METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PRESENTING A NAVIGATION PATH FOR ENABLING RETRIEVAL OF CONTENT

• US 20120166961A1
• Filed: 12/28/2010
• Published: 06/28/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Frazier, Kristopher T.
• Granted Patent: US 9,582,590 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/738
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing

Abstract

An approach for enabling presentment of a navigation path as performed by a user over a network to facilitate rapid acquisition of content is described. A navigation path representing one or more sequences of resource identifiers that are related based on selection information provided by a user in navigating, via a browser application is presented. The navigation path is presented to permit direct selection of one of the resource identifiers of the one or more sequences for acquiring content associated with the selected resource identifier.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

presenting a navigation path representing one or more sequences of resource identifiers that are related based on selection information provided by a user in navigating, via a browser application, the resource identifiers of the one or more sequences of the navigation path,

wherein the navigation path is presented to permit direct selection of one of the resource identifiers of the one or more sequences for acquiring content associated with the selected resource identifier.

2. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

invoking a browser application;

receiving, via the browser application, a query for content; and

selecting the navigation path for presentation in response to the query.

3. A method according to claim 2, wherein the resource identifiers include search results corresponding to the query.

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein the navigation path is structured according to a predetermined number of drill down levels.

5. A method according to claim 4, wherein the sequences begin at different ones of the drill-down levels and include at least one non-common resource identifier.

6. A method according to claim 4, wherein the navigation path includes search resource identifiers that are not a part of the one or more sequences.

7. A method according to claim 6, wherein the resource identifiers and the search resource identifiers are presented according to the drill-down levels as either an expanded form or an collapsed form.

8. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

tracking selection of the resource identifiers to generate the navigation path and the one or more sequences.

9. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code for one or more programs,

the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following,

present a navigation path representing one or more sequences of resource identifiers that are related based on selection information provided by a user in navigating, via a browser application, the resource identifiers of the one or more sequences of the navigation path,

wherein the navigation path is presented to permit direct selection of one of the resource identifiers of the one or more sequences for acquiring content associated with the selected resource identifier.

10. An apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the apparatus is further caused to:

invoke a browser application,

receive, via the browser application, a query for content; and

select the navigation path for presentation in response to the query.

11. An apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the resource identifiers include search results corresponding to the query.

12. An apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the navigation path is structured according to a predetermined number of drill down levels.

13. An apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the sequences begin at different ones of the drill-down levels and include at least one non-common resource identifier.

14. An apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the navigation path includes search resource identifiers that are not a part of the one or more sequences.

15. An apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the resource identifiers and the search resource identifiers are presented according to the drill-down levels as either an expanded form or an collapsed form.

16. An apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the apparatus is further caused to:

track selection of the resource identifiers to generate the navigation path and the one or more sequences.

17. A method comprising:

tracking a navigation path specifying a plurality of resource identifiers associated with user selections of the resource identifiers in response to a single query;

storing the navigation path among a plurality of navigation paths corresponding to other queries; and

retrieving one of the navigation paths in response to a user input.

18. A method according to claim 17, further comprising:

presenting the one navigation path in response to invocation of a browser application.

19. A method according to claim 18, wherein the navigation path is presented to permit direct selection of one of the resource identifiers for acquiring content associated with the selected resource identifier.

20. A method according to claim 18, wherein the navigation path represents one or more sequences of the resource identifiers that are related based on selection information provided by a user in navigating via the browser application.