Intra-encapsulation intelligent searching of an object

• US 20050166047A1
• Filed: 01/23/2004
• Published: 07/28/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 01/23/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Spicewood Software LLC
• Original Assignee: Spicewood Software LLC
• Inventors: Tollett, Wayne J.
• Application Number:
  US10/764,326
• Publication Number:
  US 20050166047A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/167
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/95 Retrieval from the web
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/154 Tree transformation for tree-structured or markup documents, e.g. XSLT, XSL-FO or stylesheets
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces

Abstract

A functional encoding is operable to perform intelligent searching of an encapsulated object (e.g., a select object, an input object, a table object, a graphic object, etc.) with an accumulated sequence of input elements. The functional encoding accumulates the sequence of input elements and searches the encapsulated object for a member that includes the sequence of input elements. If a keystroke delay time period expires, then the accumulated sequence of input elements is discarded for the next sequence of input elements.

Claims

1. A functional encoding for operating on one or more objects of an encapsulation provided over a network, the functional encoding comprising:

an input accumulation encoding operable to accumulate an input sequence; and

an input location encoding operable to determine if a member of an object includes the accumulated input sequence, wherein the input location encoding operates within the encapsulation; and

a selection encoding operable to supply an indication of a member of an object if the member includes an input sequence accumulated by the input accumulation encoding, wherein the functional encoding is in accordance with a specification for hyperobject presentation and hyperobject input handling.

2. The functional encoding of claim 1 wherein the specification includes an interpreted language, a scripting language, and a virtual machine language.

3. The functional encoding of claim 1, wherein the functional encoding is encoded integrally with the encapsulation.

4. The functional encoding of claim 1, wherein the web page control is encoded integrally with a template for the encapsulation.

5. The functional encoding of claim 4, wherein the encapsulation template includes cascading style sheets.

6. The functional encoding of claim 1 further comprising an expansion encoding operable to determine a greatest dimension of members of an object, to increase the object to at least the determined greatest dimension from an initial dimension.

7. The functional encoding of claim 6 wherein the expansion encoding reduces the object to the initial dimension upon a focus change event.

8. The functional encoding of claim 6 wherein the expansion encoding increases the object when the object is active and reduces the object when the object is no longer active.

9. The functional encoding of claim 6 wherein the expansion encoding determines the greatest dimension in accordance with at least one criteria that includes one or more of object member type, object member style, and number of object member elements.

10. The functional encoding of claim 9 wherein the member includes a character string and the criteria includes one or more of font, number of characters, style, case, and type of characters.

11. The functional encoding of claim 6 wherein the dimension includes one or more of height and width of the object.

12. The functional encoding of claim 6 further comprising the expansion encoding to determine a greatest second dimension and to increase the object to the greatest second dimension from an initial second dimension.

13. The functional encoding of claim 1 wherein the input is accumulated in a first object and the input location encoding operates on a second object.

14. The functional encoding of claim 13, wherein the second object is hidden.

15. The functional encoding of claim 14, wherein the hidden object is revealed while the first object is active.

16. The functional encoding of claim 13, wherein the second object is embedded within a third object, and the first object accesses the second object with an object indication based at least in part on the third object'"'"'s indication, wherein the third object is bound to the first object.

17. The functional encoding of claim 13 wherein during input accumulation and input location, the first object is active and the second object is inactive.

18. The functional encoding of claim 13 wherein the object includes one or more of a select object, a table object, an input object, and a graphic object.

19. The functional encoding of claim 1, wherein the encapsulation is encoded in accordance with a hierarchically encoded mark-up language.

20. The functional encoding of claim 19, wherein the hierarchically encoded mark-up language includes one or more of hypertext markup language, standard generalized mark-up language, dynamic hypertext mark-up language, server-parsed hypertext mark-up language, and extensible mark-up language.

21. The functional encoding of claim 1, wherein the object includes one or more of a select object, a table object, an input object, and a graphic object.

23. The functional encoding of claim 1, wherein the accumulated input includes a sequence of symbols elected from an ordered set thereof.

