Interactive sitemap with user footprints

Abstract

A system and method for generating an interactive sitemap of a website includes steps of: receiving an identifier of a user visiting the website; storing identifiers of the website pages visited by the user; associating the website page identifiers with the user identifier; capturing a snapshot of each website page visited by the user; determining website pages recommended for the user, but not yet visited by the user; capturing a snapshot of at least one recommended website page; and generating the interactive sitemap that includes a sitemap tree structure of the website with selectable nodes representing the website pages visited by the user and the website pages recommended for the user. When the user rolls over one of the selectable nodes, presenting the snapshot within the in-page window.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method, comprising:
 generating an interactive sitemap comprising a sitemap tree structure of a website; and   presenting the interactive sitemap, comprising:
 displaying, along a first axis, a first property of the website as a first branch of the sitemap tree structure and a second property of the website as a second branch of the sitemap tree structure; 
 displaying, along a second axis and in association with the first branch, selectable nodes associated with the first property, wherein each selectable node displayed in association with the first branch represents at least one of a website page visited by a user or a website page recommended for the user; 
 displaying, along the second axis and in association with the second branch, selectable nodes associated with the second property, wherein each selectable node displayed in association with the second branch represents at least one of a website page visited by the user or a website page recommended for the user; and 
 responsive to determining that a period of time that a selectable node has persisted along the second axis exceeds a temporal threshold, eliminating the selectable node from the interactive sitemap. 
   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first axis is different than the second axis. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first axis is perpendicular to the second axis. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising:
 representing a current website page with a current selectable node emphasized such that the current selectable node is distinct from other selectable nodes in the sitemap tree structure.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising:
 generating, on the website, an icon that, when selected, activates the interactive sitemap.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising:
 presenting an advertisement within the interactive sitemap.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising:
 receiving an indication that the user has selected a first selectable node in the sitemap tree structure; and   re-directing the user to a first website page represented by the first selectable node.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising:
 when there is insufficient user history of website pages visited, populating the sitemap tree structure with one or more default selectable nodes.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising:
 presenting an icon indicating a social connection of the user that has viewed a first website page represented by a first selectable node in the sitemap tree structure.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein a first selectable node in the sitemap tree structure is presented in a smaller scale than a second selectable node in the sitemap tree structure based upon one or more traversals of the sitemap tree structure by the user. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising:
 determining a first website page visited by the user; and   displaying a first selectable node representing the first website page in the sitemap tree structure.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising:
 determining a first website page recommended for the user, but not yet visited by the user; and   displaying a first selectable node representing the first website page in the sitemap tree structure.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , comprising:
 capturing a snapshot of the first website page.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein capturing the snapshot comprises:
 periodically capturing one or more portions of the first website page.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein capturing the snapshot comprises:
 capturing one or more portions of the first website page responsive to determining one or more changes to the first website page.   
     
     
         16 . An information processing system, comprising:
 a processor device; and   a memory operably coupled with the processor device, the memory storing computer-executable instructions that when executed by the processor device implement operations comprising:
 presenting an interactive sitemap comprising a sitemap tree structure of a website, comprising:
 displaying, along a first axis, a first property of the website as a first branch of the sitemap tree structure and a second property of the website as a second branch of the sitemap tree structure; 
 displaying, along a second axis and in association with the first branch, selectable nodes associated with the first property, wherein each selectable node displayed in association with the first branch represents at least one of a website page visited by a user or a website page recommended for the user; 
 displaying, along the second axis and in association with the second branch, selectable nodes associated with the second property, wherein each selectable node displayed in association with the second branch represents at least one of a website page visited by the user or a website page recommended for the user; and 
 responsive to determining that a period of time that a selectable node has persisted along the second axis exceeds a temporal threshold, eliminating the selectable node from the interactive sitemap. 
 
   
     
     
         17 . The information processing system of  claim 16 , wherein the operations comprise:
 receiving an indication that the user has selected a first selectable node in the sitemap tree structure; and   re-directing the user to a first website page represented by the first selectable node.   
     
     
         18 . The information processing system of  claim 16 , wherein the operations comprise:
 when there is insufficient user history of website pages visited, populating the sitemap tree structure with one or more default selectable nodes.   
     
     
         19 . The information processing system of  claim 16 , wherein the operations comprise:
 presenting an icon indicating a social connection of the user that has viewed a first website page represented by a first selectable node in the sitemap tree structure.   
     
     
         20 . A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium with computer-executable instructions stored thereon that when executed by a processor device implement operations comprising:
 receiving a user identifier of a user visiting a website;   storing a website page identifier of a first website page of the website visited by the user;   associating the website page identifier with the user identifier;   capturing a snapshot of the first website page;   determining a second website page of the website recommended for the user, but not yet visited by the user;   capturing a snapshot of the second website page;   generating an interactive sitemap comprising a sitemap tree structure of the website with a first selectable node representing the first website page and a second selectable node representing the second website page; and   presenting the interactive sitemap, comprising:
 displaying, along a first axis, a first property of the website as a first branch of the sitemap tree structure and a second property of the website as a second branch of the sitemap tree structure; 
 displaying, along a second axis and in association with the first branch, selectable nodes associated with the first property, wherein each selectable node displayed in association with the first branch represents at least one of a website page visited by a user or a website page recommended for the user; 
 displaying, along the second axis and in association with the second branch, selectable nodes associated with the second property, wherein each selectable node displayed in association with the second branch represents at least one of a website page visited by the user or a website page recommended for the user; and 
 responsive to determining that a period of time that a selectable node has persisted along the second axis exceeds a temporal threshold, eliminating the selectable node from the interactive sitemap.