Browser rewind and replay feature for transient messages by periodically capturing screen images

• US 20020161794A1
• Filed: 04/26/2001
• Published: 10/31/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 04/26/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Dutta, Rabindranath, Cooper, Michael Richard, Patel, Kamal Chandrakant
• Granted Patent: US 7,076,495 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/500
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface

Abstract

In the system, method, and program of the present invention, the browser renders a multimedia object to the screen. The multimedia object may be one or more advertisements having links to one or more advertisers. The browser periodically captures screen images having the multimedia object. In one embodiment, the screen images are captured at configurable time intervals. In another embodiment, the screen images are captured when there is a change in content of a screen image. Each screen capture contains the necessary link(s) to access the advertiser. The screen captures are stored, during a configurable duration of time, in a chronological list. A user can replay at a later time some or all of the stored screen images that were captured. The user will have various identifiable snapshots of the advertisements and access to the necessary links to get back to a desired advertiser.

Claims

1. A method for displaying, at a client, transient messages received over a network, the method comprising:

capturing, independently of a user action, at different times, at least two screen images having at least one multimedia object containing at least one transient message rendered on a display at the client;

storing each captured screen image; and

enabling a subsequent rendering of at least one of the stored screen captured images in response to a user selection.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the user selection is a selection of an identification of a stored captured screen image from a displayed list of identifications of stored captured screen images.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of enabling a subsequent rendering further comprises displaying a plurality of the captured screen images in succession in response to a user selection of a control button.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein a rate in which the succession of captured screen images are displayed is a user configurable rate.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the different times are determined by a configurable periodic interval.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the configurable periodic interval occurs for a configurable duration of time.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the different times are determined by a change in content.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the change in content is determined by utilizing a DOM model of the displayed page to determine the change of content as a triggering event to capture the screen image.

9. A method for displaying, at a client, at least one transient message received over a network, the method comprising:

determining a change in content of at least one displayed page received over a network wherein at least one of the at least one displayed pages contains at least one transient message;

capturing, independently of a user action, a screen image of each displayed page when it is determined that there is a change in content;

storing each captured screen image; and

enabling a subsequent rendering of at least one of the stored screen capture images in response to a user selection.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the determining step further comprises utilizing a document object model of the displayed page to determine the change of content as a triggering event to capture the screen image.

11. A method for displaying, at a client, transient messages received over a network, the method comprising:

saving data, independently of a user action, associated with a screen image of each dynamically displayed transitory message;

redisplaying the screen image of at least one previously displayed transitory message upon request by a user.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein saving data further comprises saving a screen image of each message and at least one hyperlink associated with the message.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein saving data further comprises saving a screen image of each message and at least one hyperlink in accordance with a time value representative of a time in which a given message was originally displayed.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein redisplaying further comprises redisplaying a sequence of each saved image at a rate predetermined by the user.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein redisplaying further comprises redisplaying a scrollable page having a plurality of the saved images.

16. The method of claim 11 wherein redisplaying further comprises redisplaying the at least one previously displayed transitory message in at least one of image format and heading format.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising retrieving content associated with a link associated with a redisplayed message resulting from a selection by a user of at least one of selecting from a title list and selecting a redisplayed image of the message.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the different times are determined by a configurable periodic interval.

20. The system of claim 18 wherein the configurable periodic interval occurs for a configurable duration of time.

21. The system of claim 18 wherein the different times are determined by a change in content.

22. The system of claim 21 wherein the change in content is determined by utilizing a DOM model of the displayed page to determine the change of content as a triggering event to capture the screen image.

24. The system of claim 23 wherein the means for determining further comprises means for utilizing a document object model of the displayed page to determine the change of content as a triggering event to capture the screen image.

26. The system of claim 25 wherein means for saving data further comprises means for saving a screen image of each message and at least one hyperlink in accordance with a time value representative of a time in which a given message was originally displayed.

27. The system of claim 25 wherein the means for redisplaying further comprises means for redisplaying a sequence of each saved image at a rate predetermined by the user.

30. The computer program of claim 29 wherein the means for determining further comprises means for utilizing a document object model of the displayed page to determine the change of content as a triggering event to capture the screen image.

18. A computer system having a display for displaying transient messages received over a network, the computer system comprising:

means for capturing, independently of a user action, at different times, at least two screen images having at least one multimedia object containing at least one transient message rendered on the display;

a storage area having each captured screen image; and

means for enabling a subsequent rendering of at least one of the stored screen captured images in response to a user selection.

23. A computer system having a display for displaying at least one transient message received over a network, the system comprising:

means for determining a change in content of at least one displayed page received over a network wherein at least one of the at least one displayed pages contains at least one transient message;

means for capturing, independently of a user action, a screen image of each displayed page when it is determined that there is a change in content;

a storage area having each captured screen image; and

means for enabling a subsequent rendering of at least one of the stored screen capture images in response to a user selection.

25. A computer system having a display for displaying transient messages received over a network, the system comprising:

means for saving data, independently of a user action, associated with a screen image of each dynamically displayed transitory message;

means for redisplaying the screen image of at least one previously displayed transitory message upon request by a user.

28. A computer program, on a computer usable medium, having computer readable program code means for enabling a display of transient messages received over a network, the computer program comprising:

means for enabling a capture, independently of a user action, at different times, of at least two screen images having at least one multimedia object containing at least one transient message rendered on a display at a client;

means for storing each captured screen image; and

means for enabling a subsequent rendering of at least one of the stored screen captured images in response to a user selection.

29. A computer program, on a computer usable medium, having computer readable program code means for enabling a display of at least one transient message received over a network, the system comprising:

means for determining a change in content of at least one displayed page received over a network wherein at least one of the at least one displayed pages contains at least one transient message;

means for enabling a capture, independently of a user action, of a screen image of each displayed page when it is determined that there is a change in content;

means for storing each captured screen image; and

means for enabling a subsequent rendering of at least one of the stored screen capture images in response to a user selection.

31. A computer program, on a computer usable medium, having computer readable program code means for displaying transient messages received over a network, the computer program comprising:

means for saving data, independently of a user action, associated with a screen image of each dynamically displayed transitory message;

means for redisplaying the screen image of at least one previously displayed transitory message upon request by a user.

32. The program of claim 31 wherein means for saving data further comprises means for saving a screen image of each message and at least one hyperlink in accordance with a time value representative of a time in which a given message was originally displayed.

33. A method for redisplaying, at a client, transient messages displayed by a browser, the method comprising:

capturing, independently of a user action, at different times, at least two screen images having a different transient message;

storing each captured screen image; and

enabling a subsequent rendering of at least one of the stored screen captured images in response to a user selection.

34. A computer system having a display for redisplaying transient messages displayed by a browser, the computer system comprising:

means for capturing, independently of a user action, at different times, at least two screen images having different transient messages;

a storage area having each captured screen image; and

means for enabling a subsequent rendering of at least one of the stored screen captured images in response to a user selection.

35. A computer program, on a computer usable medium, having computer readable program code means for enabling a redisplay of transient messages displayed by a browser, the computer program comprising:

means for enabling a capture, independently of a user action, at different times, of at least two screen images having different transient messages rendered on a display at a client;

means for storing each captured screen image; and

means for enabling a subsequent rendering of at least one of the stored screen captured images in response to a user selection.