Patent ID: 9456249
Filing Date: 2016-09-27
CPC Classification: G06F,H04N

Claim Text:
1. A method of facilitating access to electronic content comprising: receiving at a device having capabilities sufficient to access electronic content a first term from a user desiring to search for electronic content associated therewith; generating at the device a plurality of search requests having searching information sufficient to facilitate searching for electronic content related to the first term; transmitting the plurality of search requests from the device to a plurality of resources having or capable of searching for electronic content associated with the searching information included within a corresponding one of the plurality of search requests; receiving at the device a plurality of search results each generated by a different one of the plurality of resources, each of the plurality of search results identifying electronic content uncovered as a result of a search for electronic content conducted by the corresponding one of the plurality of resources based on the searching information included in each received one of the plurality of search requests such that each resource conducts the corresponding search using a search term derived from the first term that is different from the search term used by each of the other resources; arranging at the device two or more of the plurality of search results into a plurality of levels, each of the plurality of levels identifying the electronic content uncovered for the corresponding one of the plurality of searches; arranging at the device each of the plurality of levels for simultaneous display within a fisheye navigator to facilitate user navigation of the electronic content, including displaying the fisheye navigator within a display associated with the device such that each of the plurality of levels displays the electronic content associated with a different one of the plurality of resources; determining at the device a plurality of identifiers sufficient to visually represent the electronic content associated with the plurality of levels; facilitating display of the plurality of identifiers within the fisheye navigator; controlling the device to access the electronic content associated with one of the plurality of identifiers in response to the user interacting therewith; arranging at the device the plurality of identifiers within one of a plurality of concentrically arranged rings, each one of the plurality of concentrically arranged rings corresponding with one of the first plurality of levels; transmitting from the device an innermost ring search request of the plurality of search requests to one of the plurality of resources to perform an innermost ring search and an outermost ring search request of the plurality of search requests to a different one of the plurality of resources to perform an outermost ring search; and arranging the plurality of identifiers such that an innermost ring of the plurality of concentrically arranged rings corresponds with the electronic content uncovered as part of the innermost ring search and the plurality of identifiers included within an outermost ring correspond with electronic content uncovered as part of the outermost ring search; and wherein the innermost ring search is more closely related to the first term than the outermost ring search.