THREE-DIMENSIONAL WEBSITE VISUALIZATION

• US 20090089714A1
• 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: Blake, Stephen, Morrison, Noel, Bedard, Scott, Shuman, Lucas J., Lara, Ankarino
• Granted Patent: US 8,402,394 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/850
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04802 3D-info-object: information is displayed on the internal or external surface of a three dimensional manipulable object, e.g. on the faces of a cube that can be rotated by the user
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatuses for visualizing content of one or more websites are provided. An amount of available content contained by at least one website is determined. A three-dimensional object is displayed having a surface. Each location of the surface of the three-dimensional object corresponds to a portion of the determined amount of available content contained by the website(s). A user is enabled to select a location of the surface of the three-dimensional object. The selected location is mapped to the corresponding portion of the determined amount of available content contained by the website(s). Content of the website(s) corresponding to the selected location, such as a web page, video, audio, an RSS feed, etc., can be accessed by selection of the location. Interaction of the user with the website(s) can be tracked, and the resulting tracking information can be displayed on the three-dimensional object.

Claims

1. A method of visualizing content of a website, comprising:

determining an amount of available content contained by at least one website;

displaying a three-dimensional object having a surface such that each location of the surface of the three-dimensional object corresponds to a portion of the determined amount of available content contained by the at least one website;

enabling a user to select a location of the surface of the three-dimensional object; and

mapping the selected location to the corresponding portion of the determined amount of available content contained by the at least one website.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

enabling the user to interact with the portion of the available content of the at least one website corresponding to the selected location.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

tracking one or more interactions of a user with the content of the at least one website.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

displaying an indication at one or more locations on the surface of the three-dimensional object that the user has interacted with the portion of the available content of the at least one website corresponding to the one or more locations.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

displaying an indication at one or more locations of the surface of the three-dimensional object of a popularity of the available content of the at least one website corresponding to the one or more locations.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

enabling a user to rotate the displayed three-dimensional object.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said displaying the three-dimensional object comprises:

graphically overlaying a grid on an image; and

displaying the three-dimensional object with the graphically overlaid image as the surface of the three-dimensional object.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

re-determining the amount of available content contained by the at least one website after additional content is provided to the at least one website; and

displaying the three-dimensional object such that each location of the surface of the second displayed three-dimensional object corresponds to a portion of the re-determined amount of available content contained by the at least one website.

9. A system for visualizing content of a website, comprising:

a website content tracker configured to determine an amount of available content contained by a at least one website; and

a rendering module configured to generate an object display signal containing information to enable display of a three-dimensional object having a surface, wherein each location of the surface of the displayed three-dimensional object corresponds to a portion of the determined amount of available content contained by the at least one website.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein a display receives the object display signal and displays the three-dimensional object.

11. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

means for enabling a user to select a location of the surface of the displayed three-dimensional object.

12. The system of claim 11, further comprising:

a mapper configured to map a selected location of the surface of the displayed three-dimensional object to the corresponding portion of the determined amount of available content contained by the at least one website.

13. The system of claim 11, further comprising:

means for enabling the user to interact with the portion of the available content of the at least one website corresponding to the selected location.

14. The system of claim 13, further comprising:

a user interaction tracker configured to track one or more interactions of a user with the content of the at least one website.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the object display signal is generated by the rendering module to contain information to enable display of an indication at one or more locations on the surface of the three-dimensional object that the user has interacted with the portion of the available content of the at least one website corresponding to the one or more locations.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the object display signal is generated by the rendering module to contain information to enable display of an indication at one or more locations of the surface of the three-dimensional object of a popularity of the available content of the at least one website corresponding to the one or more locations.

17. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

means for enabling a user to rotate the displayed three-dimensional object.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein the rendering module is configured to graphically overlay a grid on an image, and to generate the object display signal to contain information to enable display of the three-dimensional object with the graphically overlaid image as the surface of the three-dimensional object.

19. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied in said medium for visualizing content of a website, comprising:

a first computer readable program code means for enabling a processor to determine an amount of available content contained by at least one website;

a second computer readable program code means for enabling a processor to display a three-dimensional object having a surface such that each location of the surface of the three-dimensional object corresponds to a portion of the determined amount of available content contained by the at least one website;

a third computer readable program code means for enabling a processor to select a location of the surface of the three-dimensional object; and

a fourth computer readable program code means for enabling a processor to map the selected location to the corresponding portion of the determined amount of available content contained by the at least one website.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, further comprising:

a fifth computer readable program code means for enabling a processor to enable the user to interact with the portion of the available content of the at least one website corresponding to the selected location.

21. The computer program product of claim 19, further comprising:

a fifth computer readable program code means for enabling a processor to track one or more interactions of a user with the content of the at least one website.

22. The computer program product of claim 21, further comprising:

a sixth computer readable program code means for enabling a processor to display an indication at one or more locations on the surface of the three-dimensional object that the user has interacted with the portion of the available content of the at least one website corresponding to the one or more locations.

23. The computer program product of claim 21, further comprising:

a sixth computer readable program code means for enabling a processor to display an indication at one or more locations of the surface of the three-dimensional object of a popularity of the available content of the at least one website corresponding to the one or more locations.

24. The computer program product of claim 19, further comprising:

a fifth computer readable program code means for enabling a processor to enable a user to rotate the displayed three-dimensional object.

25. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein said second computer readable program code means comprises:

a fifth computer readable program code means for enabling a processor to graphically overlay a grid on an image; and

a sixth computer readable program code means for enabling a processor to display the three-dimensional object with the graphically overlaid image as the surface of the three-dimensional object.