Apparatus and method for displaying enhanced hypertext link anchor information regarding hypertext page availability and content
First Claim
1. In a hypertext browsing system wherein hypertext pages are displayed with a plurality of link anchors, each of said link anchors pointing to another hypertext page by specifying a network address, a method for providing an enhanced display of said link anchors comprising the steps of:
- automatically sending a first message to a first network address specified by a selected link anchor on a selected hypertext page;
if a hypertext page pointed to by said selected link anchor is determined to be available, designating said selected link anchor as being reachable by a visual representation of said selected link anchor; and
automatically sending a further message to a second network address specified by a second selected link to determine an availability of said second selected link anchor.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A hypertext browsing system collects information about availability of links and display this link availability information. A user can then readily determine whether the target of a particular link may be followed. This increases the efficiency of user browsing in that time is not wasted in following unavailable links. Also, the hypertext browsing system may collect information about the titles of link targets and display this title information. The title information helps a user decide whether a particular link is worth following.
56 Citations
37 Claims
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1. In a hypertext browsing system wherein hypertext pages are displayed with a plurality of link anchors, each of said link anchors pointing to another hypertext page by specifying a network address, a method for providing an enhanced display of said link anchors comprising the steps of:
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automatically sending a first message to a first network address specified by a selected link anchor on a selected hypertext page; if a hypertext page pointed to by said selected link anchor is determined to be available, designating said selected link anchor as being reachable by a visual representation of said selected link anchor; and automatically sending a further message to a second network address specified by a second selected link to determine an availability of said second selected link anchor. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A computer system comprising:
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a network interface system adapted to access hypertext pages via a network; a hypertext browsing system wherein hypertext pages are displayed with a plurality of link anchors, each of said link anchors pointing to another hypertext page by specifying a network address, said hypertext browsing system performing the steps of; automatically sending a first message to a first network address specified by a selected link anchor on a selected hypertext page; if a hypertext page pointed to by said selected link anchor is determined to be available, designating said selected link anchor as being reachable by changing a visual representation of said selected link anchor; and automatically sending a further message to a second network address specified by a second selected link anchor to determine an availability of said second link anchor. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. Software on a storage medium, for operation with a hypertext browsing system wherein hypertext pages are displayed with a plurality of link anchors, each of said link anchors pointing to another hypertext page by specifying a network address, said software comprising:
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software for automatically sending a first message to a first network address associated with a selected link anchor on a hypertext page that has been retrieved by said hypertext browsing system; software for if a hypertext page pointed to by said first selected link anchor is determined to be available, designating said selected link anchor as being reachable by changing a visual representation of said selected link anchor; and software for automatically sending a further message to a second network address associated with a second selected link anchor to determine an availability of said second selected link anchor. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. In a hypertext browsing system wherein a hypertext page, displays a plurality of link anchors, each of said link anchors pointing to another hypertext page by specifying a network address, a method for providing an enhanced display of said link anchors comprising the steps of:
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automatically sending a message to the network address associated with each link anchor of a subset of said plurality of link anchors to determine whether data may be received therefrom; designating each link anchor of said subset as being in one of a plurality of data communication states by changing a visual representation of said selected link anchor, said plurality of data communication states including available and unavailable, with visual representations associated with the available communication state being distinguishable from representations associated with the unavailable state; and repeating said automatically sending step and said designating step for anchors having an unavailable state associated therewith. - View Dependent Claims (37)
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Specification