Chronology display and feature for online presentations and web pages

• US 8,250,474 B2
• Filed: 06/26/2007
• Issued: 08/21/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Topix
• Original Assignee: Topix
• Inventors: Peters, Keith, Dole, Bryn, Torres, Robert
• Primary Examiner(s): Huynh, Ba
• Application Number:
  US11/768,832
• Publication Number:
  US 20080244065A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,883 Days
• Field of Search: 715/762, 715/738, 715/772, 715/779, 715/855, 707714-721, 707737-739, 707741-746
• US Class Current: 715/738
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/438 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/447 Temporal browsing, e.g. timeline
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/489 using time information
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]

Abstract

A chronology display is generated for use with a web presentation or other form of network presentation. The chronology display may include a plurality of intervals, with each interval representative of a period of time. In an embodiment, some of the intervals may indicate a number of content items provided on the network presentation during the time period that corresponds to each particular interval. The indication may be provided by a characteristic, such as for example, a color or shading that represents the number of content items provided on the network presentation.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for displaying content on an online resource, the method being performed by one or more processors and comprising:

monitoring multiple network category or topic specific resources that individually provide content that pertains to a particular topic or category, wherein monitoring the multiple network resources includes identifying, on each of the multiple network resources, instances of activity corresponding to when content items of the network resource are (i) viewed by persons, (ii) provided by persons, and/or (iii) programmatically identified from other network resources;

detecting a user selection of a specific link;

in response to the user selection of the specific link, providing an interactive chronology display with each category or topic specific network resource in order to depict by chronology, to viewers of the network resource, an amount of the instances of activity on that network resource, at defined chronological intervals, in displaying content items of the category or topic;

wherein providing the interactive chronology display includes, on the chronology display provided with each network resource, providing at least some of the plurality of intervals with a characteristic or value that is indicative of a number of instances of activity for that network resource during the time period that corresponds to that interval.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of intervals are selectable and display, in response to being selected, one or more of (i) a set of content items that were provided on the network resource during the time period of the selected interval, or (ii) a set of links to content items that were provided on the network resource during the time period of the selected interval.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising replicating at least a majority portion of the network resource during the time period of the selected interval.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein generating a chronology display includes generating a calendar.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein providing at least some of the plurality of intervals with an indication of a number of instances of activity includes displaying one or more of the intervals to include a characteristic that is indicative of a number of content items provided on the network resource.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein displaying one or more of the intervals to include a characteristic includes displaying one or more of the intervals to include color or shading that is representative of the number of content items provided on the network resource during the time period that corresponds to that interval.

7. A system for displaying online content, the system being implemented by one or more processors and comprising:

one or more modules, including a chronology display module coupled to one or more online resources that individually provide content that pertains to a particular topic or category, wherein the chronology display module is configured to (i) identify instances of activity corresponding to when content items corresponding to the particular topic or category are either viewed by persons, provided by persons, and/or programmatically identified on the one or more online resources, and (ii) respond to a user'"'"'s selection of a specific link to provide an interactive chronology display for the user corresponding to each topic or category, wherein the interactive chronology includes a plurality of intervals, wherein each of the plurality of intervals correspond to one of a plurality of time periods and indicates the number of content items provided on the one or more online resources during the time period that corresponds to that interval.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the chronology display module is configured to present each of the plurality of intervals to be selectable, and wherein a user-action indicating a selection of one of the plurality of intervals causes the one or more modules to display selectable information corresponding to the topic or category during the time period corresponding to the interval of the selection.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the chronology display is in a form of a calendar.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the chronology display module is configured to display each of the plurality of intervals with a characteristic that is indicative of a number of content items provided on the online resource.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the chronology display is in a form of a calendar, and wherein each of the plurality of intervals corresponds to a day of the calendar.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the characteristic includes a color or shading that is representative of the number of the content items.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the online resource is webpage, and wherein the calendar is displayed with the webpage.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein each of the plurality of intervals contains a character, and wherein each of the characters includes a color or shading that is representative of the number of content items.