WO2007069104A1

WO2007069104A1 - System and method for opening web links in a browser application

Info

Publication number: WO2007069104A1
Application number: PCT/IB2006/054283
Authority: WO
Inventors: Eric J.B. Korber
Original assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.; U.S. Philips Corporation
Priority date: 2005-12-12
Filing date: 2006-11-15
Publication date: 2007-06-21

Abstract

A system, method and computer program product for automatically opening up a browser at a location specified by a textual representation of a link that is not a hotspot. The system and method for automatically opening up a browser at a location specified by a pointer to a textual representation of a link that is not a hotspot is performed either with or without requiring a user to select the complete text link first or select the text and copy it to the web browser. Thus, a solution is provided that enables a user to hover a cursor display over a weblink that does not constitute a hotspot and enable the user to open a menu item (e.g., by 'right- clicking' a mouse device) which has been programmed to provide a selection such as 'open in browser'. If the user selects this menu option, the text is automatically copied to the web browser and the respective web page is opened.

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR OPENING WEB LINKS IN A BROWSER APPLICATION

This invention relates generally to the field of web browsing, and in particular to a manner for viewing web pages associated with textual links that are not hotspots, i.e., not hyperlinks to a web-page or a network location (a URL).

As known, in web pages or documents in word processors or other applications, a link to a web page on the internet often acts as a hotspot, where the user can open the referred page by clicking on the link. Sometimes, however, references to web sites are mentioned, but the reference does not act as a hotspot. When the user tries to click on the link, nothing happens because it is just plain text.

Thus, a problem exists in that if the text to the referred page does not act as a hotspot, and the user wants to open or navigate to that referred page, the user must select the text representing the link, and copy it into the web browser in order to view the web page that is referred to by that text. This requires careful manipulation of a cursor to highlight the appropriate text corresponding to the link to be selected and, a couple of user steps for copying and pasting it into an opened web browser application.

It would be highly desirable to provide a system and method for automatically opening up a browser at a location specified by a textual representation of a link that is not a hotspot.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a system and method for automatically opening up a browser at a location specified by a textual representation of a link that is not a hotspot.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a system and method for automatically opening up a browser at a location specified by a textual representation of a link that is not a hotspot that is accomplished either with or without requiring a user to select the complete link first or select the text and copy it to the web browser. Thus, if a mouse cursor is hovering somewhere inside the reference, a program selects the link or other reference and copies it into the browser. Further to these objects, a solution is provided that enables a user to hover a cursor display over a weblink that does not constitute a hotspot and enable the user to open a menu item (e.g., by "right-clicking" a mouse device) which has been programmed to provide a selection such as "open in browser". If the user selects this menu option, the browser is started from the command line with the selected text provided as an argument.

According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a system, method and computer program product for opening a web browser at a desired URL. The method comprises: selecting text representing a link to a web page, the text not constituting a hyperlink to that web page; providing a menu option for opening up a browser application at a specified URL represented by the link; and selecting the menu option for opening up a browser application, whereby the web browser is automatically opened and the web-page automatically accessed via the web browser at the location represented by the link.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a system, method and computer program product for accessing a web-page. The method comprises: selecting text from a selectable format displayed in a computer system display device, the text representing a link to a web page but not constituting a hyperlink to that web page; providing a menu option for opening up a browser application at a specified URL represented by the link, and executing a program in response to selecting the menu option, the program for receiving the selected text and passing the text to a routine for automatically opening up a web browser application at a specified URL represented by the link, whereby the web-page is automatically accessed via the web browser at the location represented by the link. Advantageously, the invention provides methods, apparatus and systems for opening a link in a web browser in a manner that is easily and more efficiently implemented by a user. For example, the user is not required to select the complete link first, but has the displayed mouse cursor somewhere inside the link, after which the software program selects the link itself and copies it into the browser. The objects, features and advantages of the invention are understood within the context of the description of the preferred embodiments, as set forth below. The description of the preferred embodiments is understood within the context of the accompanying drawings, which form a material part of this disclosure, wherein:

