WO2003062977A1

WO2003062977A1 - System and method for accessing an internet web page

Info

Publication number: WO2003062977A1
Application number: PCT/US2002/001930
Authority: WO
Inventors: William Wang; Ray Roque; Quang Phan; Paul Wang
Original assignee: Ch.1 Inc.
Priority date: 2002-01-23
Filing date: 2002-01-23
Publication date: 2003-07-31

Abstract

A system which includes a display screen and circuitry capable of permitting access to the Internet, further including capture means for recognizing a combination of characters which is displayed on said display screen as comprising an Internet URL and conversion means for converting said displayed combination of characters into a digital representation of said URL.

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD AMD APPARATUS FOR ACCESSING AN INTERNET WEB PAGE

Related Applications

The present Application is a continuation in part of United States provisional patent application serial number 60/229,867, filed August 30, 2000.

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to the field of computer networks and the Internet, and more particularly to a method of permitting a person who is accessing the Internet to quickly active an Internet URL which is displayed on a video or television screen.

Background of the Invention

The present invention is intended to be used in connection with providing access to the Internet . The Internet has become a common and indispensable part of many persons' daily activities. The world wide web portion of the Internet consists of millions of different electronic "web pages" which are linked together over a computer network.

Each individual Web page is given an unique address. This address takes the form of a string of letters, numbers and other characters. The address is referred to in the computer field as a Uniform Resource Locator, or URL. Each URL corresponds to a specific page on the web. The URL unambiguously identifies a targeted web page or other resource on the Internet, typically specifying the name of the computer on which the page resides and the complete file name of the web page. A URL describes everything about a particular resource that a computer needs to know to request and render it . The URL describes the protocol used to retrieve the web page, the name of the computer it is on, and the path and file name of the page. The following is an example of a URL:

HTTP : //www.widget . com The "http://" portion of the URL describes the protocol. The letters "http" stand for HyperText Transfer Protocol, the set of rules that a computer will follow to request a document and the remote server will follow to supply the document . The

"www.widget.com" portion of the URL is the name of the remote host computer which maintains the document .

It is known in the prior art that a URL can be accessed using computer software which is commonly described as a "web browser" (or more succinctly, a "browser") . A web browser is a computer program which permits a user to view different pages on the web. At the present time, examples of browsers which are commercially available include Microsoft Internet Explorer and

Netscape Navigator. Other web browsers are also available. A web browser typically requires a suitable computer system in order to operate. The computer system is typically a desktop computer which are found in offices. In other instances, a web browser is run on portable laptop computers .

The process of viewing a specific Web page can be a complicated process. A user must first activate a computer system. The user must then verify that the computer system includes the necessary browser. If the browser is not present on the computer system, then the user must obtain a copy and install it. This process can take a significant amount of time, and in many instances require specialized technical knowledge.

Even if the browser is already installed on the computer system, viewing the desired web page can still be difficult and time consuming. The user must know the specific URL of the web page to be viewed. The exact string of characters which make up the URL must be typed manually into the address line of the browser. The URL can be long and complicated, and the characters which make up the URL must be typed correctly and exactly. Even the slightest deviation will result in the computer not being able to locate the desired web page, or in the wrong page being displayed.

In some instances, a user will not be able to remember the desired URL. The user will then need to use a search engine on the Internet to attempt to locate the specific web page desired.

Search engines typically return a very large number of potentially relevant web pages in response to any search. The user must then manually sort through all of this information to attempt to determine which is the specific web page corresponding to the URL that is desired. All of these difficulties are undesirable to the average user of the Internet . An additional limitation of the prior art is that the entire process described above can be time consuming. This results in a significant delay in viewing the desired web page. This delay is undesirable for a number of different reasons. First, the delay can be frustrating to a person using the Internet . Another drawback arises from the fact that the web is quite often used for advertising purposes. In many instances advertisers will display a URL during a television program, or within a television commercial. By publishing the URL, the advertisers hope to generate traffic (or additional viewers) to their web page. The intent of the advertiser is to provide the viewer - who may be an existing or potential customer - with the URL so that the viewer can later view the corresponding web page after logging onto a computer at a later time. Any delay, however, in the ability of a user of the Internet to view the web page associated with the URL reduces the chances that the user will actually visit the web page being advertised. Consequently, the effectiveness of the advertisement is diminished. Summary of the Invention

The present invention overcomes the limitations of the prior art by providing a novel method of activating an Internet URL. With the method of the present invention, a user of a television, computer or other similar device can easily and quickly access an Internet URL that may be displayed on a display screen. The URL can be activated without the need to first "boot up" an Internet web browser. The method of the present invention is preferably used in connection with television which includes additional circuitry to permit access to the Internet . Once such device is described in co-pending United States patent application serial number 09/645044.

The method of the present invention can be employed in almost any situation when a URL is displayed on the video screen. The user of the device will initiate the steps of the process by utilizing capture means to recognize a sequence of displayed characters as a URL, converting said recognized characters into a digital representation of said URL, transmitting said digital representation to a computer system, utilizing said computer system to obtain a content of said URL, and, transmitting said content of said URL to a second computer system which displays said content on said display screen. Brief Description of the Drawings

Figure 1 is an illustration of a hypothetical Internet URL displayed on a television screen in conjunction with an advertisement .

Figure 2 is a general block diagram showing an Internet access device which is capable of employing the method of the present invention.

Figure 3 is a block diagram which includes the major steps of the method of the present invention.

