United States Patent [19J
`Richardson et al.
`
`I IIIII IIIIIIII Ill lllll lllll lllll lllll lllll lllll lllll lllll 111111111111111111
`US005809247A
`[11] Patent Number:
`[45] Date of Patent:
`
`5,809,247
`Sep. 15, 1998
`
`[54] METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR GUIDED
`TOURING OF INTERNET/INTRANET
`WEBSITES
`
`[75]
`
`Inventors: John A. Richardson, Beaverton; Peter
`J. Kaufman, Banks; Brian Maso,
`Portland; Carl A. Johnson, Tigard;
`Rick H. Yeomans, III, Beaverton, all
`of Oreg.
`
`[73] Assignee: Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, Calif.
`
`[21] Appl. No.: 685,952
`
`[22] Filed:
`
`Jul. 22, 1996
`
`Int. Cl.6
`...................................................... G06F 19/00
`[51]
`[52] U.S. Cl. ................................ 395/200.48; 395/200.59;
`395/200.32
`[58] Field of Search ......................... 395/200.32, 200.48,
`395/200.49, 200.33, 200.57, 200.58, 200.59;
`707/513
`
`[56]
`
`References Cited
`
`U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
`
`5,471,675 11/1995 Zias ......................................... 395/162
`8/1996 Lehfeldt et al. ..................... 395/200.2
`5,544,315
`5,544,320
`8/1996 Konrad ............................... 395/200.09
`
`5,548,726
`5,572,643
`5,574,915
`5,625,781
`
`8/1996 Pettus ................................. 395/200.09
`11/1996 Judson .................................... 395/793
`11/1996 Lemon et al.
`.......................... 395/700
`4/1997 Cline et al. . ... ... .... ... ... ... ... ... ... 395 /335
`
`OTHER PUBLICATIONS
`
`Contigo:Itinerary Web Presenter 2.0 FAQ and Data Sheet,
`Jan. 1997.
`Brown, "Special Edition, Using Netscape 2", Dec. 1995.
`
`Primary Examiner-Frank J. Asta
`Assistant Examiner-Matt Kaminer
`Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Blakely, Sokoloff, Taylor &
`Zafman
`
`[57]
`
`ABSTRACT
`
`The present invention for guided touring of websites
`includes a web tour director programmed onto a web server
`for connecting a client system to a number of web sites in
`accordance with a web tour stop vector identifying the web
`sites as tour stops of a web guided tour. The present
`invention further includes a media rendering function also
`programmed onto the web server for rendering on the client
`system, one or more corresponding media for each of the
`web sites, for at least a portion of the time while the web site
`is connected to the client system.
`
`31 Claims, 25 Drawing Sheets
`
`Page 1 of 34
`
`

`

`U.S. Patent
`U.S. Patent
`
`Sep. 15, 1998
`Sep. 15, 1998
`
`Sheet 1 of 25
`Sheet 1 of 25
`
`5,809,247
`5,809,247
`
`
`
`14
`
`POP
`PROVIDER
`
`10
`
`16
`
`16
`
`16
`
`16
`
`16
`
`Figure 1
`Figure 1
`
`Page 2 of 34
`
`Page 2 of 34
`
`

`

`U.S. Patent
`
`Sep. 15, 1998
`
`Sheet 2 of 25
`
`5,809,247
`
`START
`
`20
`
`A USER CONNECTS TO
`A TOUR OPERATOR
`SITE
`
`24
`
`26
`
`TOUR OPERATOR SITE
`PROVIDES USER WITH
`A DIRECTORY OF
`AVAILABLE GUIDED TOURS
`
`USER SELECTS ONE OF
`THE AVAILABLE GUIDED
`TOURS
`
`28
`
`30
`
`TOUR OPERATOR PROVIDES
`USER WITH A TOUR VIEWER
`ACCOMPANIED WITH TOUR
`STOP DEFINITION OF THE
`SELECTED TOUR & MUL Tl-MEDIA
`COMPLEMENTS FOR THE
`TOUR STOPS
`
`TOUR VIEWER CONNECTS USER TO
`THE TOUR STOPS IN ACCORDANCE
`WITH THE TOUR STOP DEFINITION &
`RENDERS THE CORRESPONDING
`MUL Tl-MEDIA COMPLEMENTS
`WHILE STOPPING AT EACH TOUR
`STOP
`
`END
`
`Figure 2
`
`Page 3 of 34
`
`

