IE20060012A1

IE20060012A1 - A graphical view of favourite websites

Info

Publication number: IE20060012A1
Application number: IE20060012A
Authority: IE
Inventors: Alan Kilduff
Original assignee: Alan Kilduff
Priority date: 2006-01-10
Filing date: 2006-01-10
Publication date: 2007-07-11

Abstract

A server or set of servers connected to the internet hold a plurality of lists of favourite websites for a pluarality of users in a datastore. They also hold a set of pictures which show the content of each of the websites. A picture acquisition process is constantly executing on the server(s). This process cycles through the complete list of all websites picking the ones that have been least recently updated. The process will visit each website and create a picture of what the website is currently displaying. If the picture is differentfrom the last recorded picture then the picture associated with the website will be updated to reference this new picture. The user interacts with the server(s)through his internet web browser and will be presented with a graphical list of his favourite websites, showing the most recently available picture of the content of each bebsite. From this list the user can click on a picture to access the actual website.

Description

Field of the Invention The invention relates to managing and displaying lists of favourite websites for multiple internet users.

Prior Art Discussion The use of the Internet has become prolific with hundreds of millions of users accessing millions of websites each day. Many users access the same set of websites over and over again, for example : Search News websites Sports websites Online shopping Online banking This personalised list is referred to as the users' 'Favourites' and is usually stored on the users' own computer. It is the objective of the invention to present this list in a constantly updated graphical form to the user from a server connected to the Internet.

Summary Of The Invention According to the present invention there is provided a system for storing a plurality of lists of websites and creating constantly updated images of those websites and presenting them back to the users via their internet web browsers .

In accordance with a preferred embodiment, a server or set of servers is connected to the Internet. An interface is provided so that users can input or upload their own list of websites to the servers. A datastore is provided to hold this set of records. One or more of the servers runs a process which goes to each of these websites as listed in the set of records and takes a picture of the website. The picture is stored and the records are updated to reference the picture. When the user accesses his list of websites from his internet web browser he will see thumbnail images of his websites. From here he can click on any of them to proceed to the actual website. This is advantageous in that it gives him an instant overview of the current status of a number of websites and from this he can make his selection. It is also advantageous in that he can do this from any computer so long as it has a web browser and internet access .

The system will only create a new picture of a website if the content on that website has changed. If a new picture is taken then it will be given a new and unique filename so that caching mechanisms in the users' browser will not prevent the display of the new and updated picture in the users' internet web browser.

The system will cycle through the total list of unique websites updating the pictures for the ones with the least recently updated pictures or for newly added websites. -3 Οββ 0 Newly added websites have higher priority and are processed first.

The system has the ability to deal with multiple users and to hold lists of websites and pictures specific to each individual user.

The system may additionally include a plugin for different browsers. This plugin extension to the browser enables the synchronisation between the list of favourite websites on the users' computer and the equivalent list of the internet server datastore.

The browser plugin extension may additionally include a feature to allow the user to add the website he is currently viewing to his list of websites on the internet server datastore.

Detailed Description Of The Invention The invention is more clearly understood from the following description of a preferred embodiment which is given with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic representation of an interface between the system and a plurality of users or clients who are subscribed to the system. Through his internet web browser 103 the user may define his list of favourite websites. This is communicated to the system using the web application 100 which in turn will save the list of websites in the datastore 101. There is a unique identifier 4 IE 060 0 ig for the user associated with the list that is stored in the datastore 101. The constantly executing picture acquiring process 102 will identify that there are new websites in the datastore 101 and will visit and acquire pictures of these websites and store them as graphic images 103. When the user refreshes his browser 103 he will now see thumbnail images of his list of favourite websites. The picture acquiring process 102 will continue to cycle through all websites listed in the datastore 101 and will continue to update the pictures 104 if the content of the website has changed since the last iteration.

Fig. 2 shows a process flow associated with a user initially adding favourite websites. Through the internet web browser interface or web browser plugin the user adds a website 200 to his list. The name of the website , the website address and other optional information about the website is added 201 to the datastore and referenced back to the user by a unique identification code for the user. The system will then check 202 to see if this website is already listed in the datastore (under any user identifier). If a record of the website already exists in the datastore then the previously acquired picture will be used 203 for this instance of the website. If it does not exist 205 then the record will be marked as not having a picture yet. Subsequently the picture acquisition process will see this record in the datastore and update the picture of the website. -5IE 060 012 Fig. 3 shows a process flow associated with the picture acquisition process. This is constantly executing a cyclical process. After starting it will query 300 the datastore to identify which is the least recently updated picture of a website or as a higher priority a website which has never had a picture acquired and associated with it. It will then execute a process 301 which will use a internet web browser control to visit the website and take a picture of the content that is displayed on that website at that moment in time. This picture is now compared 302 with the last picture that had been taken and stored for that website. If the pictures are the same (the content had not changed) then all records in the datastore which point to this website will have their last updated timestamp set to the current time 307 in order to make sure that they are not processed immediately again but instead move lower down the list for the cyclic processing. The process will go back to the top 300 and the next website will be selected according to the last updated or never updated criteria. If the website content had changed and the pictures were different 302 then the new picture will be saved using a new unique filename 303. The datastore will be updated so that all records which point to this website are now associated with this new picture 304 and the their last updated timestamp is set to the current time 305. Finally the old (previous) picture associated with this website is deleted and the process will go back to the top 300 and the next website will be selected according to the last updated or never updated criteria IE 0 6 0 0 1 g Fig. 4 shows a process flow associated with a user connecting to the system to view his list of favourite websites. The user connects to the system 400 via an internet web browser using standard HTTP protocols. When a user connects the system will check 401 to see if the unique user identification was passed in the URL - in one embodiment this would be default.aspx?ID=123ABCD where 123ABCD is the unique identifier for the user. If this identifier is not found in the URL then the system will check the browser cookies to see if the user identifier is present 402. If the user identifier is not present in the web browser cookies then the system will create a new unique identifier for this user 403 and will save this identifier in the web browser cookies 404 so that the user will be remembered on his next visit. Then a welcome page will be displayed for this user and options are given for the user to start to add his favourite websites 408. If the user identifier was found in the URL 401 or the web browser cookies 402 then the system will query the datastore to find all the websites 406 associated with the homepage of this user. The system will then build a page with thumbnail images of these websites 407 and display this back to the user. The page will include links from the thumbnail images of the websites to the actual websites themselves. -7aims °60 0 12

Claims

1. A system for storing a plurality of lists of websites in a datastore combined with a picture acquisition process creating constantly updated pictures of those websites, and the appropriate pictures are presented back to the users via their internet web browsers.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein only pictures of websites associated with a specific user are listed and displayed for that user.

3. The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein only websites where the content has changed have their associated pictures updated with a new and unique name.

4. . The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the user of the system can select different sizes for the pictures of websites specific to that user.

5. The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the use of the system can select the number of pictures of websites per row to be displayed.

6. The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein a list of websites for a specific user and their associated pictures may be subdivided and categorised in a hierarchical structure of folders and sub-folders. 8 IE °600i 2 The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the picture acquisition engine constantly cycles through the entire list of all websites in the system, selecting website pictures to update on the basis of whether a 5 picture was (a) ever taken of the website or (b) when the last picture was taken of the website.

7. 8. The system as claimed in claim 7 wherein a picture (graphic image) is taken of the current content of the

8. 10 website and if the content has changed since the last picture taken by the system then a new and unique filename is created for this picture and a reference to this new filename is set in the records associated with this website in the datastore.