JP2007179282A - Web page browsing history management device and its control method, as well as computer program and computer-readable storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To store change of a Web page covering respective browsers while allowing multiple browsers to start, to display the change to be visually selectable, and to easily redisplay the Web page which has been displayed by the past operation. <P>SOLUTION: URL of the displayed Web page and page information for specifying the displaying browser are stored by being associated with a Web page and a browser before displaying the Web page. Based on the stored information, icons corresponding to respective Web pages are displayed in a tree structure. When the icon is selected according to the operations of a return button 35 and a forward button 36, or a direct instruction of a user, the Web page is displayed by reading the page information corresponding to the icon and setting the URL in the corresponding browser. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for browsing content possessed by a Web server installed on a network such as the Internet or an intranet.

  Recently, electronic devices such as PCs and mobile phones are usually equipped with a network communication function. This is to browse a homepage of a Web server on the Internet and use electronic mail.

  Usually, this homepage browsing process is performed using a Web browser (hereinafter simply referred to as a browser). When a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) describing a web site (Web server) address on the Internet and a file of the home page is key-input, the browser accesses the Web site according to the HTTP protocol. As a result, the browser downloads the corresponding HTML file, interprets the description (generally in tag format) in the file, downloads additional files as needed, and graphically displays the contents in the window. To do.

  By the way, except for the case where a search engine finds a desired Web page, it is inevitable that the URL is accessed for the first time. However, it is troublesome to input a URL character string from the keyboard. Moreover, it is easy to cause a key input mistake. Therefore, most browsers have a function of registering and holding a URL designated by the user as a “bookmark (favorite)”. The next time the browser is launched, the registered list is displayed so that it can be selected, and by selecting one of them, the corresponding website is accessed as if the URL was entered with the keyboard, Can be browsed.

On the other hand, a text file of a home page often includes a description for accessing another home page. Usually, this description often uses the expression “link is established”. When the user designates a location where a link is being displayed with a pointing device such as a mouse, another home page is displayed according to the description of the URL of the link location. Therefore, for the user, it is possible to browse different home pages one after another by designating a link position in a predetermined home page. At this time, the user wants to display the home page of the link source that displays the currently displayed home page, or when the home page of the link source is displayed, the displayed home page of the link destination of the home page is displayed again There is a request to display. In order to meet this demand, many browsers have a function of temporarily storing the URL of the home page whenever the displayed home page changes immediately after the browser is started. Then, the URL temporarily stored in accordance with the operation of the “return” and “forward” buttons provided in the display window of the browser is read and re-accessed (in many cases, the cache area is provided so that the cache is stored). Many of them access the area) and redisplay. The storage of the URL here is temporary as described above, and is discarded when the browser is terminated. Since the URL registered as the “bookmark” described above is stored and held unless the user instructs to delete it, it can be said that the manner of storage is contrastive. Patent Document 1 discloses a tree display of the reference history of these single browser screens. The purpose of these is to make the reference location of the screen of each page browser referred to more faithfully, including the case of branching, by the operation of the “forward / return” button.
JP 2003-44392 A

  Now, when browsing a home page using a browser, when a link to the home page is instructed, a new browser is activated and the linked home page may be displayed in the window. This is because there is a description for displaying another window in the description of the link.

  FIG. 1 shows a browser browsing sequence in the prior art. In the figure, Hx (x = 1, 2,...) Indicates a homepage (hereinafter simply referred to as a page).

  In the figure, when the browser A is activated, the page H1 is displayed in the window. Then, a link being displayed is designated, a character string of a URL is keyed, or a URL registered in a bookmark is designated, and the pages are displayed in order of pages H1, H2, H3, and H4. FIG. 1 shows that the page H2 is displayed by operating “Return” described above twice, and that the page H5 is displayed by designating the link portion in the page H2. .

  Also, in the figure, when the page H5 is displayed in the window of the browser A, when the user designates some link portion in the page H5, the browser B, which is a different screen from the browser A, is activated, and the browser The page H6 is displayed in the window B.

  In the window of browser B, the display advances to page H6 by any of the instruction inputs described above, and the “return” button is operated to display page H6. Then, by designating some link portion with respect to the window of the page H6, the browser C which is a different screen from the browser A and the browser B is further activated, and the page H8 is displayed in the browser C window. Yes. In browser C, pages H8 to H9 are displayed.