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`
`Table of Contents of this site
`
`I Choose a language H §]
`
`r-'
`200 MHz Pentium® Pro Processor Guided Tour 38
`
`Intel New Media Prototypes Guided Intranet Tour
`
`r-'
`36
`
`Check out the Intel Internet Tour Guide!
`
`To receive your own regularly updated content, go to Custom News for You .
`Serving You Today Will Be .
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`Intel/MCI Cast a Wide Net
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`• Advanced 64-bit professional graphics solution on
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`• Integrated Ultra SCSI and Fast IDE Master on PCI bus
`• 32-bit, high-speed PCI bus architecture
`• High performance, error-correcting memory architecture
`• Multiprocessing power with dual processor support
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`Page 6 of 34
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`COMPLEMENTS
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`MUL Tl-MEDIA
`TOUR STOP
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`,,J
`78
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`DEFINITIONS
`
`TOUR
`
`76
`
`/
`
`74
`
`60
`
`/
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`62
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`APPLETS
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`WEB TOUR
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`SERVER
`
`PROTOCOL
`
`72
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`PAGES
`WEB
`TOUR
`/
`
`r
`
`16
`
`OPERATING ENVIRONMENT
`
`TOUR OPERATOR WEB SITE
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`Figure 6
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`l.-./
`58
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`SOFTWARE
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`SOCKET
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`52
`OPERATING ENVIRONMENT
`
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`STATION
`WEB TOURING
`
`Page 7 of 34
`
`

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`
`Page 8 of 34
`
`

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`WEB TOUR
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`v
`76
`-----------------------------------------
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`94
`
`Page 9 of 34
`
`

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`CREATES NAVIGATION
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`
`__J
`
`102
`
`START )
`
`\. END )
`
`Figure 9
`
`I ~
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`ADVISING DIRECTOR
`
`RENDERS MM COMPLEMENT
`
`I
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`
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`DEFINITION
`
`PER TOUR STOPS
`
`TOUR STOP VECTOR
`
`GENERATES & RETURNS
`
`CONFIGURATOR
`
`CLASS
`
`CREATES CONFIGURATION
`
`114
`
`ADVISING NAGIVATOR
`
`TOUR TO NEXT TOUR STOP
`
`(VER. 1)
`
`NAGIVATION CLASS
`(VER. 2) REPLACES
`
`r'
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`
`Page 10 of 34
`
`

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`
`-NOTIFY TOUR ENDED ( )
`-NOTIFY TIMER STOPPED ( )
`-NOTIFY NEW STOP ()
`-NOTIFY GO TO ISSUED ( )
`-NOTIFY INITIALIZED ( )
`
`Figure 10
`
`-ACTION()
`-KEV()
`-NOTIFY TOUR ENDED ( )
`-NOTIFY TIME STOPPED ( )
`-NOTIFY NEW STOP ( )
`-NOTIFY GO TO ISSUED ( )
`-NOTIFY INITIALIZED ( )
`-BUILD () {VER. 1 OR 2}
`-UNIT ( ) {VER. 1 OR 2}
`-UI IMAGES
`-UI ELEMENTS
`-STATE VARIABLES
`
`RUNNABLE{
`IMPLEMENTS WEB TOUR ADVISE
`EXTENDS APPLET,
`
`94
`
`/
`
`WEB TOUR ADVISE
`
`NAVIGATOR CLASS (VER. 1 or 2)
`
`92
`
`Page 11 of 34
`
`

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`-BUILD WEB TOUR VECTOR ( )
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`
`Figure 12
`
`-TIMER ()
`-RELOAD CURRENT STOP ( )
`
`SEL'D STOP ( )
`
`-FORWARD TOUR TO
`-BACKUP TOUR ( )
`-FORWARD TOUR ()
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`
`RUNNABLE{
`
`IMPLEMENTS
`
`WEB TOUR CONFIGURATION CLASS
`
`WEB TOUR DIRECTOR CLASS
`
`98
`
`96
`
`Page 12 of 34
`
`

`

`U.S. Patent
`U.S. Patent
`
`Sep. 15, 1998
`Sep. 15, 1998
`
`Sheet 12 of 25
`Sheet 12 of 25
`
`5,809,247
`5,809,247
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`Page 13 of 34
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`Page 13 of 34
`
`
`

