Using structured data for online research

• US 20080195629A1
• Filed: 02/12/2007
• Published: 08/14/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Pavlicic, Miladin, Truelove, Benjamin N., Kim, Jane, Lyndersay, Sean, Vonkoch, Walter
• Granted Patent: US 8,429,185 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 16/9558 Details of hyperlinks; Management of linked annotations
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/134 Hyperlinking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]

Abstract

Various embodiments utilize structured data contained within a resource, such as a web page, to enable a user to define collections of data. Individual constituent parts of a collection or “links” are collected within a collection. In one or more embodiments, a full page viewing experience can be provided which enables users to not only view more details for a given link, but to view multiple different links at a time. Other viewing options and collection interactions are provided.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving a resource having structured data;

identifying structured data associated with the resource; and

presenting a visual indicator that indicates that a link associated with the structured data can be added to a collection.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the resource comprises a web page.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of identifying structured data comprises examining HTML associated with the resource.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

ascertaining whether a user has opted to add the link to a collection; and

responsive to the user opting to add the link to the collection, adding the link to the collection.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the visual indicator comprises a button or tab, and the act of ascertaining is performed by ascertaining whether the user has clicked on the button or tab.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of presenting is performed by automatically displaying the visual indicator when the resource is rendered.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of presenting is performed by selectively displaying the visual indicator when the user hovers their cursor over or near the structured data.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising presenting the user with an option to view one or more collections in multiple different ways.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the acts of receiving, identifying and presenting are performed by a web browser.

10. A system comprising:

one or more computer-readable media;

computer-readable instructions on the one or more computer-readable media which, when executed, implement a web browser configured to;

provide one or more collections, wherein at least one of the collections includes a link that is associated with structured data that describes at least one data type of data associated with the link; and

present a user with an option to view one or more collections in multiple different ways, wherein at least one of the ways that a collection can be viewed is a full page view that includes a summary of information from individual links.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the summary includes, for at least some links, a title, an image, and one or more properties associated with the link.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein links in a collection can come from different types of sources.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the full page view is configured to enable a side-by-side comparison of items in a link.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the web browser is configured to provide a collection that has links associated with structured data and links that are not associated with structured data.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein one of the ways in which a collection can be viewed is through a title view.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the web browser is configured to enable a user to search one or more collections.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the web browser is configured to search both collections and sources other than collections and present results from both.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein ways in which a collection can be viewed include a title view and a detailed view.

19. The method of claim 10, wherein the web browser is configured to enable a user to flag or comment on a particular link.

20. The method of claim 10, wherein one of the ways in which a collection can be viewed is through a custom view that is based on a data type.