BROWSER-BASED RETRIEVAL AND DISPLAY OF CONTENT ASSOCIATED WITH A LINK THAT MATCHES A LINK SIGNATURE

• US 20110238524A1
• Filed: 06/06/2011
• Published: 09/29/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/15/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nigel Green, Scott A. Mongrain
• Original Assignee: Nigel Green, Scott A. Mongrain
• Inventors: Mongrain, Scott A., Green, Nigel
• Granted Patent: US 8,296,392 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26.7
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0631 Item recommendations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces

Abstract

A page update handler, which may be loaded by a web browser as part of a web page, adds functionality for dynamically updating the web page with content supplied by a content server. The content may be related to a particular item detected on the web page by the page update handler, such as a link that matches a link signature. The content server may operate in a different Internet domain from the server that servers the original web page, and may supply content for display on web pages of many different independent web sites. In one embodiment, an operator of a web site that is separate from the content server can enable the display of content from the content server on the site'"'"'s web pages by adding an update handler tag to one or more corresponding HTML documents.

Claims

1. A method performed by a user computing device upon loading a web page of a web site, said method comprising:

detecting, via an analysis of content of the web page, that the web page includes a link that matches a pre-specified link signature;

retrieving, over a network from a content server that is distinct from the web site, supplemental content associated with said link; and

supplementing the web page with a display object that displays the supplemental content in association with the link;

said method performed by the user computing device under the control of executable instructions.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the pre-defined link signature is the link signature for catalog pages of an electronic catalog of products, and the supplemental content comprises catalog content associated with a product corresponding to said link.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the display object provides interactive functionality for a user of the user computing device to purchase the product from a merchant associated with the electronic catalog via interaction with the content server, without navigating away from the web page.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the web site is enrolled in an affiliate marketing program associated with the merchant.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the link includes an affiliate identifier associated with the web site, and the method comprises transmitting the affiliate identifier to the content server to enable the content server to associate the purchase with said web site.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the link points to a page of a second web site, and the supplemental content includes information about the second web site.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the information about the second web site includes a rating of the second web site.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is performed via browser execution of update handler code that is loaded on the user computing device as part of the web page.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the method further comprises the user computing device retrieving the update hander code from a source that is distinct from said web site.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the content server operates in an Internet domain which is different from an Internet domain of said web site, and wherein retrieving the supplemental content comprises retrieving, from said content server, a script file that has supplemental HTML content encoded therein, and extracting the supplemental HTML content from the script file.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable medium that stores executable code that directs a user computing device to perform a method that comprises:

detecting, via an analysis of content of a web page loaded on the user computing device, that the web page includes a link that matches a pre-specified link signature;

in response to detecting that the link matches the pre-specified link signature, retrieving, over a network from a content server that is distinct from the web site, supplemental content associated with said link; and

supplementing the web page with a display object that displays the supplemental content in association with the link.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the pre-specified link signature is the link signature associated with an electronic catalog of products hosted by the content server.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, in combination with said content server, wherein the executable code and content server collectively provide functionality for a user to, via interaction with the content server through the display object, purchase a product represented in the electronic catalog.

14. The computer-readable medium and content server of claim 13, wherein the content server includes functionality for causing an affiliate associated with said web site to be paid a commission for originating a purchase of the product.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, in combination with said content server, wherein the content server is configured to interact with the executable code to cause product recommendations to be presented in said display object, said product recommendations being dependent upon an identify of said web site.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the method comprises displaying the display object on the web page in response to a mouse-over event in which a mouse pointer is hovered over said link.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein retrieving the supplemental content comprises retrieving, from said content server, a script file that has supplemental HTML content encoded therein, and extracting the supplemental HTML content from the script file.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the executable code is browser-executable code.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, in combination with a server that hosts said web page, said server operating in a different internet domain than an internet domain of the content server, wherein the web page includes an update handler tag that is configured to cause a browser that loads the web page to load the browser-executable code from a source other than said server.

20. A system that provides functionality for supplementing pages of web sites with content, the system comprising:

a content server configured to serve content in response to requests from browsers running on user computing devices, including catalog content associated with particular products represented in an electronic catalog; and

a repository of update handler code that is adapted to be transmitted to, and executed by, user computing devices in connection with the pages, said update handler code configured to cause a user computing device to at least;

detect that a page loaded by a browser includes a link that matches a link signature associated with electronic catalog;

in response to detecting that the link matches the link signature, retrieve, from the content server, catalog content associated with the link; and

display the catalog content in a display object added to the page.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the link is a link to a product detail page of the electronic catalog, and the catalog content associated with the link corresponds to said product detail page.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the content server and update handler code collectively provide functionality for a user that accesses the page to purchase a product corresponding to the product detail page by interacting with content displayed in the display object.

23. The system of claim 20, in combination with an affiliate site that is separate from the content server, said affiliate site hosting a web page that includes a link to a catalog page of the electronic catalog, said link matching the link signature, said web page additionally including an update handler tag that is configured to cause a browser that loads said web page to load at least a portion of the update handler code.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the update handler code provides functionality for a user to purchase a product from a merchant associated with the electronic catalog by interacting with content displayed in a display object added to the web page of the affiliate site.

25. An affiliate web site, comprising:

a web server; and

a non-transitory computer data repository that stores a web page served by the web server, said web page including a link to a catalog page of an electronic catalog hosted by a second web site that is distinct from the affiliate site, said web page additionally including an update handler tag, said update handler tag configured to cause a user computing device that loads the web page to load an update hander as part of the web page, said update handler configured to cause the user computing device to at least;

detect that the link matches a pre-specified link signature associated with the electronic catalog;

in response to detecting that the link matches the pre-specified link signature, retrieve, from a content server associated with the second web site, catalog content associated with the link; and

display the retrieved catalog content in association with the link.

26. The affiliate web site of claim 25, wherein the update handler is configured to supplement the web page with a display object that provides functionality for a user of the user computing device to complete a purchase of a product from the electronic catalog.

27. The affiliate web site of claim 26, in combination with a system that is responsive to said purchase by causing an affiliate associated with the affiliate web site to be paid a commission.