`

`U.S. Patent
`U.S. Patent
`
`Sep. 15, 1998
`Sep. 15, 1998
`
`Sheet 13 of 25
`Sheet 13 of 25
`
`5,809,247
`5,809,247
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`
`Page 15 of 34
`
`

`

`U.S. Patent
`
`Sep. 15, 1998
`
`Sheet 15 of 25
`
`5,809,247
`
`NOTIFY
`NEW STOP
`
`ENABLE PAUSE &
`REJOIN BUTTONS
`
`ENABLE NEXT STOP &
`PREV. STOP BUTTONS
`
`END
`
`Figure 20
`
`NOTIFY TIMER
`STOPPED
`
`NOTIFY TOUR
`ENDED
`
`ENABLE GUIDED TOUR BUTTON
`DISABLE PAUSE/REJOIN BUTTON
`
`END
`
`Figure 21
`
`Page 16 of 34
`
`

`

`U.S. Patent
`
`Sep. 15, 1998
`
`Sheet 16 of 25
`
`5,809,247
`
`KEY
`
`NO
`
`CALL DIRECTOR TO
`FORWARD TOUR TO
`SELECTED TOUR STOP
`
`END
`
`Figure 22
`
`Page 17 of 34
`
`

`

`U.S. Patent
`
`Sep. 15, 1998
`
`Sheet 17 of 25
`
`5,809,247
`
`ACTION
`
`SET TOUR STOP TO
`SELECTED TOUR STOP
`
`CALL DIRECTOR TO
`STOP TIMER
`
`CALL DIRECTOR TO
`FORWARD TOUR TO
`SELECTED TOUR STOP
`
`END
`
`Figure 23
`
`Page 18 of 34
`
`

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`TO IN PROGRESS
`
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`
`BUTTON STATE TO
`SET GUIDED TOUR
`
`192
`
`190
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`
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`r--~~~~~~~~166
`
`Page 19 of 34
`
`

`

`U.S. Patent
`
`Sep. 15, 1998
`
`Sheet 19 of 25
`
`5,809,247
`
`START
`
`CREATE WEB TOUR
`CONFIGURATION CLASS
`
`SET WEB TOUR STOP
`VECTOR TO RETURNED
`VECTOR
`
`ADVISE NAGIV ATOR
`INITIALIZATION DONE
`
`END
`
`Figure 24
`
`Page 20 of 34
`
`

`

`U.S. Patent
`
`Sep. 15, 1998
`
`Sheet 20 of 25
`
`5,809,247
`
`FORWARD
`TOUR
`
`202
`
`214
`
`INCREMENT CURRENT
`STOP IDX
`
`ADVISE NAVIGATOR
`NEW STOP
`
`216
`
`218
`
`204
`
`SET CURRENT STOP
`TO VECTOR (CURRENT
`STOP IDX)
`
`CALL TIMER FUNCTION
`TO REINITIALIZE TIMER
`VALUES
`
`206
`
`208
`
`ISSUE GO TO
`CURRENT STOP
`
`ADVISE NAGIVATOR
`GOTO ISSUED
`
`CALL TIMER FUNCTION
`TO ENABLE &
`REST ART TIMER
`
`CALL EXCEPTION
`HANDLER
`
`END
`
`Figure 25
`
`Page 21 of 34
`
`

`

`U.S. Patent
`
`Sep. 15, 1998
`
`Sheet 21 of 25
`
`5,809,247
`
`FORWARD TOUR
`TO SELECTED STOP
`
`SET NEWSTOP =
`SELECTED STOP
`
`PERFORM STEPS 206-218
`OF FORWARD TOUR WITH
`NEWSTOP
`
`END
`
`Figure 26
`
`Page 22 of 34
`
`

`

`U.S. Patent
`U.S. Patent
`
`Sep. 15, 1998
`Sep. 15, 1998
`
`Sheet 22 of 25
`Sheet 22 of 25
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`5,809,247
`5,809,247
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`Page 23 of 34
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`
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`
`
`

