Dynamic updating of rendered web pages with supplemental content

• US 7,975,020 B1
• Filed: 07/15/2005
• Issued: 07/05/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/15/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Mongrain, Scott A., Green, Nigel
• Primary Examiner(s): Lazaro; David
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kim; Edward J
• Application Number:
  US11/182,517
• Time in Patent Office: 2,181 Days
• Field of Search: 709/229, 709217-219, 715/711, 705/14
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces

Abstract

A page update handler, which may be loaded by a web browser as part of a web page, adds functionality for dynamically updating the web page with content supplied by a content server. In one embodiment, when a mouse-over event occurs with respect to a recognized item on the web page, such as a hyperlink that matches a particular link signature, the page update handler displays a corresponding overlay display object within the web page. The overlay display object displays information about or associated with the recognized item, and may provide functionality for the user to further interact with the content server. In one embodiment, an operator of a web site that is separate from the content server can enable overlay display objects within its web pages by merely adding an update handler tag to one or more corresponding HTML documents.

Claims

1. A method of providing a dynamically updatable web page, the method comprising:

causing a web browser running on a user computer to load update handler code over a network such that the update handler code becomes part of a web page loaded by the browser, said update handler code comprising browser-executable code that is capable of causing the web browser to update a display of the web page with content retrieved from a content server;

detecting an occurrence of a pre-specified keyword or keyword phrase in visual content of the web page;

retrieving an advertisement associated with the keyword or keyword phrase over a network from the content server to the user computer, said advertisement being a sponsored link advertisement that has a pre-specified association with the keyword or keyword phrase, wherein retrieving the advertisement comprises extracting content of the advertisement from a script file received from the content server, wherein extracting said content from the script file comprises extracting an HTML string that is surrounded by quotations and assigned to a script variable; and

responding to a mouse-over event in which a mouse pointer is positioned over the occurrence of the pre-specified keyword or keyword phrase on a visual display of the web page on the user computer by causing the advertisement to be displayed by said user computer in an overlay display object in association with the keyword or keyword phrase, said overlay display object being part of the web page;

wherein the advertisement is retrieved from the content server and displayed in the overlay display object via execution of the update handler code by the web browser.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the occurrence of the pre-specified keyword or keyword phrase is detected via execution of the update handler code on the user computer.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the content server operates in a domain that is separate from a domain of the web page.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the web page is a page of a web site of a target entity, and the method further comprises responding to user selection of the advertisement by causing the target entity to be paid a fee.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein causing the web browser to load the update handler code comprises causing the web browser to load a first module of update handler code that, when executed by the web browser:

(a) analyzes HTML content of the web page, and (b) based on a result of the analysis of the HTML content, identifies at least a second module of update handler code to be loaded, said second module including functionality for displaying the overlay display object.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein causing the web browser to load the update handler code comprises including, in an HTML document of the web page, a command that causes the web browser to load at least a portion of the update handler code.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the web browser loads the update handler code after loading an HTML document of said web page.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the occurrence of the pre-specified keyword or keyword phrase is detected via browser execution of the update handler code on the user computer.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the update handler code comprises at least one JavaScript library.

31. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertisement is a sponsored link type advertisement posted to the content server in association with said the keyword or keyword phrase, said sponsored link type advertisement being selectable from within the overlay display object.

32. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, via a web site associated with the content server, a submission of said advertisement from an advertiser in association with said keyword or keyword phrase.

33. The method of claim 1, wherein the web page is part of a web site, and the occurrence of the pre-specified keyword or keyword phrase is detected using a library file associated with the web site, said library file specifying keywords and/or keyword phrases for which the display of advertisements is enabled for said web site.

40. The method of claim 1, wherein extracting the content from the script file additionally comprises replacing script elements with corresponding HTML elements.

10. A method of dynamically supplementing a web page, the method comprising:

analyzing native content of a web page loaded by a browser on a user computing device, wherein the native content of the web page is analyzed via execution by the browser of an update handler that is part of the web page, said update handler comprising browser-executable code that is capable of causing the browser to update the loaded web page with supplemental content retrieved from a content server;

detecting, as a result of the analysis of the native content, that the native content includes a pre-specified keyword or keyword phrase;

retrieving an advertisement associated with the keyword or keyword phrase over a network from the content server, said advertisement having a pre-specified association with the keyword or keyword phrase, and comprising a user-selectable link, wherein retrieving the advertisement comprises extracting, via browser execution of the update handler, content of said advertisement from a script file received from the content server, wherein extracting said content from the script file comprises extracting an HTML string that is surrounded by quotations and assigned to a script variable; and

in response to a mouse-over event in which a mouse pointer is positioned over the keyword or keyword phrase in a visual display of the web page, causing the advertisement to be displayed by the user computing device in an overlay display object of the web page;

wherein the advertisement is retrieved from the content server and displayed in the overlay display object via execution of the update handler by the browser.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising, via browser execution of the update handler, converting the extracted content of the advertisement to a format suitable for display by the browser.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the advertisement is retrieved in response to the mouse-over event.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the advertisement is retrieved prior to the mouse-over event, and is maintained hidden until detection of the mouse-over event.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising responding to user selection of said advertisement, as displayed in said overlay display object, by causing a provider of said web page to be paid a fee.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein causing the web browser to load the update handler code comprises including, in an HTML document of the web page, a command that causes the web browser to load at least a portion of the update handler code.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the content server operates in a domain that is separate from a domain of the web page.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein the analysis of the content of the web page begins prior to the mouse-over event.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein the analysis of the content of the web page is performed in response to the mouse-over event.

