayed by the web browser when one of said buttons is pressed;

using the address as the first address in said sequence;

during the process of continuously and consecutively displaying web pages from the first address to the last address in said sequence, scanning the currently displayed web page for hyperlink addresses;

determining whether the hyperlink addresses are within or outside the scope of the first address; and

appending the hyperlinks addresses to said sequence if they are within the scope and are not yet present in said sequence.

7. A second method for building the address sequence in claim 1, the method comprising:

introducing a proprietary tag that is embedded within a web page, said tag containing a list of web page addresses;

during browser navigation, determining whether a web page contains said tag; and

forming said sequence with the addresses contained in said tag if the web page contains said tag.

8. A third method for building the address sequence in claim 1, the method comprising:

storing a list of web page addresses in a predetermined file under a predetermined web server directory;

during browser navigation, determining whether the file exists in the currently visited web site; and

forming said sequence with the addresses contained in the file if the file exists.

9. A method for recording the address sequence in claim 1 for later replay, the method comprising:

saving web page addresses in said sequence to a storage medium;

later, loading the addresses from said medium; and

forming said sequence with the addresses.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the address sequence is cleared and re-built with a different set of web page addresses for a different web site or for a different entry address within the same web site, whereby a user can switch to watch different web sites or different portions of the same web site.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a text box in said toolbar for a user to enter an index number and jump to a position within said sequence; and

performing an automatic continuous consecutive forward display or backward display for web pages contained in said sequence, starting at the position,

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the equivalent operation for any one of said buttons is alternatively realized by a sound generated by a user.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the equivalent operation for any one of said buttons is alternatively realized by using a television remote control.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the equivalent operation for any one of said buttons is alternatively realized by depressing of a key on a key pad.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the equivalent operation for any one of said buttons is alternatively realized by using a pointing device.

4. A method for initiating and controlling an automatic continuous consecutive forward display or backward display for a sequence of web pages within a web site, by using a software module that is embedded in a web browser rather than in a web page, whereby said module always stays with the browser and remains available for performing the display for different web sites.