`

`U.S. Patent
`
`Sep. 15, 1998
`
`Sheet 23 of 25
`
`5,809,247
`
`START
`
`232
`
`SET TIMER
`DURATION AND 1 - - - - - ,
`FREQUENCY
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`AS REQUESTED
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`240
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`246
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`
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`
`ST ART EXECUTION OF
`CURRENT TIMER
`THREAD
`
`END
`
`Figure 29
`
`Page 24 of 34
`
`

`

`U.S. Patent
`
`Sep. 15, 1998
`
`Sheet 24 of 25
`
`5,809,247
`
`START
`
`SET INPUT STREAM TO
`TOUR STOPS' DEFINITION
`
`TOKENIZE INPUT STREAM
`
`FOR EACH TOKEN, FILL
`IN WEB TOUR VECTOR
`
`Figure 30
`
`Page 25 of 34
`
`

`

`U.S. Patent
`U.S. Patent
`
`Sep. 15, 1998
`Sep. 15, 1998
`
`Sheet 25 of 25
`Sheet 25 of 25
`
`5,809,247
`5,809,247
`
`278
`278
`
`280
`280
`
`282
`282
`
`UI BUILDING BLOCKS
`
`272
`272
`
`274
`274
`
`276
`276
`Figure 31
`Figure 31
`
`Page 26 of 34
`
`Page 26 of 34
`
`

`

`SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
`The present invention for guided touring of websites
`includes a web tour director programmed onto a web server
`for connecting a client system to one or more web sites in
`accordance with a web tour stop vector identifying the one
`or more web sites as tour stop(s) of a web guided tour. The
`10 present invention further includes a media rendering func(cid:173)
`tion also programmed onto the web server for rendering on
`the client system, one or more corresponding media for each
`of the one or more web sites, for at least a portion of the time
`while a web site is connected to the client system.
`Additionally, for one embodiment, the present invention
`further includes a navigator also programmed onto the web
`server for facilitating dynamic user modification by a user of
`the client system to the connection of the client system to the
`one or more web sites, such as temporarily stopping and
`20 resuming the connection, and/or shortening a particular
`connection, and skipping forward or backward, to the imme(cid:173)
`diate following or preceding one, or any particular unvisited
`or visited one of the one or more web sites. The media
`rendering function and the web tour director cooperate with
`25 each other to ensure the media are rendered in concert with
`the connections being made; and the media rendering func(cid:173)
`tion is implemented as an integral part of the navigator.
`Furthermore, for this embodiment, the present invention
`further includes a web tour configurator also programmed
`30 onto the web server for generating the web tour stop vector
`on the client system. A plurality of web guided tours
`identifying multiple sets of web sites are also progammed
`onto the web server. The web tour configurator generates the
`web tour stop vector on the client system in accordance with
`35 a selected one of the web guided tours.
`Lastly, for this embodiment, the navigator with integrated
`media rendering function is provided to the client system in
`response to the user of the client system selecting a tour. The
`navigator in turn "creates" the web tour director resulting in
`the web tour director being provided to the client system.
`The web tour director in turn "creates" the web tour con(cid:173)
`figurator resulting in the web tour configurator being pro(cid:173)
`vided to the client system, which in turn generates the web
`tour vector on the client system as described. Once
`generated, the web tour director and the navigator cooperate
`to perform the connection and corresponding media render(cid:173)
`ing as described.
`
`40
`
`45
`
`15
`
`1
`METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR GUIDED
`TOURING OF INTERNET/INTRANET
`WEBSITES
`BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
`1. Field of the Invention
`The present invention relates to the field of Internet/
`Intranet. More specifically, the present invention relates to
`the methodologies and tools for a user to locate and view
`information on the Internet or any Intranet.
`2. Background Information
`Under the prior art, to locate and view information on the
`Internet or an Intranet (hereinafter simply "net"), a user