Figure 1 illustrates method steps 10 for implementing the "open link in browser" menu selection choice in a system that accesses web pages according to the invention;

Figures 2A and 2B depict an example implementation of the present invention; and,

Figure 3 depicts an example computer system architecture 100 in which the system and method of the invention is implemented. Aspects of the invention will be described with reference to Figure 1, which is a schematic diagram of a method 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As will be described in greater detail herein, the present invention can be implemented differently depending on the context in which it is applied, for example in an application like MS Word, or an application like Microsoft Internet Explorer^®. One exemplary embodiment is an implementation for a web browser such as Internet Explorer^®, which allows for the addition of menu items to the menu that appears when right clicking the mouse in the Internet Explorer. The present invention can be implemented in other web browser devices that will accept the link being passed to the browser as a command line argument such as Mozilla, FireFox, Netscape, Avant, MaxThon, NetCaptor, etc.. According to the invention, one embodiment allowing for the addition of menu items to the menu that appears when right clicking the mouse in an Internet Explorer display, includes the provision of a registry editor by a computing system in which the present invention is employed. For example, in an exemplary a Windows-based operating system implementation, e.g., Windows 2000, a registry editor is executed by selecting Start>Run> "regedit".

To create an extra menu item (via regedit) it is understood that a default value is to be provided with the location of the file containing the functionality to be executed when the extra menu item is clicked.

Thus, according to the invention, a first step implements creating a new key, using the text desired to be displayed in the context menu as the name, under:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Intemet Explorer\MenuExt The result looks like:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\MenuExt\<Menu Text

with <Menu Text> being replaced with the text that is desired to be displayed in the context menu. In the present invention, the context menu selection text is replaced with text associated with the functionality to be employed such as the following text: "Open link in browser". The default value of the key is then set to the URL of the page that contains the script to be executed by the context menu entry. An exemplary script that may be executed in to open up the link in the browser is described in greater detail hereinbelow. Generally, this script can obtain the parent window object, the screen where the context menu item was executed, from the menuArguments property of the external object. As will be described in greater detail, this property is accessible only through script (program) specified in the registry for a new context menu entry as is available for Internet Explorer. The menuArguments property returns an object reference of the window where the context menu was opened.

Figure 1 depicts the steps 10 for implementing the "open link in browser" menu selection choice in a system that accesses web pages. As shown in Figure 1 at first step 12, the user makes text selection containing the required URL from a document, for instance. Then, after highlighting the URL text, at step 14, the user opens the context menu, e.g., by right-clicking and selecting 'Open link in browser' menu choice option as created in the manner as described herein. Selection of this option causes execution of the script found in the URL cited as the key default value as set in context menu entry. In Figure 1 , the script in "openlinkinbrowser.html" as indicated at step 16, includes steps for: obtaining the text selected at step 12 and storing it in a variable; and, at step 18, implementing a second part in "openlinkinbrowser.html" including steps of: starting Internet Explorer with the value of this variable passed as an argument to the application.

One embodiment of a script to be executed in "openlinkinbrowser.html" is now provided in detail as a Javascript program, however, it is understood that this script may be programmed in a variety of ways.

//========= PART 1 Get the text from the selection and store it in a variable // Get the window object where the context menu was opened. // The menuArguments property returns an object reference of the window where the context menu was opened var oWindow = window.external. menuArguments;

// Get the document object exposed through oWindow. // The Document object provides access to the elements in an HTML page from within a script. // This includes the properties of every form, and the ability to get selections

var oDocument = oWindow.document;

// Get the selection from oDocument.

// in oDocument.

// Internet Explorer 4.Ox features a document. selection object which encapsulates a property

// and several methods that handle selections. The selection object provides information about

// the text and elements the user has currently highlighted with the mouse.

