Search capture

• US 7,702,678 B2
• Filed: 03/14/2005
• Issued: 04/20/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Teague, Charles J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Rones; Charles
• Assistant Examiner(s): Quader; Fazlul
• Application Number:
  US11/079,446
• Publication Number:
  US 20050216452A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,863 Days
• Field of Search: 707/3
• US Class Current: 707/722
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9562 Bookmark management

Abstract

When a Web-browser user employs a hyperlink, a Web-information manager makes a log entry that includes the URL of the Web page containing the hyperlink and also lists the URL of the target Web page, to which the hyperlink refers. When the user requests that a Web page be captured for later use, the Web-information manager uses the log to find the page at the root of the hyperlink chain that led to that page. It then determines from the root page'"'"'s URL whether the root page is a search-result page. If it is, the Web-information manager infers the search specification from that URL and associates it with the page to be captured.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for organizing results of browser-based research, comprising:

employing a processor to execute the following computer executable acts stored on a computer readable medium;

logging hyperlinks associated with user navigation of a chain of Web pages, the chain of Web pages comprising a root Web page and a plurality of subsequent Web pages, wherein each of the subsequent Web pages is linked to a previous Web page by a hyperlink in the previous Web page;

creating a list of the logged hyperlinks representative of the chain of Web pages;

determining that the root Web page was produced by a search-engine, which produced the root Web page in response to a search specification submitted by the user to the search-engine, wherein said determination is made by inspecting a Uniform Resource Locator (“

URL”

) associated with the root Web page;

storing a search specification object upon making said determination, wherein the search specification object includes the URL associated with the root Web page, a the search specification, and an identity of the search-engine;

identifying copyright information within the root Web page and associating the copyright information with the search specification;

displaying a current Web page, wherein the current Web page comprises a Web page in the chain of Web pages to which the user navigated through selection of a hyperlink in a previous one of the chain of Web pages;

receiving a user request to display the search specification associated with the current Web page; and

displaying the search specification in response to receiving said user request.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the search specification is inferred from the URL associated with the root Web page.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining the identity of the search-engine wherein said determining the identity comprises inspecting the URL associated with the root Web page.

4. One or more computer-storage media storing computer-usable components for organizing results of browser-based research, the computer-usable components comprising:

an interface that is integrated with an Internet browser, wherein the interface provides an interface window having a collection-explorer pane that includes identifiers corresponding to captured content, wherein the interface window is distinct from the Internet browser;

a search component that searches for a Web page within a hyperlink chain and determines a search-result page within the hyperlink chain;

a specification component that associates a search-result Uniform Resource Locator (“

URL”

) and a search specification with the Web page based at least upon the search-result page;

a tagging component that identifies metadata related to the Web page and associates the metadata with the search specification, the metadata including copyright information related to the Web page; and

a navigation log that creates a list of entries of hyperlinks in the hyperlink chain.

5. The media of claim 4, wherein the search component determines the search-result page based at least in part upon the URL from one of the Web pages within the hyperlink chain.

6. The media of claim 4, wherein the computer-usable components further comprise:

a monitoring component that inspects the URL from a visited Web page for the search specification.

7. The media of claim 4, wherein the search component determines a search-engine identity based at least in part upon the URL from one of the Web pages within the hyperlink chain.

8. The media of claim 4, wherein the tagging component associates the copyright information based at least in part on capturing the Web page.

9. The media of claim 4, wherein the search component imports at least one link from the search-result page not originating from the hyperlink chain.

10. The media of claim 4, wherein the specification component stores at least a portion of the Web page including at least one of a string of text, a file, a link to a file, an image, a copy of the Web page, a link to the Web page, an object, a resource, or any combination thereof.

11. The media of claim 4, wherein the tagging component further associates at least one of the URL, search specification, or any combination thereof with at least a portion of the Web page.

12. The media of claim 4, wherein the specification component returns a null output in response to the search-result page not containing a valid root page.

13. The media of claim 4, wherein the computer-usable components further comprise a storage component that stores at least one reference other than the Web page from the search-result page.

14. The media of claim 4, wherein the computer-usable components further comprise a notification component that notifies a user of availability of new content by searching based at least in part on the search specification.

15. A computer-implemented method for organizing results of browser-based research, comprising:

employing a processor to execute the following computer executable acts;

displaying an interface window associated with an interface that is integrated with an Internet browser, the interface providing an interface window having a collection-explorer pane that includes identifiers corresponding to captured content, wherein the interface window is distinct from the Internet browser;

logging hyperlinks associated with user navigation of a chain of Web pages, the chain of Web pages comprising a root Web page and a plurality of subsequent Web pages, wherein each of the subsequent Web pages is linked to a previous Web page by a hyperlink in the previous Web page;

creating a list of the logged hyperlinks representative of the chain of web pages;

responding to a search for a Web page within the hyperlink chain by determining a search-result page within the hyperlink chain;

associating a search-result Uniform Resource Locator (URL), a search specification, and a search-engine identity with the Web page based at least in part upon the search-result page;

identifying copyright information within the Web page and associating the copyright information with the search specification;

selecting a sub-page by name from a list of sub-pages;

receiving a user request to capture content related to the document;

providing a dialog box in response to receiving the user request to capture content related to the document, wherein the dialog box comprises a selection button that enables the user to choose whether the system will download and save a local copy of the content or will provide a link to the content;

capturing the content related to the document;

selecting a section of the content based upon user input; and

replacing the section of selected content with a link, the link accesses a sub-page that displays the selected content upon activation of the link.