Systems and methods for establishing quasi-persistent HTTP connections

• US 20030061355A1
• Filed: 09/25/2001
• Published: 03/27/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 09/25/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: WebEx Communications Incorporated (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Martin, Christopher, Yang, Guanghong
• Granted Patent: US 7,216,172 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/142 Managing session states for stateless protocols; Signalling session states; State transitions; Keeping-state mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

The present invention provides systems and methods that allow one or more quasi-persistent HTTP connections to be established between a client computer and server computer. The quasi-persistent HTTP connection(s) allow(s) data to be transferred between the client computer and the server computer without having to repeatedly set up and then terminate a HTTP connection between the client computer and the server computer each time the client computer and the server computer have data to send to one another. Two or more quasi-persistent HTTP connections can be established between a client computer and a server computer to form a bi-directional connection between the client computer and the server computer. The bi-directional connection significantly improves the speed and the efficiency of data transfer between the client computer and the server computer.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

generating a response to a HTTP request, wherein the response includes a content-length key-value pair having a content-length value that is large enough to establish a quasi-persistent HTTP connection between a client and a server.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

sending the response to the HTTP request to the client.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

sending data from the server to the client over the quasi-persistent HTTP connection, wherein the data can be sent from the server to the client without having to generate a new HTTP request.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

sending heartbeat data over the quasi-persistent HTTP connection.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

encrypting the response to the HTTP request.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the HTTP request is a GET request.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the content-length value is at least 256 Kbytes.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the amount of time that the quasi-persistent HTTP connection is open can be increased by increasing the content-length value.

9. A computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program, the computer program comprising computer instructions for:

generating a response to the HTTP request, wherein the response includes a content-length key-value pair having a content-length value that is large enough to establish a quasi-persistent HTTP connection between a client and the server.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 further comprising computer instructions for:

sending the response to the HTTP request to the client.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 further comprising computer instructions for:

sending data from the server to the client over the quasi-persistent HTTP connection, wherein the data can be sent from the server to the client without having to generate a new HTTP request.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 further comprising computer instructions for:

sending heartbeat data over the quasi-persistent HTTP connection.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 further comprising computer instructions for:

encrypting the response to the HTTP request.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 wherein the HTTP request is a GET request.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 wherein the content-length value is at least 256 Kbytes.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 the amount of time that the quasi-persistent HTTP connection is open can be increased by increasing the content-length value.

17. A method comprising:

generating a HTTP request, wherein the HTTP request includes a content-length key-value pair having a content-length value that is large enough to establish a quasi-persistent HTTP connection between a client and a server.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising:

sending the request to the server.

19. The method of claim 17 further comprising:

sending data from the client to the server over the quasi-persistent HTTP connection, wherein the data can be sent from the client to the server without having to generate a new HTTP request.

20. The method of claim 17 further comprising:

sending heartbeat data over the quasi-persistent HTTP connection.

21. The method of claim 17 further comprising:

encrypting the HTTP request.

22. The method of claim 17 wherein the HTTP request is a POST request.

23. The method of claim 17 wherein the content-length value is at least 256 Kbytes.

24. The method of claim 17 wherein the amount of time that the quasi-persistent HTTP connection is open can be increased by increasing the content-length value.

25. A computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program, the computer program comprising computer instructions for:

generating a HTTP request, wherein the HTTP request includes a content-length key-value pair having a content-length value that is large enough to establish a quasi-persistent HTTP connection between a client and a server.

26. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 25 further comprising computer instructions for:

sending the request to the server.

27. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 25 further comprising computer instructions for:

sending data from the client to the server over the quasi-persistent HTTP connection, wherein the data can be sent from the client to the server without having to generate a new HTTP request.

28. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 25 further comprising computer instructions for:

sending heartbeat data over the quasi-persistent HTTP connection.

29. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 25 further comprising computer instructions for:

encrypting the HTTP request.

30. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 25 wherein the HTTP request is a POST request.

31. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 25 wherein the content-length value is at least 256 Kbytes.

32. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 25 wherein the amount of time that the quasi-persistent HTTP connection is open can be increased by increasing the content-length value.

33. A method for generating a bi-directional communications link between a client and a server, the method comprising:

generating at the server a response to a HTTP GET request having a first content-length value that is large enough to establish a first quasi-persistent HTTP connection between the client and the server; and

receiving at the server a HTTP POST request having a second content-length value that is large enough to establish a second quasi-persistent HTTP connection between the client and the server.

34. The method of claim 33 further comprising:

sending data from the server to the client over the first quasi-persistent HTTP connection, wherein the data can be sent from the server to the client without having to generate a new HTTP request.

35. The method of claim 33 further comprising:

receiving data from the client over the second quasi-persistent HTTP connection, wherein the data can be sent from the server to the client without having to generate a new HTTP request.

36. The method of claim 33 further comprising:

sending heartbeat data to the client over the first quasi-persistent HTTP connection.

37. The method of claim 33 further comprising:

receiving heartbeat data from the client over the second quasi-persistent HTTP connection.

38. The method of claim 33 wherein the first content-length value is at least 256 Kbytes.

39. The method of claim 33 wherein the second content-length value is at least 256 Kbytes.