Unifying discoverability of a website's services

Report on the Patent for a COMPUTER-READY MEDIA CONTAINING A CONTROL METHOD, COMPUTER DEVICE, AND COMPUTER IMPLEMENTED METHOD.

Background of the Invention Web sites can typically provide various services that can be consumed by an individual through their web browser. Such services may include providing search engine capabilities, offering installation toolbars, offering feeds such as RSS feeds, and a variety of other services. As varied as these services are, so is the user experience as private discovery services are offered, installing a particular service and managing the service once it is installed. For example, multiple services need to be offered at multiple physical locations on a web page. This requires users to search for and find services they may be interested in. In addition, once the service is installed, the user experience as it interacts with the service - for example to manage the service - is often very service specific and varies among different services. Therefore, for multiple installed services, the user experience is often inconsistent and inconsistent.

Summary of the Invention Various embodiments provide a unified discovery control that can be incorporated as part of a web browser. Unified Discovery Control provides a central location that describes various services that a web site has to offer. In addition, unified discovery control can allow the user to interact with the individual services that the web site has.

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2/12 offer by providing the user with the ability to add, update, uninstall and / or otherwise manage the various services that are described in unified discovery control.

At least in some embodiments, a visual overlay indicator is provided and is used to visually notify a user of where a particular service added or installed can be found in the web browser user interface. Brief Description of the Drawings FIG. 1 illustrates a system in which the principles of the invention may be employed according to one embodiment.

[005] FIG. 2 illustrates a portion of an exemplified browser user interface according to one embodiment.

[006] FIG. 3 illustrates a unified discovery control according to one embodiment.

[007] FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplified visual indication indicating where a user may find a particular service added according to one embodiment.

[008] FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplified user interface for managing the various services according to one embodiment.

[009] FIG. 6 illustrates a flowchart describing the steps in a method according to one embodiment.

Detailed Description of the Invention

Overview Various modes provide a unified discovery control that can be embedded as part of a network browser. Unified Discovery Control provides a central location that describes various services that a web site has to offer. In addition, unified discovery control can allow the user to interact with the individual services that the web site has to offer by providing the user with the ability to add, update,

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3/12 uninstall and / or otherwise manage the various services that are described in unified discovery control.

At least in some embodiments, a visual overlay indicator is provided and is used to visually notify a user of where a particular service added or installed can be found in the web browser user interface.

Unified Discovery Control provides a centralized management system that provides the user with a common, predictable and repeatable user experience for interacting with the various services that a web site can offer. In the following discussion, a section entitled "Exemplified System" is provided and describes only one exemplified system in which embodiments of the invention may be used. Following this, a section titled “Discovering Web Site Services” is provided that describes various ways in which Web site services can be discovered. Following this, a section titled “Exemplified Unified Discovery Control” is provided and illustrates by way of example and not limitation, a way in which unified discovery control can be implemented.

Exemplified System FIG. 1 illustrates a system according to one embodiment, generally at 100. System 100 includes a computing device 102 having one or more processors 104, one or more computer readable media 106, and one or more applications 108 residing on the readable media. per computer and that are executable by the processors). In addition, computing device 102 includes an application in the form of a web browser 110. Any properly configured web browser may be used, examples of which are commercially available from the assignee of this document, as well as others.

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In one or more embodiments, the web browser includes or otherwise makes use of a unified discovery control 112 that functions as described above and below. It is appreciated and understood that while unified discovery control is described as comprising part of the network browser itself, unified discovery control could comprise a standalone component whose functionality is used by the network browser.

Although computing device 102 is illustrated in the form of a desktop computer, it is appreciated and understood that other computing devices may be used without departing from the spirit and scope of the claimed subject matter. For example, other computing devices may include, by way of example and not limitation, laptops, handheld computers such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), mobile phones and the like.

Having introduced the general notion of a unified discovery control, we now consider some different ways in which unified discovery control can find out what services a particular web site has to offer.

Discovering Web Site Services [0017] As noted above, web sites can offer a variety of services. Services may come in many shapes and sizes and may include, by way of example and without limitation, search services, subscription services, extension services, roaming, structured data, multimedia transfer services, feed services, file upload services, call sharing services, product search services, address mapping services and the like.

