Abstract:
It is disclosed a method for displaying previously visited hypermedia pages in a hypermedia browser application executing on a mobile communication terminal comprising a display. The method comprises the steps of: rendering a first hypermedia page on said display, accepting a first input to modify rendering of said first hypermedia page according to a first content display mode, rendering said first hypermedia page according to said first content display mode, accepting a second input to render a second hypermedia page, rendering a second hypermedia page, accepting a third input to again render said first hypermedia page, and rendering said first hypermedia page according to said first content display mode.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]     This application is a continuation-in-part from U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/135,624 filed on May 23, 2005. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     The present invention relates generally to browsers of mobile communication terminals, and more particularly to rendering of previously viewed web pages in web browsers of mobile communication terminals.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0003]     Mobile communication terminals have changed dramatically in the last decade. With the first 2G terminals, the main purpose was to make normal phone calls. With the introduction of mobile communication technologies such as 2.5G (GPRS), CDMA2000 and UMTS, mobile communication terminals now not only facilitate voice communication, but also digital communication such as text and multimedia messaging, as well as browsing content provided by Internet servers.  
         [0004]     While mobile communication terminals thus now have the ability to render web pages, due to user requirements on size and weight of the mobile communication terminals, the user interface is still generally limited compared to personal computers. In particular, screens are in general smaller and input methods are in general more limited, compared to personal computers. Web pages published on the Internet have generally been authored in a manner intended to be displayed on a personal computer, often resulting in improper display of web pages on mobile communication terminals.  
         [0005]     A problem therefore exists on how to display web pages in a more efficient and user friendly manner on mobile communication terminals.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0006]     In view of the above, an objective of the invention is to solve or at least reduce the above-identified and other problems and shortcomings with the prior art, and to provide improvements to a mobile communication terminal.  
         [0007]     A first aspect of the invention is a method for displaying previously visited hypermedia pages in a hypermedia browser application executing on a mobile communication terminal comprising a display, the method comprising the steps of:  
         [0008]     rendering a first hypermedia page on said display,  
         [0009]     accepting a first input to modify rendering of said first hypermedia page according to a first new content display mode,  
         [0010]     rendering said first hypermedia page according to said first new content display mode,  
         [0011]     accepting a second input to render a second hypermedia page,  
         [0012]     rendering a second hypermedia page,  
         [0013]     accepting a third input to again render said first hypermedia page, and  
         [0014]     rendering said first hypermedia page according to said first new content display mode.  
         [0015]     This provides a method where user modifications to content display modes are saved, reducing the need to re-modify the content display of a page when re-visiting the page.  
         [0016]     Said content display mode may include a zoom factor. Said content display mode may further include a frame display mode. Said content display mode may yet further include a mode when a text of said first hypermedia page is selected. Said content display mode may yet further include a page layout mode. Saving each of, or a combination of, these specific content modes with page history provides a better browsing experience for the user.  
         [0017]     Said step of rendering a second hypermedia page may involve rendering said second hypermedia page according to said first new content display mode. Advantageously, this allows any content mode modification made by the user to be the default when navigating to other pages.  
         [0018]     The method may include the further steps, after said step of rendering a second hypermedia page, and before said step of accepting a third input, of:  
         [0019]     accepting a fourth input to modify rendering of said second hypermedia page according to a second new content display mode, and  
         [0020]     rendering said second hypermedia page according to said second new content display mode.  
         [0021]     In other words, modifications of content display modes are possible of later pages, without affecting content display modes stored with history items.  
         [0022]     Said third input may be an input to navigate back through browser history.  
         [0023]     Said third input may be an input to navigate forward through browser history.  
         [0024]     Said hypermedia pages may represent at least one type of content selected from the group consisting of: html content, wml content, sgml content and xml content.  
         [0025]     A second aspect of the invention is a mobile communication terminal capable of executing a hypermedia browser application, said hypermedia browser application rendering hypermedia pages on a display of said mobile communication terminal, said mobile communication terminal comprising:  
         [0026]     means for rendering a first hypermedia page on said display,  
         [0027]     means for accepting a first input to modify rendering of said first hypermedia page according to a first new content display mode,  
         [0028]     means for rendering said first hypermedia page according to said first new content display mode,  
         [0029]     means accepting a second input to render a second hypermedia page,  
         [0030]     means for rendering a second hypermedia page,  
         [0031]     means for accepting a third input to again render said first hypermedia page, and  
         [0032]     means for rendering said first hypermedia page according to said first new content display mode.  
         [0033]     This provides a mobile communication terminal where user modifications to content display modes are saved, reducing the need to re-modify the content display of a page when re-visiting the page.  