`would instruct a web browser to connect his/her computer
`system to a search site, e.g. Yahoo or Alta Vista in the case
`of the Internet. Through the web browser, the user would
`then provide certain keywords to the search site, and initiate
`the search, with or without limiting the search context, e.g.
`to certain subject category, depending on the nature of the
`search, what the user knows about the information being
`sought, such as their availability and where they might be
`found, and the capabilities of the connected search site.
`Depending on the purpose of the search, the user might start
`connecting to the web sites identified in the return set and
`viewing their web pages, sequentially or randomly. In ~ther
`situations, depending on the size of the return set, the user
`might modify the keywords, expanding or narrowing the
`search scope. The process would be repeated until a set of
`manageable size is returned. At such time, the user would
`start connecting to the web sites identified, and view their
`web pages. The whole process is repeated if another user
`wants to do the same search or if the user wants to re-do the
`same search again at a later time.
`In any case, the prior art process is tedious and inefficient.
`The prior art process would get even more tedious and
`inefficient as the number websites and web pages available
`on the net continue to increase astronomically. Thus, it
`would be desirable to have a more efficient approach to
`locate and view information available on the net.
`Occasionally, for certain subject matters, the prior art
`process is streamlined by web page owners having common
`interest and made similar searches before, providing links to
`related web sites. For example, web pages maintained by
`certain university department might provide links to other
`web pages maintained by their counterparts in other univer(cid:173)
`sities or related departments in the same or other universi(cid:173)
`ties. However, even under this streamlined scenario
`the
`prior art process still has the disadvantage of requirin~ the
`user to make the connections to the identified web sites.
`. More~ver, the user's experience in viewing the web pages 50
`m these identified web sites is limited to the contents and the
`presentations provided by the identified web sites. The web
`page owner providing the links to the identified web sites is
`limited in his/her ability to add or complement the contents
`and presentations provided by the identified web sites, 55
`unless the web page owner starts collaborating with the
`owners of the identified web sites. Otherwise, the web page
`owner providing the links is typically limited to providing
`textual comments next to the links. Thus, it would be further
`desirable to provide a methodology and apparatus for a user 60
`to have a more enriching experience in visiting a collection
`of linked web pages, including methodology and apparatus
`for the link providing web page owners to add and comple(cid:173)
`ment the contents and presentations provided by the iden(cid:173)
`tified web sites.
`The present invention for guided touring of internet/
`intranet web sites achieves these as well as other desirable
`
`5,809,247
`
`2
`results, which will be readily apparent to those skilled in the
`art from the detailed descriptions to follow.
`
`5
`
`BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
`The present invention will be described by way of
`embodiments, but not limitations, illustrated in the accom(cid:173)
`panying drawings in which like references denote similar
`elements, and in which:
`FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an abridged view of
`the Internet;
`FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating the method steps of
`the present invention for guided touring of internet/intranet
`websites;
`FIGS. 3-5 are end user screens of a sample guided tour
`provided in accordance with the present invention;
`FIG. 6 illustrates one embodiment each of a web tour
`station and a tour operator website in further detail;
`FIG. 7 illustrates the web pages programmed onto the tour
`65 operator website in further detail;
`FIGS. 8-15 illustrate one embodiment of the web tour
`viewer applets in further detail;
`
`Page 27 of 34
`
`