  In the above example, the pages H5, H6, and H9 indicated by the hatched lines in the figure are displayed in the windows of the three browsers A, B, and C. Browser A temporarily stores URLs of pages H1 to H5, browser B temporarily stores pages H6 and H7, and browser C temporarily stores URLs of pages H8 and H9. Therefore, for example, in order to display the page H2, it is not possible for the user to display the page H2 by switching the window of the browser A to active (displaying in front of the screen) and operating the “return” button. is there. However, this is based on the premise that the user has stored his past operations and past display contents for each browser. In other words, if the memory is ambiguous, trial and error operations of the “return” button and “forward” button of each displayed browser window must be performed.

  On the other hand, when browsing the homepage, the number of windows displayed gradually may increase as described above, for example, for the purpose of comparing descriptions of a plurality of Web pages for a certain theme. . Some users may get in the way when the number of windows increases, and therefore some windows may be terminated.

  It should be noted here that each browser temporarily stores URLs that can be transitioned using the “return” button and the “forward” button only for the URLs of pages displayed in its own window. Is a point. Accordingly, if the browser A in FIG. 1 is terminated, the page (for example, the page H2 or the page displayed on the browser A) is simply operated by operating the “return” or “forward” button in the browser B or C window. H4 etc.) cannot be displayed.

  The present invention has been made in view of such problems. In other words, it is possible to memorize the transition of web pages across browsers while allowing a plurality of browsers to be activated, and display them in a visually selectable manner. It is intended to provide a technique for easily redisplaying a page.

In order to solve this problem, for example, the Web page browsing history management apparatus of the present invention has the following configuration. That is,
A web page browsing history management device,
In a browser for browsing a Web page, a browser that specifies URL information of the new Web page and a browser that displays the new Web page each time a new Web page is displayed in response to a user instruction input Browsing history information storage means for storing page information composed of specific information in association with page information of a parent Web page where the new Web page is displayed;
Based on each page information stored in the browsing history information storage means, browsing history display means for displaying an icon or a reduced image indicating each Web page in combination with a tree structure;
When one of the Web page icons or reduced images in the tree structure displayed by the browsing history display means is selected by the user, the page information of the corresponding Web page is acquired from the browsing history information storage means, Setting means for displaying the selected web page in the selected browser by setting the URL of the web page corresponding to the browser to be operated.

  According to the present invention, while allowing a plurality of browsers to be activated, the transition of the Web page across the browsers is stored, displayed so as to be visually selectable, and displayed by past operations. An experienced Web page can be easily displayed again.

  Hereinafter, embodiments according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the information terminal in the embodiment. In the embodiment, a PC (personal computer) will be described as an example of the information terminal. However, the information terminal may be a mobile terminal such as a mobile phone or a PDA, and the type thereof is not limited.

  In the figure, this apparatus includes a CPU 1, a ROM 2, a RAM 3, an HDD (hard disk) 4 as an external storage device, a keyboard, and a pointing device (PD) 5. In addition, this apparatus includes a video memory, a display control unit 6 that outputs drawing data to the video memory and data read from the video memory as a video signal, and a display device 7 that receives and displays the video signal. The apparatus further includes a network interface 8 for communicating with the Internet or an intranet.

  When the apparatus is turned on, the CPU 1 loads the operating system (OS) stored in the HDD 4 in accordance with the BIOS and boot program stored in the ROM 2 to the RAM 3 and functions as an information processing apparatus. The HDD 4 stores a browser program and a browser management program 40 that is a characteristic part of the embodiment. In addition to this, various applications and data files are stored. However, since they are not directly related to the present invention, they are not shown and description thereof is omitted.

  As the browser program 4a, Internet Explorer (registered trademark), Netscape (registered trademark), Mozilla (registered trademark), and Opera (registered commercial law) are known, and any of them may be used.

  The browser management program 40 in the embodiment is composed of two modules. One is a module added to the browser program 4a, and monitors the browser program. The other is a module that stores and manages the browsing history of the browser program and sets the activation of the browser and the URL from the outside. Hereinafter, the former is called a monitoring module and the latter is called a management module.

