Method and system for advanced downloading of URLS for WEB navigation

• US 20060136453A1
• Filed: 09/08/2005
• Published: 06/22/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/16/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kyndryl Incorporated (Kyndryl Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Kwan, Derek
• Granted Patent: US 8,495,053 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/955 using information identifiers, e.g. uniform resource locators [URL]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9566 URL specific, e.g. using aliases, detecting broken or misspelled links
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS

Abstract

A method, computer program product, and system for providing advanced downloading of Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) for a WEB browser running on a computer. The system is capable of providing a WEB browser with Uniform Resource Locators (URLs). The system comprises a client computer and a server. The client computer includes the WEB browser for use by a user and includes a URL component. The server provides WEB data to the client computer. The server includes a URL downloader, which is responsive to the URL component for downloading the URLs to the client computer.

Claims

1. A method for providing downloading of Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) for a WEB browser running on a computer, the method comprising the steps of:

utilizing a server to query the WEB browser when a user arrives at a WEB site hosted on the server to see if a URL component exists on the computer; and

providing the URL component, if the URL component exists on the computer, with a current set of URLs associated with the WEB site.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

providing the user with an option to install the URL component on the computer if the URL component is not already installed on the computer; and

installing the URL component on the computer if the user chooses to install the URL component.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the step of:

asking the user to select the URLs that the user wishes to download to compile the set of URLs provided to the URL component before the step of providing the URL component with the current set of URLs associated with the WEB site.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the step of:

asking the user whether or not to download the set of URLs associated with the WEB site before the step of providing the URL component with the current set of URLs associated with the WEB site and making the step of providing the URL component with the current set of URLs associated with the WEB site conditional on a response from the user.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the step is performed by an item selected from the group consisting of the WEB browser, the URL component, and a servlet that is installed on the server.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the step of providing the URL component and a set of URLs to the computer before when a software application is installed.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of providing the URL component with the current set of URLs associated with the WEB site is performed automatically using metatags in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) code of the WEB site.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprises the step of storing the set of URLs provided to the URL component in a data file associated with the WEB browser on the computer of the user.

9. The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the set of URLs are stored in the data file selected from the group consisting of a history data file, an auto-complete data file, and a site-map data file.

10. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

monitoring keystrokes of the user when the user types a URL in an address field of the WEB browser; and

presenting the user with a selection of URLs that begin with the keystrokes the user has entered so far, the selection of URLs taken from the current set of URLs provided to the URL component.

11. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the step of presenting the user with the selection of URLs is performed in a top down fashion such that the user navigates through a directory tree of the WEB site one level at a time, beginning one level below the URL the user has entered into the address field, to select a URL that the user wishes to arrive at from the selection of URLs.

12. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the method functions even if the user has not previously visited the WEB site with the WEB browser that the user is using.

13. A computer program product having a computer readable medium tangibly embodying computer executable instructions for providing downloading of Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) for a WEB browser running on a computer, the computer program product comprising:

computer executable instructions for utilizing a server to query the WEB browser when a user arrives at a WEB site hosted on the server to see if a URL component exists on the computer; and

computer executable instructions for providing the URL component with a current set of URLs associated with the WEB site.

14. The computer program product as claimed in claim 13, further comprising:

computer executable instructions for providing the user with an option to install the URL component on the computer, if the URL component is not already installed on the computer; and

computer executable instructions for installing the URL component on the computer if the user chooses to install the URL component.

15. A system for providing a WEB browser with Uniform Resource Locators (URLs), the system comprising:

a client computer including the WEB browser for use by a user and a URL component; and

a server for providing WEB data to the client computer,

wherein the server includes a URL downloader, the URL downloader being responsive to the URL component for downloading the URLs to the client computer.

16. The system as claimed in claim 15, wherein the URL component comprises a plug-in, installed on the client computer.

17. The system as claimed in claim 15, wherein the URL component comprises a plug-in, being downloadable from the server.

18. The system as claimed in claim 15, wherein the URL component is downloaded and installed in response to a user input on the client computer.

19. The system as claimed in claim 15, wherein the URLs are stored by the URL component in a data file associated with the WEB browser on the client computer.

20. The system as claimed in claim 19, wherein the data file is selected from the group consisting of a history data file, an auto-complete data file, and a site-map data file.