Map Gadgets

• US 20080301643A1
• Filed: 05/28/2007
• Published: 12/04/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Appleton, Benjamin Charles, Meschkat, Steffen, Wang, Zheng, Schuck, Adam Paul, Sah, Adam, Tran, Thai, Macgill, James Robert
• Granted Patent: US 8,739,123 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/124
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/13 Receivers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/70 Software maintenance or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44526 Plug-ins; Add-ons
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal

Abstract

A computer-implemented method includes displaying information from a mapping application on a first domain on a web page, displaying one or more portable program modules from a second domain on the web page, and generating a display on the mapping application based actions form the one or more portable program modules.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

displaying information from a mapping application on a mapping server domain on a web page;

displaying one or more portable program modules on the web page; and

generating a display on the mapping application based on actions from the one or more portable program modules.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the portable program modules are generated in one or more frames associated with a domain that is different from the mapping server domain.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving input at the mapping application and communicating information relating to the input to one or more of the portable program modules.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the display on the mapping application includes one or more objects located on the map.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying map data to display on the web page in response to a search request.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising identifying the one or more portable program modules in response to a search request.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying the one or more portable program modules by referring to a user account storing personalized page information.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising querying a data server for geographically related information and submitting data associated with the geographically related information to a maps server that is separate from the data server.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying two mapping-related portable program modules that are associated with different domains, and communicating data from each of the portable program modules to the mapping application.

10. One or more computer-readable media having recorded in tangible form thereon, instructions that when executed, produce actions on a computer comprising:

displaying information from a mapping application on a mapping server domain on a web page;

displaying one or more portable program modules on the web page; and

generating a display on the mapping application based on actions from the one or more portable program modules.

11. The computer-readable media of claim 10, wherein the actions further comprise receiving input at the mapping application and communicating information relating to the input to one or more of the portable program modules.

12. The computer-readable media of claim 10, wherein the actions further comprise identifying map data to display on the web page in response to a search request.

13. The computer-readable media of claim 12, wherein the actions further comprise identifying the one or more portable program modules in response to a search request.

14. The computer-readable media of claim 10, wherein the portable program modules access geo-related data from third party servers and supply information associated with the geo-related data to a maps server for geo-coding.

15. The computer-readable media of claim 10, wherein the actions further comprise displaying a list of portable program modules available to a user, receiving a selection of one or more of the portable program modules, and displaying the selected portable program modules in response to the received selection.

16. A computer-implemented system, comprising:

a maps application from a maps domain;

a first portable program module; and

communication modules configured to permit communication between the maps application and the portable program module,

wherein the maps application and portable program module are configured to display content on a common web page corresponding to the maps domain.

17. The system of claim 16, further comprising a second portable program module selectable independently of the first portable program module and configured to communicate with the maps application, and to provide for a display of content on a map with content from the first portable program module.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the second portable program module is from a domain that is different than the domain of the first portable program module.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the communication modules are configured to package multiple data packets sent to or form the maps application into a single package.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the first portable program module is configured to communicate with a data server to obtain geo-related data, and with a maps server or maps application to convert the geo-related data into geo-correlated data.

21. A computer-implemented system, comprising:

a maps application from a maps domain;

a first portable program module from a domain that is different from the maps domain; and

means for communicating between the maps application and the first portable program module,

wherein the maps application and portable program module are configured to display content on a common web page.