Web page thumbnails and user configured complementary information provided from a server

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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Technical Field

The present invention relates to an improved computer system and in particular to computer software and more particularly to web browser software. Still more particularly, the present invention provides a method and apparatus for filtering and previewing data.

2. Description of Related Art

The "Internet" is a globally accessible network of computers that collectively provide a large amount and variety of information to users. From services of the Internet such as the World Wide Web (or simply, the "web"), users may retrieve or "download" data from Internet network sites and display the data that includes information presented as text in various fonts, graphics, images, and the like having an appearance intended by the publisher. As the information revolution has exploded, more and more information is available through the internet. However, finding particular pieces of information out of the millions of "web sites" available can be daunting.

One way of sorting through this mass of information to find what is of interest for a particular user is through the use of "search engines". Search engines are software written to search, among the millions of web sites, for certain key words or criteria entered by a user, and to return to the user a list of links (references to other HTML pages) to the sites that the search engine determines to be most relevant to the criteria entered by the user. Different search engines use different methods of determining the relevance of web sites, but most use some sort of quantitative method that determines the relevance of a site based on how many times the key words appear in that particular site.

Search engines typically return only a list of links to relevant sites with perhaps a short verbal description of the site. Often times, this list does not provide sufficient information to enable one to make an intelligent decision as to whether to follow the link. Thus, the user is left with the time consuming task of sorting through the links returned by the search engine to determine which of these is the best match. Furthermore, no mechanism is present for a user to determine, based on the search engine results, whether the site is still active or if it has been removed. This problem can be seen by referring to FIG. 1, which depicts a screen image of a returned search result from Altavista. Each link includes only a brief description of the site, but no indication of whether the link is still good or whether the link contains an excessive quantity of broken links within it.

Similar problems exist with regard to following links from one web page to another (sometimes referred to as "web surfing"). Often times, users find the information they are looking for by following links on web pages, but the same problem exist here as with search engines. Many times the links will have only short descriptions about the contents of the web page to which they link. Furthermore, many times a web page will contain a dead link and there is no way the user can determine this except by trial and error.

Therefore, it would be beneficial for Internet users to have a tool to enable them to make more informed decisions about which links to follow. Furthermore, performance of web browsing needs to be dramatically improved. To this end it would be advantageous if server based hardware and software could be applied to the task of accelerating and enhancing client customers usage of a domain.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a method for presenting content from the page in a distributed database. In a preferred embodiment, a server receives a request from a client for a page from the database wherein the page has a plurality of links to linked pages in the database. The server retrieves the page and generates a set of thumbnails of the linked pages in the database. The server then sends the page and the set of thumbnails to the client.

In another preferred embodiment, the present invention provides a method of browsing the Internet. A server receives user criteria and a request for a page from the Internet from a client. The server retrieves the page and parses the page for a set of links to a set of linked web pages. The server then retrieves the set of linked pages and parses the set of linked pages for user selected criteria. Responsive to finding the user criteria on a linked page within the set of linked pages, the server modifies the page to indicate the presence of the user criteria on the linked page and sends a modified page to the client.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The novel features believed characteristic of the invention are set forth in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, as well as a preferred mode of use, further objectives and advantages thereof, will best be understood by reference to the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 (Prior Art) depicts a screen image of search results presented using Altavista without aid of the present invention;

FIG. 2 depicts a pictorial representation of a distributed data processing system in which the present invention may be implemented;

FIG. 3 depicts a block diagram of a data processing system that may be implemented as a server;

FIG. 4 depicts a block diagram of a data processing system that may be used as a client computer in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 5 shows a block diagram illustrating the flow of information between a client and a server;

FIG. 6, a flow chart illustrating an over view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown wherein the thumbnails are generated on a server;

FIG. 7 shows a flowchart providing a more detailed understanding of the method illustrated in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 shows a screen image of the display of a web page including thumbnails;

FIG. 9 shows a flowchart illustrating a basic overview for modifying the appearance of a web page in accordance with user selected criteria;

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of the modification of the web page in a user configured manner to indicate the presence or absence of user selected criteria;

FIG. 11 shows a more detailed flowchart of the method depicted in FIG. 9;

FIG. 12 shows a flowchart providing a more detailed understanding of the steps involved in modifying the presentation of the web page (steps 1122-1130 and steps 1160-1180 of FIG. 11); and

FIGS. 13-14 depict the screen images of search results returned by AltaVista with varying modifications to the displayed page.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

With reference now to the figures, and in particular with reference to FIG. 2, a pictorial representation of a distributed data processing system is depicted in which the present invention may be implemented.

Distributed data processing system 200 is a network of computers in which the present invention may be implemented. Distributed data processing system 200 contains network 202, which is the medium used to provide communications links between various devices and computers connected within distributed data processing system 200. Network 202 may include permanent connections, such as wire or fiber optic cables, or temporary connections made through telephone connections.

