Method, system and program product for obscuring supplemental web content

• US 7,895,523 B2
• Filed: 09/04/2003
• Issued: 02/22/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/04/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Stockton, Marcia L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lo; Weilun
• Assistant Examiner(s): Augustine; Nicholas
• Application Number:
  US10/654,687
• Publication Number:
  US 20050055644A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,728 Days
• Field of Search: 715/700, 715764-768, 715/749, 715/744, 715/747, 715/789, 345600-605
• US Class Current: 715/747
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents

Abstract

Under the present invention, supplemental web content (e.g., an advertisement) referenced in a requested markup language document is detected and reduced in quality (i.e., obscured). In reducing the supplemental web content in quality, the present invention can employ any number of techniques such as removing color, animation or sound, reducing contrast or resolution, blurring the content, etc. In any event, the requested markup language document is rendered with the reduced quality supplemental web content. The supplemental web content can then be restored to its original quality, if the user so desires, based upon a prompt.

Claims

1. A method for obscuring only supplemental audio-visual web content on a web page, comprising:

detecting a reference to supplemental web content in requested markup language;

reducing an audio-visual quality of the supplemental web content while allowing the supplemental web content with the reduced quality to be executed in its entirety on a client, wherein the reducing includes

specifying a full-quality version of the supplemental web content to be reduced, and

specifying a reduction in the audio-visual quality of the supplemental web content;

rendering the requested markup language with the reduced quality supplemental web content; and

displaying the entirety of the reduced quality supplemental web content and the original quality requested web page content, wherein an original layout of the requested web page is preserved; and

restoring the full-quality version of the supplemental web content in the rendered markup language based on a prompt by a user, wherein

the reducing step comprises removing animation from the supplemental web content.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the detecting step comprises comparing a uniform resource identifier of the supplemental web content to a predetermined list of uniform resource identifiers.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the reducing step comprises lowering a contrast of the supplemental web content.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the reducing step comprises lowering a resolution of the supplemental web content.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the reducing step comprises blurring the supplemental web content.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the reducing step comprises substituting a gray-scale palette for a color palette of the supplemental web content.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the reducing step comprises lowering a quantity of colors in the supplemental web content.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the reducing step comprises removing sound from the supplemental web content.

9. A system for obscuring only supplemental audio-visual web content on a web page, comprising:

a content detection system for detecting a reference to supplemental web content associated with a requested web page;

a quality reduction system for reducing an audio-visual quality of the supplemental web content while allowing the supplemental web content with the reduced quality to be executed in its entirety on a client, wherein the reducing includes

specifying a full-quality version of the supplemental web content to be reduced, and

specifying a reduction in the audio-visual quality of the supplemental web content;

a communication system for serving the requested web page with the reduced quality supplemental web content;

a display system for displaying the entirety of the reduced-quality supplemental web content and the original quality requested web page content, wherein an original layout of the requested web page is preserved; and

a quality restoration system for restoring the full-quality version of the supplemental web content in the rendered web page based on a prompt by a user, wherein

the quality reduction system removes animation from the supplemental web content.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the content detection system compares a uniform resource locator of the supplemental web content to a predetermined list of uniform resource locators.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the quality reduction system lowers a contrast of the supplemental web content.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the quality reduction system lowers a resolution of the supplemental web content.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the quality reduction system blurs the supplemental web content.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the quality reduction system substitutes a gray-scale palette for a color palette of the supplemental web content.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the quality reduction system lowers a quantity of colors in the supplemental web content.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the quality reduction system removes sound from the supplemental web content.

17. The system of claim 9, wherein the system is loaded on a server that renders and delivers the web page to a client.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the server is a portal server, and wherein the web page is a portal page.

31. The method of claim 9, wherein the partially obscuring step comprises lowering a contrast of the supplemental web content.

32. The method of claim 9, wherein the partially obscuring step comprises lowering a resolution of the supplemental web content.

19. A program product stored on a recordable storage medium for obscuring only supplemental audio-visual web content on a web page, which when executed comprises:

program code for detecting a reference to supplemental web content associated with a requested web page;

program code for reducing an audio-visual quality of the supplemental web content while allowing the supplemental web content with the reduced quality to be executed in its entirety on a client, wherein the reducing includes

specifying a full-quality version of the supplemental web content to be reduced, an

specifying a reduction in the audio-visual quality of the supplemental web content; and

program code for serving the requested web page with the reduced quality supplemental web content; and

program code for displaying the entirety of the reduced quality supplemental web content and the original quality requested web page content, wherein an original layout of the requested web page is preserved; and

program code for restoring the full-quality version of the supplemental web content in the rendered web page based on a prompt by a user, wherein

the program code for reducing removes animation from the supplemental web content.

20. The program product of claim 19, wherein the program code for detecting compares a uniform resource locator of the supplemental web content to a predetermined list of uniform resource locators.

21. The program product of claim 19, wherein the program code for reducing lowers a contrast of the supplemental web content.

22. The program product of claim 19, wherein the program code for reducing lowers a resolution of the supplemental web content.

23. The program product of claim 19, wherein the program code for reducing blurs the supplemental web content.

24. The program product of claim 19, wherein the program code for reducing substitutes a gray-scale palette for a color palette of the supplemental web content.

25. The program product of claim 19, wherein the program code for reducing lowers a quantity of colors in the supplemental web content.

26. The program product of claim 19, wherein the program code for reducing removes sound from the supplemental web content.

27. The program product of claim 19, wherein the program product is loaded on a server that renders and delivers the web page to a client.

28. The program product of claim 27, wherein the server is a portal server, and wherein the web page is a portal page.

29. A computer-implemented business method for obscuring only supplemental audio-visual web content on a web page, comprising:

collecting a fee from a user;

receiving a request for markup language from the user, wherein the markup language includes a reference to supplemental web content;

partially obscuring the supplemental web content while allowing the partially obscured supplemental web content to be executed in its entirety on a client, wherein the partial obscuring includes

specifying a full-quality version of the supplemental web content to be partially obscured, and

specifying a partial obscuring of the audio-visual quality of the supplemental web content; and

serving the requested markup language with the partially obscured supplemental web content to the user; and

displaying the entirety of the partially-obscured supplemental web content and the original quality requested web page content, wherein an original layout of the requested web page is preserved; and

restoring the full-quality version of the supplemental web content in the rendered markup language based on a prompt by a user, wherein the prompt includes positioning a mouse cursor over the supplemental web content with the reduced quality, wherein

the partially obscuring step comprises removing animation from the supplemental web content.

30. The method of claim 29, further comprising

detecting the reference to the supplemental web content by comparing a uniform resource identifier of the supplemental web content to a predetermined list of uniform resource identifiers.

33. The method of claim 29, wherein the partially obscuring step comprises blurring the supplemental web content.

34. The method of claim 29, wherein the partially obscuring step comprises substituting a gray-scale palette for a color palette of the supplemental web content.

35. The method of claim 29, wherein the partially obscuring step comprises lowering a quantity of colors in the supplemental web content.

36. The method of claim 29, wherein the partially obscuring step comprises removing sound from the supplemental web content.