NAVIGATION HISTORY

• US 20080235632A1
• Filed: 04/28/2008
• Published: 09/25/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/10/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Holmes, Tim
• Granted Patent: US 8,250,491 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/853
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/955 using information identifiers, e.g. uniform resource locators [URL]

Abstract

A method, apparatus, system, and signal-bearing medium that in an embodiment represent previously-accessed data items as nodes in a tree or trees and display the tree or trees with the access time on an axis. The root node of a tree represents a data item accessed via an address entered by a user while a child node of the tree represents a data item selected from a parent node of the child node. In an embodiment, data items that were displayed in the same window as their parents have different connectors between their associated nodes than do data items that were displayed in different windows from their parents.

Claims

1. (canceled)

2. A method for enabling access to a history of previously-accessed data items, comprising the acts of:

in response to a user input, providing a hierarchical tree displaying a plurality of previously accessed data items; and

providing for a user input to select the hierarchical level of nodes displayed; and

wherein each such data item is displayed as a node of said tree, and wherein each such node may be selected to retrieve the previously-accessed data item.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising the act of providing a reference scale for said previously accessed data items.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said reference scale comprises a time scale.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein in response to said user input, a plurality of hierarchical trees are provided, and wherein each hierarchical tree displays a plurality of previously-accessed data items.

6. A machine readable medium comprising a plurality of instructions that when executed by at least one processor, cause the performing of operations comprising:

in response to a user input, providing a hierarchical tree displaying a plurality of previously accessed data items; and

providing for a user input to select the hierarchical level of nodes displayed;

wherein each such data item is displayed as a node of said tree, and wherein each such node may be selected to retrieve the previously-accessed data item.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said data items comprise previously-accessed web pages.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein said data items comprise previously-accessed files.

9. A method of identifying data items accessed by a user, comprising the acts of:

determining a hierarchical order of a plurality of data items accessed by a user through use of a computer;

displaying a graphical representation of said hierarchical order as at least one tree, and wherein a plurality of branches of said at least one tree are displayed simultaneously;

providing a reference scale to the access of said data items; and

providing a control for the degree to which said at least one tree is displayed.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein each of said data items represents a respective node in said at least one tree.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein said reference scale to the access of said data items comprises a time scale.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein at least a portion of said nodes are selectable from the displayed tree, and wherein in response to selecting of a node the corresponding data item is retrieved and displayed.

13. A machine readable medium comprising a plurality of instructions that when executed by at least one processor, cause the performing of operations comprising:

determining a hierarchical order of a plurality of data items accessed by at least one user through use of a computer;

displaying a graphical representation of said hierarchical order as at least one tree, wherein a plurality of branches of said at least one tree are displayed simultaneously;

providing a reference scale to the access of said data items; and

providing a control for the a user to control the degree to which said at least one tree is displayed.

14. A method for establishing at least one hierarchical tree record of web pages previously accessed on a computer system, comprising the acts of:

determining a previous establishing of a link to a webpage;

determining whether an address was entered into a web browser to establish that link;

establishing a node for a webpage for which an address was entered into said web browser as a root node of a hierarchical tree;

establishing a node for a web page for which an address was not entered into said web browser as a child node of a hierarchical tree;

for each established node of a hierarchical tree, saving an access time associated with the webpage.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising the acts of:

determining if a webpage for which an address was not entered into said web browser was opened as a new window;

where a web page for which an address was not entered was opened as a new window displaying a connector of a first format between the corresponding node for that web page and a prior node, relative to a second, different, connector format displayed relative to a node for a webpage for which an address was entered.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein each said node of said hierarchical tree is selectable to cause display of the corresponding web page.

17. A machine readable medium comprising a plurality of instructions which when executed by at least one processor, cause the performing of operations comprising:

determine the previous establishing of a link to a webpage;

determine whether an address was entered into a web browser to establish that link;

establish a node for a webpage for which an address was entered into said web browser as a root node of a hierarchical tree;

establish a node for a web page for which an address was not entered into said web browser as a child node of a hierarchical tree; and

for each established node of a hierarchical tree, saving an access time associated with the webpage.

18. A method of navigating through at least one of a plurality of previously-accessed data items, comprising the acts of:

providing an input to view a display of at least one hierarchical tree of previously-accessed data items;

actuating a control to control the number of child nodes displayed of said at least one hierarchical tree; and

selecting a node associated with a data item to cause display of the associated data item.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein said data items comprise web pages.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein said hierarchical tree comprises a plurality of nodes, with a connector extending between each pair of hierarchically related nodes.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein said data items comprise files.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein in response to said input, a plurality of hierarchical trees are displayed.