| Navigating a resource browser session -> Monitor Keywords |
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Navigating a resource browser sessionRelated Patent Categories: Boots, Shoes, And Leggings, Sole-attaching Means, Wooden SolesNavigating a resource browser session description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20050257400, Navigating a resource browser session. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This is a Divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/186,933, entitled "NAVIGATING A RESOURCE BROWSER SESSION" and filed Jun. 28, 2002, which is hereby incorporated herein by this reference. [0002] This application is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/186,906, entitled "RESOURCE BROWSER SESSIONS SEARCH", and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/187,160, entitled "HYPERLINK PREVIEW UTILITY AND METHOD", both of which are hereby incorporated herein by this reference. TECHNICAL FIELD [0003] The invention relates generally to resource browsers, and more particularly to navigating through resources visited during a resource browser session. BACKGROUND [0004] Using a browser, a user may visit a large number of web sites in a single browser session. At each web site, a user may visit multiple web pages during the browser session. In some cases, a description and an address (e.g., the Uniform Resource Locator or URL) for a visited web page are saved in a sequential, stack-based "history" list, possibly allowing a user to return to a previously visited web page by selecting its description from the history list. In addition, a user can traverse the web pages in the standard history list by selecting the forward or backward buttons provided by the browser. Browsers can also be used to traverse a file system, and the history list can be used to return to a previously visited directory or file within the file system. Generally, browsers may be said to browse resources, whether on the Web, in a file system, or in some other type of data storage. [0005] Some browsers use a caching mechanism and store some or all elements of visited web pages. The main purpose of the cache is to speed up repeated loading of the page content. If a page is loaded from a web site marked as non-cacheable, no instance of such a page is stored in the cache and thus has to be loaded from the web site every time its URL is requested. [0006] Existing history lists present disadvantages that limit their usefulness. Forward/backward traversal, without relevant visual feedback, can be confusing to some users and can be time-consuming, especially on a slow connection if the page content is not cached. Furthermore, existing history lists tend to provide a limited amount of information about the previously visited resource, making it difficult for a user to know which resource to select from the history list. For example, a history list may merely indicate a top-level URL (e.g., "www.foobar.com") or web page name ("Welcome to FooBar's Web Site!"), which may have little meaning to the user. As such, existing approaches fail to provide enough information and flexibility to maximize the usefulness of history lists in browsers. [0007] Another disadvantage is that existing history lists tend to drop entire threads of previously visited resources. For example, if a user traverses down a hierarchy of resources (e.g., a directory structure) one level at a time to a resource referred to as "c:.backslash.FirstLevel.bac- kslash.SecondLevel.backslash.ThirdLevelA", presses the backward key once to return to "c:.backslash.FirstLevel.backslash.SecondLevel", and then browses to "c:.backslash.FirstLevel.backslash.SecondLevel.backslash.Third- LevelB", the browser typically drops or truncates the visit to the ThirdLevelA from the history list. Accordingly, a history list fails to provide a complete representation of the browser session navigation. [0008] Yet another disadvantage is that existing approaches do not display the resource that the user had actually viewed earlier in the browser session. For example, if a user attempts to return to a local news web page by selecting it from a history list, the browser requests the web page using its URL and retrieves an updated version of the web page from the web. As such, the web page that is displayed is a current version of the local news, which may have changed from the version that the user remembered seeing earlier in the browser session. That is, the news article in which the user was interested may have been replaced with a more current article. This undesirable updating may be even more prevalent with regard to advertisements, which can frequently change from visit to visit. If the user wishes to return to a previously viewed advertisement using an existing history list, they are likely to find a different advertisement in its place. SUMMARY [0009] Embodiments of the present invention solve the discussed problems by providing a browser session navigation tool that allows a user to browse a complete record of user navigation. A browser session navigation tool can include the fully archived content of the previously viewed resource pages, which is particularly advantageous when the content of the resource page is dynamic or there is some other need to archive the resource data (e.g., in order to share the browsed content with users who do not have access to the resources, etc.). Each visit to a resource page results in creation of a visit data structure that references (directly or indirectly) the resource page content that has been archived by the tool in archive storage. The previously viewed resource pages are represented by navigationally related visit nodes displayed in one or more trails or trees, which graphically illustrate the navigation from resource page to resource page. Resource page content may also be displayed in the visit nodes, such as a thumbnail image of the resource page. In contrast to typical browser history lists, navigation branches are not truncated. Instead, content of substantially all previously viewed resource pages is recorded in archive data storage and displayed in linear trails or branching tree structures of visit nodes. Archived resource page content may be indexed and annotated to be searchable by text, color, and other visual aspects, thereby allowing a user to search the rich record of their browsing experience during the browser session. [0010] Advantages of the browser session navigation tool can be observed with or without the persistence of the content and, thus, regardless of whether the content is static or dynamic. The linear exposition of the navigation is useful, even if the navigation data is not structured linearly. That is, the mere sequence of navigation nodes displayed linearly can provide useful feedback to a user during a browser session. [0011] In implementations of the present invention, articles of manufacture are provided as computer program products. One embodiment of a computer program product provides a computer program storage medium readable by a computer system and encoding a computer program that records browser navigation activity. Another embodiment of a computer program product may be provided in a computer data signal embodied in a carrier wave by a computing system and encoding the computer program that records browser navigation activity. [0012] The computer program product encodes a computer program for executing on a computer system a computer process for recording browser navigation activity. The computer system includes an archive memory and is connected to a communications network through which a plurality of resource pages is accessible. A navigation event indicating a visit to one of the plurality of resource pages is detected. A visit data structure representing the visit to the resource page is populated responsive to the detecting operation. The visit data structure is recorded. A page data structure that references content of the resource page is referenced, responsive to the detecting operation. The content of the resource page is persisted in the archive memory. [0013] In another implementation of the present invention, a method of recording browser navigation activity is provided. The computer system includes an archive memory and is connected to a communications network through which a plurality of resource pages is accessible. A navigation event indicating a visit to one of the plurality of resource pages is detected. A visit data structure representing the visit to the resource page is populated responsive to the detecting operation. The visit data structure is recorded. A page data structure that references content of the resource page is referenced, responsive to the detecting operation. The content of the resource page is persisted in the archive memory. [0014] In yet another embodiment of the present invention, a resource browser session navigator for recording browser navigation activity is provided. A navigation manager module detects a navigation event indicating a visit to a resource page. A resource page manager module populates a visit data structure representing the visit to the resource page and references in the visit data structure a page data structure that references content of the resource page, the content of the resource page being persistent in the archive memory. [0015] These and various other features as well as other advantages, which characterize the present invention, will be apparent from a reading of the following detailed description and a review of the associated drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0016] FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary user interface for a browser session navigation tool in an embodiment of the present invention. [0017] FIG. 2 illustrates a tree of web page nodes in an exemplary browser session. [0018] FIG. 3 depicts an alternative exemplary user interface for a browser session navigation tool in an embodiment of the present invention. [0019] FIG. 4 depicts an enlarged view of a thumbnail selected from a browser navigation bar in an embodiment of the present invention. Continue reading about Navigating a resource browser session... Full patent description for Navigating a resource browser session Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Navigating a resource browser session patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. 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