System and method for providing multi-modal bookmarks

• US 8,571,606 B2
• Filed: 06/07/2012
• Issued: 10/29/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/07/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Mind Fusion, LLC (Ascend Innovation Management, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Waloomba Tech Limited LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Mumick, Inderpal Singh, Sibal, Sandeep
• Primary Examiner(s): Bhattacharya, Sam
• Application Number:
  US13/491,465
• Publication Number:
  US 20120244846A1
• Time in Patent Office: 509 Days
• Field of Search: 455/414.1, 455/466, 455/566, 707/723, 707/736, 707/754
• US Class Current: 455/566
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72445 for supporting Internet browser applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/36 Memories
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/40 using speech recognition speech recognition per se G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4936 Speech interaction details speech recognition per se G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4938 comprising a voice browser which renders and interprets, e.g. VoiceXML

Abstract

A system for enabling multi-modal bookmarks comprises a bookmark repository coupled to two browsers. A user bookmarks content using a first browser, and a bookmark is stored in the bookmark repository. The user subsequently uses a second browser and requests that the bookmark be de-referenced to point the second browser to the bookmarked content. The second browser accesses the bookmark in the content repository and is directed to the bookmarked content. The first and second browsers may be visual and voice browsers that render Wireless Markup Language (WML) and Voice Extensible Markup Language (VXML) content, respectively, wherein a mapping is provided that links a given piece of visual content to an equivalent piece of voice content.

Claims

1. A system for storing bookmarks, the system comprising a processor and memory, the system configured to:

communicate, over a communications network, with a plurality of mobile devices configured to operate in one or more user input modes;

receive, over the communications network from a first mobile device configured to execute a first browser, data indicative of a web document;

store the data in a bookmark repository communicatively coupled to the system;

receive, over the communications network from a second mobile device configured to execute a second browser, a request to access the data; and

in response to the request, retrieve the data stored in the bookmark repository and transmit the data to the second mobile device over the communications network, wherein the first browser is configured to enable the browsing of the web document in a first user input mode based on a relationship for linking the web document in the first user input mode with an equivalent web document in a second user input mode, the second browser is configured to allow a user to access the data regardless of whether the second browser is configured to execute in the first or second user input mode, and the second browser is configured to use the data to navigate to the equivalent web document.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first and second mobile devices are configured to operate using a plurality of modes of user input.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the data includes identification of a user input mode used by the first browser at a time the bookmark is stored.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the bookmark repository comprises a hierarchical structure of bookmarks comprising folders.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the second browser is configured to render a graphical depiction of bookmarks based on the hierarchical structure.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is further configured to receive a textual annotation describing the bookmark.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the bookmark repository stores annotative data descriptive of the web document.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is further configured to authenticate a user associated with the second mobile device prior to communicating the data.

9. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer executable instructions stored thereon, the instructions comprising:

instructions for receiving, from a first computing device executing a first browser, at least one bookmark comprising data indicative of one or more web documents, the at least one bookmark associated with a user;

instructions for communicating with a data store storing thereon a bookmark repository and allowing contents of the bookmark repository to be accessed by a plurality of computing devices over a communications network;

instructions for storing the at least one bookmark in the bookmark repository;

instructions for receiving, from a second computing device configured to execute a second browser, a request for bookmarks associated with the user and stored in the bookmark repository; and

instructions for, in response to the request, determining that the request is associated with the user and sending the at least one bookmark to the second computing device configured to execute the second browser, wherein the second browser is operable to navigate to the one or more web documents using the at least one bookmark.

10. A method of synchronizing bookmarks comprising:

receiving, over a communications network from a first computing device executing a first browser, one or more bookmarks comprising data indicative of one or more web documents, the one or more bookmarks being linked to a user;

storing the one or more bookmarks and information indicative of the user in a bookmark repository accessible to a multimodal platform, the bookmark repository configured to store a plurality of bookmarks and accessible, over the communications network, to a plurality of computing devices;

receiving, over the communications network from a second computing device executing a second browser, a request for the one or more of the user'"'"'s bookmarks that are stored in the bookmark repository and data indicating that the request is associated with the user; and

in response to confirmation of the received data, sending the requested one or more bookmarks to the second computing device over the communications network, wherein the second browser configured to execute on the second computing device is configured to navigate to the one or more web documents using the one or more bookmarks.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the confirmation comprises authenticating the user.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising receiving, over the communications network from a third computing device configured to execute a third browser, a request for the one or more of the user'"'"'s bookmarks that are stored in the bookmark repository and data indicating that the request is associated with the user;

and

in response to confirmation of the received data, sending the one or more of the user'"'"'s bookmarks to the third computing device configured to execute the third browser.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the bookmarks are associated with a user identifier.

14. A method of accessing a bookmark, comprising:

sending a request to access a bookmark to a bookmark repository, the request sent over a communications network from a first browser configured to execute on a first computer, the bookmark associated with a user and comprising data indicative of a web document, the bookmark having previously been sent to the bookmark repository via a second browser configured to execute on a second computer and stored in the bookmark repository, the bookmark repository stored in a data store accessible by a computing device; and

communicating, by the computing device, the bookmark to the first browser via the communications network, wherein the first browser is configured to navigate to the web document using the bookmark.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the bookmark repository comprises a hierarchical structure of bookmarks comprising folders.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the second browser is configured to render menus based on the hierarchical structure.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the bookmark comprises annotative data descriptive of the web document.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising authenticating the user prior to communicating the bookmark.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the request is sent automatically in response to execution of the first browser.