Methods for Organizing Information Accessed Through a Web Browser

• US 20090024962A1
• Filed: 07/20/2007
• Published: 01/22/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/20/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Gotz, David
• Granted Patent: US 8,205,166 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/838
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9562 Bookmark management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation
• 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 3/048 Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI]

Abstract

Methods are provided for assisting in the organization of information accessed through a web browser. At least one item of information accessed through the web browser is captured and visually represented in a defined organizational area of a display. A relevance index is calculated for each item of information that is visually represented to a current web-browsing behavior. The relevance index is conveyed for each item of information to the current web-browsing behavior to a user of the web browser.

Claims

1. A method for assisting in the organization of information accessed through a web browser, comprising the steps of:

capturing at least one item of information accessed through the web browser;

visually representing the at least one item of information in a defined organizational area of a display;

calculating a relevance index for each item of information that is visually represented to a current web-browsing behavior; and

conveying the relevance index for each item of information to the current web-browsing behavior to a user of the web browser.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of capturing at least one item of information comprises the step of dragging an icon representing a URL from a web browser to a defined organizational area of the display.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein, in the step of dragging an icon, the defined organizational area comprises a resizable vertical sidebar.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of visually representing the at least one item of information comprises the step of displaying an iconic representation of a web page corresponding to the URL in the defined organizational area.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein, in the step of displaying an iconic representation, the iconic representation comprises a title and a thumbnail.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of capturing at least one item of information further comprises the step of storing textual content of a web page corresponding to the URL.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of capturing at least one item of information comprises the step of dragging at least one of links, images and text fragments from a web browser to the defined organizational area of the display.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of capturing at least one item of information comprises the step of storing text content associated with the at least one captured item of information.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of visually representing the at least one item of information comprises the step of displaying the at least one item of information as at least one of a thumbnail and a text note.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of capturing at least one item of information comprises the step of creating a new object in the defined organizational area of the display through a dialog box of the defined organizational area of the display.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of manipulating the at least one captured item of information.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of manipulating the at least one captured item of information comprises the step of altering one or more stored properties of the at least one item of information.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of manipulating the at least one captured item of information comprises the step of linking the at least one captured item of information to at least one other captured item of information in the defined organizational area.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of linking the at least one captured item of information comprises the steps of:

dragging an object visually representing the at least one captured item of information; and

dropping the object on another object visually representing another item of information in the visual display forming a link between the object visually representing the at least one capture item of information and the other object visually representing another item of information.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of manipulating the at least one captured item of information comprises the step of browsing captured items of information.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of browsing captured items of information comprises at least one of zooming and panning through the captured items of information.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of manipulating the at least one captured item of information comprises the step of forming organizational clusters of captured items of information.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of visually representing the at least one item of information comprises the step of displaying a list of sortable attributes for each captured item of information.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of capturing at least one item of information comprises the step of formulating a context graph comprising a visual representation having nodes that each correspond to a captured item of information and edges that each correspond to a link between captured items of information.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein in the step of formulating a context graph each node comprises a type, an identifier, and content.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the step of calculating a relevance index comprises the step of employing an algorithm that compares the context graph to content of the web browser.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the step of employing an algorithm comprises the step of calculating an estimate of a strength of a relationship between each node and text from the web browser in accordance with a similarity function and a neighborhood of each node.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of conveying the relevance index of each item of information comprises the step of highlighting a visual representation of each item of information in a color tone in accordance with relevance.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein, in the step of highlighting a visual representation, a stronger color tone indicates a stronger relevance for an item of information.

25. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of conveying the relevance index of each item of information comprises the step of presenting a table of quantitative relevance for each item of information.