  The monitoring module determines whether the homepage being browsed by the browser is the result of inputting the URL character string from the keyboard, or the result of instructing the link of the page that was displayed before that. It is discriminated whether or not the URL is the result of selecting the URL registered in "." Also, pressing of a “return” button and a “forward” button provided on the browser is also monitored. Furthermore, it is monitored whether an instruction for starting another independent browser has been executed. When any of the above is detected, the management module is notified of the character string of the URL to be displayed thereafter and information indicating the operation content.

  The management module receives this notification and stores it in the RAM 3 as history information. At this time, a number of browsers may be running. Therefore, when a notification is received, it is detected from which browser the notification is made, and history information is stored together with information for specifying the browser. At this time, detection from which browser the received notification is the notification (identification of the notification source browser) is performed by the following method. When the browser is activated, the monitoring module added into the browser sets a logical port for communication with the management module. When receiving the notification, the management module identifies the notification source browser by this port number. However, other methods may be used.

  Here, the outline of the management program in this embodiment will be described.

  The management module receives the notification from the monitoring program as described above, and stores and manages the history information.

  In order to simplify the description, the transition of the browser shown in FIG. 1 is cited here.

  The management program in the present embodiment stores and manages as integrated history information straddling between successive pages and browsers when sequentially storing notifications from the monitoring program added to each browser, and managing it in one window GUI display.

  Two types of display formats were prepared as shown in FIG. A tree structure window 30 and the other is a list structure window 31. For these switching operations, the “display switching” button shown in the figure is moved to the position of the cursor linked to the pointing device and a button provided on the pointing device is pressed (hereinafter, this series of operations is simply referred to as “click”). Do it.

  The tree structure window 30 shows the transition of the page along the time axis of the page displayed by the browser (the “back” button is excluded from the time axis) in an icon or reduced image format, and is displayed by any browser The frames 30a, 30b, and 30c for displaying the frame are displayed. Note that. Since it is sufficient if the browser can be distinguished, it is desirable to change the color of the frame or icon or the color of the outer frame of the reduced image for each type of browser. Further, a line connecting icons indicating pages or reduced images is represented by three types of solid lines, broken lines, and double broken lines in accordance with the rules shown in FIG. The solid line indicates that the subsequent page is displayed by the link, the broken line indicates that the page is displayed by specifying the bookmark, and the double broken line indicates the page displayed by inputting the URL from the keyboard. ing. In the case of FIG. 3, pages H1 and H2 are indicated by broken lines, which indicates that page H2 displays a page registered in the bookmark. The same applies to page H9. Page 4 shows that page 3 is displayed when URL is directly input from the keyboard.

  The currently active window and the currently displayed page are displayed so that they can be distinguished from other pages. In the figure, this corresponds to the page H9 indicated by the oblique lines of the frame 30c indicating the browser C.

  Here, by clicking either the “return” button 35 or the “forward” button 36, the active browser is switched and the displayed page is updated.

  For example, when the “return” button 35 is clicked in the state shown in the figure, the page H8 is displayed. At this time, since the browser is the same as the previous page H9, the page H8 is displayed on the browser C. In this display process, since the browser of interest is “Browser C”, the URL of the page H8 is transmitted to the add-on module of the browser C and accessed.

  Further, when the “return” button is operated, page H6 is displayed. At this time, since the page H6 is displayed in the browser B, the browser B is activated and a process for displaying the page H6 is performed. When the “forward” button 36 is clicked while the page H6 is displayed, there are two movement candidates, pages H7 and H8. In this case, in order to make the user select which one to select, the icons of the pages H7 and H8 are blinked, and the corresponding page is displayed by selecting one of them. A list of titles such as H7 and H8 may be popped up next to the “return” button and selected from the list.

  As described above, the tree structure window 30 can be said to be a display form suitable for operation and display in a browser.

  On the other hand, the list structure window 31 displays an independent history for each browser. This is a convenient display form for confirming a browsing history focused on one browser. As for the browser order, the history of the browser in which the highest level is active is displayed.

  In the tree structure window 30, page icons increase in the right direction basically every time a new page is displayed or another browser is activated. Therefore, while it is easy to grasp the causal relationship between the connections of the browsers, horizontal scroll operations tend to be frequently performed in order to check the operation history of all the browsers.

