PERSISTENT USER INTERFACE FOR PROVIDING NAVIGATIONAL FUNCTIONALITY

摘要

A method and apparatus, including a graphical user interface, for allowing quick processing of queries, including display of results, without requiring opening of a traditional browser program application window. Queries may be input and processed directly from a persistent or otherwise on-demand query input area (330), without the need to open a browser or other program separately for entering/processing a query, navigating to a search engine or particular document, etc. A number of query types (350) may be supported by the user interface of the present invention, such that depending on a particular query type selected for/indicated by a query, a particular information retrieval mechanism processes the query to obtain one or more results. A on-demand window (360) is generated in response to a query request to output one or more results obtained in response to a given query, and optionally is hidden when a user accesses other windows, functionality, etc.-i.e., when the result window loses focus.