System and/or method for linking network content

• US 9,177,322 B2
• Filed: 02/25/2011
• Issued: 11/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/27/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tgether Advisory Limited
• Original Assignee: Hamish Charles Robertson, Robin Daniel Chamberlain
• Inventors: Chamberlain, Robin Daniel, Robertson, Hamish Charles
• Primary Examiner(s): THAI, HANH B
• Application Number:
  US13/035,885
• Publication Number:
  US 20110238646A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,712 Days
• Field of Search: 707/726, 707/803
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9558 Details of hyperlinks; Management of linked annotations
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9566 URL specific, e.g. using aliases, detecting broken or misspelled links
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement

Abstract

The present invention provides a system (10) for linking network content (12_n) over a communications network (14_n). The system (10) including: at least one memory or storage unit (20_n) operable to store and/or maintain a plurality of linked-content facilities (30_n), each of the linked-content facilities (30_n) being independently associated with a network location that contains network content (12_n); at least one processor operable to execute software that generates, maintains and/or controls access to the linked-content facilities (30_n) for a plurality of users (24_n); and, at least one input/output device (22_n) operable to provide an interface for the users (24_n) to operate the software in order to retrieve and/or view the linked-content facilities (30_n) for selected network locations from the memory or storage unit (20_n), via the communications network (14_n). Wherein the linked-content facilities (30_n) stored and/or maintained on the memory or storage unit (20_n) include system generated link content (32_n,32A_n), and/or user generated link content (32_n,32A_n) received from at least one user (24_n), regarding network content (12_n) related to the respective network locations. The present invention also provides associated methods (100) for linking network content (12_n) for use with the system (10) of the invention.

Claims

1. A method for displaying or providing links to related network content, said method comprising the steps of:

providing at least one network server which generates, stores or maintains a plurality of linked-content facilities, each of said linked-content facilities being paired with a specific network location that contains network content that is independent of said at least one network server;

providing at least one user operable terminal with controlled access to said at least one network server and said linked-content facilities stored thereon;

receiving and processing at said at least one network server a request sent from said at least one user operable terminal, via a communications network, to view or acquire a linked-content facility for a selected network location; and

, displaying or providing said linked-content facility on or to said at least one user operable terminal while simultaneously displaying the network content, or details pertaining thereto, for the selected network location;

wherein said linked-content facilities include links to other network content, available at other network locations, deemed to be related to the network content available at the respective paired network locations, said links being independent of any links provided in the network content available at the respective paired network locations; and

wherein said links include system generated links and said method further comprises the steps of;

acquiring or generating said system generated links for display within a said linked-content facility utilizing at least one of the following methods;

(i) evaluating the network content available at the respective network location paired with said linked-content facility;

crawling or perusing said communications network in order to locate said other network locations containing said other/related other or related network content; and

, adding links to said linked-content facility to each of said other network locations that were discovered;

(ii) acquiring tag information associated with the network content available at the respective network location paired with said linked-content facility;

utilizing the acquired tag information to locate said other network locations having the same or similar tag information associated therewith; and

, adding links to said linked-content facility to each of said other network locations that were discovered;

or, (iii) evaluating the network content available at the respective network location paired with said linked-content facility;

utilizing a network search facility to locate said other network locations containing said other or related network content; and

, adding links to said linked-content facility to each of said other network locations that were discovered.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said at least one user operable terminal is selected from the group consisting of:

a PDA;

a mobile, cellular or smart telephone;

a personal, tablet or notebook computer;

or, any other suitable computing or communications device.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said linked-content facilities stored or maintained on said at least one network server further include user generated links received from at least one user of said at least one user operable terminal.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3, further comprising the steps of:

receiving at least one user generated link from said at least one of said user operable terminal, via at least one of said linked-content facilities;

storing said at least one user generated link on said at least one network server;

selectively updating said at least one of said linked-content facilities with said at least one user generated link relevant thereto; and

, making said updated linked-content facilities available to all of said user operable terminals;

wherein said at least one user generated link, or said system generated link or links, enables said users of said at least one user operable terminals to discover, recommend or view other network content deemed to be related to the network content they are interested in or are viewing whilst navigating said communications network.

5. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein said step of acquiring or generating system generated links for display within a said linked-content facility further includes utilizing the following method:

evaluating existing user generated link content deemed to be related to the network content available at the respective network location paired with said linked-content facility;

utilizing the existing user generated link content to locate said other network locations containing other or related network content; and

, adding links to said linked-content facility to each of said other network locations that were discovered.

6. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein said users are provided with a means of rating said system or user generated link or links such that said at least one network server may utilize the user ratings received in order to determine the order of display of said system or user generated link or links within said linked-content facilities.

7. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein said rating system is a rating system selected from the following:

a star rating system;

a points rating system within a predetermined range;

or, a thumbs-up or thumbs-down rating system.

8. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein said at least one network server is at least one computing device which includes at least one processor which is operable to execute software that maintains and controls access to said linked-content facilities for said at least one user operable terminal.

9. The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein said at least one computing device is a web-server accessible to said at least one user operable terminal via said communications network, wherein said at least one user can access said web-server via at least one software application installed on said at least one user operable terminal which may be permanently, or selectively, connected to said communications network.

10. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein said communications network is the Internet or a mobile phone network, and said network content is WWW content, and each of said linked-content facilities are paired with a specific network location containing said WWW content.

11. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein said network location is a URL containing said WWW content.

12. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein said at least one user operable terminal includes two software applications installed thereon, a first of said two software applications being a GUI for displaying said WWW content, and a second of said two software applications being a dedicated linked-content GUI for displaying said linked-content facilities.

13. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein when said at least one user chooses to view or acquire WWW content available at a link provided within a particular linked-content facility, or a link to other WWW content provided within the WWW content itself, that WWW content is then displayed within at least one GUI along with the linked-content facility paired therewith.

14. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein when said at least one user clicks on a link provided within a linked-content facility, or within the WWW content initially displayed, the WWW content available at that link is displayed, and at around the same time the linked-content facility dynamically updates to display the linked-content facility for the WWW content then being displayed.

15. The method as claimed in claim 14, further including generating and adding a return link to the previously displayed WWW content to the linked-content facility presently being displayed beside the new WWW content so that said at least one user can return to the previous WWW content if desired, or rate the relevance of that previous WWW content to the new WWW content then being viewed.

16. The method as claimed in claim 11, further including the steps of:

querying said Internet or mobile phone network at predetermined intervals to locate available URLs containing WWW content, or, receiving URLs from web-users wishing to view linked-content facilities for selected URLs;

acquiring and storing at least selected ones of said URLs in at least one repository associated with said web-server; and

, generating a linked-content facility for each of said URLs stored in said at least one repository.

17. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein said link-content facilities also include/display:

images or thumbnails representing the WWW content available at respective URLs;

or, tag or note information related to the WWW content available at respective URLs.

18. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein said linked-content facilities include at least one advertising space which can be used to display advertisements or sponsored links to said at least one user.

19. The method as claimed in claim 18, wherein said advertisements or sponsored links displayed within said at least one advertising space provided on said linked-content facilities may change based on:

the changing content of said system or user generated links displayed within said linked-content facilities;

the WWW content available at the system or user generated links;

predetermined user preferences regarding WWW content or topics of interest to them;

or the WWW content associated with said linked-content facilities.

20. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein said linked-content facilities provide a visual map representing the relationship between the system or user generated links and the WWW content available at the respective URLs paired.

21. The method as claimed in claim 16, wherein said web-server is a search engine and said at least one software application installed on said at least one user operable terminal is a web-browser GUI or a mobile phone GUI.

22. The method as claimed in claim 16, wherein said web-server is a dedicated network content linking server which can be used by said web-users to display said WWW content and said linked-content facilities paired therewith.

23. The method as claimed in claim 22, wherein said at least one software application installed on said at least one user operable terminal is a web-browser GUI or a mobile phone GUI.

