Exported overlays

• US 9,734,257 B2
• Filed: 12/22/2006
• Issued: 08/15/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Excalibur IP, LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Inventors: Weber, Karon A., Tripodi, Samantha M., Chi, Liang-Yu
• Primary Examiner(s): BROWN, SHEREE N
• Application Number:
  US11/644,696
• Publication Number:
  US 20080155060A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,889 Days
• Field of Search: 709218, 705 14, 707104, 707100, 707758
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking

Abstract

An overlay generator recognizes specific types of content and metadata present on a web site, and retrieves additional content related to the web site from other sources. The overlay generator makes the additional content available in a web browser as an overlay or as a hyperlink, so that the additional content can be viewed in combination with the original web site content. For example, if a zip code is present on a web site, and the web site includes a static map showing points of specialized interest in that zip code, then the overlay generator recognizes the zip code as a specific type of content related to maps, and retrieves an interactive map of the zip code from a map service, and generates an overlay for superimposing the interactive map on the static map, so that the content of both maps is displayed in a single integrated map.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

acquiring, at a web browser on a client device via a network, from a provider of a website, a webpage of the web site, the webpage comprising text data including descriptive data embedded in the text data conforming to a particular format;

executing, by the client device, an intermediary process when the webpage is loaded by the web browser;

in response to loading the webpage and prior to display of the webpage, identifying, by the intermediary process, the descriptive data embedded in the text data by searching the text data to determine if the text data includes data matching the particular format using a method chosen from a group of methods consisting of string matching, regular expression pattern matching, and searching for metadata files of known formats;

selecting, by the intermediary process, an online data source based on the particular format, the online data source being separate from the website and unrelated to the provider of the website and having additional content relevant to the webpage;

transmitting, by the intermediary process, the identified descriptive data to the online data source;

receiving, by the intermediary process, a response from the online data source, the response including additional content related to the identified descriptive data for inclusion in the webpage;

modifying, by the intermediary process, the webpage to include at least a portion of the additional content as an overlay; and

displaying, by the web browser, the webpage and the portion of the additional content on a display of the client device as the overlay of the webpage, such that the additional content is displayed in association with content of the webpage.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the online data source comprises a web site, a web service, or a combination thereof.

3. The method of claim 1, such that the particular format comprises a defined location format comprising a numeric zip code format, a street name format, a city name format, a country name format, or a combination thereof.

4. The method of claim 1, such that features of the webpage are displayed in combination with features of the additional content.

5. The method of claim 1, such that the webpage additionally comprises a reference to a data storage object that conforms to a defined file type, and the data storage object includes the descriptive data.

6. The method of claim 1, such that the online data source is selected by choosing an online map service if the webpage comprises a map.

7. The method of claim 6, such that receiving, at the client device, additional content from the online data source comprises receiving, by the client device, a map of a location specified by the descriptive data.

8. The method of claim 7, such that receiving, by the client device, a map of the location comprises receiving, by the client device, a map corresponding to a zip code, a city, a street address, or a combination thereof.

9. The method of claim 7, such that receiving, by the client device, a map of the location comprises receiving a map with a specified orientation, such that the descriptive data includes the specified orientation.

10. The method of claim 7, such that receiving, by the client device, a map of the location comprises receiving, by the client device, a map with a specified scale, such that the descriptive data includes the specified scale.

11. The method of claim 1, such that displaying, by the client device, an overlay comprises generating, by the client device, a displayable image to be superimposed on the webpage, such that the displayable image comprises at least a portion of the additional content.

12. The method of claim 11, such that the displayable image comprises a semi-transparent overlay to be displayed in a web browser.

23. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining that the webpage does not include a map and displaying the additional content on a map in the form of a semi-transparent overlay, the map comprising at least one geographic location.

24. The method of claim 1 wherein the additional content comprises a first annotation by a user associated with the computing device, wherein the first annotation relates to the webpage.

25. The method of claim 24, additionally comprising:

receiving, by the computing device, a second annotation from the user relating to the webpage; and

transmitting, over the network, the second annotation to the online data source, causing the online data source to associate the user and the webpage with the second annotation.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising computer-executable instructions, that when executed by a processor, perform a method comprising:

acquiring, via a network, from a provider of a website, a webpage of the website, the webpage comprising text data including descriptive data conforming to a particular format;

in response to loading the webpage and prior to display of the webpage, identifying the descriptive data embedded in the text data by searching the text data to determine if the text data includes data matching the particular format using a method chosen from a group of methods consisting of string matching, regular expression pattern matching, and searching for metadata files of known formats;

selecting an online data source based on the particular format, the online data source being separate from the website and unrelated to the provider of the website and having additional content relevant to the webpage;

transmitting the identified descriptive data to the online data source;

receiving a response from the online data source, the response including additional content related to the identified descriptive data for inclusion in the webpage;

modifying, by the client device, the webpage to include at least a portion of the additional content as an overlay; and

displaying, on a display of a client device, the webpage and the portion of the additional content as the overlay of the webpage, such that the additional content is displayed in association with content of the webpage.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 wherein the online data source comprises a web site, a web service, or a combination thereof.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the particular format comprises a defined location format comprising a numeric zip code format, a street name format, a city name format, a country name format, or a combination thereof.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, such that the webpage additionally comprises a reference to a data storage object that conforms to a defined file type, and the data storage object includes the descriptive data.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, further comprising instructions for selecting the online data source by choosing an online map service if the webpage comprises a map.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, such that receiving additional content from the online data source comprises receiving a map of a location specified by the descriptive data.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, such that receiving a map of the location comprises receiving a map corresponding to a zip code, a city, a street address, or a combination thereof.

26. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, such the instructions executable by a processor comprise a toolbar in a web browser.

20. A computing device comprising:

a processor;

a display device;

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium for tangibly storing thereon program logic for execution by the processor, the program logic comprising;

webpage receiving logic for acquiring, via a network, from a provider of a web site, a webpage of the web site, the webpage comprising text data including descriptive data embedded in the text data conforming to a particular format;

searching logic for identifying, in response to loading the webpage and prior to display of the webpage, the descriptive data embedded in the text data by searching the text data to determine if the text data includes data matching the particular format using a method chosen from a group of methods consisting of string matching, regular expression pattern matching, and searching for metadata files of known formats;

format receiving logic for receiving, the defined format of the descriptive data, wherein parsing the text data comprises searching the text data to determine if the text data includes data matching the particular format;

online data source identification logic for, selecting an online data source based on the particular format, the online data source being separate from the web site and unrelated to the provider of the web site and having additional content relevant to the webpage;

retrieving logic for transmitting the identified descriptive data to the online data source and receiving a response from the online data source, the response including additional content related to the identified descriptive data for inclusion in the webpage;

overlay display logic for modifying, by the client device, the webpage to include at least a portion of the additional content as an overlay; and

display logic for displaying, on the display device, the portion of the additional content on the display of the computing device as the overlay of the webpage, such that the additional content is displayed in association with content of the webpage.

21. The computing device of claim 20 such that a storage medium stores program logic for execution by the processor, the program logic comprising logic for a web browser, such that the web browser includes an intermediary process comprising the searching logic, the format receiving logic, the online data source identification logic, and the retrieval logic, and the overlay display logic.

22. The computing device of claim 21 such that the intermediary process is a toolbar.