24. The functional encoding of claim 23, wherein the symbols are encoded in accordance with one or more of ASCII encoding and Unicode encoding.

25. The functional encoding of claim 1 wherein the network includes one or more of an intranet and the Internet.

22. The functional encoding of claim I further comprising the input accumulation encoding operable to discard the accumulated input upon expiration of a period of time.

26. A web page control that, upon evaluation thereof, locates a web page object member that includes a user provided sequence, wherein the locating refines evaluation of the web page object against the user provided sequence as successive elements of the user provided sequence are accumulated, and that supplies indication of the object member that includes the user provided sequence.

27. The web page control of claim 26, wherein the web page control is instantiated in the web page as functionality of the object.

28. The web page control of claim 26, wherein the web page control is embodied, at least in part, as a functional sequence overloadable for corresponding functionality of the object.

29. The web page control of claim 26, wherein the web page control accumulates the user provided sequence in a second object, accesses the object, locates the object member with the user provided sequence accumulated in the second object, and supplies indication of the located object member.

30. The web page control of claim 29, wherein the object is a hidden object, which is revealed at least while the input object is active.

31. The web page control of claim 29, wherein the hidden object is embedded within a third object that is bound to the second object and the second object accesses the embedded object based at least in part on the third object'"'"'s identifier.

32. The web page control of claim 26, wherein the web page includes an object property defined to comply with the web page control.

33. The web page of claim 26 encoded in accordance with a hierarchically encoded mark-up language.

34. The web page control of claim 33, wherein the hierarchically encoded mark-up language includes one or more of hypertext markup language, standard generalized markup language, extensible markup language, server-parsed HTML, and dynamic HTML.

35. The web page control of claim 26 encoded in accordance with one or more of an interpreted language, a scripting language, and a virtual machine language.

36. The web page control of claim 35 wherein the web page control is encoded integrally with the web page.

37. The web page control of claim 35, wherein the web page control is encoded integrally with a template for the web page.

38. The web page control of claim 37, wherein the web page template includes cascading style sheets.

39. The web page control of claim 26 wherein the user provided sequence includes a sequence of symbols elected from an ordered set thereof.

40. The web page control of claim 39, wherein the symbols are encoded in accordance with one or more of ASCII characters and Unicode characters.

41. The web page control of claim 26, wherein the object includes a select object, a table object, an input object, and a graphic object.

42. The web page control of claim 26, wherein the web page control expands at least one dimension of the web page object from an initial dimension to a maximum dimension to accommodate a largest object member.

43. The web page control of claim 42, wherein the web page control expands the object when focus is on the object and that reduces the object to the initial dimension upon an event.

44. The web page control of claim 43 wherein the event includes one or more of a pointing device selection of an object member, a key input selection of an object member, and a move focus event.

45. The web page control of claim 26, wherein the web page control accumulates the successive elements into the user provided sequence within a period of time, and accumulates a new user provided sequence if the time period expires.

46. A web page that searches an object with an input sequence of elements accumulated within a period of time and that selects an object member that includes the accumulated input sequence, wherein the web page encapsulates at least the object.

47. The web page of claim 46 that also determines a greatest dimension from the object members and that increases the object from an initial dimension to at least the greatest dimension, which allows presentation of one or more object members with the greatest dimension, when focus is on the object, and that reduces the object to the initial dimension upon a change event.

48. The web page of claim 47 wherein the change event includes one or more of a pointing device selection of an object member, a key input selection of an object member, and a move focus event.

49. The web page of claim 47 wherein the web page determines the greatest dimension with criteria including one or more of number of characters, font, case, style, and particular characters.

50. The web page of claim 46 wherein the input sequence is accumulated in an second object related to the object and the second object drives the search of the object with the accumulated input sequence.

51. The web page of claim 50 wherein the object includes a select object, input object, a table object, and a graphic object.

52. The web page of claim 46 wherein the web page discards the accumulated input sequence if the period of time expires.

53. The web page of claim 46 encoded in accordance with one or more of HTML, SHTML, SGML, XML, and DHTML.

54. The web page of claim 46 wherein the input sequence includes one or more of alphanumeric characters, symbols, and biometric data.