24. The method as claimed in claim 23, wherein said request sent from said at least one user operable terminal to said dedicated network content linking server, via said Internet or mobile phone network, is accomplished by said web-users:

entering a selected URL directly into a URL or search field built into said web-browser or mobile phone GUI;

entering a selected URL into a search or retrieve URL field provided on a website displayed within said web-browser or mobile phone GUI;

or, selecting a selected URL from a list of favorites or bookmarks accessible to said web-browser or mobile phone GUI.

25. The method as claimed in claim 24, wherein after sending said request to said dedicated network content linking server, said web-browser or mobile phone GUI simultaneously displays said WWW content and its linked-content facility paired therewith:

utilizing a single screen of said web-browser or mobile phone GUI;

or, utilizing multiple screens, pop-up windows or tabs of said web-browser or mobile phone GUI.

26. The method as claimed in claim 25, wherein the display of said linked-content facilities within said web-browser or mobile phone GUI may be selectively collapsed, moved, resized or removed depending on a user'"'"'s preference.

27. The method as claimed in claim 16, wherein said linked-content facilities are selectively displayed within a web-browser or mobile phone GUI utilizing a browser plug-in, including a toolbar or a web-browser add-on.

28. The method as claimed in claim 27, wherein said toolbar includes at least two buttons for activating a link recommendation system which is also provided by said web-server, a first of said at least two buttons is a ‘

bookmark’

button to enable said web-users to flag WWW content they like whilst navigating said Internet or mobile phone network, which is then acquired by said web-server; and

, a second of said at least two buttons is a ‘

recommendation’

button to enable said web-users to retrieve and display random or recommended WWW content available at a URL determined by said web-server that is similar to WWW content previously flagged by said web-user utilizing said ‘

bookmark’

button.

29. The method as claimed in claim 21, wherein said request sent from said at least one user operable terminal to said search engine, via said Internet or mobile phone network, to view or acquire a linked-content facility for a selected URL is accomplished by said web-users clicking on, or hovering over, hyper-links or buttons displayed within said web-browser or mobile phone GUI that are associated with respective ones of a list of URLs, or other details pertaining thereto, containing WWW content that are displayed after a search has been performed.

30. The method as claimed in claim 29, further including the step of:

displaying at least one of said linked-content facilities beside a respective one of said URLs contained within said list of URLs that are displayed after a search has been performed.

31. The method as claimed in claim 29, further including the step of:

for a selected one of said URLs contained within said list of URLs, simultaneously displaying said WWW content available at said URL, and its linked-content facility paired therewith;

utilizing a single screen of said web-browser or mobile phone GUI;

or, utilizing multiple screens, pop-up windows or tabs of said web-browser or mobile phone GUI.

32. The method as claimed in claim 31, wherein the display of said linked-content facilities within said web-browser or mobile phone GUI may be selectively collapsed, moved, resized or removed depending on a user'"'"'s preference.

33. The method as claimed in claim 21, wherein said request sent from said at least one user operable terminal to said search engine, via said Internet or mobile phone network, to view or acquire a linked-content facility for a selected URL is accomplished by said web-users entering said selected URL directly into any suitable search field provided by said search engine within said web-browser or mobile phone GUI.

34. The method as claimed in claim 33, further including the step of:

simultaneously displaying said WWW content available at said selected URL, and its linked-content facility paired therewith;

utilizing a single screen of said web-browser or mobile phone GUI;

or, utilizing multiple screens, pop-up windows or tabs of said web-browser or mobile phone GUI.

35. The method as claimed in claim 34, wherein the display of said linked-content facilities within said web-browser or mobile phone GUI may be selectively collapsed, moved, resized or removed depending on a user'"'"'s preference.

