In General, as the examples of a search method using a toolbar, there are included the following three search methods. First, a toolbar service has been used in which there exists a search window providing the same search result as that in a search service of each search service provider to the Internet users.
Also, second, some of professional search service providers produces and freely distribute their own separate search toolbars so that when a user downloads a relevant program and installs the downloaded program on a computer, a search tool is inserted on a web browser so as to allow the user to use a search service in which a web page provided by a relevant service provider is always opened.
In addition, third, a search method has been proposed in which a vast amount of information and a number of categories are simultaneously displayed as search results provided by a toolbar provider like search results provided on a general website.
The above-mentioned conventional prior arts encounter the following problems.
The problem of the firstly mentioned toolbar service resides in that since a search result after the search is displayed on a web page, a web page being used currently and the search result cannot be compared with each other simultaneously, or only a search result of a relevant search site is used.
The secondly mentioned search toolbar entails a problem in that a web page being opened must be hidden or closed in order to use the search information of a website providing a relevant program (i.e., search toolbar). That is, since a web page including the search information of a search service provider providing the program (i.e., search toolbar) is displayed, a user suffers from an inconvenience of not being able to compare the existing web page being displayed with the search result while viewing them together.
Further, the thirdly mentioned search toolbar involves a problem in that since a user easily does not select desired information due to a vast amount of information and a number of categories displayed on the web page on which the search result is displayed, he or she suffers from an inconvenience of having to viewing most of the displayed contents of a relevant website so as to select a desired search result after the search.
The information search has become merely a service in which a search engine providing information is provided focused on an unspecific majority of people due to the fact that the amount of search data is very enormous, and news, sites, web documents, image and the like are simultaneously displayed. Like this, the above-mentioned problems are involved when a user utilizes a toolbar search service very important in using the Internet,
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds