SYSTEM AND METHOD OF AUTOMATICALLY SIZING AND ADAPTING A WIDGET TO AVAILABLE SPACE

• US 20090089668A1
• Filed: 09/28/2007
• Published: 04/02/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: White, William MacDonald, Magnani, Joseph Andrew
• Granted Patent: US 10,176,272 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/273
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents

Abstract

A smart-sizing, browser-based widget uses both information defined by a user (e.g., a width value, etc.) and information provided by the web browser and web page within which it is being displayed, to calculate, in real-time, which of its elements to display, and at what scale, so as to make the most efficient use of its available space. The determination as to which elements to display may be a function of a pre-defined relationship among the elements.

Claims

1. A method of displaying a widget, comprising a plurality of widget elements, in a web page, said method comprising:

accepting dimensional values associated with the widget;

accepting structural data associated with the web page;

calculating an available region within the web page based on the structural data;

determining which of the plurality of widget elements to display, and at what scale; and

displaying the widget according to said determination and within the available region.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the dimensional values comprise values selected from the group consisting of a width value and a height value.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the dimensional values are relative to the available region.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the relative dimensional values are defined as a percentage.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the dimensional values are absolute.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the absolute dimensional values are defined in terms of a number of pixels.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the structural data associated with the web page describes a layout of the web page.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the structural data further comprises dimensional data associated with a web browser within which the web page is displayed.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the available region within the web page is defined by a height and a width.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the determining further comprises sizing the widget based on a functional relationship among the plurality of widget elements.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the functional relationship among the plurality of widget elements comprises a hierarchy that ascribes to each of the plurality of widget elements a level of importance.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein said determining further comprises analyzing contextual data associated with the widget.

13. A computer-readable medium encoded with a computer-executable program to perform a method of displaying a widget, comprising a plurality of widget elements, in a web page, said method comprising:

accepting dimensional values associated with the widget;

accepting structural data associated with the web page;

calculating an available region within the web page based on the structural data; and

determining which of the plurality of widget elements to display, and at what scale; and

displaying the widget according to said determination.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 13 wherein the dimensional values comprise values selected from the group consisting of a width value and a height value.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 13 wherein the dimensional values are relative to the available region.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15 wherein the relative dimensional values are defined as a percentage.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 13 wherein the dimensional values are absolute.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17 wherein the absolute dimensional values are defined in terms of a number of pixels.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 13 wherein the structural data associated with the web page describes a layout of the web page.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 19 wherein the structural data further comprises dimensional data associated with a web browser within which the web page is displayed.

21. The computer-readable medium of claim 13 wherein the available region within the web page is defined by a height and a width.

22. The computer-readable medium of claim 13 wherein the determining further comprises sizing the widget based on a functional relationship among the plurality of widget elements.

23. The computer-readable medium of claim 22 wherein the functional relationship among the plurality of widget elements comprises a hierarchy that ascribes to each of the plurality of widget elements a level of importance.

24. The computer-readable medium of claim 13 wherein said determining further comprises analyzing contextual data associated with the widget.