// This can be very useful if you want to perform some action based upon what the user has selected.

var oSelect = oDocument. selection; // Create a TextRange from oSelect.

// Creates a TextRange object from the current text selection var oSelectRange = oSelect. createRangeQ;

// Get the text of the selection, var sNewText = oSelectRange.text;

H========= PART 2 Start the browser with the variable containing the selected text as an argument =====

// new ActiveXObject enables and returns a reference to an Automation object. // Automation objects follow a standardized protocol to expose functionality of a program to other pieces of software

// Among the many clients of automation objects are JavaScript in MS- lnternet Explorer (this script) // You create a WshShell object whenever you want to run a program locally var shell = new ActiveXObject("WScript.Shell");

// run iexplorer shell. run("iexplore.exe " + sNewText );

</SCRIPT>

Thus, according to the invention, an *.html file (e.g., "openinbrowser.html") is provided with the script contents as described herein. In a registry editor provided with the computing system, the value for the key is easily specified as the openinbrowser.html file. In one implementation this is achieved by selecting the key ("default" icon) appearing on the right side of the registry editor, right clicking on "default" and choosing "Modify". In this manner, the path to this html file may be specified, which may be a locally stored file e.g., at a location such as: C:\patents\open link in browser\openinbrowser.html. In testing the functionality of the "open link in browser", as shown in Figure

2A, a portion of a webpage 25 is depicted having a link 27 that does not constitute a hotspot. This file is attached and is called "test open in browser.html". An exemplary web-browser screenshot 50 is provided in Figure 2B that depicts the functionality provided by the new menu choice of the invention that generates a new instance of explorer that is initiated to include the selected webpage associated with that link 27. As shown in Figure 2B, by right clicking the link 27 not constituting a hot spot, a drop down menu 30 is provided having the new menu choice 35 for executing the script in the generated "openlinkinbrowser.html" file provided in accordance with the present invention.

In the embodiment depicted in Figure 2B, Internet Explorer was used due to its relative ease as being configurable. It should be understood that it is possible to add menu items with the same functionality to other Microsoft applications that are configurable, e.g., MS Word.

Further in the example embodiment depicted in Figure 2B, the script as in openinbrowser.html starts explorer with the command shell.run("iexplore.exe" + sNewText ); where sNewText contains the webpage that should be opened. Internet Explorer works in this way because it accepts arguments from the command line and the same may be achieved by starting internet explorer from the start menu by entering, for example, "iexplore http ://www.philips.com" .

In additional embodiments, it is contemplated that instead of starting an application that is able to browse webpages like Windows Explorer directly, another application may be started that does some string (argument) checking / editing. In this manner, the application is opened after the URL string has been checked for its validity and has automatically been edited. This is because some applications accept only valid links that satisfy certain conditions. For example, if instead of Internet Explorer, Windows Explorer is opened with a link that is not valid (for example Start>Run "explore Welcome"), an error message is generated. Therefore such an application validates the correctness of the link, matches the applications argument format by additional editing and prevents starting the application with invalid arguments. In any case the substring "http://" or http://www. should be present in the string. This is because in many cases references to websites starting without "http://www." will not be accepted by for example Windows Explorer. It is understood that Internet Explorer demonstrates more robust behaviour compared to Windows Explorer when fed with arguments that would result in the display of an error message in Windows Explorer and failing to start up this application. For example, starting Internet Explorer by executing the command "iexplore philips.com" even without the "http://" and the "www" will still open to the correct page. If a page is opened that does not exist, the browser will still be started and the error will be displayed in the internet browser saying "The page cannot be displayed".

As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art, embodiments of the present invention may be provided as methods, systems, or computer program products. Accordingly, the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects.

