Distributed system and method for prefetching objects
First Claim
1. In an internet access system that includes a communications link, the communications link having a client side and having a server side which is remote from the client side, a method of processing a client request for a document that includes an inline object, the client request generated by a client and directed to a document server, the document comprising a base component which includes a reference to the inline object, the method comprising:
- on the client side of the communications link;
(a) receiving the client request and forwarding the request over the communications link to the server side;
on the server side of the communications link;
(b) receiving the client request, and forwarding the request to the document server over an internet;
(c) receiving the base component from the document server, parsing the base component to identify the reference to the object, and forwarding the base component over the communications link to the client side for delivery to the client; and
(d) prefetching the inline object from the document server using the reference identified in step (c), and, without waiting for the client to request the object, forwarding the object over the communications link to the client side for delivery to client.
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Accused Products
Abstract
In an internet access system which includes a satellite link, a distributed proxy server (68) is provided which reduces a delay associated with the retrieval of inline objects of web pages. The distributed proxy server (68) includes an access point component (70) and a satellite gateway component (72). The access point component (70) runs on the client (browser) side of the satellite link and communicates with web browsers (20A-20N). The satellite gateway component (72) runs on the internet side of the satellite link and communicates with web servers (26). As a web page is retrieved over the satellite link, the satellite gateway component (72) parses the base file component of the web page to identify any references to inline objects of the web page, and prefetches each such inline object. The distributed proxy server thereby eliminates the delays normally associated with (a) waiting for the web browser (20) to receive the base component and request the object(s), and (b) waiting for the browser'"'"'s object request(s) to be transmitted over the satellite link. The prefetched objects are transmitted over the satellite link to the access point component (70), which in-turn stores the prefetched objects in an object cache (71). When a web browser (20) requests an inline object, the access point component (70) checks the cache (71), and if the object resides therein, returns the object to the browser (20) without forwarding the object request over the satellite link. Traffic over the forward satellite link is thus reduced. The method implemented by the distributed proxy server (68) can also be used to reduce delays and traffic over other types of links, including non-wireless links.
83 Citations
20 Claims
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1. In an internet access system that includes a communications link, the communications link having a client side and having a server side which is remote from the client side, a method of processing a client request for a document that includes an inline object, the client request generated by a client and directed to a document server, the document comprising a base component which includes a reference to the inline object, the method comprising:
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on the client side of the communications link;
(a) receiving the client request and forwarding the request over the communications link to the server side;
on the server side of the communications link;
(b) receiving the client request, and forwarding the request to the document server over an internet;
(c) receiving the base component from the document server, parsing the base component to identify the reference to the object, and forwarding the base component over the communications link to the client side for delivery to the client; and
(d) prefetching the inline object from the document server using the reference identified in step (c), and, without waiting for the client to request the object, forwarding the object over the communications link to the client side for delivery to client. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. In a client-server type document retrieval system in which inline objects of documents are requested and retrieved separately from base components of the documents, a distributed system for reducing a performance degradation caused by a communications link, the distributed system comprising:
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a first component which runs on a client side of the communications link and communicates with clients, the first component adapted to receive document requests from the clients and to forward the requests over the communications link for processing; and
a second component which runs on a server side of the communications link and communicates with document servers, the second component adapted to receive the document requests from the first component over the communications link and to forward the requests to the document servers, the requests causing the document servers to return base components of requested documents;
wherein the second component processes base components returned by the document servers by at least (i) parsing the base components to identify references to inline objects, (ii) prefetching the inline objects, and (iii) forwarding the prefetched inline objects to the first component without waiting for client requests for the inline objects;
and wherein the first component stores prefetched inline objects received from the second component in a cache memory, and responds to object requests from the clients by forwarding the inline objects to the clients from the cache memory. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. In an internet access system which includes a satellite link, the satellite link having a browser side and having an internet side which is remote from the browser side, a method of processing a document request for a web document that includes an inline object, the document request generated by a web browser and directed to a web server, the document comprising a base file component which includes a reference to the inline object, the method comprising:
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on the browser side of the satellite link;
(a) receiving the document request and forwarding the request over the satellite link to the internet side;
(b) receiving the inline object over the satellite link from the web server, and storing the inline object in a memory;
(c) receiving a request for the object from the browser, and in response thereto, forwarding the object to the browser from the memory and blocking the request for the object from being transmitted over the satellite link;
on the internet side of the satellite link;
(d) receiving the document request, and forwarding the document request to the web server over an internet;
(e) receiving the base component from the web server, parsing the base component to identify the reference to the object, and forwarding the base component over the satellite link to the browser side for delivery to the browser; and
(f) prefetching the inline object from the web server using the reference identified in step (e), and, without waiting for the browser to request the object, forwarding the object over the satellite link to the browser side for delivery to browser. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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Specification