Method for creating and playing back a smart bookmark that automatically retrieves a requested Web page through a plurality of intermediate Web pages

• US 6,535,912 B1
• Filed: 08/31/1999
• Issued: 03/18/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: WSOU Investments, LLC (WSOU Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Lucent Technologies, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Kumar, Bharat, Silva, Juliana Freire, Anupam, Vinod, Lieuwen, Daniel Francis
• Primary Examiner(s): Barot, Bharat
• Application Number:
  US09/387,571
• Time in Patent Office: 1,295 Days
• Field of Search: 709/200-203, 709/217-219, 709/227-229, 707/500-501, 345/807
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9562 Bookmark management

Abstract

Shortcuts to Web pages that require multiple steps to be retrieved are enabled by means of a smart bookmark. A smart bookmark is a stored sequence of browsing steps performed by a user, that have been recorded in a transparent manner and which can be automatically played and replayed later when the smart bookmark is accessed. When a user elects to create a smart bookmark, a Java recorder-player applet is invoked that starts the recording process. When the recording process is started and an initial URL is inputted by the user, the responsive Web page at that URL downloaded into the browser is modified to attach event handlers to each element in that page that is associated with actions that the user may take. Each user'"'"'s click, link traversal to another URL, or input of values to those elements on a form submission are automatically recorded as part of the smart bookmark under creation. The resultant information at each step is recorded in a file. When the smart bookmark is later accessed, the recorder-player Java applet reads the file, and the sequence of recorded steps is played back, including information associated with all link traversals and form submissions. During playback, each intermediate Web page optionally can be displayed in the user'"'"'s browser, or only the last page can be displayed. Further, during playback, transitions between successive steps can be automatic or can require an input from the user before a next step in the sequence is made.

Claims

1. A method of creating a bookmark for accessing over a computer network a last Web page that is reached by successively accessing in sequence a plurality of Web pages starting with a first Web page, each next successive Web page in the sequence being accessed in response to at least one action on a browser at its previous Web page, the method comprising:

a) recording at least one action associated with accessing the first Web page from the browser;

b) loading the first Web page in the browser;

c) for each next successive Web page until the last Web page is reached, recording the at least one action used to reach that next Web page from its immediate previous Web page and loading that next Web page in the browser, the number of Web pages in the sequence of Web pages from the first to last being allowed to be essentially unconstrained, and other than being linked by the at least one action used to reach each next Web page from its immediate previous Web page, the relationship between each next Web page and its immediate previous Web page being essentially unconstrained; and

d) storing in a file data associated with the actions recorded in a) and c) so that when the file is read by a player program the first Web page and each next successive Web page until the last Web page are sequentially accessed automatically.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein a next Web page in the sequence is accessed via a link traversal from a link on its previous Web page.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein recording at least one action associated with accessing a next Web page via a link traversal from a link on its previous Web page comprises storing a URL associated with the link.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein recording at least one action associated with accessing a next Web page via a link traversal from a link on its previous Web page further comprises storing a DOM location of the link on the previous Web page.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein recording at least one action associated with accessing a next Web page via a link traversal from a link on its previous Web page further comprises storing a text associated with the link on the previous Web page.

6. The method of claim 3 wherein recording at least one action associated with accessing a next Web page via a link traversal from a link on its previous Web page further comprises storing a target window name where the next Web page will be displayed.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein a next Web page is accessed via a submission of a form on its previous Web page.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein recording at least one action associated with accessing a next Web page via a submission of a form on its previous Web page comprises storing a DOM location of the form on that previous Web page.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein recording at least one action associated with accessing a next Web page via a submission of a form on its previous Web page further comprises storing a method associated with the form.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein recording at least one action associated with accessing a next Web page via a submission of a form on its previous Web page further comprises storing a name of the form.

11. The method of claim 7 wherein recording at least one action associated with accessing a next Web page via a submission of a form on its previous Web page comprises storing an action associated with the form.

12. The method of claim 7 wherein recording at least one action associated with accessing a next Web page via a submission of a form on its previous Web page further comprises:

reading in for each element in the form a current element value;

determining a property for each element as to whether the element value should be stored in plain text, stored encrypted, or is an element whose value should be obtained from a user when it is needed;

storing the determined property for each element;

storing the element value for each element whose property is determined to be stored in plain text; and

storing an encrypted element value for each element whose property is determined to be stored encrypted.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein recording at least one action associated with accessing a next Web page via a form submission of a form on its previous Web page further comprises storing for each element an element name and a DOM location of the element relative to the DOM location of the form.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein recording at least one action comprises executing code embedded in a Web page.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the file is stored on a client with the player program.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the file is stored on a client and the player program is stored at a Web site on the computer network.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein the file and the player program are stored at a Web site on the computer network.

18. The method of claim 1 further comprising modifying each Web page loaded into the browser to include event handlers in association with elements within the page to catch link traversals and form submissions.

19. A method of accessing a Web page over a computer network comprising:

in response to a request by a user, reading data from a previously created file that indicates information for successively loading into a browser a sequence of an essentially unconstrained plurality of successive Web pages from a first Web page to a last Web page and in which each next Web page in the sequence is reached from its previous Web page by a stored action in the file that effects a transition from that previous Web page to its next Web page, and in which other than the action that effects the transition from each previous Web page to its next successive Web page, the relationship between each next Web page and its previous Web page being essentially unconstrained; and

substantially immediately after the request, sequentially retrieving the plurality of Web pages automatically.

20. The method of claim 19 further comprising displaying the last Web page in a browser.

21. The method of claim 20 further comprising displaying at least one other of the sequence of the plurality of Web pages in the browser.

22. The method of claim 20 wherein a next Web page is automatically retrieved after its previous Web page is retrieved.

23. The method of claim 20 wherein a next Web page is retrieved in response to an input from the user after its previous Web page is retrieved.

24. The method of claim 20 wherein the stored action that effects a transition from a previous Web page to its next Web page is a link traversal on that previous page.

25. The method of claim 24 further comprising determining a link on a previous Web page that best matches the information in the file for the link traversal to its next Web page, and retrieving as its next Web page the page corresponding to the link on the previous page with the best match.

26. The method of claim 25 further comprising aborting retrieval of the next page if not best match is determined on the previous page.

27. The method of claim 20 wherein the stored action that effects a transition from a previous Web page to its next Web page is the submission of a form on the previous page.

28. The method of claim 27 wherein the method further comprises determining a form on the previous page that best matches the information in the file for the form submission to the next page.

29. The method of claim 28 wherein the information in the file for the form submission comprises a DOM location of the form a URL to which to submit the form, a number of elements in the form, and a property and a value associated with the elements.

30. The method of claim 28 wherein if the property of an element indicates that its value is to be inputted by a user, the method further comprises accepting an input from the user of that element value, and submitting the form to the URL indicated in the file for the form submission with the user-inputted element value for that element and values for the other elements determined from the information in the file for that file submission.

31. The method of claim 20 wherein reading the data from the file is performed by a player program and the file and the player program are stored on a client.

32. The method of claim 20 wherein reading the data from the file is performed by a player program that is stored at a Web site on the computer network and the file is stored on a client, the method further comprising downloading the player program to the client.

33. The method of claim 20 wherein reading the data from the file is performed by a player program that is stored on a Web site on the computer network and the file is stored at the Web site, the method further comprising downloading the last of the sequence of the plurality of Web pages to a browser in the client.

34. The method of claim 20 wherein multiple actions are executed to access a next page from a previous page, one such action comprising executing code embedded in the previous page.