Preview panel

• US 8,082,516 B2
• Filed: 10/31/2006
• Issued: 12/20/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/01/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: Lycos Incorporated (Brightcom Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Vaca, Julio, Soroca, Adam
• Primary Examiner(s): BAUTISTA, XIOMARA L
• Application Number:
  US11/590,682
• Publication Number:
  US 20070226192A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,876 Days
• Field of Search: 715/764, 715/765, 715/781, 715/804, 715/733, 715/738, 715/769, 715/803, 715/805, 715/808, 715/809, 707/3, 707/706, 707/758, 707/759, 707/769, 707/805, 707/707
• US Class Current: 715/781
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents

Abstract

Generating a preview panel includes generating an auxiliary display in response to an action performed in a primary display, where the primary display is for presenting one or more entries that correspond to results of a Web-based search, receiving data identifying an entry from the primary display, and generating, for presentation in the auxiliary display, information corresponding to the entry from the primary display.

Claims

1. A method performed by a server, comprising:

receiving data from a first panel displayed on a computer system that is not the server;

generating data for generating a second panel in response to the data from the first panel,

sending the data for generating the second panel to the computer system, the second panel being a pop-up window that is separate from, and that supplements, the first panel on the computer system;

identifying a first item from the first panel;

generating a second item corresponding to the first item for display in the second panel;

identifying a third item from the first panel, wherein the first item is obtained via a first search and the third item is obtained via a second search;

generating a fourth item corresponding to the third item for display in the second panel; and

augmenting the second panel to include the fourth item;

wherein, following prompting regarding the second panel, the second item remains displayed in the second panel through a time that the fourth item is displayed in the second panel; and

wherein generating the second item is performed by the server in response to dragging the first item from the first panel to the second panel on the computer system, and generating the fourth item is performed by the server in response to dragging the third item from the first panel to the second panel on the computer system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first panel comprises a graphical user interface that is generated by a search engine, the first panel for displaying search results, the first item being among the search results;

and

wherein the second panel comprises a graphical user interface, the second item containing information from the first item.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the first item comprises receiving data that identifies the first item, the data being received in response to user input;

and

wherein at least part of the second item contains information that is identical to information in at least part of the first item.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein at least part of the fourth item contains information that is identical to information in at least part of the third item.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first item comprises a Web search result entry that includes a uniform resource locator (URL) hyperlink.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first item from the first panel is identified based on information obtained from a hyperlink associated with the first item.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the second item is a copy of the first item, and the fourth item is a copy of the third item.

8. A method performed by a server, comprising:

generating data for presenting an auxiliary display in response to an action performed in a primary display, the primary display for presenting one or more entries that correspond to results of a Web-based search, the auxiliary display being a pop-up window that is separate from the primary display;

sending the data for presenting the auxiliary display to a computer system that is not the server, the auxiliary display and the primary display being presented on the computer system;

receiving data identifying a first entry from the primary display;

generating, for presentation in the auxiliary display, first information corresponding to the first entry from the primary display;

receiving data identifying a second entry from the primary display;

generating, for presentation in the auxiliary display, second information corresponding to the second entry from the primary display; and

augmenting the auxiliary display to include the second information;

wherein the first entry is a result of a first Web-based search for which one or more entries are displayed on the primary display, and the second entry is a result of a second Web-based search for which one or more entries are displayed on the primary display;

wherein, following prompting regarding the auxiliary display, the first information remains displayed in the auxiliary display through a time that the second information is displayed in the auxiliary display; and

wherein the data identifying the first entry is received in response to dragging the first entry from the primary display to the auxiliary display, and the data identifying the second entry is received in response to dragging the third entry from the primary display to the auxiliary display.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein at least one of the following holds true:

the first information comprises a copy of the first entry from the primary display; and

the second information comprises a copy of the second entry from the primary display.

10. One or more machine-readable storage media comprising instructions that are executable by a server, the one or more-machine readable media being non-transitory, the instructions for causing one or more processing devices of the server to:

receive data from a first panel displayed on a computer system that is not the server;

generate data for generating a second panel in response to the data from the first panel,

send the data for generating the second panel to the computer system, the second panel being a pop-up window that is separate from, and that supplements, the first panel on the computer system;

identify a first item from the first panel; and

generate a second item corresponding to the first item for display in the second panel;

identify a third item from the first panel, wherein the first item is obtained via a first search and the third item is obtained via a second search;

generate a fourth item corresponding to the third item for display in the second panel; and

augment the second panel to include the fourth item;

wherein, following prompting regarding the second panel, the second item remains displayed in the second panel through a time that the fourth item is displayed in the second panel; and

wherein generating the second item is performed by the server in response to dragging the first item from the first panel to the second panel on the computer system, and generating the fourth item is performed by the server in response to dragging the third item from the first panel to the second panel on the computer system.