36. A machine readable medium storing a set of instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to execute a method for displaying or providing links to related network content, said method comprising the steps of:

providing a central repository for storing or maintaining a plurality of linked-content facilities, each of said linked-content facilities being paired with a specific network location that contains network content that is independent of said central repository;

providing at least one user operable terminal with controlled access to said linked-content facilities stored in said central repository;

receiving and processing a request sent from said at least one user operable terminal, via a communications network, to view or acquire a linked-content facility for a selected network location; and

, displaying or providing said linked-content facility on or to said at least one user operable terminal whilst simultaneously displaying the network content, or details pertaining thereto, for the selected network location;

wherein said linked-content facilities include links to other network content, available at other network locations, deemed to be related to the network content available at the respective paired network locations, said links being independent of any links provided in the network content available at the respective paired network locations; and

wherein said links include system generated links and said method further comprises the steps of;

acquiring or generating said system generated links for display within a said linked-content facility utilizing at least one of the following methods;

(i) evaluating the network content available at the respective network location paired with said linked-content facility;

crawling or perusing said communications network in order to locate said other network locations containing said other or related network content; and

, adding links to said linked-content facility to each of said other network locations that were discovered;

(ii) acquiring tag information associated with the network content available at the respective network location paired with said linked-content facility;

utilizing the acquired tag information to locate said other network locations having the same or similar tag information associated therewith; and

, adding links to said linked-content facility to each of said other network locations that were discovered;

or, (iii) evaluating the network content available at the respective network location paired with said linked-content facility;

utilizing a network search facility to locate said other network locations containing said other or related network content; and

, adding links to said linked-content facility to each of said other network locations that were discovered.

37. The machine readable medium as claimed in claim 36, wherein said linked-content facilities stored or maintained in said central repository further include user generated links received from at least one user of said at least one user operable terminal.

38. A system for displaying or providing links to related network content, said system being operable over a communications network, said system comprising:

at least one memory or storage unit operable to store or maintain a plurality of linked-content facilities, each of said linked-content facilities being paired with a specific network location that contains network content that is independent of said at least one memory or storage unit;

at least one processor operable to execute software that generates, maintains or controls access to said linked-content facilities for a plurality of users; and

, at least one input or output device operable to provide an interface for said plurality of users to operate said software in order to retrieve or view said linked-content facilities from said at least one memory or storage unit, via said communications network, while simultaneously displaying the network content, or details pertaining thereto, for selected network locations;

wherein said linked-content facilities include links to other network content, available at other network locations, deemed to be related to the network content available at the respective paired network locations, said links being independent of any links provided in the network content available at the respective paired network locations; and

wherein said links include system generated links which are acquired or generated for display within a said linked-content facility utilizing at least one of the following methods;

(i) evaluating the network content available at the respective network location paired with said linked-content facility;

crawling or perusing said communications network in order to locate said other network locations containing said related other or related network content; and

, adding links to said linked-content facility to each of said other network locations that were discovered;

(ii) acquiring tag information associated with the network content available at the respective network location paired with said linked-content facility;

utilizing the acquired tag information to locate said other network locations having the same or similar tag information associated therewith; and

, adding links to said linked-content facility to each of said other network locations that were discovered;

or, (iii) evaluating the network content available at the respective network location paired with said linked-content facility;

utilizing a network search facility to locate said other network locations containing said other/related network content; and

, adding links to said linked-content facility to each of said other network locations that were discovered.

39. The system as claimed in claim 38, wherein said system includes at least one computing device having said at least one processor and said at least one memory or storage unit associated therewith, and wherein said at least one computing device is a network server connected to said communications network.

40. The system as claimed in claim 39, wherein said network server is a web-server accessible to said plurality of users via said communications network, and wherein said communications network is the Internet or a mobile phone network.

41. The system as claimed in claim 40, wherein said at least one input or output device is associated with at least one user operable terminal, wherein each of said plurality of users can access said linked-content facilities stored or maintained on said web-server via at least one software application installed on said at least one user operable terminal which may be permanently, or selectively, connected to said Internet or mobile phone network.

42. The system as claimed in claim 40, wherein said network content is WWW content and each of said linked-content facilities are paired with a specific network location.

43. The system as claimed in claim 42, wherein said network location is a URL containing said WWW content.

44. The system as claimed in claim 43, wherein said linked-content facilities can be selectively displayed beside a list of URLs, or other details pertaining thereto, provided within a search engine GUI after an Internet or mobile phone network search has been performed.

