Persistent user interface for providing navigational functionality
A method and apparatus, including a graphical user interface, for allowing quick processing of queries, including display of results, without requiring opening of a traditional browser program application window. Queries may be input and processed directly from a persistent or otherwise on-demand query input area, without the need to open a browser or other program separately for entering/processing a query, navigating to a search engine or particular document, etc. A number of query types may be supported by the user interface of the present invention, such that depending on a particular query type selected for/indicated by a query, a particular information retrieval mechanism processes the query to obtain one or more results. A on-demand result window is generated in response to a query request to output one or more results obtained in response to a given query, and optionally is hidden when a user accesses other windows, functionality, etc.—i.e., when the result window loses focus.
1 . A method for providing a user interface for providing navigational functionality, the method comprising:
providing a query input area persistently on a desktop of a computer user interface;
responsive to a query received via the query area, obtaining a result; and
generating an on-demand result window from which to output the result.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the on-demand result window is generated for display dominantly relative to other open applications windows.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the result includes a link to a web document.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the result is obtained by searching user data.
5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the user data is stored locally by at least one user device.
6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the result is obtained via an intranet.
7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the on-demand result window represents an instance of a browser program having a subset of a set of navigational functionality provided by a default window of the browser program.
8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing an option to open a browser program window and display the result in the browser program window.
9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein obtaining the result includes using a web search engine to search for one or more web documents relevant to the query.
10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the on-demand result window displays a search results page generated by the web search engine.
11 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
detecting a uniform resource locator (URL) contained in the query; and
returning the document to which the uniform resource locator (URL) corresponds as the result output via the on-demand result window.
12 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing a plurality of search type options for the query.
13 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising providing an option to customize the plurality of search types by at least one of a user and a domain administrator.
14 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
recalling a last query type selected; and
automatically selecting the last query type selected as a current query type.
15 . The method of claim of claim 1 , further comprising:
generating the on-demand result window as a slide-open and slide-close window from a desktop toolbar.
16 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising highlighting the query input area in response to a user input.
17 . The method of claim 16 , further comprising auto-entering selected characters from an application not associated with the query area into the query area in response to the user input.
18 . The method of claim 16 , wherein highlighting the query input area includes:
detecting the user input as focus on the query area; and
resizing the query area in response to detecting the focus on the query area.
19 . The method of 7 , further comprising re-formatting the result, relative to a default window of the browser program, for display in the on-demand result window.
20 . The method of claim 19 , wherein re-formatting the result includes reducing a font size of HTML text.
21 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising displaying a dynamic object in the query input area when the query input area is out of focus.
22 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising displaying a static object in the query input area when the query input area is out of focus.
23 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
providing a menu from which to select one of the plurality of search types.
24 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
providing a keyboard shortcut with which to select one of the plurality of search types.
25 . The method of claim 24 , wherein the keyboard shortcut is customizable by a user.
26 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
providing an option to hide at least a portion of the query area in the absence of focus on the query area and to display a representation of the query area; and
displaying the at least portion of the query area upon detection of user focus on the query area.
27 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
providing a resize option for the query area, including:
allowing a user to define an active size for the query area, the active size corresponding to the size of the query area when the query area is in focus;
allowing the user to resize the query area to an inactive size when the query area is out of focus; and
toggling between displaying the query area in the active size and the inactive size depending on whether the query area is in or out of focus, respectively.
28 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing an option not to close the on-demand result window when focus is detected in other user interface functionality.
29 . A machine-readable medium having stored thereon a set of instructions, that when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform a method comprising:
providing a query input area persistently on a desktop of a computer user interface;
responsive to a query received via the query area, obtaining a result; and
generating an on-demand result window from which to output the result.
30 . The machine-readable medium of claim 29 , wherein the method further comprises:
detecting a uniform resource locator (URL) contained in the query; and
returning the document to which the uniform resource locator (URL) corresponds as the result output via the on-demand result window.
31 . The machine-readable medium of claim 28 , wherein the method comprises:
providing a plurality of query type options.
32 . The machine-readable medium of claim 31 , wherein the method further comprises:
allowing customization of the plurality of query type options, including at least one of adding or deleting query type options.
33 . The machine-readable medium of claim 32 , wherein customization of the plurality of query options includes customizing the query type options for a plurality of users on a domain basis.
34 . The machine-readable medium of claim 29 , wherein the on-demand result window represents a re-formatted instance of a browser program window, the browser program window being provided by a default browser program.
35 . The machine-readable medium of claim 34 , wherein the on-demand result window displays the result in a reduce-size format relative to the browser program window.
36 . The machine-readable medium of claim 34 , wherein the on-demand window provides a subset of a set of functionality provided by the browser program window.
37 . A system for providing on-demand query processing, comprising:
a memory to store a browser program and an on-demand query processing program, the on-demand query processing program to provide a persistent query area on a desktop and a result window representing a re-formatted instance of a browser window provided by the browser program; and
a processor, coupled to the memory, to process a query received via the persistent query and to generate a result, obtained in response to the query, for display via the result window.
38 . The system of claim 37 , wherein the result window is an on-demand window generated for display in response to the query and hidden when focus is detected outside the result window.