Method and Apparatus for Providing Automation to an Internet Navigation Application

1 . A software application for creating and executing an automated browser navigation sequence comprising:

a session recording module for recording parameters associated with a manual navigation sequence;

a file creation module for converting data of a manual session into data comprising an executable sequence of instructions for conducting an automated navigation sequence; and

an application-program-interface module for integrating a functional capability with the automated navigation sequence, characterized in that a completely automated, browser-navigation sequence performed by the browser application is enabled through execution of the executable instruction sequence created from the recorded parameters of the manual navigation sequence.

2 . The software application of claim 1 , wherein the automated browser-navigation sequence is executed to run on a data-packet-network.

3 . The software application of claim 2 , wherein the data-packet-network is the Internet network.

4 . The software application of claim 3 , wherein the file-creation module includes a function for creating an executable icon for launching the automated browser-navigation sequence.

5 . The software application of claim 4 , wherein the executable sequence of instructions are XML instructions.

6 . The software application of claim 5 , wherein the automated-navigation sequence enables automation of one or more of form-population, data-downloading, media-interaction, data-searching, and hyper-linking.

7 . The software application of claim 6 , wherein the application is implemented as a browser plug-in containing a user-configuration tool.

8 . The software application of claim 6 , wherein the application is implemented as a standalone program containing a user-configuration tool.

9 . The software application of claim 1 , wherein the automated navigation-sequence is created as a result of manual user programming as an alternative option to recording a manual sequence.

10 . The software application of claim 7 , wherein the automated navigation-sequence includes an embedded request to one or more proxy services to be performed by a service provider operating on and accessible via the Internet network.

11 . The software application of claim 10 , wherein the embedded request is automatically sent to the service provider during execution and performance of an automated navigation sequence.

12 . The software application of claim 11 , wherein the embedded request is received by virtue of an opened communication channel established between communicating navigation applications while the sending application is performing an automated navigation sequence.

13 . A method for creating an executable instruction file for performing an automated navigation sequence on a data-packet-network using a browser application comprising steps of:

(a) invoking the browser application and connecting to the network;

(b) invoking and activating a session-recording module for recording a manual navigation sequence;

(c) performing a desired manual navigation sequence, the sequence recorded by the recording function;

(d) activating a stop-record function to defined the end of the manual sequence; and

(e) converting the recorded manual sequence into the executable instruction enabling the automated sequence, the conversion performed by software.

14 . The method of claim 13 wherein in step (a), the data-packet-network is the Internet network.

15 . The method of claim 14 wherein in step (e), the software converting data from the recorded session into the executable instruction prompts a user to name the executable instruction and to name an icon created and associated with instruction.

16 . The method of claim 15 wherein a step is added for prompting the user with a list of options to add proxy services to the executable instruction.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the executable instruction is an XML template.

18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the executable instruction contains data personal to the user.

19 . The method of claim 18 , wherein the personal data includes one or a combination of user names, passwords, credit card numbers, user location information, and Social Security information.

20 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the personal data remains encrypted until use.

21 . The method of claim 18 , wherein the personal data is stored in a secure location and accessed by virtue of a pointer to the information, the pointer embedded in the instruction file.