Smart Hyperlinks for Inline Content Previews
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing hyperlinks do not provide information about the referenced content, leading to a tedious user experience due to the need for users to redirect between hyperlinked content.
Innovation Solution
Smart links are introduced, which are visual representations of referenced content that can be inserted directly into content, providing pertinent information such as title, size, modification date, and access options without requiring users to leave the original content.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If traditional hyperlinks are used to reference additional content, then users can access the referenced content, but users must redirect to a different webpage which is tedious and intensive on system resources
Solution Approach 1:
The patent embeds a miniaturized version of the referenced content (image, video, or text) directly within the original webpage as an embedded object. This nested structure allows users to interact with and view the referenced content without leaving the current page, eliminating the need for redirects and reducing system resource consumption while maintaining ease of operation.
2Loss of information
If traditional hyperlinks are used, then users can access referenced content, but no information about the referenced content is provided until users click the link
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary action by embedding and pre-rendering a miniaturized representation of the referenced content directly in the original webpage. This allows users to see information about the referenced content (such as thumbnails, previews, or summaries) before clicking, eliminating information loss while maintaining a simple hyperlink-like structure that doesn't significantly increase device complexity.
3Loss of information
If users redirect to view referenced content, then users can see the additional content, but the redirect process is tedious and affects user experience
Solution Approach 1:
By nesting the referenced content within the original page as an embedded object, users gain immediate access to the additional content without any redirect process. The embedded content is displayed inline, eliminating wait time and making the content access instantaneous, thus resolving both information access and time loss issues.
4Adaptability or versatility
If frequent redirects occur, then users can access multiple pieces of referenced content, but system resources are intensively consumed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent nests multiple referenced content items directly within the original webpage, allowing users to access multiple pieces of content without redirects. This eliminates the cumulative system resource consumption that would result from multiple page loads and redirects, while maintaining full adaptability and versatility of content access.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates embedded copies of the referenced content (images, videos, or text snippets) and places them directly within the original webpage. These copies allow users to view and interact with the content without needing to load the full external pages, significantly reducing system resource consumption while preserving content access capability.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods for replacing a hyperlink to a referenced object with a smart link are disclosed. The method performed by a smart link management system includes receiving a content request for the hyperlink from a client device, the content request comprising a uniform resource locator (URL) of the referenced object, the URL indicating the location of the content; identifying a data source where the referenced object is located based on the URL; forwarding the content request to the data source; receiving metadata corresponding to the referenced object hosted by the data source; and forwarding the metadata to the client device for display on the client device in the form of a smart link, the smart link being a visual object including at least a portion of the metadata received from the data source.