Web page to toolbar communication

Abstract

A web page may initiate communication with a browser toolbar. In one example, the web page contains an invisible iframe, and code that causes the iframe to load a specific Uniform Resource Locator ("URL"). When the iframe loads that URL, it generates an onload event. The toolbar may subscribe to the iframe's onload event, and may contain a handler for that event. When the page wants to send a message to the toolbar, the page adds the message to a URL and then executes the code that causes the iframe to load that URL, thereby generating an onload event. The handler in the toolbar receives the onload event, and extracts the message from the URL. The handler may then execute additional code to perform an action in response to the message.

Description

Background technique [0001] Many web browsers support toolbars, which either extend the functionality of the browser or simplify the use of features in the browser. For example, an operator of a set of web services may provide a toolbar to help users use the web services. Such a toolbar may contain a search box to perform searches, a translate button to translate between languages, and an email notifier to notify the user of incoming messages on the email service provided by the operator. [0002] Toolbars typically communicate with web pages by interrogating or examining the web pages. For example, the translation function on the toolbar can know what language the page is written in by checking the page or the metadata or URL of the page. The map function can determine if there is an address on the page that can be mapped by examining the page and looking for text that appears to have address syntax. This technique of communicating between the web page and the toolbar work...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

However, there are certain situations where toolbar-initiated inspections of web pages make certain functions difficult or impossible

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