Furthermore, the present invention may take the form of a computer program product, which is embodied on one or more computer-usable storage media (including, but not limited to, disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, magnetic storage, and so forth) having computer-usable program code embodied therein. Thus, as shown in Figure 3, there is depicted a typical data processing system for implementing the present invention. As shown in Figure 3, the system comprises a computer workstation 100 having one or more processors or processing units 110. A typical central processing unit (CPU) 110 may comprise an Intel Pentium^® series or IBM's PowerPC^® microprocessors and is interconnected to various other components by system bus 101 that connects various system components together. An operating system 112 runs on CPU 110 and provides control and is used to coordinate the function of the various components of FIG. 3. Operating system 112 may be one of the commercially available operating systems including, but not limited to: comprise Linux, Unix and like operating systems, Macintosh, MS Windows^® OS, OS/2, and the like.

The computing system 100 additionally includes: computer readable media, including a variety of types of volatile and non- volatile media, each of which can be removable or non-removable. A read only memory (ROM) 151 is connected to CPU 110, via bus 101 and includes the basic input/output system (BIOS) that controls the basic computer functions, e.g., the basic routines that help to transfer information between elements within computer device 100, such as during start-up. A Random Access Memory (RAM) 150 is also interconnected to system bus 101. The RAM 150 typically contains data and/or program modules in a form that can be quickly accessed by processing unit. It should be noted that software components, i.e. the operating system 112 and applications 114 including a web browser application, are loaded into RAM 150, which is the computer system's main memory. That is, the readable media can store the operating system (O/S) 112, one or more application programs 114, such as the browser opening script (program), and/or other program modules and program data for opening up the web browser to a specified URL according to the invention.

Other kinds of computer readable media 105 for storing programs and other applications data include a hard disk drive 105 for reading from and writing to a non- removable, non- volatile magnetic media, a magnetic disk drive for reading from and writing to a removable, non-volatile magnetic disk (e.g., a "floppy disk"), and an optical disk drive for reading from and/or writing to a removable, non-volatile optical disk such as a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, or other optical media. The hard disk drive, magnetic disk drive, and optical disk drive can be connected to the system bus 101 by a SCSI interface (not shown), or other coupling mechanism. Although not shown, the computer 100 can include other types of computer readable media. Generally, the above-identified computer readable media provide non- volatile storage of computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, and other data for use by computer 100. It is understood that the bus structure 101 connecting the processor 110 to the system memory 150 can be implemented using any kind of bus structure or combination of bus structures, including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, an accelerated graphics port, and a processor or local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures such as ISA bus, an Enhanced ISA (EISA) bus, and a Peripheral Component Interconnects (PCI) bus or like bus device. Additionally, the computer system 100 includes one or more monitors 19 and, operator input devices such as a keyboard, and a pointing device (e.g., a "mouse") for entering commands and information into computer, data storage devices, and the like. Further components interconnected to CPU 110, via bus 101 include I/O adapter 146 that may be a small computer system interface (SCSI) adapter that communicates with the computer readable media in the form of a disk storage device 105, e.g., a hard drive. Communications adapters 29, 39 are additionally interconnected to CPU 110, via bus 101. Particularly, communications adapter 39 interconnects bus 101 with an outside network enabling the workstation to communicate with Web servers to receive document pages over a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN) which includes, of course, the internet or World Wide Web. I/O devices are also connected to system bus 101 via user interface adapter 145 and a display adapter 135. A keyboard, printer and/or mouse device may all be interconnected to bus 101 through user interface adapter 145. Display adapter 135 includes a frame buffer (not shown) which is a storage device that holds a representation of each pixel on the display monitor 19. Images may be stored in frame buffer for display on monitor 19 through various components such as a digital to analog converter (not shown) and the like. By using the aforementioned I/O devices, a user is capable of inputting data and other information to the system through the mouse or like device (e.g., a trackball) to make a text selection via display 19 according to the invention.

