HYPERLINK LINK BROWSER WITH MULTILINK SELECT CAPABILITY

Abstract: A method of generating and processing a multilinked operation in a hyperlinked browser of a computer system is presented. A multilinked operation is an operation representing at least two links. A user is presented with a page in hyperlinked format with at least two links thereon and a browser (or server) records link selections of the user. More than one link (1) selection is recorded if the user selects a link (2) without unselecting all other previously selected link (1) selections. In response to the user selecting the recorded selections as a group, a multilinked operation is generated representing the recorded selections and processed to form a new hyperlinked format page.

Description: HYPERLINK LINK BROWSER WITH MULTILINK SELECT CAPABILITY CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Serial No. 60/120,974, filed February 19, 1999, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to user interface mechanisms, and in particular relates to a browser for navigating through hyperlinked pages. A typical Web browser presents a hypertext page to a user and responds to the user's selection of a link from the displayed page by requesting, from a server, the page referenced by the selected link and displaying the requested page when it is received from the server. To select more than one link, the user must select a first link, view the resulting page, then go back to the original hypertext page to select the next link and view the resulting page. If the browser has multi-window capability, the user can open each resulting page in its own window, but must otherwise proceed back and forth repeatedly from the hypertext page, each time selecting only one of the full group of links to be selected. One way to allow for multiple selections is for the designer of a page to include check boxes that the user can select before submitting the selections to the server, as illustrated in FIG. 1. However, for this multiple selection operation to be available, the designer must include that capability at the outset for that particular hypertext page. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The problems of the prior art described above are overcome by the present invention. In one embodiment, the invention relates to a method of generating and processing a multilinked operation in a hyperlinked browser of a computer system. A multilinked operation is an operation representing at least two links. A user is presented with a page in hyperlinked format with at least two links thereon and a browser (or server) records link selections of the user. More than one link selection is recorded if the user selects a link selection without unselecting all other previously selected link selections. In response to the user selecting the recorded selections as a group, a multilinked operation is generated representing the recorded selections and processed to form a new hyperlinked format page. In another embodiment, the invention relates to a method of generating and processing a multilinked query in a hyperlinked browser of a computer system. A multilinked query is a query representing at least two drop links and at least one drop target. A user is presented with a hyperlinked page with at least two drop links thereon and the browser (or server) records link selections of the user. More than one link selection is recorded if the user selects a link selection without unselecting all other previously selected link selections. In response to the user dragging the recorded selections to a drop target and dropping a representation of the recorded selections onto the drop target, a multilinked query representing the recorded selections and the drop target is generated and processed to form a new hyperlinked format page. A further understanding of the nature and advantages of the inventions herein may be realized by reference to the remaining portions of the specification and the attached drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is screen shot of a multiple selection page in a prior art browser. FIG. 2 is a screen shot of a multiple selection page according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a screen shot of a page returned by a hyperlink server in response to submission of the page shown in FIG. 2. FIG. 4 is a screen shot of a page listing of records from a database, illustrating the selection of multiple drag elements from the page. FIG. 5 is a screen shot of a page showing the results returned a hyperlink server in response to submission of the page shown in FIG. 4. FIG. 6 is a screen shot of a page listing of records from a database, illustrating the selection of multiple drag elements from the page including a header item and a record item. FIG. 7 is a screen shot of a page showing the results returned a hyperlink server in response to submission of the page shown in FIG. 6. DESCRIPTION OF THE SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS With a multiple selection capability according to one embodiment of the present invention, browser users can select multiple links at a time on a hyperlinked page and take an action that covers all of the selected links. FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional approach to giving a user the ability to select multiple links. The illustrated page gives a user the opportunity to retrieve a list of automobiles that match criteria defined in three separate categories. As shown there, a user has made a selection by clicking on the check boxes adjacent to the selection label. In this example, the user's selection will retrieve a list of automobiles that have a make of "BMW" or "Mercedes," a color of "Red" or "Black," and a Price of "15,000 to 25,000" or "25,000 plus." Using check boxes has the disadvantage that the page designer must implement the check boxes when the page is designed. Moreover, to extend the capability in any consistent way to multiple pages requires that the designer implement the check boxes on each and every such page. FIG. 2 shows an alternative to the check box approach according to one embodiment of the present invention. This page gives a user the capability to perform the same type of retrieval of a list of automobiles matching certain specified criteria as was shown in FIG. 1. In this case, a number of links are provided on a hyperlink page, and a user has selected four of the links. The order in which the links were selected is indicated in the figure, but the typical display would not include explicit numbers as in the figure. Thus, the user selected "BMW," "Mercedes," "Red," and "25,000 plus," in that order. If the user then "clicks" the selection(s), those four selections would be acted on by the browser. Note that "selecting" and "clicking" a link are different actions. Selecting a link causes that link to be recorded in an internal list of selected links, while clicking on the selections causes the action to be taken. In some implementations, clicking on a link causes that link to be the final selected link. There are different methods by which the multiple selection can be recorded. The user could be required to hold the CTRL key before each multiple selection (as indicated in FIG. 2) or could alternatively use a key to toggle the multiple-selection capability on and off. Links that have been recorded may be highlighted for the user, for example by