34. The method of claim 10, wherein the pre-specified association between the advertisement and the keyword or keyword phrase is a result of a submission of said advertisement to the content server in association with the keyword or keyword phrase.

35. The method of claim 10, wherein analyzing native content of the web page comprises using a library file that specifies keywords and/or keyword phrases for which the display of advertisements is enabled.

41. The method of claim 11, wherein extracting the content from the script file additionally comprises replacing script elements with corresponding HTML elements.

19. A method of dynamically supplementing a web page, the method comprising:

detecting, within native content of a web page, an item for which supplemental content is available from a content server, wherein the item comprises a keyword or keyword phrase, and is detected via execution of update handler code loaded by a browser with the web page, said update handler code comprising browser-executable code capable of causing the browser to update the web page, as loaded by the browser, with the supplemental content;

retrieving the supplemental content from the content server over a computer network, said supplemental content comprising an advertisement having a pre-defined association with the keyword or keyword phrase, wherein retrieving the supplemental content comprises extracting the supplemental content, via browser execution of the update handler code, from a script file received from the content server, said content extracted from the script file by a process that comprises extracting an HTML string that is surrounded by quotations and assigned to a script variable; and

in response to a mouse-over event associated with the item, causing the browser to display an overlay display object that includes the supplemental content, wherein the overlay display object is part of the web page, and is generated via execution of the update handler code by the browser.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the step of retrieving the supplemental content is performed in response to the mouse-over event.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the step of retrieving the supplemental content is performed in response to detection of the item, prior to the mouse-over event.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein the method further comprises, via execution of the update handler code by the browser, converting the supplemental content, as extracted from the script file, to an HTML format suitable for display by the browser.

23. The method of claim 19, further comprising responding to user selection of the advertisement by causing a provider of the web page to be paid a fee.

36. The method of claim 19, wherein the pre-specified association between the advertisement and the keyword or keyword phrase is a result of a submission of said advertisement to the content server in association with the keyword or keyword phrase.

37. The method of claim 19, wherein detecting said item comprises using a library file to analyze content of the web page, said library file specifying keywords and/or keyword phrases for which the display of advertisements is enabled.

24. A system, comprising:

non-transitory computer storage; and

update handler code stored in said computer storage, said update handler code adapted to be loaded by a browser as part of a web page, and adapted to be executed by the web browser to cause the browser to update the web page at least in part by;

detecting, within native content of a web page, an item for which supplemental content is available from a content server, said item comprising a keyword or keyword phrase;

retrieving the supplemental content from the content server over a computer network, said supplemental content comprising a user-selectable advertisement having a predefined association with the keyword or keyword phrase, wherein retrieving the supplemental content comprises extracting the supplemental content from a script file received from the content server, said content extracted from the script file by a process that comprises extracting an HTML string that is surrounded by quotations and assigned to a script variable; and

in response to a mouse-over event associated with the item, causing the browser to display the supplemental content, including the user-selectable advertisement, in an overlay display object that is part of the web page.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the supplemental content comprises a plurality of advertisements associated with the keyword or keyword phrase.

26. The system of claim 24, further comprising a user interface that provides functionality for advertisers to at least (a) post advertisements to the system for display by said update handler code, and (b) associate such advertisements with particular keywords.

27. The system of claim 24, wherein the system is responsive to a user action performed in connection with the advertisement, as presented via the overlay display object, by causing a provider of the web page to be paid a fee.

28. The system of claim 24, wherein the update handler code includes functionality for converting the supplemental content, as extracted from the script file, to a format suitable for display by the web browser.

29. The system of claim 24, further comprising a computer system that hosts a network-accessible tag generation tool that is operative to generate a tag that is adapted to be incorporated into a page of a target web site to cause web browsers that load said page of the target web site to load and execute the update handler code.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the tag generation tool provides an option for an operator of the target web site to specify a type of supplemental content to be displayed by the update handler code.

38. The system of claim 24, wherein the predefined association between the advertisement and the keyword or keyword phrase is a result of a submission of said advertisement to the content server in association with the keyword or keyword phrase.

39. The method of claim 24, wherein detecting said item comprises using a library file to analyze the native content of the web page, said library file specifying keywords and/or keyword phrases for which the display of advertisements is enabled.