In the depicted example, server 204 is connected to network 202, along with storage unit 206. In addition, clients 208, 210 and 212 are also connected to network 202. These clients, 208, 210 and 212, may be, for example, personal computers or network computers. For purposes of this application, a network computer is any computer coupled to a network which receives a program or other application from another computer coupled to the network. In the depicted example, server 204 provides data, such as boot files, operating system images and applications, to clients 208-212. Clients 208, 210 and 212 are clients to server 204. Distributed data processing system 200 may include additional servers, clients, and other devices not shown. Distributed data processing system 200 also includes printers 214, 216 and 218. A client, such as client 210, may print directly to printer 214. Clients such as client 208 and client 212 do not have directly attached printers. These clients may print to printer 216, which is attached to server 204, or to printer 218, which is a network printer that does not require connection to a computer for printing documents. Client 210, alternatively, may print to printer 216 or printer 218, depending on the printer type and the document requirements.

In the depicted example, distributed data processing system 200 is the Internet, with network 202 representing a worldwide collection of networks and gateways that use the TCP/IP suite of protocols to communicate with one another. At the heart of the Internet is a backbone of high-speed data communication lines between major nodes or host computers consisting of thousands of commercial, government, education, and other computer systems that route data and messages. Of course, distributed data processing system 200 also may be implemented as a number of different types of networks such as, for example, an intranet or a local area network.

FIG. 2 is intended as an example and not as an architectural limitation for the processes of the present invention.

In an overview of the present invention, a Domain or Proxy Server can be enhanced to provide automatically generated or manually overridden thumbnails of web pages. This can be done over any suitable Client/Server Internet protocol CGI, HTTP, etc.

One preferred embodiment would entail the user selecting a web page, while the web page is being sent to the client the server would also build a list of thumbnails for the selected web page. Building of the thumbnail list would entail checking a cache for existing thumbnails, as well as parsing and generating thumbnails on the fly. Then depending on the current options selected between the client and the server and current bandwidth considerations the server would send the thumbnails along with the rest of the web page.

The Domain Server can choose to individually generate a thumbnail to be delivered to each client, or it can generate a "default user" thumbnail per each web page requested and cache it using existing means for subsequent client requests. In either case, it is advantageous to render the thumbnail on a server to reduce internet and/or intranet bandwidth requirements.

The manual override capability referenced above gives web content companies the ability to continue using their selected Banner(s) in cases where that would be advantageous. Also they may choose to manually fine tune the automatically generated thumbnail of any or all of their web pages.

Additionally, a Proxy Server can automatically, or by client request, generate thumbnails for its clients. In this fashion an ISP or Intranet IS shop, can distinguish itself by providing this enhanced browsing capability, for all the domains its clients choose to browse.

Turning now to FIG. 3, a block diagram of a data processing system which may be implemented as a server, such as server 204 in FIG. 2, is depicted in accordance with the present invention. Data processing system 300 may be a symmetric multiprocessor (SMP) system including a plurality of processors 302 and 304 connected to system bus 306. Alternatively, a single processor system may be employed. Data processing system 300 is suitable as a domain host or other server connected to the Internet. Also connected to system bus 306 is memory controller/cache 308, which provides an interface to local memory 309. I/O bus bridge 310 is connected to system bus 306 and provides an interface to I/O bus 312. Memory controller/cache 308 and I/O bus bridge 310 may be integrated as depicted.

Peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus bridge 314 connected to I/O bus 312 provides an interface to PCI local bus 316. A number of modems 318-320 may be connected to PCI bus 316. Typical PCI bus implementations will support four PCI expansion slots or add-in connectors. Communications links to network computers 208-212 in FIG. 2 may be provided through modem 318 and network adapter 320 connected to PCI local bus 316 through add-in boards.

Additional PCI bus bridges 322 and 324 provide interfaces for additional PCI buses 326 and 328, from which additional modems or network adapters may be supported. In this manner, server 300 allows connections to multiple network computers. A memory mapped graphics adapter 330 and hard disk 332 may also be connected to I/O bus 312 as depicted, either directly or indirectly.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the hardware depicted in FIG. 3 may vary. For example, other peripheral devices, such as optical disk drives and the like, also may be used in addition to or in place of the hardware depicted. The depicted example is not meant to imply architectural limitations with respect to the present invention.

The data processing system depicted in FIG. 3 may be, for example, an IBM RISC/System 6000, a product of International Business Machines Corporation in Armonk, N.Y, running the Advanced Interactive Executive (AIX) operating system.

With reference now to FIG. 4, a block diagram of a data processing system in which the present invention may be implemented is illustrated. Data processing system 400 is an example of a client computer. Data processing system 400 is suitable from running web browsing programs such as Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer, such programs being compatible with the present invention. Data processing system 400 employs a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) local bus architecture. Although the depicted example employs a PCI bus, other bus architectures, such as Micro Channel and ISA, may be used. Processor 402 and main memory 404 are connected to PCI local bus 406 through PCI bridge 408. PCI bridge 408 may also include an integrated memory controller and cache memory for processor 402. Additional connections to PCI local bus 406 may be made through direct component interconnection or through add-in boards. In the depicted example, local area network (LAN) adapter 410, SCSI host bus adapter 412, and expansion bus interface 414 are connected to PCI local bus 406 by direct component connection. In contrast, audio adapter 416, graphics adapter 418, and audio/video adapter (A/V) 419 are connected to PCI local bus 406 by add-in boards inserted into expansion slots. Expansion bus interface 414 provides a connection for a keyboard and mouse adapter 420, modem 422, and additional m