In order to download files from or browse information on the Internet, one can use a web browser installed in a terminal device (e.g., a computer) to connect to a server (e.g., a web server) and thereby access files, web pages, and images stored in the server. The files, web pages, or images thus obtained will be displayed on the terminal device by way of the web browser so as for the user to gather or simply look over the desired information. Nowadays, a variety of web browsers are available for use, including Internet Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari, and Opera, for example. All theses web browsers support network protocols like Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS), as well as a wide range of markup languages (e.g., HTML, XHTML, and XML), dynamic scripting languages (e.g., JavaScript and JScript), and image file formats (e.g., GIF, PNG, and JPEG).
Currently, a web browser-based technique for automatically embedding a toolbar page into a background page has been developed. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a web browser of the terminal device 10 can connect to the server 12 through the network 11 and obtain a background page 20 from the server 12. While displaying the background page 20, the web browser embeds a toolbar page 21 into the background page 20, wherein the toolbar page 21 includes several application linking objects 210. By clicking on any of the application linking objects 210 on the toolbar page 21, the terminal device 10 is connected to the third-party software provider 13 corresponding to the application linking object 210 and obtains from the third-party software provider 13 an electronic page of the corresponding application program (e.g., a cloud computing-based image processing program or a translation program), so that image processing or translation can be carried out with the application program obtained. However, given today's technology, information transmission between the electronic page of the application program (hereinafter referred to as “application page”) and the background page of the web browser (i.e., the background page 20 where the toolbar page 21 is embedded) is impossible. In other words, the terminal device 10 cannot transfer the headings, content, or other information on the background page 20 to the application page. As a result, failure to obtain page information from the background page 20 imposes limitations on the use of the application programs provided by the toolbar page 21.
For instance, with reference to FIGS. 1 and 3, the terminal device 10 is so operated that the web browser B loads a background page 20 in German. If the user wants to have the content of the background page 20 translated, it is necessary for the user to first select and copy the text on the background page 20 of the web browser B, then click on the translation application linking object 210 on the toolbar page 21, and once the translation application page Bt is completely loaded, paste the copied text of the background page 20 to the translation application page Bt. Only by such a complicated procedure can the translation application program be used to translate the text of the background page 20 into the desired language (e.g. English). In other words, the terminal device 10 cannot automatically transfer to the translation application page Bt the text or other information (e.g., web page headings) on the background page 20 of the web browser B. Thus, the application programs provided by the toolbar page 21 are restricted in use, function, and fields of application.
Therefore, the issue to be addressed by the present invention is to develop a method for transmitting information between multiple electronic pages (e.g., a background page of a web browser and an application page) and thereby effectively solve the problem of the prior art that free information transmission between different electronic pages has been impossible.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds