Extracting a portion of a document, such as a web page

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9753926-B2
Application number	US-201213460632-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 30, 2012
Priority date	Apr 30, 2012
Publication date	Sep 5, 2017
Grant date	Sep 5, 2017

Abstract

A facility for extracting visual contents of a page is described. The facility renders a page including visual contents, the rendered page including an extraction control. In response to user input activating the extraction control, the facility (1) selects a proper subset of the visual contents of the page that are specified by a publisher on the page for extraction using the extraction control, and (2) transmits a representation of the selected subset of visual contents for storage independent of the page.

First claim

We claim:

1. A computing system comprising one or more processors configurable to cause:
displaying a page on a user device, the page comprising a plurality of page elements, at least a portion of the page elements defining visual features of the page;
determining a first location of a pointer displayed in relation to the page according to adjusted coordinates of the pointer;
identifying a first page element based on the first location of the pointer;
displaying, on the user device, responsive to identifying the first page element, a first extraction control corresponding to the first page element;
identifying a first indication that the first extraction control has not been activated;
determining a second location of the pointer, the second location being different than the first location;
identifying a second page element based on the second location of the pointer;
responsive to identifying the second page element:
displaying, on the user device, a second extraction control corresponding to the second page element, and
removing, on the user device, the displayed first extraction control;

identifying a second indication that the second extraction control is activated;
extracting, responsive to identifying the second indication, a portion of the page;
providing the extracted portion of the page for storage; and
displaying, on the user device, an updated second extraction control corresponding to the second page element, the updated second extraction control indicating that the extracted portion of the page was successfully provided for storage.

2. The computing system of claim 1 , the page further comprising:
an inclusion reference specifying inclusion in the page of code for extracting the identified first page element in response to activation of the second extraction control.

3. The computing system of claim 2 , wherein the page includes information specifying a hierarchical organization of at least a portion of the page elements, and wherein the information explicitly identifying one or more of the page elements as being an object of the second extraction control comprises information referencing a page element of the hierarchical organization, wherein the identified elements are two or more elements contained by a subtree defined by the referenced page element.

4. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the page includes information explicitly identifying one or more of the page elements as being an object of the second extraction control.

5. The computing system of claim 4 , wherein the information explicitly identifying one or more of the page elements as being an object of the second extraction control is information contained in a page element specified by information in the page that specifies a pair of page elements in order to identify a range of page elements defined by a specified pair of page elements.

6. A method for conveying a page, the method comprising:
causing, by a computing system, display of the page on a user device, the page comprising a plurality of page elements, at least a portion of the page elements defining visual features of the page;
determining a first location of a pointer displayed in relation to the page according to adjusted coordinates of the pointer;
identifying a first page element based on the first location of the pointer;
causing, by the computing system, responsive to identifying the first page element, display on the user device of a first extraction control corresponding to the first page element;
identifying a first indication that the first extraction control has not been activated;
determining a second location of the pointer, the second location being different than the first location;
identifying a second page element based on the second location of the pointer;
responsive to identifying the second page element:
causing display on the user device of a second extraction control corresponding to the second page element, and
removing, on the user device, the displayed first extraction control;

identifying a second indication that the second extraction control is activated;
extracting, responsive to identifying the second indication, a portion of the page;
providing the extracted portion of the page for storage; and
causing, by the computing system, display of an updated second extraction control corresponding to the second page element, the updated second extraction control indicating that the extracted portion of the page was successfully provided for storage.

7. The method of claim 6 , the page further comprising:
an inclusion reference specifying inclusion in the page of code for extracting the identified first page element in response to activation of the second extraction control.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the page includes information specifying a hierarchical organization of at least a portion of the page elements, and wherein the information explicitly identifying one or more of the page elements as being an object of the second extraction control comprises information referencing a page element of the hierarchical organization, wherein the identified elements are two or more elements contained by a subtree defined by the referenced page element.

9. The method of claim 6 , wherein the page includes information explicitly identifying one or more of the page elements as being an object of the second extraction control.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the information explicitly identifying one or more of the page elements as being an object of the second extraction control is information contained in a page element specified by information in the page that specifies a pair of page elements in order to identify a range of page elements defined by a specified pair of page elements.

11. A computer program product comprising computer-readable program code to be executed by at least one processor when retrieved from a non-transitory computer-readable medium, the program code comprising instructions configurable to cause:
displaying a page on a user device, the page comprising a plurality of page elements, at least a portion of the page elements defining visual features of the page;
determining a first location of a pointer displayed in relation to the page according to adjusted coordinates of the pointer;
identifying a first page element based on the first location of the pointer;
displaying, on the user device, responsive to identifying the first page element, a first extraction control corresponding to the first page element;
identifying a first indication that the first extraction control has not been activated;
determining a second location of the pointer, the second location being different than the first location;
identifying a second page element based on the second location of the pointer;
responsive to identifying the second page element:
displaying, on the user device, a second extraction control corresponding to the second page element, and
removing, on the user device, the displayed first extraction control;

identifying a second indication that the second extraction control is activated;
extracting, responsive to identifying the second indication, a portion of the page;
providing the extracted portion of the page for storage; and
displaying, on the user device, an updated second extraction control corresponding to the second page element, the updated second extraction control indicating that the extracted portion of the page was successfully provided for storage.

12. The computer program product of claim 11 , the page further comprising:
an inclusion reference specifying inclusion in the page of code for extracting the identified first pa

Assignees

• Flake Gary W
• Montgomery Thomas J
• Pascale Gregory T
• Perkins Kenneth J
• Dawson Mark R
• Salesforce Com Inc

Inventors

• Flake Gary W
• Montgomery Thomas J
• Pascale Gregory T
• Perkins Kenneth J
• Dawson Mark R

Classifications

• G06F16/951

  Indexing; Web crawling techniques · CPC title

• G06F16/532

  Query formulation, e.g. graphical querying · CPC title

• G06F16/434 Primary

  using image data, e.g. images, photos, pictures taken by a user · CPC title

• G06F17/30277

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F17/30864

  Physics · mapped topic