55. A method comprising:

recording a locally provided sequence of elements;

searching a remotely provided encapsulated object for an object member that includes the locally provided sequence of elements; and

supplying indication of the object member that includes the locally provided sequence of elements.

56. The method of claim 55 wherein the remotely provided encapsulated object has been provided over one or more of an intranet and the Internet.

57. The method of claim 55 wherein the sequence of elements is recorded within a period of time and discarded if the period of time expires.

58. The method of claim 55 wherein the sequence of elements is recorded from an second object, and the second object searches the encapsulated object, wherein the second object and the encapsulated object are within the same encapsulation.

59. The method of claim 58, wherein the encapsulated object is a hidden object.

60. The method of claim 59, wherein the hidden object is revealed while the second object is active.

61. The method of claim 58, wherein the encapsulated object is embedded within a third object.

62. The method of claim 58 wherein the encapsulation is encoded in accordance with a hierarchically encoded mark-up language.

63. The method of claim 62, wherein the hierarchically encoded mark-up language includes one or more of hypertext markup language, standard generalized markup language, extensible markup language, server-parsed HTML, and dynamic HTML.

64. The method of claim 62 wherein the second object includes one or more of an input object, select object, table object, and graphic object.

65. The method of claim 55 further comprising expanding the encapsulated object from an initial dimension to a maximum dimension that accommodates a largest object member.

66. The method of claim 65 further comprising reducing the encapsulated object from the maximum dimension to the initial dimension on a change event.

67. The method of claim 66 wherein the change event includes a pointing device selection of an object member, a key input selection of an object member, and a move focus event.

68. The method of claim 55 embodied as a computer program product encoded in one or more machine-readable media.

69. A method comprising:

defining an object property, which controls access and location of members of objects of an encapsulation, to accumulate in the encapsulation locally provided sequences, and to locate within the encapsulation an encapsulated object member that includes the locally provided sequence.

70. The method of claim 69, wherein an encapsulation is encoded in accordance with a hierarchically encoded mark-up language.

71. The method of claim 70, wherein the hierarchically encoded mark-up language includes one or more of hypertext markup language, standard generalized markup language, extensible markup language, server-parsed HTML, and dynamic HTML.

72. The method of claim 69 wherein the encapsulated objects include select objects, input objects, table objects, and graphic objects.

73. The method of claim 69 wherein the remotely provided encapsulated objects collectively provide one or more of content presentation, service provision, and an application.

74. The method of claim 72 wherein the remotely provided encapsulated objects are provided from one or more sources within a .Net framework.

75. The method of claim 69 further comprising defining the object property to increase at least one dimension of an encapsulated object from an initial dimension to a maximum dimension, wherein the maximum dimension is at least a largest object member'"'"'s dimension.

76. The method of claim 75 wherein the object property further defines the behavior of an encapsulated object to reduce from the maximum dimension to the initial dimension upon a change event.

77. The method of claim 76 wherein the change events include one or more of a pointing device selection of an object member, a key input selection of an object member, and a move focus event.

78. The method of claim 69 wherein the object property definition refers to a component.

79. The method of claim 78 wherein the component encapsulates functionality to define object behavior.

80. The method of claim 79 wherein the component is encoded in accordance with an interpreted language, a scripting language, and a virtual machine language.

81. The method of claim 69 wherein a first object accumulates locally provided sequences and searches a second object.

82. The method of claim 69 embodied as a computer program product encoded in one or more machine-readable media.

83. A method comprising:

activating an encapsulated object that has been remotely provided;

expanding the encapsulated object from an initial dimension to a greater dimension, wherein the greater dimension accommodates a largest object member; and

reducing the encapsulated object to the initial dimension, wherein at least the encapsulated object is within an encapsulation.

84. The method of claim 83 further comprising determining the greater dimension in accordance with criteria that include one or more of object member element size, number of object member elements, type of object member element, and style of object member element.

85. The method of claim 83 wherein the encapsulation is encoded in accordance with a mark-up language.

86. The method of claim 83 wherein the encapsulated object reduces upon one or more of a pointing device selection of an object member, a key input selection of an object member, and a move focus event.

