Abstract:
A system and a method for linking a graphical element on a first web-page with a computer generated content presented in a second web-page, the method comprising the steps of retrieving a computer generated content to said second web-page, retrieving from said second web-page content-generation parameters for regenerating said content at said second web-page, said parameters not being web-address parameters, storing said parameters at said first web-page, and associating said parameters with said graphical element.

Description:
FIELD AND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    The present invention relates to information servers, and, more particularly but not exclusively, to hyperlinking from within a web-page to computer generated content. 
         [0002]    Hyperlinks from an information item such as a web-page presented over the World-Wide-Web (WWW) to another information item such as another web-page presented over the WWW is well known in the art. Currently, a WWW hyperlink is based on the Uniform Resource locator (URL) of the target web-page, otherwise known as web address. Modern web-pages contain user-interactive content. This type of content is generated by the web server “on-the-fly”, typically in response to user indications. Such user indications can input data, zoom-in, zoom-out, pan, etc. An example of such interactive content is map search in which the user may enter a name of a target geographical location, then pan, and zoom to arrive at the most appropriate view of the map. When displaying a three-dimensional model the user may add view orientation, level of details, etc. A hyperlink as known in the art can transfer the user from the original web-page to the geographical information server (GIS) but not to the preferred view of the target location. 
         [0003]    There is thus a widely recognized need for, and it would be highly advantageous to have, a hyperlinking method and system devoid of the above limitations. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0004]    According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a method for linking a graphical element on a first web-page with a computer generated content presented in a second web-page. The method includes the steps of:
       retrieving a computer generated content to the second wen-page;   retrieving from the second web-page content-generation parameters for regenerating the content at the second web-page, the parameters not being web-address parameters;   storing the parameters at the first web-page; and   associating the parameters with the graphical element.       
 
         [0009]    According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method for linking a graphical element on a first web-page with a computer generated content presented in a second web-page wherein the computer generated content includes a map. 
         [0010]    According to still another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method for linking a graphical element on a first web-page with a computer generated content presented in a second web-page wherein the content-generation parameters comprise at least one of view orientation, view magnification; and zoom. 
         [0011]    According to still another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method for linking a graphical element on a first web-page with a computer generated content presented in a second web-page additionally including the step of displaying collateral information on the first web-page, the collateral information including a link to a third web-page, wherein the third web-page is associated with at least one of: the content of second web-page, and the content-generation parameters. 
         [0012]    Further according to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method for linking a graphical element on a first web-page with a computer generated content presented in a second web-page wherein the content-generating link additionally includes a third information server operative to provide the collateral information responsive to the content-generating parameters. 
         [0013]    Yet further according to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a system for linking a graphical element on a first web-page with a computer generated content presented in a second web-page. The system includes:
       a first information server operative to generate a first displayable content responsive to content-generating parameters provided by a user;   a second information server containing a second displayable content including a content-generating link to the first information server; and   a network display device communicating over a communication network with the first information server, and operative to receive the second displayable content from the second information server and to enable a user to invoke the content-generating link to the first information server and to transfer the content-generating parameters to the information server and to receive the first displayable content;   wherein the content-generating link includes the content-generating parameters for generating the first displayable content by the first information server.       
 
         [0018]    Still further according to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a system for linking a graphical element on a first web-page with a computer generated content presented in a second web-page additionally including a third information server communicating with the second information server, wherein the content-generating link additionally includes link to the third information server and wherein the third information server is operative to provide collateral information responsive to the content-generating parameters. 
         [0019]    Even further according to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a system for linking a graphical element on a first web-page with a computer generated content presented in a second web-page wherein the collateral information includes a link to a web-page associated with at least one of: the content of second web-page, and the content-generation parameters. 
         [0020]    Additionally according to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a system for linking a graphical element on a first web-page with a computer generated content presented in a second web-page wherein the third information server additionally operative to retrieve the content-generating parameters from the first information server on behalf of the second information server. 
         [0021]    Also according to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a system for linking a graphical element on a first web-page with a computer generated content presented in a second web-page wherein the third information server additionally operative to retrieve the first displayable content responsive to the content-generating parameters from the first information server on behalf of the second information server. 
         [0022]    Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. The materials, methods, and examples provided herein are illustrative only and not intended to be limiting. Except to the extend necessary or inherent in the processes themselves, no particular order to steps or stages of methods and processes described in this disclosure, including the figures, is intended or implied. In many cases the order of process steps may varied without changing the purpose or effect of the methods described. 
