Flat Navigation of Information and Content Presented on User Monitor

• US 20100162174A1
• Filed: 12/24/2008
• Published: 06/24/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/24/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: KARIDI, RON, Varshavsky, Roy, Fitoussi, Hen, Fireman, Liza, Yariv, Eran, Elyada, Oded
• Application Number:
  US12/344,104
• Publication Number:
  US 20100162174A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/854
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04806 Zoom, i.e. interaction techniques or interactors for controlling the zooming operation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/048 Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI]

Abstract

A method of presenting information on a display monitor within a computing environment includes accessing a website containing a related collection of electronic pages, crawling the website to obtain raw image data for at least some of each of the pages, porting the raw image data into a template so that each of the crawled pages is converted into a corresponding information panel containing a mapping of the content of its respective corresponding page, and displaying each of the information panels on a respective display monitor so all of the panels are viewable to a user in a single screen shot. Related methods, apparatus, and systems are further provided.

Claims

1. A method of presenting information on a display monitor within a computing environment, said method comprising the steps of:

accessing a website containing a related collection of electronic pages;

crawling said website to obtain raw image data for at least some of each of said pages;

porting said raw image data into a template so that each of said crawled pages is converted into a corresponding information panel containing a mapping of the content of its respective corresponding page; and

displaying each of said information panels on a respective display monitor so all of said panels are viewable to a user in a single screen shot.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein said information panels are layered on top of each other in a predetermined manner to thereby create levels of information.

3. The method according to claim 2 wherein when said user selects a particular level, the information panels on said particular level enlarge to fill the available viewable space on said respective display monitor to thereby create a full screen shot of said selected particular level.

4. The method according to claim 1 wherein when said user selects a particular information panel, that information panel enlarges to fill the available viewable space on said respective display monitor to thereby create a full screen shot of said selected information panel.

5. The method according to claim 2 wherein the information panels in consecutive levels are smaller than the information panels in a next prior level so that at least a portion of all of said information panels on all levels is viewable in a single screen shot.

6. The method according to claim 2 including the further step of providing a menu containing a listing of at least some of said levels so that a user may employ said menu to jump from level to level whereupon when a particular level is selected from said menu, the panels on said level adjust in size to fill all the viewable space on said display monitor.

7. The method according to claim 1 including the further step of providing a menu containing a listing of at least some of the information panels so that a user may employ said menu to jump from panel to panel whereupon when a particular panel is selected from said menu, said particular panel adjusts in size to fill all the viewable space on said display monitor.

8. The method according to claim 2 including the further step of providing a link on one level so that a user may employ said link to jump to a different level whereupon when said link is employed, the panels on said different level adjust in size to fill all the viewable space on said display monitor.

9. The method according to claim 1 including the further step of providing at least one link in one information panel so that a user may employ said link to jump to a different information panel whereupon when said link is employed, said different panel adjusts in size to fill all the viewable space on said display monitor.

10. The method according to claim 1 wherein said crawling step includes obtaining raw image data for all of said pages in said website.

11. A networked computer system for use in presenting a related collection of electronic pages in a flat format, said computer system comprising:

at least one server including stored pages capable of being searched and retrieved electronically;

memory for storing a search engine including a ranker and executable methods of searching for desired types of said stored pages;

an input device for inputting a search query directed to retrieving a respective collection of said desired types of said stored pages;

a processor operatively linked to said input device for processing said search query;

a browser operatively associated with said processor for cooperatively engaging a front end of said search engine so that when said search engine receives said search query from a user, said search engine retrieves a set of said stored pages relevant to said search query;

a template that receives each retrieved page in a predetermined format so that each retrieved page is converted to a corresponding information panel; and

a display monitor for displaying each of said information panels so all of said retrieved and converted pages are viewable to a user in a single screen shot.

12. The system according to claim 12 wherein said retrieved pages are obtained from at least two different websites.

13. A method of arranging and presenting information on a display monitor within a computing environment, said method comprising the steps of:

accessing a website containing a related collection of electronic pages;

crawling said website to obtain raw image data for at least some of each of said pages;

porting said raw image data for each of said pages into a corresponding information panel containing a mapping of the content of its respective corresponding page;

arranging said information panels in a desired format; and

displaying each of said information panels on a respective display monitor so all of said panels are viewable to a user in a single screen shot.

14. The method according to claim 13 wherein said information panels are layered on top of each other in a predetermined manner to thereby create levels of information.

15. The method according to claim 14 wherein when said user selects a particular level, the information panels on said particular level enlarge to fill the available viewable space on said respective display monitor to thereby create a full screen shot of said selected particular level.

16. The method according to claim 13 wherein when said user selects a particular information panel, that information panel enlarges to fill the available viewable space on said respective display monitor to thereby create a full screen shot of said selected information panel.

17. The method according to claim 14 wherein the information panels in consecutive levels are smaller than the information panels in a next prior level so that at least a portion of all of said information panels on all levels is viewable in a single screen shot.

18. The method according to claim 14 including the further step of providing a menu containing a listing of at least some of said levels so that a user may employ said menu to jump from level to level whereupon when a particular level is selected from said menu, the panels on said level adjust in size to fill all the viewable space on said display monitor.

19. The method according to claim 13 including the further step of providing a menu containing a listing of at least some of the information panels so that a user may employ said menu to jump from panel to panel whereupon when a particular panel is selected from said menu, said particular panel adjusts in size to fill all the viewable space on said display monitor.

20. The method according to claim 14 including the further step of providing a link on one level so that a user may employ said link to jump to a different level whereupon when said link is employed, the panels on said different level adjust in size to fill all the viewable space on said display monitor.