Input/output interfaces 145, 146 are provided that couple the input devices and data storage devices to the processing unit 110. More generally, input devices can be coupled to the computer 100 through any kind of interface and bus structures, such as a parallel port, serial port, universal serial bus (USB) port, etc. The computer environment 100 also includes the display device 19 and the display adapter 135 that couples the display device 19 to the bus 101. In addition to the display device 19, the computer environment 100 can include other output peripheral devices, such as speakers (not shown), a printer, etc. I/O interfaces 145 are used to couple these other output devices to the computer 100.

Computing system 100 is further adapted to operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more other computers that may include all of the features discussed above with respect to computer device 100, or some subset thereof. It is understood that any type of network can be used to couple the computer system 100 with server device 20, such as a local area network (LAN), or a wide area network (WAN) 99 (such as the Internet). When implemented in a LAN networking environment, the computer 100 connects to a local network via a network interface or adapter 29, e.g., supporting Ethernet or like network communications protocols. When implemented in a wide area network (WAN) networking environment, the computer 100 may connect to a WAN 99 via a high speed cable/dsl modem 180 or some other connection means. The cable/dsl modem 180 can be located internal or external to computer 100, and can be connected to the bus 101 via the I/O interfaces 39 or other appropriate coupling mechanism. Although not illustrated, the computing environment 100 can provide wireless communication functionality for connecting computer 100 with other networked remote devices (e.g., via modulated radio signals, modulated infrared signals, etc.).

In the networked environment, it is understood that the computer system 100 can draw from program modules stored in a remote memory storage devices (not shown) in a distributed configuration.

The present invention has been described with reference to flow diagrams and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each flow and/or block of the flow diagrams and/or block diagrams, and combinations of flows and/or blocks in the flow diagrams and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, embedded processor or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions specified in the flow diagram flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks. These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer- readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function specified in the flow diagram flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer- readable or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flow diagram flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

While it is apparent that the invention herein disclosed is well calculated to fulfill the objects stated above, it will be appreciated that numerous modifications and embodiments may be devised by those skilled in the art and it is intended that the appended claims cover all such modifications and embodiments as fall within the true spirit and scope of the present invention.

The specification and drawings are accordingly to be regarded in an illustrative manner and are not intended to limit the scope of the appended claims.

In interpreting the appended claims, it should be understood that: a) the word "comprising" does not exclude the presence of other elements or acts than those listed in a given claim; b) the word "a" or "an" preceding an element does not exclude the presence of a plurality of such elements; c) any reference signs in the claims do not limit their scope; d) several "means" may be represented by the same item or hardware or software implemented structure or function; e) any of the disclosed elements may be comprised of hardware portions (e.g., including discrete and integrated electronic circuitry), software portions (e.g., computer programming), and any combination thereof; f) hardware portions may be comprised of one or both of analog and digital portions; g) any of the disclosed devices or portions thereof may be combined together or separated into further portions unless specifically stated otherwise; and h) no specific sequence of acts is intended to be required unless specifically indicated.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A method for opening a web browser at a desired URL comprising: selecting text representing a link to a web page, said text not constituting a hyperlink to that web page; providing a menu option for opening up a browser application at a specified URL represented by said link; and selecting said menu option for opening up a browser application, whereby said web browser is automatically opened and said web-page automatically accessed via said web browser at the location represented by said link.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said selecting text representing a link comprises: selecting the complete link using a cursor display device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said selecting text representing a link comprises: hovering a cursor display at a location inside said text link prior to providing said menu option, wherein said text is selected without requiring a user to select the complete text link first or select the text and copy it to the web browser.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein said menu selection is provided by right-clicking a mouse device at said location inside said text link.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein responsive to selecting said menu option, implementing a program to select the text, said program importing into a routine said selected text representing a link from a displayed text selection, said routine for opening a new web browser application instance.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein said program executes computer-implemented code for: obtaining a window object where a context menu is opened and returning an object reference of the window where the context menu was opened; and, retrieving a document object exposed through the Window and providing access to said text.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein said selected text is imported as an element from a web page, an opened word processing document, or other displayed application.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein said program executes computer-implemented code for: implementing a document selection object that provides information about the text and elements the user has currently indicated by the displayed cursor; creating a TextRange object from the current text selection; and, storing said text in a variable.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said automatically opening said web browser comprises: creating an object responsible for initiating opening said web browser with the variable containing the selected text as an argument.

