Hyperlink preview utility and method

• US 20040205514A1
• Filed: 06/28/2002
• Published: 10/14/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Tucker, Robert, Milic-Frayling, Natasa, Sommerer, Ralph
• Application Number:
  US10/187,160
• Publication Number:
  US 20040205514A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/501.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/106 Display of layout of documents; Previewing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/137 Hierarchical processing, e.g. outlines

Abstract

A hyperlink preview utility discerns user intent to display a preview of a target resource page associated with a linking control, such as a hyperlink or visit node. The preview is displayed adjacent to the linking control and may display layout and content information to a user. A preview may be displayed in a scaled down browser window. The target resource page represented by the preview may be based on a live retrieval or an archived retrieval of a previously viewed resource page. In one example, invocation of a hyperlink preview is accomplished by hovering over a hyperlink, in a manner similar to the operation for invoking a tool tip.

Claims

1. A computer program product encoding a computer program for executing on a computer system a computer process for previewing a target resource page associated with a linking control, the computer process comprising:

detecting a preview invocation event associated with the linking control;

retrieving preview content of the target resource page associated with the linking control; and

displaying a preview of the target resource page adjacent to the linking control, based on the preview content.

2. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the preview includes a preview representation of the target resource page.

3. The computer program product of claim 2 wherein the preview representation includes a thumbnail image of the target resource page.

4. The computer program product of claim 2 wherein the computer process further comprises:

generating the preview representation of the target resource page for display as the preview of the target resource page.

5. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the preview includes content of the target resource page.

6. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the computer process further comprises:

retrieving a first resource page including the linking control.

7. The computer program product of claim 6 wherein the computer process further comprises:

displaying the first resource page in a browser window.

8. The computer program product of claim 6 wherein the computer process further comprises:

retrieving the preview content of the target resource page prior to completion of the detection operation.

9. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the operation of retrieving preview content of the target resource page associated with the linking control comprises:

retrieving the preview content of the target resource page from a network.

10. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the operation of retrieving preview content of the target resource page associated with the linking control comprises:

retrieving the preview content of the target resource page from an archive storage.

11. The computer program product of claim 1 further comprising:

archiving the retrieved preview content of the target resource page.

12. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the linking control is a hyperlink.

13. The computer program product of claim 12 wherein the operation of displaying the preview comprises:

retrieving and displaying a first resource page including the linking control.

displaying the preview of the target resource page adjacent to the linking control such that the preview does not fully obscure display of the first resource page.

14. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the linking control is a visit node.

15. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the preview includes layout and content of the target resource page.

17. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the detecting operation comprises:

detecting a cursor hovering over the linking control for a predetermined period of time.

18. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the retrieving operation comprises:

retrieving the preview content from an archive storage of one or more previously visited resource pages.

19. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the displaying operation comprises:

highlighting one or more aspects of the preview based on a previous search query.

20. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the displaying operation comprises:

highlighting one or more terms displayed in the preview based on a previous search query.

21. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the displaying operation comprises:

highlighting one or more aspects of the preview based on a user defined topic.

16. The computer program product of claim 16 further comprising:

displaying the preview in a scaled down browser window.

22. A method of previewing a target resource page associated with a linking control, the method comprising:

detecting a preview invocation event associated with the linking control;

retrieving preview content of the target resource page associated with the linking control; and

displaying a preview of the target resource page adjacent to the linking control, based on the preview content.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein the preview includes a preview representation of the target resource page.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein the preview representation includes a thumbnail image of the target resource page.

25. The method of claim 23 further comprising:

generating the preview representation of the target resource page for display as the preview of the target resource page.

26. The method of claim 22 wherein the preview includes content of the target resource page.

27. The method of claim 22 further comprising:

retrieving a first resource page including the linking control.

28. The method of claim 27 further comprising:

displaying the first resource page in a browser window.

29. The method of claim 27 further comprising:

retrieving the preview content of the target resource page prior to completion of the detection operation.

30. The method of claim 22 wherein the operation of retrieving preview content of the target resource page associated with the linking control comprises:

retrieving the preview content of the target resource page from a network.

31. The method of claim 22 wherein the operation of retrieving preview content of the target resource page associated with the linking control comprises:

retrieving the preview content of the target resource page from an archive storage.

32. The method of claim 22 further comprising:

archiving the retrieved preview content of the target resource page.

33. The method of claim 22 wherein the linking control is a hyperlink.

34. The method of claim 33 wherein the operation of displaying the preview comprises:

retrieving and displaying a first resource page including the linking control.

displaying the preview of the target resource page adjacent to the linking control such that the preview does not fully obscure display of the first resource page.

35. The method of claim 22 wherein the linking control is a visit node.

36. The method of claim 22 wherein the preview includes layout and content of the target resource page.

37. The method of claim 36 further comprising:

displaying the preview in a scaled down browser window.

38. The method of claim 22 wherein the detecting operation comprises:

detecting a cursor hovering over the linking control for a predetermined period of time.

39. The method of claim 22 wherein the retrieving operation comprises:

retrieving the preview content from an archive storage of one or more previously visited resource pages.

40. The method of claim 22 wherein the displaying operation comprises:

highlighting one or more aspects of the preview based on a previous search query.

41. The method of claim 22 wherein the displaying operation comprises

highlighting one or more terms displayed in the preview based on a previous search query.

42. The method of claim 22 wherein the displaying operation comprises:

highlighting one or more aspects of the preview based on a user defined topic.

43. A hyperlink preview utility for previewing a target resource page associated with a linking control, the hyperlink preview utility comprising:

an event monitor detecting a preview invocation event associated with the linking control;

a resource page downloader retrieving preview content of the target resource page associated with the linking control; and

a preview module displaying a preview of the target resource page adjacent to the linking control.

44. The hyperlink preview utility of claim 43 wherein the preview module highlights one or more aspects of the preview based on a previous search query.

45. The hyperlink preview utility of claim 43 wherein the preview module highlights one or more terms displayed in the preview based on a previous search query.

46. The hyperlink preview utility of claim 43 wherein the preview module highlights one or more aspects of the preview based on a user defined topic.