displaying them in a different color. Other techniques for recording and highlighting multiple selections will be clear to those of skill in the art. If the selections shown in FIG. 2 are submitted to a server that maintains a database of automobiles available for sale, the response from the server might be the page illustrated in the screen shot of FIG. 3. In some implementations, the order of the selections is noted and used to order results. For example, the user selected "BMW" before "Mercedes," so the "BMW" records are presented before the "Mercedes" record. If the order of selection is taken into account, it could be used to represent the user's relative preference for the selections. In other implementations, the order of presentation is independent of the order of selection. The multiple-selection capability of the invention can readily be applied to the page shown in FIG. 3 as well. A user, for example, might decide to extract further information on the second and third automobiles. By selecting both of them, a page can then be obtained showing more detailed descriptions of these two selections. It would be considerably more difficult for a designer to include check boxes on a page that is generated "on the fly," as this one is. It is simpler for a designer to implement such check boxes on a static page rather than on one that is generated dynamically in response to information collected by the browser. FIGS. 4-7 will now be described with reference to a multiple selection capability according to another embodiment of the present invention. With such an approach, browser users can relate multiple links to a component in one operation. By allowing the user to select two or more links together and dragging them all to the component in one operation, a server is able to consolidate the various queries and produce one combined result that is presented in a single window. This consolidation of the query saves many resources, because it provides the user with one easy way of generating a desired complex request, reducing the time needed relative to separately generating multiple queries and consolidating them together. The effort of the server is also lowered, since multiple queries are combined into one query. Furthermore, when used with the template mechanisms developed by TopTier Software, Inc., the assignee of the present application, and described in part in U.S. Patent No. 5,848,424 (issued December 8, 1998, to the assignee of the present application and incorporated herein for all purposes), templates can be processed in less time and less work is required by an HTTP Web server, if used. With multiple link selection, the user's navigation options greatly increase, particularly if the order of link selections is considered. For example, assume a page has L links. If the page is an ordinary HTML Web page viewed in an ordinary browser, the user has only L navigation options. If the page is viewed within a browser using the template mechanism and a component toolbar has C components thereon, the user can b drag any one of the L links to any one of the C components, so the user has L times C navigation options. However, with the multilink selection capability described herein, the user can drag any combination of links onto any component. The number of navigation options in that case is (2 L -1) times C. If the order of selection is taken into account, there are ∑k = ιL!/(L-k)! times C navigation options. To illustrate, if a page has 15 links with a toolbar having 8 components, the ordinary HTML Web page provides 15 navigation options, using the template mechanism increases this to 120 options, multilink selection capability increases this to 262,136 options, and ordered multilink selection capability increases the number of options to 2.844 x 10 13 . With multiple link selection, the user of a hyperlinked purchasing system might select two or more links relating to selected customers and drag the selected links to an invoice component in order to get the list of invoices for all of the selected customers. Another option is to click on the selected links (not dragging them) and get all (and only) the selected customers listed on the same results page. With multiple link selection, it is also possible to do a "select within results" query by selecting the link representing the results of a prior query and another link representing the new constraint to be consecutively applied. Examples of these types of selections are described below with reference to FIGS. 4 - 7. FIG. 4 is a screen shot of a listing of records in a database, showing an HTML page with a side toolbar generated by a server such as the server shown in U.S. Patent No. 5,848,424. As explained in that patent, a drag and drop browser determines a result (in this case a query) based on a dragged element and a drop target. Thus, if the user were to select elements 20 and 22 from the screen shown in FIG. 4 and drop the multiple selected elements on the "authors" component on the component bar on the left, the browser would process the combination of those elements. As shown, the user drags the last selected element and the other selected elements follow. For example, in FIG. 4, element 20 is a link to a value "LN" in the state column and element 22 is a link to a value "MD" in the state column. When those elements are dragged and dropped onto the authors component, the browser (or the server) converts that action into a query requesting a list of authors from states matching "IN" or "MD." FIG. 5 is an illustration of the results page resulting from that query, listing the database records that match the specified criteria. It should be noted that another query could be started from the page shown in FIG. 5, in an iterative search for desired data. FIGS. 6-7 illustrate a process of selecting where one of the links selected is a previously generated query statement. Suppose the user is viewing the display shown in FIG. 6, which is a display of records matching the query "contract = 1". If the user were to select the hyperlink showing that query term and another element 30 (a city field with a value "Oakland") and drop the selections on the author component, the result would be a listing of the authors with Contract=l and City=Oakland. An example of such a result is shown in FIG. 7. Again, another query could by started from the page shown in FIG. 7, in an iterative search A Web page designer can use the above features to enhance a Web page in various ways. On some pages, the response to the selection of multiple links is to process each link as a separate selection, while in others the multiple links are processed as a parsable string, either as a list or an ordered list. The operator that is applied to these multiple links can be any operator available to the Web page designer. Where a drag-and-drop browser is used, the method that is responsible for determining what to do (the underlying operator) receives the list of selected links as its input, in the order they were selected. The above description is illustrative and not restrictive. Many variations of the invention will become apparent to those of skill in the art upon review of this disclosure. The scope of the invention should, therefore, be determined not with reference to the above description, but instead should be determined with reference to the appended claims along with their full scope of equivalents.

