METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING PORTIONED WEB PAGES IN A GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE

• US 20100281400A1
• Filed: 05/01/2009
• Published: 11/04/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/01/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Forutanpour, Babak, Abrahamson, Kurt W.
• Granted Patent: US 8,448,074 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/760
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/048 Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI]

Abstract

Methods and devices enable displaying selected portions of one or more webpages in user defined view windows presented on a computing device display desktop. A selected webpage may be rendered into a full-sized render buffer in order for a rendering engine to render all the elements properly. One or more view windows are created on the display desktop that show user selected portions of the render buffer. In this manner users can select portions of one or more websites for presentation on their computing device desktop, position the selected portions at their preferred locations.

Claims

1. A method for displaying webpage portions on a desktop display within a computer graphical user interface operating on a computing device, comprising:

rendering, by a rendering engine of a first web browser instance, a first webpage into a first pixel buffer of the first web browser instance, wherein the first pixel buffer is not a child object of a window viewable on the desktop;

providing to the rendering engine of the first web browser instance characteristics of a second web browser instance that has a second pixel buffer that is a child object of a window viewable on the desktop;

creating a first webpage portion desktop window; and

synchronizing a pixel output of the first webpage portion desktop window with portions of the first pixel buffer of the first browser instance.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

processing, by the first web browser instance, a user input event within the webpage portion desktop window as a user input event within a corresponding portion of the first pixel buffer of the first browser instance; and

updating, by the first web browser instance, the contents of the first pixel buffer of the first browser instance based on the user input event within the webpage portion desktop window.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a user input defining an area on the desktop display,

wherein creating a first webpage portion desktop window comprises creating the first webpage portion desktop window within the area on the desktop display defined by the received user input.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

creating a window object for first webpage portion desktop window; and

displaying the created window object on a display of the computing device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the webpage comprises:

a webpage defined by an HTML document comprising a video content area.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

exiting the first browser instance when the webpage portion desktop window is closed.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a user input to reposition the webpage portion desktop window; and

moving the webpage portion desktop window within the desktop based upon the received user input.

8. A computing device, comprising:

a processor;

a memory coupled to the processor; and

a display coupled to the processor,

wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform steps comprising;

rendering, by a rendering engine of a first web browser instance, a first webpage into a first pixel buffer of the first web browser instance, wherein the first pixel buffer is not a child object of a window viewable on the desktop;

providing to the rendering engine of the first web browser instance characteristics of a second web browser instance that has a second pixel buffer that is a child object of a window viewable on the desktop;

creating a first webpage portion desktop window; and

synchronizing a pixel output of the first webpage portion desktop window with portions of the first pixel buffer of the first browser instance.

9. The computing device of claim 8, wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform steps further comprising:

processing, by the first web browser instance, a user input event within the webpage portion desktop window as a user input event within a corresponding portion of the first pixel buffer of the first browser instance; and

updating, by the first web browser instance, the contents of the first pixel buffer of the first browser instance based on the user input event within the webpage portion desktop window.

10. The computing device of claim 8, wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform steps further comprising:

receiving a user input defining an area on the desktop display, wherein creating a first webpage portion desktop window comprises creating the first webpage portion desktop window within the area on the desktop display defined by the received user input.

11. The computing device of claim 8, wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform steps further comprising:

creating a window object for first webpage portion desktop window; and

displaying the created window object on a display of the computing device.

12. The computing device of claim 8, wherein the webpage comprises:

a webpage defined by an HTML document comprising a video content area.

13. The computing device of claim 8, wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform steps further comprising:

exiting the first browser instance when the webpage portion desktop window is closed.

14. The computing device of claim 8, wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform steps further comprising:

receiving a user input to reposition the webpage portion desktop window; and

moving the webpage portion desktop window within the desktop based upon the received user input.

15. A computing device, comprising:

means for rendering, by a rendering engine of a first web browser instance, a first webpage into a first pixel buffer of the first web browser instance, wherein the first pixel buffer is not a child object of a window viewable on the desktop;

means for providing to the rendering engine of the first web browser instance characteristics of a second web browser instance that has a second pixel buffer that is a child object of a window viewable on the desktop;

means for creating a first webpage portion desktop window; and

means for synchronizing a pixel output of the first webpage portion desktop window with portions of the first pixel buffer of the first browser instance.

16. The computing device of claim 15, further comprising:

means for processing, by the first web browser instance, a user input event within the webpage portion desktop window as a user input event within a corresponding portion of the first pixel buffer of the first browser instance; and

means for updating, by the first web browser instance, the contents of the first pixel buffer of the first browser instance based on the user input event within the webpage portion desktop window.

17. The computing device of claim 15, further comprising:

means for receiving a user input defining an area on the desktop display,

wherein creating a first webpage portion desktop window comprises creating the first webpage portion desktop window within the area on the desktop display defined by the received user input.

18. The computing device of claim 15, further comprising:

means for creating a window object for first webpage portion desktop window; and

means for displaying the created window object on a display of the computing device.

19. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the webpage comprises:

a webpage defined by an HTML document comprising a video content area.

20. The computing device of claim 15, further comprising:

means for exiting the first browser instance when the webpage portion desktop window is closed.

21. The computing device of claim 15, further comprising:

means for receiving a user input to reposition the webpage portion desktop window; and

means for moving the webpage portion desktop window within the desktop based upon the received user input.

22. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer readable medium, comprising;

at least one instruction for rendering, by a rendering engine of a first web browser instance, a first webpage into a first pixel buffer of the first web browser instance, wherein the first pixel buffer is not a child object of a window viewable on the desktop;

at least one instruction for providing to the rendering engine of the first web browser instance characteristics of a second web browser instance that has a second pixel buffer that is a child object of a window viewable on the desktop;

at least one instruction for creating a first webpage portion desktop window; and

at least one instruction for synchronizing a pixel output of the first webpage portion desktop window with portions of the first pixel buffer of the first browser instance.

23. The computer program product of claim 22, wherein the computer readable medium further comprises:

at least one instruction for processing, by the first web browser instance, a user input event within the webpage portion desktop window as a user input event within a corresponding portion of the first pixel buffer of the first browser instance; and

at least one instruction for updating, by the first web browser instance, the contents of the first pixel buffer of the first browser instance based on the user input event within the webpage portion desktop window.

24. The computer program product of claim 22, wherein the computer readable medium further comprises:

at least one instruction for receiving a user input defining an area on the desktop display,

wherein the at least one instruction for creating a first webpage portion desktop window comprises at least one instruction for creating the first webpage portion desktop window within the area on the desktop display defined by the received user input.

25. The computer program product of claim 22, wherein the computer readable medium further comprises:

at least one instruction for creating a window object for first webpage portion desktop window; and

at least one instruction for displaying the created window object on a display of the computing device.

26. The computer program product of claim 22, wherein the webpage comprises:

a webpage defined by an HTML document comprising a video content area.

27. The computer program product of claim 22, wherein the computer readable medium further comprises:

at least one instruction for exiting the first browser instance when the webpage portion desktop window is closed.

28. The computer program product of claim 22, wherein the computer readable medium further comprises:

at least one instruction for receiving a user input to reposition the webpage portion desktop window; and

at least one instruction for moving the webpage portion desktop window within the desktop based upon the received user input.