Exported overlays

• US 20080155060A1
• Filed: 12/22/2006
• Published: 06/26/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Weber, Karon A., Tripodi, Samantha M., Chi, Liang-Yu
• Granted Patent: US 9,734,257 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/218
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking

Abstract

An overlay generator recognizes specific types of content and metadata present on a web site, and retrieves additional content related to the web site from other sources. The overlay generator makes the additional content available in a web browser as an overlay or as a hyperlink, so that the additional content can be viewed in combination with the original web site content. For example, if a zip code is present on a web site, and the web site includes a static map showing points of specialized interest in that zip code, then the overlay generator recognizes the zip code as a specific type of content related to maps, and retrieves an interactive map of the zip code from a map service, and generates an overlay for superimposing the interactive map on the static map, so that the content of both maps is displayed in a single integrated map.

Claims

1. A computer-enabled method of combining online content from multiple sources, the method comprising the steps of:

acquiring site content from a web site;

acquiring descriptive data associated with the site content, wherein the descriptive data conforms to a defined format;

retrieving additional content from an online data source, wherein the additional content is selected based upon the descriptive data; and

displaying at least a portion of the additional content in combination with the site content, wherein the overlay is based upon the additional content.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the online data source provides the additional content in response to a request in a defined format, and the online data source comprises a web site, a web service, or a combination thereof.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying descriptive data comprises the step of:

searching the site content for a text string that conforms to the defined format, wherein the descriptive data comprises the text string.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the defined format comprises a numeric zip code format, a street name format, a city name format, a country name format, or a combination thereof.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein features of the site content are displayed in combination with features of the additional content.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the site content comprises a web page, and the web page includes the descriptive data.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the site content comprises a reference to a data storage object that conforms to a defined file type, and the data storage object includes the descriptive data.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying an online data source comprises choosing an online map service if the site content comprises a map.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein retrieving additional content from the online data source comprises retrieving a map of a location specified by the descriptive data.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein retrieving a map of the location comprises retrieving a map of a zip code, a city, a street address, of a combination thereof.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein retrieving a map of the location comprises retrieving a map with a specified orientation, wherein the descriptive data includes the specified orientation.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein retrieving a map of the location comprises retrieving a map with a specified scale, wherein the descriptive data includes the specified scale.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying at least a portion of the additional content comprises generating a displayable image to be superimposed on the site content, wherein the displayable image comprises the additional content.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the displayable image comprises a semi-transparent overlay to be displayed in a web browser.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the site content is acquired from a search engine, and generating an overlay comprises the steps of generating a hyperlink that refers to the additional content;

and

associating the hyperlink with the site content.

15. A computer-enabled method of generating an overlay using a toolbar associated with a web browser, comprising the steps of:

acquiring site content from the web browser

searching the site content for descriptive data, wherein the descriptive data conforms to a defined format;

selecting based upon the site content at least one online data source;

retrieving additional content from the online data source; and

causing an overlay to be generated for displaying the additional content over the site content in the web browser.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein displaying the additional content over the site content comprises superimposing the additional content on the site content, so that features of both the additional content and the site content are simultaneously visible to the user of the web browser.

18. A computer-enabled method of annotating content, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving selection of a portion of the content;

receiving selection of a type of the content;

prompting a user for information, wherein prompting is based upon the type of the content;

generating an annotation based upon the information; and

storing the annotation in association with the content.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein storing the annotation comprises storing the annotation in a file to be hosted on a web server, wherein the type of the file is based upon the annotation.

20. A user interface for displaying an integration of online content from multiple online data sources, comprising the steps of:

receiving site content from a web site;

receiving descriptive data that describes at least a portion of the site content, wherein the descriptive data is in a defined format;

generating a request for additional content, wherein the request is based upon the descriptive data;

receiving the additional content from an online data source; and

displaying the additional content over the site content, wherein features of the site content are displayed in combination with features of the additional content.

21. A computer-readable medium comprising instructions for combining online content from multiple sources, the instructions for causing performance of a method comprising the steps of:

acquiring site content from a web site;

acquiring descriptive data associated with the site content, wherein the descriptive data conforms to a defined format;

retrieving additional content from an online data source, wherein the additional content is selected based upon the descriptive data; and

displaying at least a portion of the additional content in combination with the site content, wherein the overlay is based upon the additional content.

22. A system comprising the computer readable medium of claim 21, and further comprising a processor for executing the instructions.