         [0023]    Implementation of the method and system of the present invention involves performing or completing certain selected tasks or steps manually, automatically, or any combination thereof. Moreover, according to actual instrumentation and equipment of various embodiments of the method and system of the present invention, several selected steps could be implemented by hardware or by software on any operating system of any firmware or any combination thereof. For example, as hardware, selected steps of the invention could be implemented as a chip or a circuit. As software, selected steps of the invention could be implemented as a plurality of software instructions being executed by a computer using any suitable operating system. In any case, selected steps of the method and system of the invention could be described as being performed by a data processor, such as a computing platform for executing a plurality of instructions. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0024]    The invention is herein described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings. With specific reference now to the drawings in detail, it is stressed that the particulars shown are by way of example and for purposes of illustrative discussion of the various embodiments of the present invention only, and are presented in order to provide what is believed to be the most useful and readily understood description of the principles and conceptual aspects of the invention. In this regard, no attempt is made to show structural details of the invention in more detail than is necessary for a fundamental understanding of the invention, the description taken with the drawings making apparent to those skilled in the art how the several forms of the invention may be embodied in practice. 
           [0025]    In the drawings: 
           [0026]      FIG. 1  is a simplified illustration of a virtual hyperlinking system connecting a visual element in a first web-page to a second web-page that is generated on-demand. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0027]    The principles and operation of a system and a method for virtual hyperlinking according to the present invention may be better understood with reference to the drawings and accompanying description. 
         [0028]    In this document, the term to “virtual hyperlinking” or “virtual hyperlink” refers to a hyperlink from a first web-page to a second web-page wherein at least a part of the content of the second web-page is “computer generated content”. The term “computer generated content” refers to content generated for the associated web-page “on-the-fly”, typically in response to input data provided by a user. In the virtual hyperlinking system and method described herein, the input data to generate the content within the second web-page is provided by the virtual hyperlink embedded within the first web-page. 
         [0029]    Before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangement of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments or of being practiced or carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. 
         [0030]    In this document, an element of a drawing that is not described within the scope of the drawing and is labeled with a numeral that has been described in a previous drawing has the same use and description as in the previous drawings. Similarly, an element that is identified in the text by a numeral that does not appear in the drawing described by the text has the same use and description as in the previous drawings where it was described. 
         [0031]    Reference is now made to  FIG. 1 , which is a simplified illustration of a virtual hyperlinking system  10  connecting a visual element in a first web-page to a second web-page that is generated on-demand. according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         [0032]    As seen in  FIG. 1  the virtual hyperlinking system  10  preferably contains the following elements:
       a first information server  11  containing a first web-page  12  containing computer-generated content  13 ;   a second information server  14  containing a second web-page  15  containing one or more virtual hyperlinks  16  to the computer-generated content  13 ;   a network display device  17 , such as a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a PDA, a cellular telephone, etc., communicating via a communication network  18  with the first information server  11  and via a communication network  19  with the second information server  14 ;       
 
         [0036]    It is appreciated that the communication networks  18  and  19  can be the same network. It is also appreciated that the communication networks  18  and/or  19  can be any type of communication network such as a wired communication network and/or a wireless communication network, such as WAN, MAN, LAN or PAN communication networks, such as telephone network, cellular network, IP network, WiMAX, WiFi or Bluetooth networks. Preferably, the communication networks  18  and/or  19  use the Internet, and particularly the World-Wide-Web (WWW). 
         [0037]    It is appreciated that the first web-page  12  and the second web-page  15  contain displayable content and that the network display device  17  can display the displayable content. Typically, the network display device  17  use a regular Internet browser and the first web-page  12  and the second web-page  15  contains content displayable by an Internet browser. 
         [0038]    The first information server  11  typically generates the computer-generated content  13  on-the-fly in response to data input and instructions from a user. The computer-generated content  13  is therefore typically not present on the first information server  11  as a fixed web-page, but is presented on-demand, in response to the user&#39;s request, and/or query, and/or input and/or instructions. For example, a map is presented by the first information server  11  after a user has entered the required location, typically by entering text such as the name of a city, the name of a street, the name of a geographical location or entity such as a mountain or a lake, etc. When the map is presented the user can zoom in or zoom out and/or pan the image to arrive at the most useful view of the area. 
         [0039]    The user may also request the first information server  11  to add or remove details such as hotels, petrol stations, restaurants, etc. This type of content is typically available at the first information server  11  but presented to each user upon user&#39;s request. 
         [0040]    If the computer-generated content  13  contains a three-dimensional view of a three-dimensional model the user can further manipulate the computer-generated content  13  according, for example to the preferred viewing orientation. 
