Method and system for visual network searching

• US 7,010,537 B2
• Filed: 04/25/2001
• Issued: 03/07/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Friskit
• Original Assignee: Friskit
• Inventors: Eyal, Aviv, Shor, Shirley
• Primary Examiner(s): Shah, Sanjiv
• Application Number:
  US09/843,286
• Publication Number:
  US 20020023084A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,777 Days
• Field of Search: 707/100, 707/3, 707/4, 707/10, 707/5, 707/7, 715/513, 704/251, 725/746
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching

Abstract

An embodiment provides for conducting searches on a network. A search request is signaled over the network to a search engine. A search result is received that identifies a plurality of network addresses. Multiple pages are automatically rendered, each page being located by a corresponding network addresses in the search result.

Claims

1. A method for conducting searches over a network, the method comprising:

providing a search request to a search engine;

receiving a search result that identifies a plurality of links, and wherein at least some of the links are each associated with an information resource and a network address, and wherein one or more of the plurality of links are individually received with control information;

displaying a first information resource that that is associated with a first link in the search result; and

automatically displaying at least a subsequent information resource that is associated with a second link in the search result;

and wherein the step of automatically displaying at least the subsequent information resource includes (i) using control information provided with the second link, and (ii) displaying the subsequent information resource without displaying the first information resource.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically displaying a plurality of subsequent information resources in a sequence, wherein each of the plurality of subsequent information resource is associated with one of the links in the plurality of links identified by the search result.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein displaying a plurality of subsequent information resources in a sequence includes displaying each of the plurality of subsequent information resources for a predetermined duration before automatically displaying a next information resource in the plurality of subsequent information resources.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically displaying a plurality of subsequent information resources in a sequence, wherein each subsequent information resource has a corresponding link in the plurality of links identified by the search result, and wherein each subsequent information resource that is displayed replaces a previously displayed information resource.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the search engine is internal to a network site.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of providing a search request includes providing one or more criteria relating to a product or service to an internal search engine of an e-commerce site.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein each of at least some of the links identified by the search result correspond to an information resource that provides information about purchasing the product or service.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the information includes price information.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the information relates to availability of the product or service.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the e-commerce site corresponds to a site on which travel products or services are advertised.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the e-commerce mite corresponds to a site on which travel products or services are offered for sale.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein:

the step of providing a search request to a search engine includes specifying a criterion relating to a travel product or service based on a user-input;

the step of receiving a search result that identifies a plurality of links includes receiving one or more links to associated with pages on which information about travel products or services that match the criterion are provided;

the step of displaying a first information resource includes displaying a first page on which information relating to the travel product or service is provided; and

the step of automatically displaying at least a subsequent information resource includes displaying a second page on which information relating to the travel product or service is provided.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the steps of displaying the first information resource and automatically displaying the subsequent information resource include displaying a first image of a travel product or service, then displaying a second image of a travel product or service, wherein the first image and the second image are provided by the first information resource and the subsequent information resource respectively.

14. The method of claim 6, wherein the steps of displaying a first information resource and automatically displaying at least a subsequent information resource include displaying a first image relating to the product or service, then displaying a second image relating to the product or service, wherein the first image and the second image are provided by the first information resource and the subsequent information resource respectively.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein receiving a search result includes receiving a plurality of links, including one or more links that correspond to an information resource that offers information relating to purchasing one or more products or services that match the search criteria.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the first information resource and the subsequent information resource each provide information relating to purchasing the one or more products or services that match the search criteria.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the information relating to purchasing the one or more products or services includes information relating to a price and availability of a specific product or service.

18. The method of claim 6, wherein the step of providing one or more criteria relating to a product or service includes providing one or more criteria that identifies one or more products, wherein the one or more products includes one or more books.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the one or more criteria corresponds to an author.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the step of receiving a search result includes receiving at least one link in the plurality of links that corresponds to an information resource having information about pricing and availability of a particular book.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the first information resource and the subsequent information resource each provide information about pricing and availability of the particular book.

22. The method of claim 6, wherein the e-commerce site corresponds to an online auction site.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein:

the step of providing a search request to a search engine includes specifying one or more criteria for identifying an auction based on a user-input;

wherein the step of receiving a search result that identifies a plurality of links includes receiving links to auctions that match the criteria;

wherein the step of displaying a first information resource includes displaying information about a first auction that matches the criteria; and

wherein the step of automatically displaying at least a subsequent information resource includes displaying information about a second auction that matches the criteria.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of receiving a search result that identifies a plurality of links includes receiving a plurality of uniform resource locators, wherein each uniform resource locator corresponds to a page provided at a network site.

25. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of providing a search request includes specifying a criteria for selecting music.

26. The method of claim 1, wherein at least the first information resource and the subsequent information resource in the search result are each associated with a corresponding music file.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising the step of playing the music file associated with the at least one of the first information resource and the subsequent information resource concurrently while performing at least one of the steps of displaying the first information resource and displaying the subsequent information resource.

28. The method of claim 1, wherein the first information resource and the subsequent information resource each include a page provided on a network site.

29. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first information resource and the subsequent information resource include data of a type selected from a group consisting of text, image, or media.

30. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first information resource and the subsequent information resource are for enabling a user to purchase music.

31. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of automatically displaying at least the subsequent information resource includes replacing a rendering of the first information resource with a rendering of the second information resource.

32. The method of claim 1, wherein at least some of the resources associated with the plurality of links in the search result are still images.

33. A method for conducting searches on a user terminal connected to the Internet, the method comprising:

a search request to at least one network search engine;

receiving a search based at least in part on the search request that identifies a plurality of links that each correspond, at least in part, to a uniform resource locator, wherein each uniform resource locator identifies a network resource located on the Internet;

for a first link in the search result, signaling a browser component to display a first network resource on the user terminal;

wherein the signaling includes using at least part of a first uniform resource locator that identifies the first network resource and control information that causes the browser component to access the first network resource;

for a second link in the search result, signaling a browser component to display a second network resource on the user terminal;

wherein the signaling includes using at least part of a second uniform resource locator that identifies the second network resource and control information that causes the browser component to access the second network resource;

wherein signaling the browser component further includes using at least some of the control information signaling with at least one of the first link and second link to cause the second network resource to replace the first network resource being displayed on the user terminal.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the browser component is a web browser.

35. The method of claim 33, wherein signaling the browser component to display the first network resource and to display the second network resource includes signaling the browser component to display a first still image corresponding to the first network resource and a second still image corresponding to the second network resource.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein using at least some of the control information signaled with at least one of the first link and second link includes using that control information to cause the second network resource to be displayed sequentially and automatically after the first network resource is displayed.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein the first network resource and the second network resource are each still images.

38. The method of claim 33, wherein the step of providing a search request includes providing one or more criteria relating to a product or service to an internal search engine of an e-commerce site.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein each of at least some of the links identified by the search result correspond to a network resource that provides information about purchasing the product or service.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein the information includes price information.

41. The method of claim 39, wherein the information relates to availability of the product or service.

42. The method of claim 33, wherein the step of providing a search request includes specifying a criteria for selecting music.

43. The method of claim 33, wherein at least the first network resource and the second network resource in the search result are each associated with a corresponding music file.

44. The method of claim 43, further comprising the step of playing the music file associated with the at least one of the first network resource and the second network resource concurrently while performing at least one of the steps of displaying the first network resource and displaying the second network resource.