The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 21, 2004
Filed:
Feb. 10, 2000
Craig Henry Becker, Austin, TX (US);
David Wayne Glass, Georgetown, KY (US);
Michael David Hocker, Staatsburg, NY (US);
James Gordon McLean, Fuquay-Varina, NC (US);
Clifford Alan Pickover, Yorktown Heights, NY (US);
Daniel James Winarski, Tucson, AZ (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A web browser program presents historical information about hyperlinks shown on web pages. Initially, the computer determines whether it is receiving certain user input, such as placement of a cursor over a hyperlink for a certain time. When this occurs, the computer accesses a database to determine whether one or more users in a predefined access group have previously selected the hyperlink for the purpose of downloading underlying data represented by the hyperlink. Some examples of the underlying data include web pages, graphics images, software programs, and the like. If the hyperlink has not been previously selected, no action needs to be taken. However, if the database shows that the hyperlink has been previously selected, the computer consults the database to gather characteristics of the underlying data obtained from previous selections of the hyperlink by access group members. Such characteristics may include, for example, the data's size, date of last download, expired or “under construction” status of web site, errors occurring during the download, etc. The computer presents a report containing the characteristics gathered from the database.