         [0034]     A third aspect of the invention is a computer program product, directly loadable into a memory of a digital computer, comprising software code portions for performing a method according to the first aspect of the invention. This provides a computer program product where user modifications to content display modes are saved, reducing the need to re-modify the content display of a page when re-visiting the page.  
         [0035]     Said first and second hypermedia pages are preferably, but not necessarily, web (www) pages and/or wap pages, i.e. digital content expressed in a html or wml language suitable for browsing in a web and/or wap browser. Other markup languages may also be used to represent the digital content, such as sgml, xml or any other suitable markup language. The term “page” denotes digital content, at least a part of which is presentable on a display to be viewed by a user.  
         [0036]     Generally, the above objectives and purposes are achieved by methods, mobile communication terminals and computer program products according to the attached independent patent claims.  
         [0037]     Other objectives, features and advantages of the present invention will appear from the following detailed disclosure, from the attached dependent claims as well as from the drawings. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0038]     Embodiments of the invention will now be described in more detail, with reference to the enclosed drawings.  
         [0039]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a mobile communication terminal in the form of a pocket computer according to one embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0040]      FIG. 2  illustrates a computer network environment in which the pocket computer of  FIG. 1  advantageously may be used for providing wireless access for the user to network resources and remote services.  
         [0041]      FIG. 3  is a schematic block diagram of the pocket computer according to the previous drawings.  
         [0042]      FIGS. 4A, 4B ,  4 C and  4 D illustrate different settings of a content display mode being a frame display mode and a page layout mode in an embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0043]      FIGS. 5A and 5B  show a display view of a hypermedia browser in the form of a web browser having rendered a first web page in two different content display modes, in this case being zoom factors.  
         [0044]      FIGS. 6A and 6B  show a display view of the web browser having rendered a second web page in two different content display modes, being different in zoom factors and page layout mode.  
         [0045]      FIG. 7  shows an exemplary data table comprising history data according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0046]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a mobile communication terminal in the form of a pocket computer according to one embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0047]     The pocket computer  1  of the illustrated embodiment comprises an apparatus housing  2  and a display  3  provided at the surface of a front side  2   f  of the apparatus housing  2 . Next to the display  3  a plurality of hardware keys  5   a - d  are provided, as well as a speaker  6 .  
         [0048]     Key  5   a  is a five-way navigation key, i.e. a key which is depressible at four different peripheral positions to command navigation in respective orthogonal directions (“up”, “down”, “left”, “right”) among information shown on the display  3 , as well as depressible at a center position to command selection among information shown on the display  3 . Key  5   b  is a cancel key, key  5   c  is a menu or options key, and key  5   d  is a home key.  
         [0049]     At the surface of a short side  21  of the apparatus housing  2 , there is provided an earphone audio terminal  7   a , a mains power terminal  7   b  and a wire-based data interface  7   c  in the form of a serial USB port.  
         [0050]      FIG. 2  illustrates a computer network environment in which the pocket computer  1  of  FIG. 1  advantageously may be used for providing wireless access for the user to network resources and remote services. To allow portable use, the pocket computer  1  has a rechargeable battery (not shown). The pocket computer according to an embodiment of the invention also has at least one interface  55  ( FIG. 3 ) for wireless access to network resources on at least one digital network. The pocket computer  1  may connect to a data communications network  32  by establishing a wireless link via a network access point  30 , such as a WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) router. The data communications network  32  may be a wide area network (WAN), such as the Internet or some part thereof, a local area network (LAN), etc. A plurality of network resources  40 - 44  may be connected to the data communications network  32  and are thus made available to the user  9  through the pocket computer  1 . For instance, the network resources may include servers  40  with associated content  42  such as www data, wap data, ftp data, email data, audio data, video data, etc. The network resources may also include other end-user devices  44 , such as personal computers.  
         [0051]     A second digital network  26  is shown in  FIG. 2  in the form of a mobile telecommunications network, compliant with any available mobile telecommunications standard such as GSM, UMTS, D-AMPS or CDMA2000. In the illustrated exemplifying embodiment, the user  9  may access network resources  28  on the mobile telecommunications network  26  through the pocket computer  1  by establishing a wireless link  10   b  to a mobile terminal  20 , which in turn has operative access to the mobile telecommunications network  26  over a wireless link  22  to a base station  24 , as is well known per se. The wireless links  10   a ,  10   b  may for instance be in compliance with Bluetooth™, WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network, e.g. as specified in IEEE 802.11), HomeRF or HIPERLAN. Thus, the interface(s)  55  will contain all the necessary hardware and software required for establishing such links, as is readily realized by a person skilled in the art.  
