ASSOCIATING FILE TYPES WITH WEB-BASED APPLICATIONS FOR AUTOMATICALLY LAUNCHING THE ASSOCIATED APPLICATION

• US 20090044146A1
• Filed: 08/06/2007
• Published: 02/12/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/06/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Snowflake, Inc.
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: WHITE, MARC, PATEL, PARITOSH D.
• Granted Patent: US 8,990,697 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/808
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/048 Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI]

Abstract

The present invention discloses a launching engine configured to automatically launch a Web site and load an electronic document responsive to a launching event for the electronic document. The launching engine can be a component of a computer operating system (e.g., MAC OS, OS/2, WINDOWS XP, etc.) or a graphics management component (e.g., KDE, GNOME, etc.) of a computer. A launching event can be initiated by user selection of a document icon, a user selection of an electronic document from a file management application, a launching script for the electronic document triggered by a media insertion action, and the like.

Claims

1. A set of machine readable instructions stored in a machine readable medium, said set of machine readable instructions comprising;

a launching engine configured to automatically launch a Web site and load an electronic document responsive to a launching event for the electronic document.

2. The set of machine readable instructions of claim 1, wherein the launching engine is a component of at least one of a computer operating system and a graphics management component of a computer.

3. The set of machine readable instructions of claim 1, wherein a user selection of the electronic document comprises clicking a graphical representation of the electronic document when a visual pointer references the graphical representation.

4. The set of machine readable instructions of claim 1, wherein a user selection of the electronic document comprises selecting at least one keyboard key when a graphical representation of the electronic document has focus within a graphical user interface.

5. The set of machine readable instructions of claim 1, wherein the launching engine is further configured to automatically launch a locally executing application and to load an electronic document into the launched application responsive to a launching event for the electronic document, wherein a determination of launching the Web site and launching the locally executing application is based upon what association type corresponds to the electronic document.

6. The set of machine readable instructions of claim 1, further comprising:

at least one association table comprising a plurality of records relating association types with different Web sites.

7. The set of machine readable instructions of claim 6, wherein said at least one association table further comprises a plurality of records relating association types with different local applications.

8. The set of machine readable instructions of claim 6, wherein at least one user configurable parameter is conveyed to a Web server that serves the Web site, said at least one user configurable parameter specifying authentication information for accessing the Web server.

9. The set of machine readable instructions of claim 1, further comprising:

at least one graphic image associated with the electronic document, said graphic image specifically indicating that a launching event for the electronic document will result in the electronic document being automatically loaded in a Web site after a Web browser has been automatically instantiated.

10. The set of machine readable instructions of claim 1, wherein said launching engine utilizes associations based upon file extensions to determine a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of the Web site.

11. The set of machine readable instructions of claim 1, further comprising:

a Web Application Launcher helper Program (WALP) which is a locally executing program associated with at least one file type, wherein execution of the WALP results in a Web browser being instantiated and navigated to a URL of the Web site.

12. A method for launching applications comprising:

detecting a user selection of an electronic document;

ascertaining an association type for the electronic document;

determining a remote Web site that corresponds to the association type;

instantiating a browser;

directing the browser to the remote Web site; and

the remote Web site loading the electronic document, wherein the steps of claim 12 are automatically performed by a machine in accordance with a set of programmatic instructions stored in a machine readable medium.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

detecting different user selection of a different electronic document;

ascertaining a different association type for the electronic document;

determining a local application that corresponds to the different association type;

instantiating the local application; and

the local application opening the different electronic document, wherein the steps of claim 13 are automatically performed by the machine in accordance with the set of programmatic instructions.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

determining previously established authentication information specific to the Web site; and

authenticating a user for the Web site using the previously established authentication information.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

receiving user input to change a configuration setting for the association type to a local application;

applying the user input to the configuration setting, where the steps of claim 12 are performed based upon an original configuration setting that specifies the remote Web site;

detecting another user selection of the electronic document;

ascertaining the association type for the electronic document;

determining that the local application corresponds to the association type;

instantiating the local application; and

the local application opening the electronic document, wherein the steps of claim are automatically performed by the machine in accordance with the set of programmatic instructions.

16. A graphical user interface comprising:

at least one user selectable item presented upon the graphical user interface, said user selectable item representing a corresponding electronic document, wherein a selection of the user selectable item initiates a launching event, wherein the electronic document corresponds to a previously designated association type, wherein the association type corresponds to a previously designated Web site; and

a Web browser interface configured to be automatically presented and to automatically display the Web site in a state in which a selected electronic document has been loaded responsive to an occurrence of the launching event.

17. The graphical user interface of claim 16, wherein said at least one user selectable item comprises at least one said user selectable item and a different user selectable item, said different user selectable item corresponding to a different electronic document which corresponds to a different association type, said different association type corresponding to a previously designated local application, said graphical user interface further comprising:

a local application interface for the local application configured to be automatically presented in a state in which the different electronic document has been loaded responsive to an occurrence of a launching event corresponding to a user selection of the different user selectable item.

18. The graphical user interface of claim 16, further comprising:

a visual indicator proximate to the user selectable item, said visual indicator indicating that the user selectable item is associated with a Web site which is automatically launched and the selectable item loaded whenever a user selects the user selectable item.

19. The graphical user interface of claim 18, further comprising:

a pop-up window displayable proximate to the user selectable item that is associated with the user selectable item and displayed responsive to a user action, said pop-up window including an option to open electronic document within a locally executing application in contrast to loading the electronic document into the Web site and displaying the Web site in the Web browser interface.

20. The graphical user interface of claim 16, further comprising:

at least one interface element for permitting a user to specify authentication information to be used for a Web application, each time the Web application is initiated responsive to the launching event.