HARVESTING OF MEDIA OBJECTS FROM SEARCHED SITES WITHOUT A USER HAVING TO ENTER THE SITES

• US 20080140712A1
• Filed: 12/12/2006
• Published: 06/12/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/12/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Weber, Karon A., Shamma, David Ayman, Tripodi, Samantha M.
• Granted Patent: US 7,707,198 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/104.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation

Abstract

A method and apparatus for enabling a user to access media objects, such as images, from a website without requiring the user to enter the website. In one embodiment, a search engine searches for websites that match a submitted search term. A selected URL to one of the resulting websites is submitted to a harvester that accesses a web page of the selected website and identifies a media object of the web page. The harvester determines the characteristic(s) of the media object, such as a dimension, an aspect ratio, a proximity to other media objects, etc. The harvester determines a second media object with substantially the same characteristic(s). The determined media objects, or subportions, are rendered in a client user interface. Relationships are mapped between a selected media object and projects that use the object. Manipulating a rendered portion causes a related operation on the whole media object.

Claims

1. A method for accessing data, comprising:

receiving a request to preview a portion of a web page without requiring rendering the entire web page, wherein the request identifies a website that includes the web page;

automatically accessing the web page;

determining a characteristic of a first media object of the web page;

identifying a second media object of the web page, wherein the second media object has substantially the same characteristic; and

enabling a user to preview at least a portion of the first media object and at least a portion of the second media object.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an indication that the portion of the first media object was manipulated through a user interface; and

performing an operation with the first media object, wherein the operation is associated with the manipulation.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the website is identified by a uniform resource locator determined by a search based on a search term.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the web page is accessible through a link from a different web page of the website identified in the request.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the characteristic comprises at least one of the following:

a dimension, an aspect ratio, a size, a proximity to a text portion of the web page, a proximity to a search term in the web page; and

a position in a Document Object Model.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first media object comprises one of the following:

an image, a video, and an audio content.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the portion of the first media object comprises one of the following:

a thumbnail image of the first media object and a sample of the first media object.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing at least one relationship of the first media object to at least one of the following:

a project that includes the first media object and a user identifier associated with a user who has used the first media object.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising displaying a map of the at least one relationship.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a user interface that includes:

a search pane through which a search term can be entered and an identifier of the website can be selected; and

a preview pane that displays the portion of the first media object and the portion of the second media object in a relationship to each other based at least in part on a weighting factor applied to the characteristic.

11. A computer readable medium storing executable instructions that causes a computing device to performing the actions of claim 1.

12. A server for accessing data, comprising:

a communication interface in communication with a network;

a memory for storing instructions; and

a processor in communication with the communication interface and with the memory, wherein the processor performs actions based at least in part on the stored instructions, including;

receiving a request to preview a portion of a web page without requiring rendering the entire web page, wherein the request identifies a website that includes the web page;

automatically accessing the web page;

determining a characteristic of a first media object of the web page;

identifying a second media object of the web page, wherein the second media object has substantially the same characteristic; and

enabling a user to preview at least a portion of the first media object and at least a portion of the second media object.

13. The server of claim 12, wherein the processor performs further actions based at least in part on the instructions, including:

receiving an indication that the portion of the first media object was manipulated through a user interface; and

performing an operation with the first media object, wherein the operation is associated with the manipulation.

14. The server of claim 12, wherein the characteristic comprises at least one of the following:

a dimension, an aspect ratio, a size, a proximity to a text portion of the web page, and a proximity to a search term in the web page.

15. The server of claim 12, wherein the processor performs further actions based at least in part on the instructions, including:

providing at least one relationship of the first media object to at least one of the following;

a project that includes the first media object and a user identifier associated with a user who has used the first media object.

16. A client for accessing data, comprising:

a communication interface in communication with a network;

a display;

a memory for storing instructions; and

a processor in communication with the communication interface, with the display, and with the memory, wherein the processor performs actions based at least in part on the stored instructions, including;

transmitting a request to preview a portion of a web page without requiring rendering the entire web page, wherein the request identifies a website that includes the web page; and

enabling a user to preview at least a portion of a first media object and at least a portion of a second media object, wherein the first media object and the second media object share a substantially equivalent characteristic determined upon accessing the web page.

17. The client of claim 16, wherein the processor performs further actions based at least in part on the instructions, including:

providing a user interface that includes;

a search pane through which a search term can be entered and an identifier of the website can be selected; and

a preview pane that displays the portion of the first media object and the portion of the second media object.

18. The client of claim 16, further comprising an input device in communication with the processor, and wherein the processor performs further actions based at least in part on the instructions, including

receiving an input through the input device to manipulate the portion of the first media object;

and

causing an operation to be performed with the first media object, wherein the operation is associated with the manipulation of the portion of the first media object.

19. The client of claim 16, wherein the processor performs further actions based at least in part on the instructions, including displaying a map of at least one relationship of the first media object to at least one of the following:

a project that includes the first media object and a user identifier associated with a user who has used the first media object.

20. The client of claim 16, wherein the client comprises a mobile device.