Smart browsing providers

• US 7,328,405 B1
• Filed: 12/09/1998
• Issued: 02/05/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/09/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Netscape Communications Corporation (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Guha, Ramanathan, Hyatt, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Hong; Stephen
• Assistant Examiner(s): HUYNH, THU V
• Application Number:
  US09/208,805
• Time in Patent Office: 3,345 Days
• Field of Search: 707/513, 707/501.1, 707/516, 707/530, 707/526, 707/523, 345744-746, 345763-764, 345/765, 345/747, 345/762, 345/760, 345825-826, 715/501.1, 715/513, 715/516, 715/530, 715744-747, 715/760, 715764-765, 715/767, 715/781, 715/500, 715/517, 715/520, 715/738, 715/855
• US Class Current: 715/738
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0813 characterised by the conditions triggering a change of settings
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]

Abstract

A web browser program automatically reconfigures chrome of an interface to provide access to groups of related information. The web browser program includes a content display program module, a chrome display program module, a current site communication program module, a chrome configuration processing program module, and a related information servers indication receiving program module.

Claims

1. A web browser program, embodied in a computer-readable medium, executable by a client computer connectable to server computers by a computer network, the web browser program automatically reconfiguring chrome of a user interface to the web browser, the web browser program comprising:

a content display program configured to receive content data from a current web site of a current server computer, and to cause information representative of the content data to be displayed on a content portion of a browser display of the client computer; and

a chrome display program configured to display chrome that corresponds to chrome specifiers on a chrome portion of the browser display of the client computer,

wherein;

the chrome display program is further configured to receive chrome specifiers associated with the current web site, wherein the chrome specifiers cause the chrome display program to add a new control element to the chrome being displayed on the chrome portion of the browser display while maintaining at least one control element of the chrome that was displayed prior to the addition of the new control element,

the new control element is configured in response to the current web site being displayed to invoke functionality corresponding to functionality offered by the current web site being displayed,

the new control element is defined by the current server computer serving the current web site being displayed, and

the new control element is based on chrome specification information directly provided, to the client computer, by the current server computer serving the current web site being displayed.

2. The web browser program as claimed in claim 1 the web browser program further comprising:

a confirmation program configured to confirm whether the user desires to store a related information server indication in a related information server indication database and to control that storage based on the confirmation,

wherein the servers to which the current server computer indication is provided are limited to servers having indications in the related information server indication database.

3. The web browser program of claim 1 wherein:

the chrome display program is configured to add a new control element to the chrome displayed by the chrome display program based on past web sites displayed by the client computer while maintaining at least one element of the chrome displayed prior to the addition of the new control element.

4. The web browser program of claim 1 wherein functionality invoked upon selection of the new control element is defined by the current server computer serving the current web site being displayed.

5. The web browser program of claim 1 wherein the new control element is removed from the chrome conditioned upon a chrome specifier for the new control element not being associated with the current web site being displayed.

6. The web browser program of claim 1 wherein the new control element is removed from the chrome conditioned upon a different web site being displayed.

7. The web browser program of claim 1 further comprising:

a current site communication program configured to provide an indication of the current server computer to related information servers indicated by a related information servers indication;

a related information servers indication receiving program configured to receive the related information servers indication from at least one of the server computers such that the related information servers indication is dynamically reconfigurable; and

a chrome configuration processing program configured to receive, from the related information servers, related information designators provided to the client computer based on the indication of the current server computer, and to provide the related information designators as chrome specifiers in a chrome configuration database such that the chrome display program displays the related information designators as part of the chrome.

8. The web browser program as claimed in claim 7 wherein the related information servers indication receiving program is configured to receive the related information servers indication in a RDF format.

9. The web browser program as claimed in claim 7 wherein the related information designators received from the related information servers specify the appearance of at least one sub-portion of the chrome portion of the client computer display and a behavior associated with user activation of the sub-portion.

10. The web browser program as claimed in claim 9 wherein at least one of the related information designators received from the server computer specifies the behavior as a JavaScript method.

11. The web browser program as claimed in claim 7 wherein the at least one of the server computers from which the related information servers indication is received by the related information servers indication receiving program is a trusted server computer to which the web browser program causes the client computer to connect.

12. The web browser program as claimed in claim 11 wherein the trusted server computer is a default server computer to which the web browser program causes the client computer to connect upon a first execution of the web browser after a predetermined event.

13. The web browser program as claimed in claim 12 wherein the predetermined event is installation of the web browser program on the client computer.

14. The web browser program as claimed in claim 7 wherein the web browser program causes the client computer to provide to the related information servers an indication of a demographic of the user, and the related information provided by the related information servers corresponds to that demographic.

15. The web browser program as claimed in claim 14 wherein the demographic is an indication of an identity of the user.

16. The web browser program as claimed in claim 7 wherein the related information provided by the related information servers includes at least one link to a web site having content the subject matter of which is related to the subject matter of the current web site and a review of the current web site.

17. A web browser program, embodied in a computer-readable medium, executable by a client computer connectable to server computers by a computer network, the web browser program automatically reconfiguring chrome of a user interface to the web browser program, the web browser program comprising:

a content display program configured to receive content data from a current web site of a current server computer, and to cause information representative of the content data to be displayed on a content portion of a browser display of the client computer; and

a chrome display program configured to display chrome that corresponds to chrome specifiers on a chrome portion of the browser display of the client computer,

wherein the chrome display program is further configured to receive chrome specifiers associated with the current web site, wherein the chrome specifiers cause the chrome display program to add a control element to the chrome being displayed on the chrome portion of the browser, the added control element is configured in response to the current web site being displayed to invoke functionality corresponding to functionality offered by the current web site being displayed, and

the chrome display program is further configured to receive modified chrome specifiers, wherein the modified chrome specifiers cause the chrome display program to return the chrome to a default chrome, wherein

the added control element is defined by the current server computer serving the current web site being displayed, and

the added control element is based on chrome specification information directly provided, to the client computer, by the current server computer serving the current web site being displayed.