`

`5,809,247
`
`3
`FIGS. 16-23 illustrate one embodiment each of the meth(cid:173)
`ods of navigation class in further details;
`FIGS. 24--29 illustrate one embodiment each of the meth(cid:173)
`ods of director class in further details;
`FIG. 30 illustrates one embodiment of the configuration
`class in further details; and
`FIG. 31 illustrates one aspect of an optimization tech(cid:173)
`nique employed by the navigation class for building GUI
`images and icons.
`DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF IBE
`INVENTION
`In the following description, various aspects of the
`present invention will be described. However, it will be
`apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention
`may be practiced with only some or all aspects of the present
`invention. For purposes of explanation, specific numbers,
`materials and configurations are set forth in order to provide
`a thorough understanding of the present invention. However,
`it will also be apparent to one skilled in the art that the
`present invention may be practiced without the specific
`details. In other instances, well known features are omitted
`or simplified in order not to obscure the present invention.
`Parts of the description will be presented in terms of
`operations performed by a computer system, using terms
`such as applets, classes, methods, data, flags, bits, values,
`characters, strings, numbers and the like, consistent with the
`manner commonly employed by those skilled in the art to
`convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the
`art. As well understood by those skilled in the art, these
`quantities take the form of electrical, magnetic, or optical
`signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, and
`otherwise manipulated through mechanical and electrical
`components of the computer system; and the term computer
`system include general purpose as well as special purpose
`data processing machines, systems, and the like, that are
`standalone, adjunct or embedded.
`Various operations will be described as multiple discrete
`steps in turn in a manner that is most helpful in understand(cid:173)
`ing the present invention, however, the order of description
`should not be construed as to imply that these operations are
`necessarily order dependent, in particular, the order of
`presentation.
`Turning now to the details of the present invention, we
`refer first to FIG. 1, wherein a block diagram illustrating an
`abridged view of the Internet is shown. As illustrated, client
`web touring station 12 is coupled to the various websites 16
`of the Internet 10 through point-of-presence (POP) provider
`14. One or more of websites 16 are incorporated with the
`teachings of the present invention. Client web touring sta(cid:173)
`tion 12 is intended to represent a broad category of computer
`systems equipped with the proper hardware and software for
`accessing websites 16 on the Internet 10. A particular
`example of client web touring station 12 is a desktop
`computer equipped with a Pentium® class processor,
`memory, a modem, a monitor, a keyboard, a pointing device,
`system software including support for TCP/IP
`communication, and a browser. (Pentium is a registered
`trademark of Intel Corp. of Santa Clara, Calif., assignee of
`the present invention.) POP provider 14 is intended to
`represent any number of commercially available POP ser(cid:173)
`vice provider. Typically, POP provider 14 is located in the
`same geographical region as web touring station 12. Web(cid:173)
`sites 16 are intended to represent all websites accessible
`through the Internet at the present time, and in the future.
`One or more of websites 16 is incorporated with the teach(cid:173)
`ings of the present invention, to be more fully described
`below.
`
`5
`
`10
`
`4
`As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, Internet
`10 includes many more web touring station 12, POP pro(cid:173)
`vider 14 and websites 16. The number of these elements
`illustrated in FIG. I are artificially reduced for ease of
`illustration, and it is not intended to be a limitation to the
`present invention. Furthermore, while the present invention
`will be described in the context illustrated by FIG. 1, as will
`be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the present
`invention may also be practiced in the context of an intranet,
`just like a whole host of other internet technologies. Thus,
`FIG. 1 should not be construed as a limitation of the present
`invention either.
`FIG. 2 illustrates one embodiment of the method steps of
`the present invention for providing guided touring of web-
`15 sites 16 to a user of web touring station 12. As will be readily
`apparent from the descriptions to follow, the websites 16
`includable in a tour include websites 16 incorporated with
`the teachings of the present invention, as well as websites 16
`not incorporated with the teachings of the present invention.
`20 In other words, the website constitution of a tour is inde(cid:173)
`pendent of the present invention. While it is desirable to
`have many websites 16 incorporated with the teachings of
`the present invention, only one website 16 incorporated with
`the teachings of the present invention is necessary for guided
`25 tours to be provided in accordance with the present inven(cid:173)
`tion.
`As shown, for the illustrated embodiment, guided touring
`of websites 16 in accordance with the present invention
`starts with the user of web touring station 12 connecting web
`30 touring station 12 to a tour operator website, preferably (but
`not necessarily) a website 16 incorporated with the teachings
`of the present invention, step 22. In response, tour operator
`website provides user with a directory of available guided
`tours, step 24. User then selects one of the available guided
`35 tours, step 26. In response, tour operator provides user with
`a web tour viewer of the present invention accompanied
`with a definition of the tour stops (i.e. websites) for the
`selected tour, and corresponding media complements for the
`tour stops, step 28. Web tour viewer then connects web
`40 touring station 12 to the tour stops in accordance with the
`tour stop definition, and renders the corresponding media
`complements at each of the tour stops, step 30.
`Steps 24 and 26 are optional. It is expected that the present
`invention may be practiced by tour operators, each provid-
`45 ing only a single guided tour. For these tour operators, they
`may go straight to step 28. Rendering of media complements
`at tour stops is also optional. However, as will be appreci(cid:173)
`ated by those skilled in the art, rendering of media comple(cid:173)
`ments at tour stops is highly desirable, as it significantly
`50 enriches the touring experience of the user taking the tour.
`Preferably, the media complements should be multi-media,
`e.g. including audio as well as video and/or animation.
`Stopping at multiple tour stops is also optional. The present
`invention may be practiced by tour operators providing
`55 single-stop tours, however, it is anticipated that the tour
`operator will be providing significant multi-media comple(cid:173)
`ment to the information available from the single tour stop.
`FIGS. 3-5 illustrates a portion of a sample guided tour
`taken in accordance with the present invention. Illustrated in
`60 these figures are end user screens 32a