10. A data structure for use by a computer system for opening a web browser comprising: a first data portion comprising text representing a link to a web page but not constituting a hyperlink to that web page; and, a second data portion for initiating a command for automatically opening up the browser at a specified URL represented by said first portion link, whereby said web-page is automatically accessed via a new instance of a web browser at the location represented by said link.

11. The data structure as claimed in Claim 10, comprising: an execution command for opening a new web browser application instance, and, a variable including text representing a link to a web page to be opened by said new web browser application instance.

12. The data structure as claimed in Claim 9, wherein said web browser application comprises one selected from the group comprising: Internet Explorer, Mozilla, FireFox, Netscape, Avant, MaxThon, NetCaptor, and Slim.

13. A method for accessing a web-page comprising: selecting text from a selectable format displayed in a computer system display device, said text representing a link to a web page but not constituting a hyperlink to that web page; providing a menu option for opening up a browser application at a specified URL represented by said link, and executing a program in response to selecting said menu option, said program for receiving said selected text and passing said text to a routine for automatically opening up a web browser application at a specified URL represented by said link, whereby said web-page is automatically accessed via said web browser at the location represented by said link.

14. The method as claimed in Claim 13, wherein said selecting text representing a link comprises: selecting the complete link using a cursor display device.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein said selecting text representing a link comprises: hovering a cursor display at a location inside said text link prior to providing said menu option, wherein said text is selected without requiring a user to select the complete text link first or select the text and copy it to the web browser.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein said menu selection is provided by right-clicking a mouse device at said location inside said text link.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein responsive to selecting said menu option, said program enabling selection of said text, and importing said selected text representing a link from a displayed text selection into said routine for opening a new web browser application instance.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein said program comprises computer-implemented code for: obtaining a window object where a context menu is opened and returning an object reference of the window where the context menu was opened; and, retrieving a document object exposed through the Window and providing access to said text.

19. A computer readable medium tangibly embodying a set of instructions readable and executable by a machine to perform method steps for accessing a web-page, the method steps comprising: selecting text representing a link to a web page, said text not constituting a hyperlink to that web page; providing a menu option for opening up a browser application at a specified URL represented by said link, and selecting said menu option for opening up a browser application, whereby said web browser is automatically opened and said web-page automatically accessed via said web browser at the location represented by said link.

20. A computer readable medium tangibly embodying a set of instructions readable and executable by a machine to perform method steps for accessing a web-page, the method steps comprising: selecting text from a selectable format displayed in a computer system display device, said text representing a link to a web page but not constituting a hyperlink to that web page; providing a menu option for opening up a browser application at a specified URL represented by said link; and executing a program in response to selecting said menu option, said program for receiving said selected text and passing said text to a routine for automatically opening up a web browser application at a specified URL represented by said link, whereby said web-page is automatically accessed via said web browser at the location represented by said link.

21. The computer readable medium as claimed in Claim 20, wherein said method step of selecting text representing a link comprises: selecting the complete link using a cursor display device.

22. The computer readable medium as claimed in Claim 20, wherein said method step of selecting text representing a link comprises: hovering a cursor display at a location inside said text link prior to providing said menu option, wherein said text is selected without requiring a user to select the complete text link first or select the text and copy it to the web browser.

23. The computer readable medium as claimed in Claim 22, wherein said menu selection is provided by right-clicking a mouse device at said location inside said text link.

24. The computer readable medium as claimed in Claim 23, wherein responsive to selecting said menu option, said program enabling selection of said text, and importing said selected text representing a link from a displayed text selection into said routine for opening a new web browser application instance.