         [0041]    In other types of computer-generated content  13  the user can add elements to the image, such as visual marks, annotations, etc. The first information server  11  can save the added elements and display them to the user when the user requests the appropriate computer-generated content  13 . However, these elements are not available to other users. 
         [0042]    As seen in  FIG. 1 , the second information server  14  preferably contains the second web-page  15  that is communicated to, and displayed by, the network display device  17 . The second web-page  15  preferably contains one or more virtual hyperlinks  16 . The virtual hyperlinks  16  can take the form of an icon, such as the virtual hyperlink  16  designated by numeral  20 , or as a text, preferably designated by a different color, underlined fonts, different font type, highlighting, etc., such as the virtual hyperlink  16  designated by numeral  21 . 
         [0043]    The virtual hyperlink  16  preferably contains web address  22  of the first web-page  12 , or, alternatively, web address of the first information server  11 , and context information  23  required to cause the first information server  11  to generate a specific computer-generated content  13 . 
         [0044]    Thus, when a user accesses the second web-page  15  and invokes a virtual hyperlink  16  the network display device  17  preferably instructs the first information server  11  to generate a specific computer-generated content  13  as designated by a programmer of the second web-page  15 . 
         [0045]    To enable the programmer of the second web-page  15  to create the virtual hyperlink  16  and to embed in it the context information  23 , the second information server  14  preferably contains a hyperlinking program  24 . Alternatively, the hyperlinking program  24  resides on a third information server  25 , also connected to the communication network  19 . 
         [0046]    When creating the virtual hyperlink  16 , the programmer accesses the first information server  11  and invokes a recording process of the hyperlinking program  24 . The programmer accesses the first web-page  12  and performs all the user activities required to generate the computer-generated content  13 . The recording process records these user activities. Preferably, the recorded activities include actions such as text entries, check-box selections, radio-button selections, zoom, pan and similar image manipulations, etc. The recorded activities are then packed by the hyperlinking program  24  as the context information  23  and embedded in the virtual hyperlink  16 . 
         [0047]    Alternatively, the programmer accesses the first web-page  12  and performs all the user activities required to generate the computer-generated content  13 . Then the programmer invokes the hyperlinking program  24  that sends a link request  26  to the first web-page  12 . In response to the link request  26 , the first web-page  12  sends to the hyperlinking program  24  all the information (element  27  of  FIG. 1 ) required to generate the computer-generated content  13  as specified by the user. The hyperlinking program  24  packs this information in the form of the context information  23  and embeds it in the virtual hyperlink  16 . 
         [0048]    The network display device  17  preferably includes a virtual hyperlinking routine  28 , typically implemented as an add-on (plug-in) module for the web-browser software. When the user invokes the virtual hyperlink  16  the virtual hyperlinking routine  28  accesses the first information server  11  (or the first web-page  12 ) and sends it the context information  23  to generate the required computer-generated content  13  (element  29  of  FIG. 1 ). 
         [0049]    Thereafter, the first information server  11  generates the computer-generated content  13  according to the context information  23  and the computer-generated content  13  is communicated to the network display device  17 , which then preferably displays the computer-generated content  13  to the user. 
         [0050]    Alternatively, the context information  23  is communicated from the network display device  17  to the first information server  11  via the third information server  25 , and the responsive computer-generated content  13  is communicated from the first information server  11  to the network display device  17  via the third information server  25 . The third information server  25  additionally maintains a database of collateral information, such as advertising, that is indexed according to parameters that are common in the context information  23 . The third information server  25  uses the communicated context information  23  to search and retrieve appropriate collateral information  30  and add it to the computer-generated content  13  communicated back to the network display device  17 . 
         [0051]    It is expected that during the life of this patent many relevant communication technologies will be developed, and the scope of the terms herein, such as link, hyperlink, map server, geographical information system and three-dimensional model display, is intended to include all such new technologies a priori. 
         [0052]    It is appreciated that certain features of the invention, which are, for clarity, described in the context of separate embodiments, may also be provided in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features of the invention, which are, for brevity, described in the context of a single embodiment, may also be provided separately or in any suitable sub-combination. 
         [0053]    Although the invention has been described in conjunction with specific embodiments thereof, it is evident that many alternatives, modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, it is intended to embrace all such alternatives, modifications and variations that fall within the spirit and broad scope of the appended claims. All publications, patents and patent applications mentioned in this specification are herein incorporated in their entirety by reference into the specification, to the same extent as if each individual publication, patent or patent application was specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated herein by reference. In addition, citation or identification of any reference in this application shall not be construed as an admission that such reference is available as prior art to the present invention.