Incorporating gadget functionality on webpages

• US 8,739,123 B2
• Filed: 05/28/2007
• Issued: 05/27/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Appleton, Benjamin Charles, Meschkat, Steffen, Tran, Thai, Sah, Adam, Wang, Zheng, Schuck, Adam Paul, Macgill, James Robert
• Primary Examiner(s): Chen, Qing
• Application Number:
  US11/754,356
• Publication Number:
  US 20080301643A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,556 Days
• Field of Search: 717/100, 717120-123, 709217-219
• US Class Current: 717/120
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/13 Receivers
• 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 8/70 Software maintenance or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44526 Plug-ins; Add-ons
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal

Abstract

A computer-implemented method includes displaying information from a mapping application on a first domain on a web page, displaying one or more portable program modules from a second domain on the web page, and generating a display on the mapping application based actions form the one or more portable program modules.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

displaying, by one or more computing devices, in a first frame of a web page, information from a mapping application served by a mapping server domain, wherein the mapping server domain is publicly-accessible by programs that make calls to the mapping server domain;

displaying, by the one or more computing devices, in a second frame of the web page, content provided by one or more applications that are served from an organization separate from an organization that serves the mapping application, and served from a domain that is different than the mapping server domain;

receiving, by the one or more computing devices, user input in the first frame of the web page that indicates geographically-related features and determining, using the user input, a correlation between the content displayed in the second frame of the web page and the information displayed in the first frame of the web page, wherein the correlation comprises matching one or more of the geographically-related features with particular locations available on a map generated by the mapping application and obtaining one or more sets of coordinates that pertain to the particular locations; and

responsive to receiving the user input and determining the correlation between the content displayed in the second frame of the web page and the information displayed in the first frame of the web page, generating, by the one or more computing devices, a display of annotations that are overlaid on the map generated by the mapping application at respective coordinates for the particular locations, and that supplement the map generated by the mapping application with content that is determined to correspond to the geographically-related features,

wherein the geographically-related features are communicated between the domain that serves the one or more applications and the mapping server domain across frames within the web page.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the content provided by the one or more applications is generated as one or more sub-documents that are embedded in HTML inline frames for a document that displays content from the mapping application and is served by the domain that is different than the mapping server domain.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising receiving input at the mapping application and communicating information relating to the received input to the one or more applications that provided the content.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the annotations that are overlaid on the map generated by the mapping application include one or more objects located on the mapping application.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising identifying map data to display on the web page in response to a search request.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, further comprising identifying the one or more applications that provided the content in response to the search request.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising identifying the one or more applications that provided the content by referring to a user account storing personalized page information.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising querying a data server for geographically-related information using the geographically-related features and submitting data associated with the geographically-related information to a maps server that is separate from the data server.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising displaying two mapping-related documents that are associated with different domains, and communicating data from each of the two mapping-related documents to the mapping application.

10. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media having recorded in tangible form thereon, instructions that when executed, produce actions on a computer comprising:

displaying, in a first frame of a web page, information from a mapping application served by a mapping server domain, wherein the mapping server domain is publicly-accessible by programs that make calls to the mapping server domain;

displaying, in a second frame of the web page, content provided by one or more applications that are served from an organization separate from an organization that serves the mapping application, and served from a domain that is different than the mapping server domain;

receiving user input in the first frame of the web page that indicates geographically-related features and determining, using the user input, a correlation between the content displayed in the second frame of the web page and the information displayed in the first frame of the web page, wherein the correlation comprises matching one or more of the geographically-related features with particular locations available on a map generated by the mapping application and obtaining one or more sets of coordinates that pertain to the particular locations; and

responsive to receiving the user input and determining the correlation between the content displayed in the second frame of the web page and the information displayed in the first frame of the web page, generating a display of annotations that are overlaid on the map generated by the mapping application at respective coordinates for the particular locations, and that supplement the map generated by the mapping application with content that is determined to correspond to the geographically-related features,

wherein the geographically-related features are communicated between the domain that serves the one or more applications and the mapping server domain across frames within the web page.

11. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 10, wherein the actions further comprise receiving input at the mapping application and communicating information relating to the received input to the one or more applications that provided the content.

12. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 10, wherein the actions further comprise identifying map data to display on the web page in response to a search request.

13. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 12, wherein the actions further comprise identifying the one or more applications that provided the content in response to the search request.

14. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 10, wherein the one or more applications that provided the content access geographically-related data from third party servers and supply information associated with the geographically-related data to a maps server for geo-coding.

15. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 10, wherein the actions further comprise displaying a list of applications available to a user, receiving a selection of one or more applications from the list of applications, and displaying data from the selected one or more applications in response to the received selection.

16. A computer-implemented system, comprising:

a computing device;

a maps application, hosted on the computing device, executing instructions from a maps domain, wherein the maps domain is publicly-accessible by programs that make calls to the maps domain;

a first portable program module, hosted on the computing device, executing instructions from a domain other than the maps domain and that is served from an organization separate from an organization that serves the maps application; and

communication modules, hosted on the computing device, configured to (i) permit communication between the maps application and the first portable program module, wherein the communication is performed across frames within a common web page corresponding to the maps domain, (ii) translate user input into geographically-related features, (iii) match one or more of the geographically-related features with particular locations available on a map generated by the maps application, and (iv) obtain one or more sets of coordinates that pertain to the particular locations,

wherein the maps application and the first portable program module are configured to display content, in response to receiving the user input and obtaining the one or more sets of coordinates, wherein the displayed content includes annotations that are overlaid on the map generated by the maps application at respective coordinates for the particular locations, and that supplement the map with content that is determined to correspond to the geographically-related features, wherein information from actions is communicated between the domain other than the maps domain and the maps domain on the common web page corresponding to the maps domain, and wherein the annotations are provided by one or more applications that are separate from the maps application.

17. The computer-implemented system of claim 16, further comprising a second portable program module selectable independently of the first portable program module and configured to communicate with the maps application, and to provide for a display of content on a map with content from the first portable program module.

18. The computer-implemented system of claim 17, wherein the second portable program module is from a domain that is different than the domain of the first portable program module.

19. The computer-implemented system of claim 16, wherein the communication modules are further configured to package multiple data packets sent to or from the maps application into a single package.

20. The computer-implemented system of claim 16, wherein the first portable program module is configured to communicate with a data server to obtain geographically-related data, and with a maps server or the maps application to convert the geographically-related data into geographically-correlated data.

21. A computer-implemented system, comprising:

a computing device;

a maps application, hosted on the computing device, executing instructions from a maps domain, wherein the maps domain is publicly-accessible by programs that make calls to the maps domain and configured to (i) receive user input that indicates geographically-related features, (ii) match one or more of the geographically-related features with particular locations available on a map generated by the maps application, and (iii) obtain one or more sets of coordinates that pertain to the particular locations;

a first portable program module, hosted on the computing device, executing instructions from a domain other than the maps domain and that is served from an organization separate from an organization that serves the maps application; and

means for communicating between the maps application and the first portable program module, wherein the means for communicating between the maps application and the first portable program module is configured to communicate across frames within a common web page corresponding to the maps domain by correlating the one or more of the geographically-related features received at the first portable program module with the particular locations available on the map generated by the maps application,

wherein the maps application and the first portable program module are configured to display annotations that are overlaid on the map generated by the maps application at respective coordinates for the particular locations, and that supplement the map generated by the maps application with content that is determined to correspond to the geographically-related features, wherein information from actions is communicated between the domain other than the maps domain and the maps domain on the common web page corresponding to the maps domain, and wherein the annotations are provided by one or more applications that are separate from the maps application.