87. The method of claim 83 further comprising:

accumulating a locally provided input sequence with the encapsulation; and

searching the encapsulated object for an object member that includes the accumulated locally provided input sequence.

88. The method of claim 87 further comprising supplying an indication of an object member that includes the accumulated locally provided input sequence.

89. The method of claim 87 wherein the locally provided input sequence is discarded after a time period expires, and a new locally provided input sequence is accumulated within the time period.

90. The method of claim 87 wherein the input sequence is accumulated in a second object that is encapsulated within the encapsulation and the second object controls searching of the object.

91. The method of claim 83 embodied as a computer program product encoded in one or more machine-readable media.

92. A functional encoding for locally manipulating objects within an encapsulation, the functional encoding comprising:

a maximum dimension encoding operable to determine greatest dimension that accommodates a largest object member; and

a resize encoding operable to expand an encapsulated object from an initial dimension to a maximum dimension determined by the maximum dimension encoding and to reduce the encapsulated object to the initial dimension.

93. The functional encoding of claim 92, wherein the functional encoding is instantiated in the encapsulation as functionality of an encapsulated object.

94. The functional encoding of claim 92, wherein the functional encoding is embodied, at least in part, as a functional sequence overloadable for corresponding functionality of an encapsulated object.

95. The functional encoding of claim 92, wherein the encapsulation is encoded in accordance with a hierarchically encoded mark-up language.

96. The functional encoding of claim 95, wherein the hierarchically encoded mark-up language includes one or more of hypertext markup language, standard generalized markup language, extensible markup language, server-parsed HTML, and dynamic HTML.

97. The functional encoding of claim 92 wherein the functional encoding is encoded integrally with the encapsulation.

98. The functional encoding of claim 92, wherein the functional encoding is encoded integrally with a template for the encapsulation.

99. The web page control of claim 98, wherein the encapsulation template includes cascading style sheets.

100. The functional encoding of claim 92, wherein the greatest dimension includes one or more of a greatest width and a greatest height.

101. The functional encoding of claim 100, wherein the greatest dimension is determined with criteria that include one or more of style, case, font, and object member type.

102. The functional encoding of claim 92, wherein an encapsulated encoding is expanded upon activation of the encapsulated encoding and reduced upon a change event that includes one or more of a pointing device selection of an object member, a key input selection of an object member, and a move focus event.

103. The functional encoding of claim 92 further comprising:

an input accumulation encoding operable to accumulate locally provided input; and

a search encoding operable to search an encapsulated object with input accumulated by the input accumulation encoding.

104. The functional encoding of claim 103, wherein the input accumulation encoding accumulates input for a time period, and begins accumulating new input after the time period expires.

105. The functional encoding of claim 103, wherein the input accumulation encoding accumulates input at a second object, and the second object drives the search encoding on an encapsulated encoding bound to the second object, wherein the second object and the encapsulated object are within the same encapsulation.

106. The functional encoding of claim 105, wherein the encapsulation includes a web page.

107. An apparatus comprising:

a network interface; and

means for searching an encapsulated object from within the encapsulation with an input sequence for an object member that includes the input sequence.

108. The apparatus of claim 107 further comprising means for expanding the encapsulated object from an initial dimension to a maximum dimension.

109. The apparatus of claim 107 further comprising means for searching the encapsulated object from a second object within the same encapsulation, wherein the second object accumulates the input sequence.

110. An apparatus comprising:

a network interface; and

means for modifying at least one dimension of an encapsulated object within the encapsulation to accommodate a largest object member.

111. The apparatus of claim 110 wherein the means further comprise restoring the encapsulated object to maintain integrity of the encapsulation.

112. The apparatus of claim 110 further comprising means for accumulating an input sequence within a time period and searching the encapsulated object within the encapsulation for an object member that includes the input sequence.

113. The apparatus of claim 112 wherein the searching is driven from a second object that accumulates the input sequence, wherein the second object is bound to the encapsulated object and within the same encapsulation.

114. The apparatus of claim 110 further comprising means for controlling the encapsulated object from an input object within the encapsulation.