         [0052]      FIG. 3  is a schematic block diagram of the pocket computer according to the previous drawings. As seen in  FIG. 3 , the pocket computer  1  has a controller  50  with associated memory  54 . The controller is responsible for the overall operation of the pocket computer  1  and may be implemented by any commercially available CPU (Central Processing Unit), DSP (Digital Signal Processor) or any other electronic programmable logic device. The associated memory  54  may be internal and/or external to the controller  50  and may be RAM memory, ROM memory, EEPROM memory, flash memory, hard disk, or any combination thereof.  
         [0053]     The memory  54  is used for various purposes by the controller  50 , one of them being for storing data and program instructions for various pieces of software in the pocket computer  1 . The software may include a real-time operating system, drivers e.g. for a user interface  51 , as well as various applications  57 .  
         [0054]     Many if not all of these applications will interact with the user  9  both by receiving data input from him, such as text or navigational input through the input device(s)  53 , and by providing data output to him, such as visual output in the form of e.g. text and graphical information presented on the display  52 . Non-limiting examples of applications are a www/wap browser application, a contacts application, a messaging application (email, SMS, MMS), a calendar application, an organizer application, a video game application, a calculator application, a voice memo application, an alarm clock application, a word processing application, a spreadsheet application, a code memory application, a music player application, a media streaming application, and a control panel application. GUI (graphical user interface) functionality  56  in the user interface  51  controls the interaction between the applications  57 , the user  9  and the user interface elements  52 ,  53  of the user interface.  
         [0055]     Below follows a description related to content display modes. It is to be noted that here the hypermedia pages are represented by web pages. In order for the user to be able to view web pages on a mobile terminal, that were originally intended to be displayed on a personal computer, he/she may need to change the content display mode. For example, a zoom factor, a page layout mode or a frame display mode may be required to be adjusted for the user to be able to customize how content is shown in the display.  
         [0056]     Page layout mode is when the user is given an option to either have a normal view or an optimized view. In the normal view, page content is displayed potentially with content to the right of the display view. In the optimized view, the content is rearranged horizontally, such that no content is present outside the display view horizontally.  
         [0057]      FIGS. 4A, 4B ,  4 C and  4 D illustrate different settings of a content display mode being a frame display mode and a page layout mode in an embodiment of the present invention. When the frame display mode is in merged frames mode, frames are combined to a single frame as can be seen in  FIGS. 4C and 4D . When the page layout mode is set to be optimized, text in a frame is adjusted horizontally such that it fits into the visible portion of the frame. The page layout mode is set to be optimized in  FIGS. 4B and 4D . Each of the  FIGS. 4A, 4B ,  4 C and  4 D will now be described in more detail.  
         [0058]     In  FIG. 4A , the browser has optimized view disabled and merge frames disabled. A content page being displayed with a first frame  71  on the left of the display view  61 , and a second frame  72  on the right. The author of the web page has in this example indicated in the content page code, such as HTML, that the first frame  71  is to be displayed to the left and the second frame  72  is to be displayed to the right. As can be seen in  FIG. 4A , this first display mode takes into account the content page author&#39;s instructions about how the frames  71  and  72  should be displayed. Frames  71  and  72  have vertical scroll bars  81  and  82 , respectively, and horizontal scroll bars  83  and  84 , respectively. If the user indicates a desire to scroll the content using, for example, the navigation key  5   a , the frame of the frames  71  and  72  which is currently active will have its content scrolled. Only one frame can be active at any one point in time, resulting in an unpredictable behavior if the user scrolls the content without knowing for certain which frame is active.  
         [0059]     In  FIG. 4B , the browser has optimized view enabled and merge frames disabled. Here there are still two frames  71  and  72 , each having scroll bars  81  and  82 , respectively. However, compared to  FIG. 4A , there is no content to the right of the display view  61 . The content has been rearranged horizontally to fit within the physical boundaries of the right-hand frame  72 .  
         [0060]     In  FIG. 4C , the browser has optimized view disabled and merge frames enabled. Here the contents of the frames  71  and  72  are merged into one merged frame  73  taking up the entire space of the display view  61 . While not strictly following the code instructions of the web page, this frame display mode has the advantage of only providing the user with one frame of scrollable content, which may be a preferable way for the user to navigate through the content. This is particularly useful in mobile communication terminals having limited user interfaces. For example, the user may in this frame display mode use the navigation key  5   a  to unambiguously scroll all of the content currently shown on the display view  61 . As the page layout mode is not optimized, content may, as is the case here, exist to the right of the display view  61 . The frame  73  then has one vertical scroll bar  82  and one horizontal scroll bar  84 .  
