System and method for personalizing a home page

• US 7,103,642 B1
• Filed: 04/30/2002
• Issued: 09/05/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile Innovations LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Lett, Van F., Chen, Reynold J., Euler, Tim D., Byrne, James F. Jr., Islam, Mir
• Primary Examiner(s): VU, THONG H
• Application Number:
  US10/135,605
• Time in Patent Office: 1,589 Days
• Field of Search: 709/204, 709/206, 709/203, 709/213, 709/218, 709/219, 709/224, 709/226, 709/217, 709/247, 707/102, 707/513, 707/514, 705/2, 705/30, 705/51, 715/804, 715/838
• US Class Current: 709/218
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management

Abstract

Generally described, a method and system of customizing and personalizing a home page are provided. The method includes means for defining the appearance, layout and behavior of a network computing environment home page upon access by a user. The method also provides for increased portability of a user experience from one computing access environment to another. A centralized hub of relevant information resources is provided to make users more productive through ease of access and automatic delivery of time-sensitive information. Accordingly, users can integrate sources of pertinent information into their daily routines, essentially creating “personal channels”.

Claims

1. One or more tangible computer-readable media having computer-useable instructions embodied thereon for performing a method of providing a personalized network-browsing experience, the method comprising:

providing on a network-browsing page one or more selectable headings, wherein each of said selectable headings is associated with a set of one more user-defined subheading links that each link to respective information pages, and wherein at least a portion of said one or more subheading links are dynamic and time-sensitive such that they may be defined differently according to different times of a day; and

in response to selecting one of said selectable headings, automatically launching a set of windows that are contemporaneously viewable with said network-browsing page, and wherein each of said windows respectively displays one of said information pages.

2. The media of claim 1, wherein each subheading link is associated with one or more of a web page, an avatar and an audio file.

3. A computer system having a processor, a memory and an operating environment, the computer system operable to employ the media recited in claim 1.

4. The media of claim 1, wherein defining said links differently according to different times of a day includes configuring one or more of said subheading links to display text and to link to certain information pages during certain periods of time and display other text and link to other information pages during other periods of time.

5. The media of claim 1, wherein said subheading links are hierarchical thereby permitting the simultaneous display of sub-links of each subheading link in a separate window.

6. One or more tangible computer-readable media having computer-useable instructions embodied thereon for performing a method for personalizing access to information on a network, the method comprising:

enabling the configuration of a set of subheading links that each correspond to an information page and that each are to be presented on a first page, wherein at least a portion of said set of subheading links are dynamic and time-sensitive such that they may be defined differently according to different times of a day;

enabling the configuration of a first selectable heading, whereby selecting said first selectable heading spawns a set of windows that each respectively corresponds to one or said information pages; and

wherein said set of windows will be contemporaneously viewable with said first page.

7. A computer system having a processor, a memory and an operating environment, the computer system operable to execute the instructions of claim 6.

8. One or more tangible computer-readable media having computer-useable instructions embodied thereon for performing a method of customizing a browser page on a network, wherein said personalized browser page is remotely accessible by a user, the method comprising:

providing a browser page having a user configurable area;

storing one or more individual links, each said individual link providing a connection to an information page accessible from the network, wherein each said individual link is defined by the user, and wherein at least a portion of said one or more individual links is dynamic and time-sensitive such that they may be defined differently according to different times of a day;

populating said configurable area with a set of indicia upon initiation of the browser page from a network accessible device, wherein each indicium in said set corresponds to one of said individual links; and

displaying, simultaneously with said browser page, a series of windows, wherein each window displays said information page that corresponds to one of said individual links.

9. The media of claim 8, further comprising storing one or more groups of links, each said group containing at least one of said individual links, wherein each said group is defined by said user, and wherein said series of windows displayed with said home page corresponds to said individual links contained in one of said groups.

10. A computer system having a processor, a memory and an operating, the computer system operable to execute the instructions of claim 8.

11. A system for use in a computing environment for personalizing access to information on a network, the system comprising:

a browser page having an area which is configurable by a user; and

one or more individual links, each said individual link providing a connection to an information page accessible from the network, wherein each individual link is defined by said user, wherein said configurable area is populated with one or more of said individual links, and wherein a series of windows is displayable simultaneously with said browser page, and wherein each window includes said information page that corresponds to one of said individual links and wherein at least a portion of said one or more individual links are dynamic and time-sensitive such that they may be defined differently according to different time of a day.

12. The system as recited in claim 11, further comprising one or more groups of links, each group includes at least one of said individual links, wherein each group is defined by said user, and wherein said series of windows displayed with said home page corresponds to said individual links contained in one of said groups.