11. The one or more machine-readable storage media of claim 10, wherein the first panel comprises a graphical user interface that is generated by a search engine, the first panel for displaying search results, the first item being among the search results;

and

wherein the second panel comprises a graphical user interface, the second item containing information from the first item.

12. The one or more machine-readable storage media of claim 10, wherein identifying the first item comprises receiving data that identifies the first item, the data being received in response to user input;

and

wherein at least part of the second item contains information that is identical to information in at least part of the first item.

13. The one or more machine-readable storage media of claim 10, wherein at least part of the fourth item contains information that is identical to information in at least part of the third item.

14. The one or more machine-readable storage media of claim 10, wherein the first item comprises a Web search result entry that includes a uniform resource locator (URL) hyperlink.

15. The one or more machine-readable storage media of claim 10, wherein the first item from the first panel is identified based on information obtained from a hyperlink associated with the first item.

16. The one or more machine-readable media of claim 10, wherein the second item is a copy of the first item, and the fourth item is a copy of the third item.

17. One or more machine-readable storage media comprising instructions that are executable on a server, the one or more-machine readable media being non-transitory, the instructions for causing one or more processing devices of the server to:

generate data for presenting an auxiliary display in response to an action performed in a primary display, the primary display for presenting one or more entries that correspond to results of a Web-based search, the auxiliary display being a pop-up window that is separate from the primary display;

send the data for presenting the auxiliary display to a computer system that is not the server, the auxiliary display and the primary display being presented on the computer system;

receive data identifying a first entry from the primary display;

generate, for presentation in the auxiliary display, first information corresponding to the first entry from the primary display;

receive data identifying a second entry from the primary display;

generate, for presentation in the auxiliary display, second information corresponding to the second entry from the primary display; and

augment the auxiliary display to include the second information;

wherein the first entry is a result of a first Web-based search for which one or more entries are displayed on the primary display, and the second entry is a result of a second Web-based search for which one or more entries are displayed on the primary display;

wherein, following prompting regarding the auxiliary display, the first information remains displayed in the auxiliary display through a time that the second information is displayed in the auxiliary display; and

wherein the data identifying the first entry is received in response to dragging the first entry from the primary display to the auxiliary display, and the data identifying the second entry is received in response to dragging the third entry from the primary display to the auxiliary display.

18. The one or more machine-readable storage media of claim 17, wherein at least one of the following holds true:

the first information comprises a copy of the first entry from the primary display; and

the second information comprises a copy of the second entry from the primary display.

19. An apparatus comprising a processing device programmed to:

receive data from a first panel displayed on a computer system that is not the apparatus;

generate data for generating a second panel in response to the data from the first panel,

send the data for generating the second panel to a computer system, the second panel being a pop-up window that is separate from, and that supplements, the first panel on the computer system;

identify a first item from the first panel; and

generate a second item corresponding to the first item for display in the second panel;

identify a third item from the first panel, wherein the first item is obtained via a first search and the third item is obtained via a second search;

generate a fourth item corresponding to the third item for display in the second panel; and

augment the second panel to include the fourth item;

wherein, following prompting regarding the second panel, the second item remains displayed in the second panel through a time that the fourth item is displayed in the second panel; and

wherein generating the second item is performed by the apparatus in response to dragging the first item from the first panel to the second panel on the computer system, and generating the fourth item is performed by the apparatus in response to dragging the third item from the first panel to the second panel on the computer system.

20. An apparatus comprising a processing device programmed to:

generate data for presenting an auxiliary display in response to an action performed in a primary display, the primary display for presenting one or more entries that correspond to results of a Web-based search, the auxiliary display being a pop-up window that is separate from the primary display;

send the data for presenting the auxiliary display to a computer system that is not the apparatus, the auxiliary display and the primary display being presented on the computer system;

receive data identifying a first entry from the primary display;

generate, for presentation in the auxiliary display, first information corresponding to the first entry from the primary display;

receive data identifying a second entry from the primary display;

generate, for presentation in the auxiliary display, second information corresponding to the second entry from the primary display; and

augment the auxiliary display to include the second information;

wherein the first entry is a result of a first Web-based search for which one or more entries are displayed on the primary display, and the second entry is a result of a second Web-based search for which one or more entries are displayed on the primary display;

wherein, following prompting regarding the auxiliary display, the first information remains displayed in the auxiliary display through a time that the second information is displayed in the auxiliary display; and

wherein the data identifying the first entry is received in response to dragging the first entry from the primary display to the auxiliary display, and the data identifying the second entry is received in response to dragging the third entry from the primary display to the auxiliary display.