Highlighting occurrences of terms in documents or search results

• US 7,853,586 B1
• Filed: 10/18/2004
• Issued: 12/14/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Patel, Amit J., desJardins, David L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Trujillo; James
• Assistant Examiner(s): BURKE, JEFF A
• Application Number:
  US10/965,714
• Time in Patent Office: 2,248 Days
• Field of Search: 707/3, 707/722, 707/999.001, 707/999.003, 715/200, 715/821
• US Class Current: 707/722
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2455 Query execution
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24575 using context
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/438 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/103 Formatting, i.e. changing of presentation of documents automatic justification G06F40/189; automatic line break hyphenation G06F40/191
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching

Abstract

A system highlights search terms in documents distributed over a network. The system generates a search query that includes a search term and, in response to the search query, receives a list of one or more references to documents in the network. The system receives selection of one of the references and retrieves a document that corresponds to the selected reference. The system then highlights the search term in the retrieved document.

Claims

1. A device, comprising:

a memory to store instructions; and

a processor to execute the instructions in the memory to;

provide a tool bar within a web browser application window, the tool bar including a button, for activating a highlighting operation, and an input box,

present a document within the web browser application window,

receive a search term within the input box of the tool bar after presenting the document within the web browser application window,

receive selection of the button to activate the highlighting operation after receiving the search term within the input box,

change, without user intervention and in response to receiving the selection of the button, a characteristic of the search term in the document, presented within the web browser application window, to form a modified document, and

present the modified document, where an occurrence of the search term, within the modified document, has the changed characteristic.

2. The device of claim 1, where, when changing a characteristic of the search term, the processor is to:

identify each occurrence of the search term in the document, and

for each occurrence of the search term, alter a characteristic of the search term in the document.

3. The device of claim 2, where, when altering a characteristic of the search term, the processor is to change at least one of a color, font, style, effect, or size of the search term in the document.

4. The device of claim 1, where the document includes a list of search results, and where each of the search results includes a link to a search result document;

and

when changing a characteristic of the search term, the processor is to;

alter a characteristic of the search term in one of the links when the search term occurs in the one of the links.

5. The device of claim 1, where the document includes a list of search results, and where each of the search results includes a link to a search result document and text associated with the search result document.

6. The device of claim 5, where, when changing a characteristic of the search term, the processor is to:

identify an occurrence of the search term in the text corresponding to one of the search results, and

change a characteristic of the search term in the text corresponding to the one of the search results.

7. A method performed by a device, comprising:

providing, on a display associated with the device, a web browser application window that includes an input box and a button to initiate a highlighting operation;

presenting a document within the web browser application window on the display;

receiving one or more characters within the input box after presenting the document within the web browser application window;

receiving selection of the button to initiate the highlighting operation after receiving the one or more characters within the input box;

automatically locating and highlighting occurrences of the one or more characters within the document presented within the web browser application window in response to receiving the selection of the button; and

presenting the document with the highlighted one or more characters on the display.

8. The method of claim 7, where automatically locating and highlighting occurrences of the one or more characters includes:

identifying each occurrence of the one or more characters in the document, and

for each occurrence of the one or more characters, changing a characteristic of the one or more characters in the document.

9. The method of claim 8, where changing a characteristic of the one or more characters includes:

altering at least one of a color, font, style, effect, or size of the one or more characters in the document.

10. The method of claim 7, where the document includes a web page.

11. The method of claim 7, where the document includes a list of search results.

12. A computer-readable memory device containing computer-executable instructions, comprising:

one or more instructions to provide a tool bar within a web browser application, the tool bar including a search box and a button to activate a highlighting operation;

one or more instructions to present a document within a window of the web browser application;

one or more instructions to receive one or more characters within the search box of the tool bar after presenting the document within the window of the web browser application;

one or more instructions to receive selection of the button to activate the highlighting operation after receiving the one or more characters within the search box of the tool bar;

one or more instructions to locate and highlight, in response to receiving the selection of the button to activate the highlighting operation, occurrences of the one or more characters within the document presented within the window of the web browser application to create a modified document; and

one or more instructions to present the modified document within the web browser application, where the modified document includes the highlighted occurrences of the one or more characters.

13. The computer-readable memory device of claim 12, where the one or more instructions to locate and highlight occurrences of the one or more characters includes:

one or more instructions to identify each occurrence of the one or more characters in the document, and

one or more instructions to change, for each occurrence of the one or more characters, a characteristic of the one or more characters in the document.

14. The computer-readable memory device of claim 13, where the one or more instructions to change a characteristic of the one or more characters includes one or more instructions to alter at least one of a color, font, style, effect, or size of the one or more characters in the document.

15. The computer-readable memory device of claim 12, where the document includes a web page.

16. The computer-readable memory device of claim 12, where the document includes a list of search results.