One way in which unified discovery control can find out what services the web site offers is by examining the various

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5/12 descriptions of web pages he receives when a user navigates to a particular site. For example, web pages are typically described using a hierarchically tagged language such as HTML. When the web browser receives HTML from the web page, it typically parses the HTML before rendering the web page to the user. In one or more embodiments, when web page HTML is parsed, the unified discovery control can search for service descriptions in the HTML. For example, the various service descriptions may be delineated by individual tags that are specific to the type of service, or are more commonly associated with services that are offered by the web site. Once unified discovery control has verified which services are offered, discovery control can cause a user interface component to render, indicating the presence of these services to the user. An example of such a user interface component is provided below.

Another way in which unified discovery control can find out what services a web site offers is by examining and analyzing the content of the web page itself as it applies a set of heuristics to a web page. Specifically, in some cases, the services a website offers may not be readily apparent from their associated HTML. In this case, the associated discovery control can scan a page and look for characteristics associated with the service. For example, an embedded hyperlink may serve as an indication of a service. Alternatively or additionally, the unified discovery control can search for the text "transfer" and if there is a link to an ".exe" associated with it.

[0020] Regardless of the manner in which services

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6/12 are discovered, once discovered, unified discovery control can present a user interface experience that allows the user to verify which services are offered and to interact in a significantly more centralized manner with the services of the web site.

Exemplified Unified Discovery Control In one or more embodiments, since the various services that a web site offers are discovered, unified discovery control can have a user interface component that informs the user that the web site network offers one or more services.

As an example, consider FIG. 2 illustrating a part of a browser user interface generally exemplified in 200. In this example, user interface 200 includes a service button 202. In one or more embodiments, when a web site has one or more services than it offers, the service button 202 may be rendered visually distinctive to inform a user that one or more services are offered. For example, at least in some embodiments, service button 202 may be rendered so that it glows, thus attracting the user's attention.

[0023] In this particular example, when the user hovers over the service button 202, a portion of the unified discovery control 204 suspends to expose the various services that are offered by the web site. In one or more embodiments, the various services that are offered by a web site can be organized and arranged by type of service into different categories of service type. Thus, in this example, the following categories of service types are exposed to the user: search provider service types, feeder service types, data service types structure

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7/12 (which is a service that allows a user to discover structured data on a web page), and complementary types of service. In addition, at least in some embodiments, unified discovery control allows the user to manage their private services through a “Manage Services” tab that is described in detail below.

In one or more embodiments, the individual buttons or tabs associated with the individual service types may have multiple different states. For example, if there are any new services that the user has not viewed, the service type button may glow to attract the user's attention. Additionally, if there are services available that the user has already viewed, the button may be visible but not glowing. If no services are available for a particular service type, the button for the corresponding service type category may be blocked or not displayed.

In this example, search provider service types are associated with one or more search providers that a web site may offer. The type of feeder service is associated with any feeders that the web site offers for subscription. The structured data service type is associated with the user's ability to locate structured data that appears on the network page. The complementary service type is associated with various extensions that can be added such as, for example, toolbars and the like.

[0026] In this example, once the user has hovered over the service button 202, he can additionally check which particular services are offered under any given service type category, specifically by hovering his cursor over the particular service type. . As an example, consider FIG. 3

In this, the unified discovery control 204 is shown

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8/12 in isolation separate from the network browser user interface. Note here that the user hovered over the type of search provider. Responsively, the various search providers offered are exposed via a drop-down menu that also exposes one or more management instrumentalities. In this example, management instrumentality is an “add” button that allows the user to add the particular service. Once a user adds the particular service, the service can be added to their browser and used - even when the user navigates away from your site.

In one or more modes, when the user adds a particular service, Unified Discovery Control provides a visual indication of where the user can find the particular service in their network browser. As an example, consider FIG. 4 together with the above example. It is assumed in the example of FIG. 3 the user has selected to add the search provider “Live.com”. Since the added service is a search provider, search provider control - in this case a magnifying glass - is rendered visually in a different way. In this particular example, a visual overlay control 400 in the form of a bright star is rendered over the control to visually attract the user's eye to the control. It is appreciated and understood that any suitable visual cues can be used to notify a user of where to find a newly added service.

