User-interface feature and technique for providing users of a network site links that have been determined to be of interest to the user

• US 8,185,514 B1
• Filed: 05/04/2009
• Issued: 05/22/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Topix
• Original Assignee: Topix
• Inventors: Skrenta, Richard
• Primary Examiner(s): Quader, Fazlul
• Application Number:
  US12/435,383
• Time in Patent Office: 1,114 Days
• Field of Search: 707/708
• US Class Current: 707/708
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• 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 40/134 Hyperlinking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history

Abstract

A visitor of a network site is provided information about previously viewed content from that site. One or more internal pages of the network site that the user selects to view during one or more visits to the network site is recorded. At least one of the one or more internal pages is associated with a heading or category that is displayed on the network site. A user-activity is detected corresponding to the visitor directing attention to the heading or category. In response, a dynamic display is generated that provides a link to the at least one internal page that is associated with the category or heading.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for providing a user of a network site one or more links of interest, the method comprising:

recording one or more pages of the network site that the user selects to view during one or more past instances;

associating at least one of the one or more pages to one of a heading or a category that is displayed on the network site;

providing a marking with the one of the heading or the category to signify the at least one of the one or more pages that are associated with the one of the heading or the category, wherein the marking includes at least one of a static or dynamic feature;

at a current instance, detecting a user-activity that indicates the user'"'"'s attention is directed to the one of the heading or the category on a displayed page of the network site;

in response to detecting the user-activity, generating a feature that provides a link to the at least one page that is associated with the one of the heading or the category.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of detecting a user-activity includes detecting the user moving a pointer across a region of any display generated by the network site, wherein the region includes the one of the heading or the category.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of generating a feature includes flashing a temporary window that contains a link to the at least one page.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the step of flashing a temporary window includes displaying information about the link in the window.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of generating a static feature with the heading or category that indicates an availability of the temporary window.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of associating at least one of the one or more pages with the one of the heading or category includes determining a category of each of the one or more pages.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of recording one or more pages includes recording one or more pages that comprise a result to a search query entered by the user on the network site.

8. A computer implemented method for providing one or more links of interest to a user of a network site, the method comprising:

observing one or more navigation actions of the user from a first page at one more past instances;

determining one or more links of interest based on the one or more navigation actions of the user;

associating the one or more links of interest with one of a plurality of headings on the first page;

providing a marking with the one of the plurality of headings on the first page, to distinguish the one of the plurality of headings over one or more other headings in the plurality of headings, wherein the marking includes at least one of a static or dynamic feature;

at a current instance, detecting a user-activity that indicates the visitor'"'"'s attention is directed to the one of the plurality of headings on the first page of the network site; and

in response to detecting the user-activity, generating a feature that provides the one or more links of interest.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of generating a feature is performed in a proximity to the one of the plurality of headings.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of observing one or more navigation actions of the user include recording at least one of a search request made through the first page or a search result provided on the first page, and wherein the step of determining one or more links of interest is performed using the at least one of the search request and the search result.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of generating a feature includes flashing a temporary window that contains a link to the at least one page.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of flashing a temporary window includes displaying information about the link in the window.

13. The method of claim 8, further comprising the step of generating a static feature to indicate a presence of the feature.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of generating the static feature includes marking the one of the plurality of headings apart from the other of the plurality of headings.

15. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of observing one or more navigation actions includes recording links to one or more sites that the user requests to render in the past instances.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of associating the one or more links of interest to the one of the plurality of headings includes determining a sub-category for the one or more links of interest based on one or more categories provided by the plurality of headings on the first page.

17. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of generating a feature includes generating a moving window that includes the one or more links of interest.

18. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of generating a dynamic feature includes generating a transparent feature that includes the one or more links of interest.

19. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of detecting a user-activity includes detecting a position of a user'"'"'s pointer on the first page.

20. A computer implemented method for providing one or more links of interest to a user of a network site, the method comprising:

providing a network site that enables viewing of any one of a plurality of internal network pages, wherein each of the plurality of network pages is associated with a category;

displaying a plurality of categories on at least a first page of the network site;

at a first instance when a given user visits the network site, recording the given user'"'"'s selection to view content provided from one or more of the plurality of pages;

determining a category of content provided at the one or more of the plurality of pages; and

at a subsequent instance the given user visits the network site;

identifying the given user'"'"'s selection at the first instance,

providing a marking with the determined category, to distinguish the determined category from one or more other categories, wherein the marking includes at least one of a static or dynamic feature; and

displaying a feature with one of the plurality of categories that is associated with the determined category;

wherein displaying the feature includes providing a link with the feature to a page that includes the content associated with the determined category at the subsequent instance.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein providing a link with the feature to a page that includes the content associated with the determined category includes providing the link to the one or more pages of the given user'"'"'s selection at the first instance.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein displaying a feature with one of the plurality of categories includes displaying the plurality of categories on a main page hosted on the network site.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein providing a network site that enables viewing of any one of a plurality of internal network pages includes enabling any user to browse a main page of the network site and to select any one of the plurality of categories to view one or more pages that include content associated with the category of the selected one of the plurality of categories.