18. The web browser program as claimed in claim 17 further comprising a chrome configuration processing program configured to receive, from related information servers, related information designators provided to the client computer based on the indication of the current server computer, and to provide the related information designators as chrome specifiers in a chrome configuration database such that the chrome display program displays the related information designators as part of the chrome.

19. The web browser program of claim 17 wherein functionality invoked upon selection of the added control element is defined by the current server computer serving the current web site being displayed.

20. A web browser program, embodied in a computer-readable medium, executable by a client computer connectable to server computers by a computer network, the web browser program automatically reconfiguring chrome of a user interface to the web browser, the web browser program comprising:

a content display program configured to receive content data from a current web site of a current server computer, and to cause information representative of the content data to be displayed on a content portion of a browser display of the client computer; and

a chrome display program configured to display chrome that corresponds to chrome specifiers on a chrome portion of the browser display of the client computer,

wherein;

the chrome display program is further configured to receive chrome specifiers associated with the current web site, wherein the chrome specifiers cause the chrome display program to modify less than all of the control elements on the chrome being displayed on the chrome portion of the browser display,

at least one modified control element is configured in response to the current web site being displayed to invoke functionality corresponding to functionality offered by the current web site being displayed,

the configuration of the at least one modified control element is triggered upon navigation to a destination that has content corresponding to the functionality invoked through interaction with the at least one modified control element,

the at least one modified control element is defined by the current server computer serving the current web site being displayed upon navigation to the current web site, and

the at least one modified control element is based on chrome specification information directly provided, to the client computer upon navigation to the current web site, by the current server computer serving the current web site being displayed.

21. The web browser program of claim 20 wherein functionality invoked upon selection of the at least one modified control element is defined by the current server computer serving the current web site being displayed upon navigation to the current web site.

22. The web browser program of claim 20 wherein the at least one modified control element is removed from the chrome conditioned upon a chrome specifier for the at least one modified control element not being associated with the current web site being displayed.

23. The web browser program of claim 20 wherein the at least one modified control element is removed from the chrome conditioned upon a different web site being displayed.

24. A method for automatically reconfiguring chrome of a user interface to a web browser program, the method comprising:

receiving content from a selected web site of a current server computer connected to server computers by a computer network;

causing information representative of the content data to be displayed on a content portion of a browser display of a client computer;

causing chrome that corresponds to chrome specifiers to be displayed on a chrome portion of the browser display of the client computer; and

adding a new control element to the chrome being displayed on the chrome portion of the browser display while maintaining at least one element of the chrome that was displayed prior to the addition of the new control element, wherein the new control element is configured in response to the current web site being displayed to invoke functionality corresponding to functionality offered by the current web site being displayed, wherein

the new control element is defined by the current server computer serving the selected web site being displayed, and

the new control element is based on chrome specification information directly provided, to the client computer, by the current server computer serving the selected web site being displayed.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein causing chrome to be displayed comprises causing chrome that corresponds to chrome specifiers to be displayed on a chrome portion of the browser display of the client computer, further comprising:

receiving related information designators as chrome specifiers such that the related information designators are displayed as part of the chrome, and

storing chrome specifiers in the chrome configuration database.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein the related information designators received specify the appearance of at least one sub-portion of the chrome portion of the browser display of the client computer and a behavior associated with user activation of the sub-portion.

27. The method of claim 25 further comprising providing to a related information server an indication of a demographic of the user,

wherein receiving related information designators comprises receiving related information designators as chrome specifiers such that the related information designators are displayed as part of the chrome and the related information designators correspond to the demographic of the user.

28. The method of claim 24 wherein functionality invoked upon selection of the new control element is defined by current server computer serving the selected web site being displayed.

29. The method of claim 24 further comprising removing the new control element from the chrome conditioned upon a chrome specifier for the new control element not being associated with the current web site being displayed.

30. The web browser program of claim 24 further comprising removing the new control element from the chrome conditioned upon a different web site being displayed.

31. A computer-implemented method for partially customizing chrome displayed as part of a user interface by adding a control element configured to enable selection of new functionality that corresponds to a current web resource being accessed, the method comprising:

presenting, as a part of a user interface for a web browsing application, an initial set of selectable chrome elements configured to enable functionality in response to their selection;

detecting navigation by the web browsing application to a first web resource;

in response to detected navigation to the first web resource, presenting on a chrome portion of a browser display, in addition to at least some of the set of selectable chrome elements, an additional and new selectable chrome element that corresponds to functionality offered by the first web resource being accessed;

detecting navigation by the web browsing application to a second web resource; and

in response to detected navigation by the web browsing application to a second web resource, removing or changing the additional and new selectable chrome element being displayed on the chrome portion of the browser display that corresponds to functionality offered by the first web resource, wherein

the additional and new selectable chrome element is defined by the first web resource being accessed, and

the additional and new selectable chrome element is based on chrome specification information directly provided by the first web resource being accessed to a user computer executing the web browsing application.

32. The method of claim 31 wherein functionality invoked upon selection of the additional and new selectable chrome element is defined by the first web resource being accessed.