  In this regard, in the case of the list structure window 31, the causal relationship between the browsers is difficult to understand, but it is displayed at the top of the window 31 only by activating the browser to be verified. Moreover, since the history of the browser is displayed left justified, there is no wasted space. That is, the number of horizontal scroll operations can be smaller than that of the tree structure window 30.

  Here, even if the browser A is terminated, the management module in the embodiment holds information regarding the browser A. The data held by the management module is discarded when all browsers are terminated (when no browser is activated).

  Here, it is assumed that the browser A is terminated. In the state of the tree structure window 30 in FIG. 3, when the “return” button is clicked three times, the page H5 is selected. At this time, the management module detects that the browser A does not exist (by using a browser presence flag in the “browser history information” in FIG. 6 (ON when the browser is started, and OFF when it is ended), or For example, when it is detected that communication with the monitoring module of the browser A is not possible, the browser is newly activated for the OS. At that time, the URL of the page H5 and the “browser history information” for the browser A are all passed as arguments (the browser presence flag that is OFF at this time is turned ON). By doing so, the newly started browser can have the history information itself of the already terminated browser A, and the history can be traced by the existing “return” and “forward” buttons of the browser. Then, the newly activated browser is managed as browser A. As a result, when viewed from the user, the browser A is activated again and the page H5 is displayed.

  Now, the processing of the monitoring module and the management module and the data structure stored in the RAM 3 in order to realize the above embodiment will be described below.

[data structure]
FIG. 5 shows the structure of data (hereinafter, entire history management data) managed by the management module of the embodiment.

  The entire history management data includes an ID (active browser ID) for specifying an active browser, a page ID of a page displayed on the active browser, and a browser history information list.

  The details of the browser history information list are the “browser history information” list shown in FIG. 6, and the list elements increase by one each time the browser is newly started (the browser is displayed by a link from the displayed page). Except when activated.) The list elements also increase when a new browser is launched by a link. However, when the history of a browser that has already been closed is specified, the “browser history information” of the specified browser (already closed) is used as the “browser history information” of the newly started browser. The element does not increase.

  The “individual history tree data” in FIG. 6 is a collection of data that characterizes the connection between elements in order to manage the information of the Web page browsing history by the browser in a tree form. An example is shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the information of each page includes a page ID for identifying itself, a pointer of its own parent page (for example, when attention is given to page H2 in FIG. 3, its parent page is H1), its own child Stores pointers to pages (page H3 and page H5 when attention is given to page H2 in FIG. 3). Thus, the child page ID allows a plurality of pages. As described above, the “relationship with parent” stores information indicating which of three types of link, bookmark, and URL character string input.

  Further, “page data” in FIG. 7 is information relating to the viewed page, and an example thereof has the format shown in FIG. The page data includes a displayed URL character string, title, source, thumbnail image, reference time (first displayed time and last displayed time), reference count, and archive flag.

  The processing procedure of the embodiment in the above data structure will be described below.

In order to realize the processing described above,
i. Processing to acquire individual tree information when each page is updated in each browser (hereinafter referred to as processing on the browser)
ii. Processing to form and display an entire history tree by combining individual trees and processing to display a page designated by the user from the entire history tree (hereinafter, processing in the entire history tree management program) are required. Now, the processes i and ii are considered to be independent, and each will be described below.

[Processing on the browser]
Each time the display of the browsing page is updated on each browser, it is necessary to store the information on the page and add it as an item to the individual history tree. This processing is also processing performed mainly by the monitoring module as described above.

  Hereinafter, a description will be given according to the flowchart of FIG.

  In step S101, when the browser is activated, it is determined whether the browser has already been activated. If the browser has not yet been activated, the management module described in process ii is called.

  Further, an area for the entire history management data shown in FIG. 6 is secured in a common area managed by the management program, and the information is stored. The above is the initial processing.

  In step S102, it is determined whether or not the browser has been terminated by the user. If it is determined to be an end instruction, browser post-processing is performed. In this post-processing, when a browser other than the browser of interest is operating, the entire history management data (managed by the entire history tree management program) secured in step S101 is not discarded and the area is not released. When it is determined that the instruction is to end the last browser, an end instruction is issued to the entire history tree management program (the entire history management data is discarded and the area is released in the entire history tree management program).