Claims: WHAT IS CLAIMED IS: L A method of generating and processing a multilinked query in a hyperlinked browser of a computer system, wherein a multilinked query is a query representing at least two drop links and at least one drop target, the method comprising the steps of: presenting a page in hyperlinked format with at least drop two links and at least one drop target thereon; recording link selections of a user wherein more than one link selection is recorded if the user selects a link selection without unselecting all other previously selected link selections; in response to a user dragging the recorded selections to a drop target and dropping a representation of the recorded selections onto the drop target, generating a multilinked query representing the recorded selections and the drop target; processing the multilinked query to form a new hyperlinked format page; and displaying the new hyperlinked format page in the hyperlinked browser. 2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the hyperlinked browser is an Internet World Wide Web browser. 3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the hyperlinked format is HTML. 4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of processing includes a step of reading a matrix of relationships. 5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of generating a multilinked query takes into account an order in which the selections were made. 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of displaying comprises arranging the new hyperlinked format page according to the order in which the selections were made. 7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of highlighting the link selections. 8. The method according to claim 1, wherein one of the drop links corresponds to a previous multilinked query. 9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the page in hyperlinked format was generated dynamically. 10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the browser comprises a server. 11. A method of generating and processing a multilinked operation in a hyperlinked browser of a computer system, wherein a multilinked operation is an operation representing at least two links, the method comprising the steps of: presenting a page in hyperlinked format with at least two links thereon; recording link selections of a user wherein more than one link selection is recorded if the user selects a link selection without unselecting all other previously selected link selections; in response to a user selecting the recorded selections as a group, generating a multilinked operation representing the recorded selections; processing the multilinked operation to form a new hyperlinked format page; and displaying the new hyperlinked format page in the hyperlinked browser. 12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the hyperlinked browser is an Internet World Wide Web browser. 13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the hyperlinked format is HTML. 14. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of processing includes a step of reading a matrix of relationships. 15. The method of claim 11 , wherein the step of generating a multilinked operation takes into account an order in which the selections were made. 16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the step of displaying comprises arranging the new hyperlinked format page according to the order in which the selections were made. 17. The method according to claim 11 , further comprising the step of highlighting the link selections. 18. The method according to claim 11 , wherein one of the drop links corresponds to a previous multilinked operation. 19. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the page in hyperlinked format was generated dynamically. 20. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the browser comprises a server. 21. A method of generating and processing a multilinked query in an Internet World Wide Web browser, wherein a multilinked query is a query representing at least two drop links and at least one drop target, the method comprising the steps of: presenting an HTML page with at least two links thereon; recording link selections of a user wherein more than one link selection is recorded if the user selects a link selection without unselecting all other previously selected link selections; in response to a user dragging the recorded selections to a drop target and dropping a representation of the recorded selections onto the drop target, generating a multilinked query representing the recorded selections and the drop target, and taking into account an order in which the selections were made; processing the multilinked query to form a new HTML page; and displaying the new HTML page in the Internet World Wide Web browser according to the order in which the selections were made. 22. A method of generating and processing a multilinked operation in an Internet World Wide Web browser of a computer system, wherein a multilinked operation is an operation representing at least two links, the method comprising the steps of: presenting an HTML page with at least two links thereon; recording link selections of a user wherein more than one link selection is recorded if the user selects a link selection without unselecting all other previously selected link selections; in response to a user selecting the recorded selections as a group, generating a multilinked operation representing the recorded selections, and taking into account an order in which the selections were made; processing the multilinked operation to form a new HTML page; and displaying the new HTML page in the Internet World Wide Web browser according to the order in which the selections were made.

Inventors: GVILY YANIV, GVILY, YANIV
Applicants: GVILY YANIV, TOPTIER SOFTWARE INC, GVILY, YANIV, TOPTIER SOFTWARE, INC.
Application year: 2000
Main classification: G06F3
IPC codes: G06F3, G06F17