Consequently, unified discovery control provides a single place where all services on the network site can be listed and discovered by the user. Thus, users do not have to search around a particular web page to find the services they may be interested in.

As briefly mentioned above, in one or more

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In terms of modalities, unified discovery control can provide a number of different management instrumentalities that can be used by the user to manage or otherwise interact with the services that are described in the control. For example, an instrumentality may provide an indication that the user is already subscribed to a particular service. In this example, a management instrumentality might render next to the listed service and might indicate "subscribed". Other management instrumentality may indicate that there is an update for a particular service. In this example, an instrumentality might indicate “update”. Thus, by clicking on the “update” instrumentality, the service can be automatically updated.

In addition, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, services of which the web browser is unaware can be offered using the mechanisms described above. That is, as new services develop, the mechanisms described above can be used to discover and present such services to various users for consumption. In this sense, at least in some embodiments, unified discovery control can provide an easily extensible tool that service programmers can use to advertise their respective services for consumption.

As noted above, unified discovery control also provides, at least in some embodiments, the functionality that enables a user to manage their particular services. Specifically, it should be remembered in FIGs. 2 and 3 that a "Manage Services" tab appears on the control. By selecting this tab, a new dialog box can be presented to the user, which enables the user to manage their services.

As an example, consider FIG. 5 illustrating an exemplified user interface 500 for managing the various services

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10/12 services according to one modality. In this example, user interface 500 may allow individual users to see all services they have installed, receive updates, enable / disable a service, and uninstall a service. In this example, each service has its type, name, source, username, and any associated passwords listed. Consequently, using this interface, a user can not only view all of their installed services, but can also edit credentials. At least in some embodiments, search functionality is provided in the form of a search box 502 that can enable a user to search for a particular service using text-based search.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart describing the steps in a method according to one embodiment. The method may be implemented in conjunction with any suitable unalterable hardware, software, software, or combination thereof. In at least some embodiments, the method may be implemented in conjunction with a system, such as the system shown and described in FIG. 1. It is appreciated and understood that other systems may be used without departing from the spirit and scope of the claimed subject matter.

[0035] Step 600 receives one or more network page descriptions. Any webpage descriptions can be used. In at least some embodiments, web page descriptions reside in the form of HTML descriptions. Alternatively or additionally, some other types of network markup language could be used, such as XHTML. Step 602 identifies from the web page descriptions one or more services that are offered on the web page or its associated web site. An example of how this can be done is provided above. Step 604 renders a user interface that is configured to describe one or more different types of services. Any user interface ade

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Any time and methods of presenting a user interface can be used. In the example above, the user interface resides in the form of an exposed drop-down menu hovering over it that presents multiple different categories of service types under which individual examples of services offered are listed for the user, along with the enabling instrumentalities a user to interact significantly with the services. It is appreciated and understood that other types of user interfaces may be used without departing from the spirit and scope of the claimed subject matter. For example, a user interface could take the form of a sidebar that is docked vertically adjacent to the browser window. Of course other settings are possible.

Conclusion Several embodiments described above provide a unified discovery control that can be incorporated as part of a web browser. Unified Discovery Control provides a central location that describes various services that a web site has to offer. In addition, unified discovery control can allow the user to interact with the individual services that the web site has to offer by providing the user with the ability to add, update, uninstall and / or otherwise manage the various services they provide. are described in the unified discovery control. In at least some embodiments, a visual overlay indicator is provided and is used to visually notify a user where a particular installed and added service can be found in the web browser user interface.

Thus, unified discovery control provides a centralized management system that provides the user with a common, predictable and repeatable user experience for interacting with the various services that a web site can offer.

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Although the invention has been described in specific language for structural features and / or methodological steps, it is understood that the invention defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or steps described. Preferably, the specific features and steps are described as preferred embodiments of the claimed invention.