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S102 that the instruction is not an end instruction, the process advances to step S104 to determine whether the user has performed an operation on the browser. If it is determined that there is a user operation, the process proceeds to step S105. Here, whether the operation to the browser by the user is to update the display page (link from the displayed page, URL character string input, bookmark registration page designation, or history page designation) Or not).

  If it is determined that an update instruction has been issued, the process proceeds to step S106, where information on the new page is acquired and the individual history tree is updated as the display page is updated (see FIG. 11 for details). It will be described later according to the flowchart). In step S107, the display page is updated. Thereafter, in step S108, the entire history tree is updated based on the individual history tree updated in the previous step S106.

If it is determined in step S105 that the process is a process other than the process at the time of updating the display page, for example, a browser-related setting process such as a change in character size, a corresponding process is performed in step S109.
[Whole history tree management program processing]
This process is a process mainly performed by the management module in the embodiment. The process of combining the browsing history (individual history tree) of each browser stored in the common area to form and display the entire history tree. Display the page specified by the user from. This program is called when the first browser is activated, and is terminated simultaneously when the last one browser is terminated.

  This will be described below with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  First, in step S201, initial processing such as securing the storage area for the entire history management data shown in FIG. 5 is performed.

  Next, in step S202, it is determined whether or not there is an end instruction. The end instruction is determined by whether or not the last browser has ended. Whether the browser being executed remains can be confirmed via the OS task manager, but it may be determined by subtracting the end count from the start notification count from the monitoring module each time the browser is started. .

  If it is determined in step S202 that all browsers have ended, the process proceeds to step S203 to perform post-processing such as discarding the entire history management data secured in the RAM 203 and releasing the common area. At this time, browser history information for all browsers may be saved by adding a date to a part of the file name and outputting it to a hard disk so that it can be reused at the next browser startup.

  If it is determined that the instruction is other than an end instruction, the process proceeds to step S204 to determine whether the user has performed an operation on the management module.

  If it is determined that the operation is for the management module, the process proceeds to step S205, where it is determined whether the instruction is for switching the display of the entire tree, as shown in FIG. If it is determined that the display is to be switched, the process proceeds to step S206, where the entire history tree display process is performed (details will be described later according to the flowchart of FIG. 12).

  If it is determined that the operation for this management module is other than display switching, the process proceeds to step S207, where an instruction to update the displayed page, that is, the specification of a node (page viewed in the past) in the history tree, Alternatively, it is determined whether the “forward” button 36 or the “return” button 35 is clicked.

  If “Yes” is determined in this determination, the process advances to step S208 to determine a browser and a page to be displayed, and information on the browser and the page is acquired from the entire history management data. In step S209, display processing based on the acquired information (details will be described later according to the flowchart of FIG. 13) is performed.

  Although it is above, next, the process of step S106 in FIG. 9 is demonstrated with reference to FIG.

  In step S301, it is determined whether the user instruction is a link from the displayed page. If it is determined that the link is a link, the process proceeds to step S302, and it is determined whether or not a new browser is activated (whether a browser window is added) as a result of the link.

  If it is determined that a new browser is activated, the process advances to step S303 to store browser history information about the newly activated browser in the common area. At this time, the browser ID of the link source browser and the page ID of the page displayed there are stored in “parent tree ID” and “parent page ID”.

  In step S304, the page data of the page to be displayed is stored in the individual history tree data of the browser history information for the newly activated browser ("relationship with parent" is "link"). Then, the process proceeds to step S305, and the page is displayed on the newly activated browser.

  If it is determined in step S302 that the new browser is not activated, that is, the corresponding page is displayed in the existing browser window, the process proceeds to step S306, and the page data related to the linked page is displayed in the individual tree. Search for it.

  If page data exists, the “reference count” of the page data is incremented, and the data is acquired from the individual tree data. If there is no page data, the link destination data is acquired from the Internet and added to the individual tree (“relationship with parent” is “link”). After that, the linked page is displayed.

  If it is determined in step S301 that the user instruction is other than a link, the process proceeds to step S307. Here, it is determined whether or not the instruction by the user is a URL character string input or bookmark registration page. If it is determined that it is a URL character string input or a bookmark registration page instruction, the process advances to step S308 to add page data to be displayed to the individual tree ("Relationship with parent" is "URL", One of the "bookmarks"). In step S309, the corresponding page is displayed.

