Scalable display of internet content on mobile devices

• US 8,145,995 B2
• Filed: 12/01/2008
• Issued: 03/27/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/12/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: SoftView LLC
• Original Assignee: SoftView LLC
• Inventors: Rohrabaugh, Gary B., Sherman, Scott A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Rutledge, Amelia
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tran, Quoc A
• Application Number:
  US12/326,092
• Publication Number:
  US 20090119580A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,212 Days
• Field of Search: 715/249, 715/200, 715/205, 715/235, 715/800, 715/825
• US Class Current: 715/249
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/95 Retrieval from the web
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9574 of access to content, e.g. by caching
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/986 Document structures and storage, e.g. HTML extensions
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04806 Zoom, i.e. interaction techniques or interactors for controlling the zooming operation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/1048 Scalability
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• 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: G06F 40/134 Hyperlinking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/0407 Resolution change, inclusive of the use of different resolutions for different screen areas
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/0492 Change of orientation of the displayed image, e.g. upside-down, mirrored
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/24 Generation of individual character patterns
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 : specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/565 : Conversion or adaptation of application format or content adding application control or application functional data H04L67/561

Abstract

Mobile devices enabled to support resolution-independent scalable display of Internet (Web) content to allow Web pages to be scaled (zoomed) and panned for better viewing on smaller screen sizes. The mobile devices employ software-based processing of original Web content, including HTML-based content, XML, cascade style sheets, etc. to enable Web page content to be rapidly rendered, zoomed, and panned. Moreover, the rendered displays provide substantially the same or identical layout as the original Web page, enabling users to easily navigate to selected content and features on literally Billions of Web pages. User input schemes include tap-based context zooming that enables users to selectively zoom in on objects including columns, images, and paragraphs by simply tapping on them. Display lists may also be employed to provide further enhancements in rendering speed. Additionally, hardware-based programmed logic may be employed to facilitate various operations.

Claims

1. A mobile device, comprising:

a processor,

a wireless communications interface, to facilitate wireless communication with a network that supports access to the Internet;

a display; and

memory, operatively coupled to the processor, in which software comprising a browser is stored, the browser comprising a plurality of instructions that when executed by the processor enable the device to perform operations including, rendering a browser interface on the display via which a user is enabled to request access to Web pages accessible via the World Wide Web, wherein each Web page comprises HTML-based Web page content defining an original page layout, functionality, and design of the Web page content, the browser interface including a browser content display area in which views of the Web page are rendered;

for each Web page for which access is requested, retrieving the Web page via the wireless communications interface; and

enabling the user to browse, zoom and pan views of the Web page while preserving the original page layout, functionality, and design of the HTML-based Web page content;

in response to a request to access a Web page including at least one image, at least one column, and at least one paragraph and having a width and height, retrieving the Web page via the wireless communications interface;

rendering the Web page on the display wherein the width of the Web page fits a width of the browser content display area; and

enabling the user to,

zoom and pan views of the Web page in response to corresponding user inputs made via the display;

zoom in on an image located on a portion of the Web page by tapping on the image via the display;

zoom in on a column of the Web page by tapping on the column via the display;

zoom in on a paragraph of the Web page by tapping on the paragraph via the display; and

zoom out to a previous view of the Web page.

2. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the display of the Web page is re-rendered in real-time to effect zooming operations.

3. The mobile device of claim 1, zooming in on an image results in a zoomed-in view of the Web page under which a width of the column fits a width of the browser content display area.

4. The mobile device of claim 3, wherein in the zoomed-in view of the Web page the image is centered horizontally and spans across the browser content display area.

5. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein zooming in on a column results in a zoomed-in view of the Web page under which a width of the column fits a width of the display browser content display area.

6. The mobile device of claim 5, wherein in the zoomed-in view of the Web page the column is centered horizontally and spans across the browser content display area.

7. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein zooming in on a paragraph results in a zoomed-in view of the Web page under which a width of text content of the paragraph fits a width of the browser content display area.

8. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the mobile device comprises a mobile phone.

9. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the mobile device comprises a hand-held device.

10. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein zooming in on an image results in a zoom level and offset of the Web page view being updated such that the image is enlarged and centered horizontally within the browser content display area.

11. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein zooming in on a column results in a zoom level and offset of the Web page view being updated such that the column is enlarged and centered horizontally within the browser content display area.

12. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein zooming in on a paragraph results in a zoom level and offset of the Web page view being updated such that text content of the paragraph is enlarged and centered horizontally within the browser content display area.

13. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having a plurality of instructions tangibly stored thereon comprising a browser, which when executed by a processor of a mobile device performs operations comprising:

rendering a browser interface on a display of the mobile device via which a user is enabled to request access to Web pages accessible via the World Wide Web, wherein each Web page comprises HTML-based Web page content defining an original page layout, functionality, and design of the Web page content, and the browser interface including a browser content display area in which views of the Web page are rendered;

for each Web page for which access is requested, retrieving the Web page via the wireless communications interface; and

enabling the user to browse, zoom and pan views of the Web page while preserving the original page layout, functionality, and design of the HTML-based Web page content;

in response to a request to access a Web page including at least one image, at least one column, and at least one paragraph and having a width, retrieving the Web page via the wireless communications interface; and

rendering the Web page on the display wherein the width of the Web page fits a width of the browser content display area; and

enabling the user to zoom and pan views of the Web page in response to corresponding user inputs made via the display; and

determining a first scale factor and offset in response to one or more corresponding user inputs defining a user-selectable zoom level and pan corresponding to a rendered display of the Web page desired by a user;

determining a virtual display bounding box for the virtual display associated with the first scale factor and offset;

identifying object bounding boxes having at least a portion falling within the virtual display bounding box; and

, for each of such object bounding boxes, retrieving content associated with that object bounding box;

scaling the content associated with that object bounding box to produce scaled content; and

rendering the portion of scaled content within the virtual display bounding box to render the content on the display.

14. A method comprising:

rendering a browser interface on a display of a mobile device via which a user is enabled to request access to Web pages accessible via the World Wide Web, wherein each Web page comprises HTML-based Web page content defining an original page layout, functionality, and design of the Web page content, the browser interface including a browser content display area in which views of the Web page are rendered;

for each Web page for which access is requested, retrieving the Web page via the wireless communications interface; and

enabling the user to browse, zoom and pan views of the Web page while preserving the original page layout, functionality, and design of the HTML-based Web page content;

in response to a request to access a Web page including at least one image, at least one column, and at least one paragraph and having a width, retrieving the Web page via the wireless communications interface; and

rendering the Web page on the display wherein the width of the Web page fits a width of the browser content display area; and

enabling the user to zoom and pan views of the Web page in response to corresponding user inputs made via the display; and

determining a first scale factor and offset in response to one or more corresponding user inputs defining a user-selectable zoom level and pan corresponding to a rendered display of the Web page desired by a user;

determining a virtual display bounding box for the virtual display associated with the first scale factor and offset;

identifying object bounding boxes having at least a portion falling within the virtual display bounding box; and

, for each of such object bounding boxes, retrieving content associated with that object bounding box;

scaling the content associated with that object bounding box to produce scaled content; and

rendering the portion of scaled content within the virtual display bounding box to render the content on the display.