Detailed Description of the Invention

A novel method and apparatus for permitting access to an Internet URL will be described. In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, specific method steps, component arrangements and constructions and other details are set forth in order to provide a more thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art, however, that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well known manufacturing methods and structures have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the present invention unnecessarily. As is described above, it is well known in the prior art to display an Internet URL on a television screen. The URL is in many instances displayed in an advertisement, such as a television commercial. One such hypothetical advertisement is shown in Figure 1. The advertisement 100 of Figure 1 illustrates a fictional company named Widget, Inc. which is in the business of selling widgets. The advertisement includes the Internet URL "www.widget.com" 102. A person who is viewing the advertisement may desire to view the web page which is associated with that URL

102.

Referring next to Figure 2, an Internet access system 10 which employs the method of the present invention is illustrated.

The system shown in Figure 2 has the outward appearance of a normal television set. The system includes, however, additional circuitry (not shown in Figure 2) which operates as a computer system that permits access to the Internet . A more detailed description of such a system is given in United States co-pending patent applications serial numbers 60/227452 and 60/229867. In this specification the term "Internet access device" will be used to describe the system which is illustrated in Figure 2. That is a device which is a television, but that includes additional electronic circuitry to permit access to the Internet.

The system of Figure 2 includes a display screen 12 for the Internet access device. The system will also contain an input device which permits a user to communicate instructions or other data to the computer. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various different input devices can be used. Figure 2 illustrates the use of a keyboard 14, mouse 16 and remote control 18.

When a URL is displayed on the screen 12 of the Internet access device, the method of the present invention can be used to activate the display of the web page associated with the URL. The user of the Internet access device will use an URL capture function on the input devices to send a signal to the Internet access device which will instruct the device to obtain the web page URL which is displayed on the screen.

Following the arrival of the URL capture signal at the Internet access device, the Internet access device activates a graphic controller 21 which is equipped with a screen capture software to capture the displayed image. The method of capturing a displayed image through screen capture software is commonly known to the people skilled in the art . The captured image of the screen is then processed through a URL detector. The URL detector uses a conventional optical character recognition technology (OCR) is to detect any character string which begins with "www." , "http:// " or ending with ".com", ".net", ".gov", ".org" or ".edu". Upon detecting such strings, OCR captures the URL images immediately following "www." or "http://" and ending with ".com", ".net", ".gov", ".edu", or the alike. The captured images of the URL string are processed and converted into digital format, most commonly in ASCII, and reflect back to user on the screen 12. The user can correct, tailor, and edit the displayed digital input on the screen as required. The user can then press an Internet access function key to display the Internet content at the captured URL address on the screen. Alternatively, the user can choose to store the URL in the memory spaces of the device for later access while the TV program continues without interruption. Referring to Figure 3 for the functions of the present invention, the current invention accomplishes the task through a novel approach by transmitting the URL capture signal from remote devices 1 or 2 to monitor 3. The monitor 3 converts the captured signal into a protocol through cables 4 to an Internet application (IA) box 5. The IA box is equipped with a graphic controller 6. An embedded screen capture software (not described here) within the IA box is activated to capturd the image displayed on the monitor. The URL address is extracted from the captured image. The IA box is connected through the ethernet connection 7, USB 8 or a dial-up modem 9 to an Internet service provider (ISP) . The extracted URL is transmitted to the ISP site and loaded into the address line of an web browser allowing the content at the URL address to be retrieved. The retrieved web content is then returned to the IA box thorough cables 10. The IA box application interrupts the TV or normal cable signals to the monitor and substitutes the ISP returned signals on the monitor display. This process is accomplished by utilizing an Internet web browser which has been activated at the IPS server and transmits the URL .content to the IA box. The IA box functions as a signal switch alternating among different signals at the commands of remote access devices . The Internet web page can thus be displayed on the screen instantly without a Internet web browser installed in the IA box. In the prior art, the display of an URL content is accomplished by activating an Internet web browser inside the device itself. A remote access device as described in the current invention would not be able to perform a multi-function/media display on a monitor. The present invention overcomes the limitations in the prior art to provide instant access to an advertisement when its URL is displayed on the monitor with a press key function. Although the foregoing description has made reference to the URL being displayed in the context of an advertisement or television commercial, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the method of the present invention will work equally well when the URL is displayed in a different context. For example, the URL could be displayed on the display screen 12 within the course of a television documentary or news program. It is also possible that the URL could be displayed by itself, and not within the scope of any other video signal . The description of the present invention has been made with respect to specific method steps, arrangements and constructions of a means for accessing an Internet web page. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the foregoing description is for illustrative purposes only, and that various changes and modifications can be made to the present invention without departing from the overall spirit and scope of the present invention. The full extent of the present invention is defined and limited only by the following claims.

Claims

CLAIMS What is claimed is:

1. In a system including a display screen and circuitry capable of permitting access to the Internet, the improvement comprising: capture means for recognizing a combination of characters which is displayed on said display screen as comprising an Internet URL; and conversion means for converting said displayed combination of characters into a digital representation of said URL.

2. A method of accessing a web page which is associated with a URL displayed on a display screen, comprising the steps of: utilizing capture means to recognize a sequence of displayed characters as a URL; converting said recognized characters into a digital representation of said URL; transmitting said digital representation to a computer system; utilizing said computer system to obtain a content of said URL; and transmitting said content of said URL to a second computer system which displays said content on said display screen.

3. A method of displaying an intent content and a TV signal alternately comprising: utilizing a display means to display images consisting of internet web contents, television signals or cable signals; connecting an electronic box to the said display means where the said electronic is capable of selecting different images to transmit at command; transmitting an Internet web server signals to said electronic box from an outside Internet service computer server, said electronic box is capable of extracting an URL address from an image displayed on said display means; and having a remote access devices capable of sending a URL capture command to the said monitor for instant display of Internet web content at the said URL address.