  If NO is determined in step S307, the process proceeds to step S310 to determine whether or not the page is specified in the individual tree displayed by the management module shown in FIG. If "Yes" is determined here, the process proceeds to step S311 to increment the "reference count" of the page data of the designated page. Then, the data is acquired from the individual tree data and displayed in the corresponding browser window (the result of accessing the URL is displayed).

  Next, the entire tree display process in step S206 in FIG. 10 will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG.

  First, in step S401, it is determined whether the display form is a tree-like display or a list-like display.

  If it is determined that the tree is displayed, the process proceeds to step S402, where the data constituting the individual tree of each browser is rearranged in the order of recent display or the order of considering the active browser / end browser. Combine (combine historical data). In step S403, the icons of the page numbers (H1, H2,...) Numbered in the order of the first display time of each page and the line types connecting them are determined and displayed in a tree shape.

  If it is determined that the list is displayed, the process proceeds to step S404, where the active browser is placed at the top, and the pages are rearranged in the order of time displayed at the beginning of each browser. The page number icon and the line segment connecting the icons are the same as in the tree display. The difference is that links across browsers are ignored. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S405, and a tree for each browser is displayed.

  Next, the processing in step S209 in FIG. 10, that is, processing when a node (page icon) on the tree displayed by the management module is designated will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG.

  First, in step S501, browser information and page information corresponding to the icon designated by the user are acquired.

  Next, the process proceeds to step S502, and it is determined whether or not the instructed browser is activated. If it is determined that the browser is activated, the process proceeds to step S503, and the corresponding browser window is activated (arranged in front of the screen). In step S504, the URL information of the page specified by the user is notified to the browser (the active browser), and the corresponding page is displayed.

  If it is determined in step S502 that the browser displaying the page designated by the user has been terminated, the process proceeds to step S505 to newly start the browser. Next, the process proceeds to step S506, and the browser history information of the designated browser acquired in S501 is used in order to use the browser history information of the designated browser acquired in S501 as the browser history information of the activated browser. Update to information content. When a new browser is activated, the browser becomes active, and thus the process proceeds to step S504, and the URL information of the page specified by the user is notified to the corresponding browser to display the page.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the history (page URL) of the page displayed in each browser is acquired and stored, and the displayed Web page is displayed in a tree format so that it can be selected. . As a result, regardless of the number of activated browsers, it is possible to reliably redisplay the corresponding page for the Web pages that have been displayed. In addition, when the tree is displayed, it is possible to assist the user's operation memory by visually displaying whether each page is performed by linking, specifying a bookmark registration page, or inputting a URL character string. It is possible to redisplay the page to be displayed.

  In the embodiment, a PC is used as an example of a device that displays a Web page. However, a mobile terminal such as a mobile phone may be used, or a PDA or a notebook PC may be used.

  In the embodiment, when the page tree is displayed, the characters H1, H2,... Are displayed in the icon indicating the page. However, the thumbnail of the corresponding page may be used. In order to display thumbnails as icons, when a page is displayed, it is captured (corresponding to pressing the “PrintScreen” key while pressing the “Alt” key in the case of an OS provided by Microsoft Corporation in the United States) Request a function call to the OS). As a result, the obtained image data may be reduced to the icon size and displayed.

  Further, in the embodiment, the example in which the monitoring module added to the browser is added and the management module communicating with the monitoring module has been described. The monitoring module may be realized as a common middleware located between the OS and each browser, as long as it is possible to monitor how the browser has processed in accordance with an instruction from the user. For example, it is possible to monitor the exchange between the browser and the OS by detecting the exchange between the browser and the OS by a so-called hook (a transmission request from the browser by the HTTP protocol, a mouse event or a keyboard event hook). Further, the functions of this embodiment may be realized by a new browser installed in the browser body.

  Also, as described in the embodiments, most of the features of the present invention are based on computer programs, and such computer programs naturally fall within the scope of the present invention. In general, the computer program is stored in a computer-readable storage medium such as a CD-ROM, and can be executed by setting the medium in a computer and copying or installing it in the system. Accordingly, such a computer-readable storage medium is naturally included in the scope of the present invention.

