Method and apparatus for mapping a site on a wide area network

Abstract

A method and system for organizing and displaying information about Internet Web pages on Web maps are disclosed. Web maps display a summary of the information that a Web page provides access to, in a format that facilitates a rapid assessment of what may be accessed through a Web site's home page, or through any Web page on the Web site. Preferably, Web maps are displayed on a Web page, or within a frame of a Web page, by an Internet browser application. A set of Web maps may be automatically generated by a search engine or directory in response to a user's search request. Alternatively, a user may request that a Web map be produced for a particular Web page of interest. The Web maps are preferably generated by a Web server, or by an application running in the background of a user's computer, so that the user may perform other tasks on the user's computer while the Web maps are being generated.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION[0001]This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60 / 129,471, filed Apr. 15, 1999, which application is specifically incorporated herein, in its entirety, by reference.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]1. Field of the Invention[0003]The present invention relates to locating information on a wide area network such as the Internet; and more particularly, to a method and system for organizing and displaying information about Internet Web sites on Web site maps.[0004]2. Description of Related Art[0005]The amount and variety of information accessible on the Internet, and in particular, through the World Wide Web, is now extremely vast and continues to grow very rapidly. At the same time, as the Internet grows in popularity, locating useful and accurate information on the Internet is becoming both more important and more challenging.[0006]Various information services, such as search engines and Internet directories, have bee...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0009]The present invention provides a method and system for organizing and displaying information about Internet Web pages on Web maps. Web maps display a summary of the information that a Web page provides access to, in a format that facilitates a rapid assessment of what may be accessed through a Web site's home page, or through any Web page on the Web site to which the Web site links. Preferably, Web maps are displayed on a Web page, or within a frame of a Web page, by an Internet browser application. A set of Web maps may be automatically generated by a search engine or directory in response to a user's search request. Alternatively, a user may request that a Web map be produced for a particular Web page of interest. The Web maps are preferably generated by a Web server, or by an application running in the background of a user's computer, so that the user may perform other tasks on the users computer while the Web maps are being generated.

[0010]Using a Web server to generate maps typically has the advantage of being faster than generating maps on a users computer, because Web servers typically have faster network connections than client computers. Preferably, a Web map is much smaller in size than the Web page or pages that it maps, and is formatted to facilitate rapid transmission to a user's computer. A Web map is also preferably organized in a clear, simplified manner to facilitate rapid viewing and comprehension. After being generated, a Web map may be reviewed by the user to assess the information accessible through the mapped Web page much more quickly than visiting the Web page and exploring its hyperlinks. Preferably, the Web maps include hyperlinks from the mapped Web page so that someone reviewing the map may link to the mapped Web page and related Web pages for which hyperlinks have been identified.

Problems solved by technology

The amount and variety of information accessible on the Internet, and in particular, through the World Wide Web, is now extremely vast and continues to grow very rapidly.

At the same time, as the Internet grows in popularity, locating useful and accurate information on the Internet is becoming both more important and more challenging.

There are often delays associated with viewing Web pages in this manner because of the time required to transmit, receive, and display selected Web pages, and because of network errors, such as expired hyperlinks and unresponsive Web servers.

Frequently, the process of running and exploring searches is very time consuming and requires much viewing of irrelevant or non-useful information.

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