Managing web page links using structured data

• US 8,725,719 B2
• Filed: 02/13/2007
• Issued: 05/13/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/13/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Kim, Jane T., VonKoch, Walter, Lyndersay, Sean O., Truelove, Benjamin N., Pavlicic, Miladin
• Primary Examiner(s): GIRMA, ANTENEH B
• Application Number:
  US11/706,611
• Publication Number:
  US 20080195674A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,646 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/709
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation

Abstract

In accordance with certain embodiments, requests to collect structured data in a web page and to subscribe to that structured data are received. This structured data is stored in a data store to allow offline use of the structured data. In accordance with other embodiments, a computing device displays multiple links each of which identifies a different one of multiple web pages. Additionally, the multiple pages include structured data. The display of these multiple links is altered as the computing device detects changes to the structured data in the web pages. In accordance with other embodiments, a web page includes structured data that has been subscribed to. The computing device detects changes to the web page, and notifies a user of a change to the web page only if the change is a change to the structured data and not a change to other portions of the web page.

Claims

1. One or more computer storage media having stored thereon instructions that, responsive to execution by a computing device, cause the computing device to:

receive an identification of which one or more portions of a web page include structured data that can be subscribed to, the web page including structured data as well as other non-structured data portions, the structured data including a parameter identifying the structured data;

display a visual indication of which of the one or more portions can be subscribed to, the visual indication comprising an icon;

receive a request to collect structured data in the web page;

receive a request to subscribe to the structured data;

display a link identifying the web page;

store the structured data in a data store for offline use of the structured data; and

responsive to storing the structured data in the data store;

retrieve a current version of the web page;

compare the retrieved web page to a previously stored version of the web page;

detect that the web page has changed if the current version of the web page and the previously stored version of the web page are not the same; and

notify a user of the computing device that the web page has changed only if the structured data in the web page has changed, the instructions further configured to;

display the link in a first manner if the structured data in the web page has changed;

display the link in a second manner if the structured data in the web page has expired;

display the link in a third manner if the structured data in the web page has not changed and has not expired; and

display the link in a fourth manner if the structured data has an error.

2. The one or more computer storage media as recited in claim 1, wherein the instructions further cause the computing device to:

perform the retrieval, comparison, and detection at a frequency based at least in part on a data type of the structured data.

3. The one or more computer storage media as recited in claim 1, wherein to store the structured data is to store the structured data on a removable storage device of the computing device.

4. The one or more computer storage media as recited in claim 1, wherein the instructions further cause the computing device to:

display a preview of the structured data in response to a pointer hovering over the link.

5. The one or more computer storage media as recited in claim 1, wherein to receive the request to collect structured data is to:

display a collect button along with the web page; and

receive a user selection of the collect button.

18. The one or more computer storage media as recited in claim 5, wherein responsive to receiving the user selection of the collect button, the instructions are further configured to:

display one or more selectable categories;

receive a user selection of one of the one or more selectable categories; and

add a link associated with the collected structured data to a collection of links associated with the selected category.

19. The one or more computer storage media as recited in claim 1, wherein the instructions are further configured to:

receive one or more updates to the structured data from a different web page than the web page including the structured data.

20. The one or more computer storage media as recited in claim 1, the instructions further configured to:

responsive to receiving the request to subscribe to the structured data, receive one or more updates associated with the structured data; and

forward the one or more updates to one or more applications.

6. A method, implemented in a computing device, the method comprising:

displaying a plurality of user-selectable links, each user-selectable link identifying a different one of a plurality of web pages; and

altering how at least one user-selectable link of the plurality of user-selectable links is displayed as changes to structured data in the different one of the plurality of web pages are detected, the altering including an ability to;

alter the at least one user-selectable link in a first manner to indicate content associated with the structured data has changed;

alter the at least one user-selectable link in a second manner to indicate the structured data in the different one of the plurality of web pages has expired; and

alter the at least one user-selectable link in a third manner if the structured data has an error;

wherein at least some web pages having changes to corresponding structured data are still accessible via an associated link, each user-selectable link configured to enable navigation to the different one of the plurality of web pages.

7. The method as recited in claim 6, the displaying comprising displaying the plurality of user-selectable links in a favorites list.

8. The method as recited in claim 6, the displaying comprising displaying one or more of the plurality of user-selectable links in a links toolbar.

9. The method as recited in claim 6, further comprising:

displaying a preview of changed structured data in one of the plurality of web pages in response to detecting a pointer hovering over a user-selectable link identifying the one web page.

10. The method as recited in claim 6, the first manner comprising a bold font style, the second manner comprising a grey font color, and the third manner comprising a normal font style.

11. The method as recited in claim 6, the displaying comprising displaying the plurality of user-selectable links organized so that each of the plurality of user-selectable links is visually associated with one of a plurality of collection identifiers, and further comprising altering how the plurality of collection identifiers are displayed as changes to structured data in the plurality of web pages are detected.

17. The method as recited in claim 6, the method further comprising polling each of the different one of the plurality of web pages at regular intervals effective to determine changes to the structured data in the different one of the plurality of web pages.

12. One or more computer storage media having stored thereon instructions that, responsive to execution by a computing device, are configured to:

receive an identification of which one or more portions of a web page include structured data that can be subscribed to, wherein the identification of a portion that is structured data is included as part of the structured data;

display one or more user-selectable visual indicators configured to indicate each of the one or more portions that can be subscribed to;

receive a request to collect structured data in the web page;

receive a request to subscribe to the structured data;

store the structured data in a data store for offline use of the structured data;

detect a change to the web page by retrieving the structured data and comparing the retrieved structured data to said stored structured data, wherein, responsive to comparing said retrieved structured data to said stored structured data, the instructions are further configured to;

display a link identifying the web page in a first manner if the structured data in the web page has changed;

display the link associated with the web page in a second manner if the structured data in the web page has expired;

display the link associated with the web page in a third manner if the structured data in the web page has not changed and has not expired; and

display the link associated with the web page in a fourth manner if the structured data has an error; and

notify a user of a change to the web page only if the change is a change to the structured data and not a change to other portions of the web page.

13. The one or more computer storage media as recited in claim 12, wherein the instructions are further configured to display a preview of the structured data in response to detecting a pointer hovering over the link identifying the web page.

14. The one or more computer storage media as recited in claim 13, wherein the instructions are further configured to mark a status of the structured data as unchanged in response to detecting the pointer hovering over the link.

15. The one or more computer storage media as recited in claim 12, wherein to notify the user of the change is to change a display of a link identifying the web page in a link toolbar.

16. The one or more computer storage media as recited in claim 12, wherein instructions are further configured to:

detect that the structured data has expired;

notify the user that the structured data has expired; and

display a delete option with an identifier of the web page.