Browser History Tagging for Redirect Navigation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users face difficulties in navigating back to a previously viewed web page, especially after multiple redirects, as the conventional back button often leads to a maze of unwanted pages, and manually searching through browser history or restarting from the search engine home page is inefficient, particularly on smartphones.
Innovation Solution
An add-on for web browsers that tags web pages of user interest based on dwell time or user interaction, allowing an enhanced back command to skip past uninteresting pages and return to the original page, with optional multi-tab compatibility and enhanced forward command.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the conventional back button is used to navigate back after redirects, then the user can move through browser history, but the user ends up in a maze of unwanted pages and cannot return to the original page efficiently
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary action by tagging web pages as 'of-user-interest' during the browsing session before navigation issues arise. When a user views a page for a threshold dwell time, the system proactively adds a tag to that page in the browser history, preparing the data structure needed for rapid later retrieval without requiring user action at the moment of navigation need.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary mechanism - a modified browser history system with of-user-interest tags - that mediates between the conventional back button and the user's goal of returning to the original page. This intermediary layer allows the enhanced back command to skip through unwanted redirect pages by identifying tagged pages of interest, thus resolving the navigation maze problem.
2Reliability
If the user manually searches through browser history to find the original page, then the user can locate the page, but the process is inefficient and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary mechanism - a modified browser history system with of-user-interest tags - that mediates between the conventional back button and the user's goal of returning to the original page. This intermediary layer allows the enhanced back command to skip through unwanted redirect pages by identifying tagged pages of interest, thus resolving the navigation maze problem.
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces the manual mechanical process of scrolling through browser history with an automated computational system. The enhanced back command uses programmed logic to automatically identify and navigate to the most recent tagged page of interest, substituting user manual search operations with automated tag-based retrieval.
3Reliability
If the user closes all tabs and restarts from the search engine home page to return to the original page, then the user can find the page again, but this is a cumbersome and time-consuming process
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary action by tagging web pages as 'of-user-interest' during the browsing session before navigation issues arise. When a user views a page for a threshold dwell time, the system proactively adds a tag to that page in the browser history, preparing the data structure needed for rapid later retrieval without requiring user action at the moment of navigation need.
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces the manual mechanical process of scrolling through browser history with an automated computational system. The enhanced back command uses programmed logic to automatically identify and navigate to the most recent tagged page of interest, substituting user manual search operations with automated tag-based retrieval.
4Loss of information
If the back button follows every redirect in the browser history, then the user can see all pages visited, but the user cannot efficiently skip past unwanted redirect pages
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by differentiating between different types of pages in the browser history through selective tagging. Instead of treating all pages uniformly, the system assigns special 'of-user-interest' tags to specific pages based on dwell time criteria, creating local distinctions that enable selective navigation. This allows the enhanced back command to treat tagged pages differently from untagged redirect pages.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary action by tagging web pages as 'of-user-interest' during the browsing session before navigation issues arise. When a user views a page for a threshold dwell time, the system proactively adds a tag to that page in the browser history, preparing the data structure needed for rapid later retrieval without requiring user action at the moment of navigation need.
Data Source
AI summary
A plurality of web pages in a web browser are presented to a user. One or more web pages of the plurality of web pages are navigated in the web browser by following at least one hyperlink. A browser history of the user is stored as a chronological list or recently presented web pages. A determination is made whether a dwell time of the user on a first web page has exceeded a threshold time. In response to determining that the dwell time exceeded the threshold, an of-user-interest tag is added to the first web page stored to the browsing history.