         [0061]     In  FIG. 4D , the browser has optimized view enabled and merge frames enabled. As in  FIG. 4C , the contents of the frames  71  and  72  are merged into one merged frame  73  taking up the entire space of the display view  61 . Furthermore, the page layout mode is optimized here, whereby no content exists to the right of the display view  61 . The frame  73  then only has one vertical scroll bar  82 .  
         [0062]      FIGS. 5A and 5B  together with  FIGS. 6A and 6B  are used to illustrate a method of how content display modes associated to web pages are retained.  
         [0063]      FIGS. 5A and 5B  show a display view of a web browser having rendered a first web page in two different content display modes, in this case being zoom factors.  FIGS. 6A and 6B  show a display view of a web browser having rendered a second web page in two different content display modes, being a difference in zoom factors and page layout mode.  
         [0064]     Although the following example uses the content display modes being a zoom factor and page layout mode, any content display mode may be used accordingly. For example, the content display modes of frame display mode and text selection could alternatively or additionally also be used.  
         [0065]     With reference to FIGS.  5 A-B and  6 A-B, a process will now be disclosed, illustrating how an embodiment of the present invention retains content display modes related to web pages.  
         [0066]     As shown in  FIG. 5A , the user has navigated to a first page containing content displayed in the display view  61  with an initial zoom factor of 100%. The page layout mode is normal, whereby both a menu bar  61  and a button bar  63  are visible. The button bar comprises a back button  67  and a forward button  68 . The user may then, for example, modify the content display mode by modifying the zoom factor to a new zoom factor of 200%, by using a context sensitive menu  65 . This results in the web browser re-rendering the content with the new content display mode being a zoom factor of 200% as can be seen in  FIG. 5B . The page layout mode remains the same as before, being in normal mode.  
         [0067]     The user may then navigate to a second page, using a link on the first page, using a bookmark, by entering a uniform resource locator (URL), or by any other means.  FIG. 6A  shows a display view  61  on which the browser has rendered the second page with an initial zoom factor of 200% and a normal page layout mode. In other words, the latest active content display mode is used for subsequent page renderings, such as the second page in this example. If the user chooses to change the content display mode, such as by changing the zoom factor to 100%, and by changing the page layout mode to optimized, the second content page is re-rendered according to the new content display mode. In this case this involves rendering the second page with the zoom factor of 100%, arranging the content such that no content exists to the right of the display view  61 , as is illustrated in  FIG. 6B .  
         [0068]     There are now two history items for the two pages stored by the browser. The first page has associated a zoom factor of 200% and normal page layout mode. The second page has associated a zoom factor of 100% and an optimized page layout mode.  
         [0069]     The user may then wish to return to the first page, for example using a combination of hardware keys (not shown). Upon the user pressing the combination of hardware keys, the web browser re-renders the first page according to the content display mode associated with the history item for the first page, thereby using a zoom factor of 200% and a normal page layout mode. In other words, the display will again look as shown in  FIG. 5B . By keeping content display mode information in memory  54  as part of the browser history, the browser improves the browsing experience for the user. The stored content display information can be used when revisiting already visited pages, either using back or forward functionality by means of the back button  67  or the forward button  68 , respectively, commonly provided by web browsers in the art.  
         [0070]      FIG. 7  shows an exemplary data table  90  comprising history data according to an embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0071]     The data table  90  is used to store history items. The data table  90  is preferably stored in the memory  54 , where it is accessible to the controller  50 . The table comprises a number of columns, where each column contains one type of data for each record. Records are shown vertically, where each step down in the table  90  corresponds to a new record.  
         [0072]     A Uniform Resource Locator (URL) column  91  contains the URL of the history item. A page layout column  92  contains information for each history item about page layout mode. A frame mode column  93  contains information about the frame display mode for each history item. A zoom factor column  94  contains the zoom factor for each history item. A text selection column  95  contains information about any text selections for each history item. The text selection is in this illustrative example represented with two numbers, representing the start and the end of the text selection in terms of character numbers. Although not shown, additional information is preferably included for text selection, such as a reference to the frame with the text being selected, etc. Furthermore, “0,0” here simply denotes that no text selection has been made in the history item in question. Additional columns  96 , related to content display modes or other information about the history item, may be added when suitable.  
         [0073]     The invention has mainly been described above with reference to a number of embodiments. However, as is readily appreciated by a person skilled in the art, other embodiments than the ones disclosed above are equally possible within the scope of the invention, as defined by the appended patent claims. It is to be noted that the invention may be exercised in other kinds of mobile communication terminals than the pocket computer of  FIGS. 1-3 , including but not limited to mobile (cellular) telephones and personal digital assistants (PDAs).