Smart browser panes

• US 20050076019A1
• Filed: 10/06/2003
• Published: 04/07/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 10/06/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: Lycos Incorporated (Brightcom Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Jackson, Lincoln, Wilde, Thomas
• Granted Patent: US 7,664,770 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results

Abstract

An article of manufactore and method includes displaying content associated with a universal resource locator (URL) on a graphical user interface (GUI), receiving a first search parameter for a first search engine, displaying a first search result in a first pane of the GUI, the first search result associated with a first search parameter, determining a second search parameter associated with a URL from the first search parameter for a second search engine, displaying a second search result in a second pane of the GUI, the second search result associated with a second search parameter.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

displaying content associated with a universal resource locator (URL) on a graphical user interface (GUI);

receiving a first search parameter for a first search engine;

displaying a first search result in a first pane of the GUI, the first search result associated with a first search parameter;

determining a second search parameter associated with a URL from the first search parameter for a second search engine; and

displaying a second search result in a second pane of the GUI, the second search result associated with a second search parameter.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising

automatically updating the second pane in response to a change in the first pane.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising

automatically updating the second pane in response to a user navigation in the first pane.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein updating the second pane includes differentiating links viewed in the first pane in the second pane.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising

allowing a user to view a new web page in the first pane by clicking on links in both the first and second pane.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein determining search parameters includes parsing the URL and performing a pattern match using the URL.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising

allowing a user to enter a search in the second pane and

displaying the results of the search in the first pane.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising

displaying a default page when no search results are found.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising

including a watch list having a URL.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising

automatically opening a second pane in response to a user navigation to a URL included in the watch list.

11. The method of claim 9 further comprising

periodically updating the watch list.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising

disabling the second pane based on a rule.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein disabling the second pane based on a rule includes disabling the second pane if no search results are produced.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein disabling the second pane based on a rule includes disabling the second pane in response to user input.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the user input includes a user pressing a button or hyperlink.

16. The method of claim 1 further comprising

receiving a personal preference from a user.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the personal preference includes a language preference, opening preference, size of the second pane, or the display search results.

18. The method of claim 1 further comprising

an active mode and a passive mode.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising

opening a second pane in response to a user input in the passive mode.

20. The method of claim 18 further comprising

automatically opening a second pane in the active mode.

21. A computer product or article of manufacture configured to:

display content associated with a universal resource locator (URL) on a graphical user interface (GUI);

receive a first search parameter for a first search engine;

display a first search result in a first pane of the GUI, the first search result associated with a first search parameter;

determine a second search parameter associated with a URL from the first search parameter for a second search engine; and

display a second search result in a second pane of the GUI, the second search result associated with a second search parameter.

22. The computer product or article of manufacture of claim 21 further configured to automatically update the second pane in response to a change in the first pane.

23. The computer product or article of manufacture of claim 21 further configured to automatically update the second pane in response to a user navigation in the first pane.

24. The computer product or article of manufacture of claim 21 further configured to include

a watch list having a URL and

open a second pane in response to a user navigation to a URL included in the watch list.