45. The system as claimed in claim 43, wherein for any selected URL, said WWW content and its linked-content facility paired therewith can be selectively and simultaneously displayed within at least one GUI.

46. The system as claimed in claim 43, wherein when a user chooses to view or acquire WWW content available at a link provided within a particular linked-content facility, or a link to other WWW content provided within the WWW content itself, that WWW content is then displayed within at least one GUI along with the linked-content facility paired therewith.

47. The system as claimed in claim 46, wherein when said user clicks on a link provided within a linked-content facility, or within the WWW content initially displayed, the WWW content available at that link is displayed, and at around the same time the linked-content facility dynamically updates to display the linked-content facility for the WWW content then being viewed.

48. The system as claimed in claim 41, wherein said at least one user operable terminal is selected from the group consisting of:

a PDA;

a mobile telephone;

a cellular telephone;

a smart telephone;

a personal computer;

a tablet computer;

a notebook computer; and

another suitable computing or communications device.

49. The system as claimed in claim 41, wherein said linked-content facilities stored or maintained on said at least one memory or storage unit further include user generated links received from at least one user of said at least one user operable terminal.

50. A method for displaying or providing links to related WWW content via the Internet or a mobile phone network, said method comprising the steps of:

acquiring details pertaining to network locations containing WWW content;

generating and pairing an independent linked-content facility with each of said network locations for which details were acquired; and

, selectively making said linked-content facilities available to WWW users upon request to enable them to discover, recommend or view other WWW content deemed to be related to WWW content they are interested in or are viewing whilst navigating the Internet or mobile phone network;

wherein said linked-content facilities include links to said other WWW content, available at other network locations, deemed to be related to the WWW content available at the respective paired network locations, said links being independent of any links provided in the WWW content available at the respected paired network locations; and

wherein said links include system generated links which are acquired or generated for display within a said linked-content facility utilizing at least one of the following methods;

(i) evaluating the WWW content available at the respective network location paired with said linked-content facility;

crawling or perusing said communications network in order to locate said other network locations containing said other or related WWW content; and

, adding links to said linked-content facility to each of said other network locations that were discovered;

(ii) acquiring tag information associated with the WWW content available at the respective network location paired with said linked-content facility;

utilizing the acquired tag information to locate said other network locations having the same or similar tag information associated therewith; and

, adding links to said linked-content facility to each of said other network locations that were discovered;

or, (iii) evaluating the WWW content available at the respective network location paired with said linked-content facility;

utilizing a network search facility to locate said other network locations containing said other or related WWW content; and

, adding links to said linked-content facility to each of said other network locations that were discovered.

51. The method as claimed in claim 50, wherein said network locations are URLs that specify the addresses of said WWW content, and wherein said step of acquiring details pertaining to URLs containing WWW content includes the step of querying said Internet or mobile phone network at predetermined intervals to locate details of at least selected one of the available URLs or acquiring URLs details from said WWW users upon receiving requests to view linked-content facilities for selected URLs.

52. The method as claimed in claim 51, wherein said linked-content facilities further include user generated links received from at least one of said WWW users.

53. The method as claimed in claim 52, further including the step of:

displaying at least one of said linked-content facilities beside a list of URLs, or other details pertaining thereto, provided within a search engine GUI after an Internet or mobile phone network search has been performed.

54. The method as claimed in claim 53, wherein when a WWW user chooses to view or acquire WWW content available at a link provided within a particular linked-content facility, or a link to other WWW content provided within the WWW content itself, that WWW content is then displayed within at least one GUI along with the linked-content facility paired therewith.

55. The method as claimed in claim 52, further including the step of:

for any selected URL, simultaneously displaying said WWW content and its linked-content facility paired therewith within at least one GUI.

56. The method as claimed in claim 55, wherein when a WWW user chooses to view or acquire WWW content available at a link provided within a particular linked-content facility, or a link to other WWW content provided within the WWW content itself, that WWW content is then displayed within at least one GUI along with the linked-content facility paired therewith.