Ephemeral list for object-action navigation

• US 6,931,416 B2
• Filed: 12/05/2001
• Issued: 08/16/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Kelley, John Falk, Yuen, Jason Thomas, Heck, Michael P., Garay, Matthew D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Alam, Shahid
• Assistant Examiner(s): Truong, Cam Y T
• Application Number:
  US10/005,136
• Publication Number:
  US 20030103090A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,350 Days
• Field of Search: 707/3, 707/5, 707/7, 707/102, 707/10, 707/100, 707/104.1, 715/513, 715/514, 345/845, 345/850
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/06 Asset management; Financial planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99937 Sorting
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface

Abstract

An Ephemeral List navigation panel provided in conjunction with an Object-Action navigation tool which is a temporary “parking space” for objects encountered within other portions or modules of the Object-Action navigation tool. The panel represents a history, preferably in the form of a push-down stack, of products and/or objects encountered by the user. Items and objects within the panel are selectable by the user, and may be acted upon as indicated by the user such as adding, deleting, filtering and sorting them. The panel may be populated directly or indirectly by other processes associated with the Object-Action navigation tool, and the panel may cause actions within the other processes directly or indirectly responsive to user actions on the panel.

Claims

1. A method for providing an ephemeral list navigation tool comprising the steps of:

providing an ephemeral list cooperative with an Object-Action user interface system, said Object-Action user interface system having one or more semi-independent action modules, each of said action modules having a module frame display;

automatically updating said ephemeral list display responsive to user-selected actions by said action modules such that said ephemeral list automatically includes one or more entries in a list of objects upon which the user has most recently selected actions to be performed by said action modules, without need for said user to explicitly update said list;

automatically removing from said ephemeral list an oldest object entry upon addition of a newest object entry upon said list reaching a maximum number of list entries, thereby managing said ephemeral list as a push-down stack, without need for said user to explicitly remove said oldest object entry; and

repeating said steps of removing and updating such that there is an apparent interaction and coordination between user-selected actions, said module frame displays and said ephemeral list display.

2. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of updating said ephemeral list display comprises providing a portion of Hyper Text Markup Language code to an ephemeral list management process.

3. The method as set forth in claim 2 wherein said step of providing a portion of HyperText Markup Language code to said ephemeral list management process comprises filtering HTML for certain meta-tags prior to providing said portion to the ephemeral list management process.

4. The method as set forth in claim 2 wherein said step of providing a portion of Hyper Text Markup Language code to said ephemeral list management process comprises performing a “

screen scrape”

prior to providing said portion to the ephemeral list management process.

5. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of updating said ephemeral list display comprises sorting a set of objects in said ephemeral list responsive to a user-select action on an object in a module frame display.

6. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of updating said ephemeral list display comprises filtering a set of objects in said ephemeral list responsive to a user-selected action on an object in a module frame display.

7. A computer-readable medium encoded with software for providing an ephemeral list navigation tool;

said software causing a processor to perform the stops of;

providing an ephemeral list cooperative with an Object-Action user interface system, said Object-Action user interface system having one or more sem-independent action modules each of said action modules having a module frame display;

automatically updating said ephemeral list display responsive to user-selected actions by said action modules such that said ephemeral list automatically includes one or more entries in a list of object, upon which the user has most recently selected actions to be performed by said action modules, without need for said user to explicitly update said list; and

automatically removing from said ephemeral list an oldest object entry upon addition of a newest object entry upon said list reaching a maximum number of list entries, thereby managing maid ephemeral list as a push-down stack, without need for said user to explicitly remove said oldest object entry; and

repeating said steps of removing and updating such that there is an apparent interaction and coordination between user-selected actions, said module frame displays and said ephemeral list display.

8. The computer readable medium as set forth in claim 7 wherein said software for updating said ephemeral list display comprises software for providing a portion of Hyper Text Markup Language code to an ephemeral list management process.

9. The computer readable medium as set forth in claim 8 wherein said software for providing a portion of Hyper Text Markup Language code to said ephemeral list management process comprises filtering HTML for certain meta-tags prior to providing said portion to the ephemeral list management process.

10. The computer readable medium as set forth in claim 8 wherein said software for providing a portion of Hyper Text Markup Language code to said ephemeral list management process comprises software for performing a “

screen scrape”

prior to providing said portion to the ephemeral list management process.

11. The computer readable medium as set forth in claim 7 wherein said software for updating said ephemeral list display comprises software for sorting a set of objects in an ephemeral list responsive to a user-selected action on an object in a module frame display.

12. The computer readable medium as set forth in claim 7 wherein said software for updating said ephemeral list display comprises software for filtering a set of objects in an ephemeral list responsive to a user-selected action on an object in a module frame display.

13. A system for providing an ephemeral list navigation tool comprising:

an ephemeral list cooperative with an Object-Action user interface system, said Object-Action user interface system having one or more semi-independent action modules, each of said action modules having a module frame display;

an ephemeral list display controller adapted to update said ephemeral list display responsive to user-selected actions received by said action modules such that said ephemeral list automatically includes one or more entries in a list of objects upon which the user has most recently selected actions to be performed by said action modules, without need for said user to explicitly update said list, and such that an oldest object entry is automatically removed upon addition of a newest object entry upon said list reaching a maximum number of list entries, thereby managing said ephemeral list as a push-down stack, without need for said user to explicitly remove said oldest object entry; and

a module frame update relay function adapted to cause updating of said module frame displays and said ephemeral list such that there is an apparent interaction and coordination between said user-selected actions, said module frame displays and said ephemeral list display.

14. The system as set forth in claim 13 wherein said ephemeral list display controller is adapted to receive portions of Hyper Text Markup Language code.

15. The system as set forth in claim 14 wherein said ephemeral list display controller is adapted to filter said HTML portions for certain meta-tags prior to providing said portion to the ephemeral list display controller.

16. The system as set forth in claim 14 wherein said ephemeral list display controller is adapted to perform a “

screen scrape”

prior to providing said HTML portion to the ephemeral list display controller.

17. The system as set forth in claim 13 wherein said ephemeral list display controller is adapted to sort a set of objects in an ephemeral list responsive to a user-selected action on an object ins module frame display.

18. The system as set forth in claim 13 wherein said ephemeral list display controller is adapted to filter a set of objects in an ephemeral list responsive to a user-selected action on an object in a module frame display.