It is a figure which shows an example of the transition at the time of browsing a web page with a common browser. It is a block block diagram of the apparatus in embodiment. It is a figure which shows GUI of the browsing history display of the web page in embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of a definition of the connection line of the page icon in embodiment. It is a figure which shows the structure of the whole log | history management data in embodiment. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a data structure of a browser history information list in FIG. 5. It is a figure which shows the example of correlation of the historical data in embodiment. It is a figure which shows the structure of the page data of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence which copes with the operation of the user on the browser side in embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the process procedure of the management module in embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the detail of step S106 of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the detail of step S206 of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the detail of step S208 of FIG.

Claims (10)

A web page browsing history management device,
In a browser for browsing a Web page, a browser that specifies URL information of the new Web page and a browser that displays the new Web page each time a new Web page is displayed in response to a user instruction input Browsing history information storage means for storing page information composed of specific information in association with page information of a parent Web page where the new Web page is displayed;
Based on each page information stored in the browsing history information storage means, browsing history display means for displaying an icon or a reduced image indicating each Web page in combination with a tree structure;
When one of the Web page icons or reduced images in the tree structure displayed by the browsing history display means is selected by the user, the page information of the corresponding Web page is acquired from the browsing history information storage means, A web page browsing history management device comprising: setting means for setting a URL of a web page corresponding to a browser to be displayed to display the selected web page in the selected browser.   The browsing history display means arranges icons or reduced images for each Web page along the time axis of the Web page displayed first, and displays the range of each Web page displayed by one browser in an identifiable manner. The Web page browsing history management apparatus according to claim 1.   3. The Web page browsing history management apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a line segment surrounding an icon group or a reduced image group of a Web page displayed by a corresponding browser is displayed for each Web page range.   3. The web page browsing history management apparatus according to claim 2, wherein for each range of the web page, an icon group or a reduced image group of the web page displayed by the corresponding browser is displayed in a different color for each browser. The page information further includes whether the corresponding Web page is displayed on the same browser by a link of the parent Web page, whether the Web page is newly started by a link of the parent Web page, or a character string of ULR Contains causal information that indicates whether
The browsing history display means includes
When a new browser is activated, the web page displayed by the browser that is the starting source, the web page displayed when the new browser is activated, and the web page displayed by each browser are displayed. First display means for displaying a line segment of a type based on the causal information;
A second display means for displaying web pages with line segments of a type based on the causal information independently of each browser;
The Web page browsing history management apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a switching unit that switches the first and second display units according to an instruction to a user.   2. The browsing history display unit displays an icon specified by an active browser and a Web page displayed by the browser so as to be distinguishable from other icons or reduced images. The web page browsing history management device according to any one of items 1 to 5.   2. The web page browsing according to claim 1, wherein when the browser displaying the web page selected by the user is terminated, the setting unit newly starts the browser as the browser before termination. History management device. A control method of a Web page browsing history management device,
Each time a new web page is displayed in response to an instruction input by a user in a browser that browses the web page, the URL information of the new web page and the browser identification information that identifies the browser that displays the new web page A storage step of storing the page information constituted by the browsing history information storage means for storing the page information in association with the page information of the parent Web page where the new Web page is displayed;
Based on each page information stored in the browsing history information storage means, a browsing history display step of displaying an icon or a reduced image indicating each Web page combined with a tree structure;
When one of the web page icons or reduced images in the tree structure displayed in the browsing history display step is selected by the user, the page information of the corresponding Web page is acquired from the browsing history information storage means, And a setting step of displaying the selected Web page in the selected browser by setting the URL of the Web page corresponding to the browser to be controlled. A computer program that functions as a Web page browsing history management device by being read and executed by a computer,
Each time a new web page is displayed in response to a user instruction input, a browser for browsing the web page specifies the URL information of the new web page and the browser that displays the new web page. Storage means for storing in the browsing history information storage means for storing the page information composed of browser specifying information to be stored in association with the page information of the parent Web page where the new Web page is displayed;
Based on each page information stored in the browsing history information storage means, browsing history display means for displaying an icon or a reduced image indicating each Web page in combination with a tree structure;
When one of the web page icons or reduced images in the tree structure displayed in the browsing history display step is selected by the user, the page information of the corresponding Web page is acquired from the browsing history information storage means, A computer program that is executed by a computer so as to function as setting means for displaying a selected Web page in a selected browser by setting a URL of the Web page corresponding to the browser to be operated.   A computer-readable storage medium storing the computer program according to claim 9.

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