System and method for packing of small objects for efficient delivery over networks

• US 20030085920A1
• Filed: 11/08/2001
• Published: 05/08/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 11/08/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Belknap, William Russell, Kauffman, Steven Victor
• Granted Patent: US 8,806,351 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/740
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/00 Network arrangements, protocols or services independent of the application payload and not provided for in the other groups of this subclass networks security protocols H04L9/40; wireless communication networks H04W
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/04 Protocols for data compression, e.g. ROHC
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A method for requesting and processing a plurality of objects includes requesting a plurality of objects from a server, receiving a response message from the server, the response message containing the plurality of objects packed into the response message, and automatically unpacking the plurality of objects contained in the response message. The server includes an object packing module for packing requested objects into the response message. The client includes a plugin program that interacts with a network browser, in which the plugin program includes an unpacking module for unpacking the packed response message from the server. By delivering the plurality of requested objects in a single response message the objects are delivered over a single communication session thereby avoiding setting up and tearing down a plurality of communication sessions and reducing overhead processing. The objects can be thumbnail images forming the results of a search query.

Claims

1. A method of requesting and processing a plurality of objects from a server, comprising:

requesting a plurality of objects from the server;

receiving a response message from the server, the response message containing the plurality of objects packed into the response message; and

automatically unpacking the plurality of objects contained in the response message.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising decompressing the plurality of unpacked objects.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the decompression of the plurality of unpacked objects is performed automatically in response to receiving the response message.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the requesting a plurality of objects comprises packing a plurality of requests for the plurality of objects into a packed request message and transmitting the packed request message to the server.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said requesting a plurality of objects comprises transmitting to the server separate requests for each of the plurality of objects.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising outputting the plurality of unpacked objects in an order indicated in the response message.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the plurality of unpacked objects are presented by a browser in the order the objects are output.

8. A method of transferring a plurality of objects from a server to a client, comprising:

receiving a request from the client for the plurality of objects;

retrieving the plurality of requested objects from one or more object stores;

automatically packing the retrieved plurality of objects into a response message; and

transmitting the response message to the client.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising automatically compressing the retrieved plurality of requested objects prior to packing said objects into the response message.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising automatically compressing the response message prior to transmitting the response message to the client.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the retrieved objects are packed into the response message in a designated order.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the response message includes an indicator of the order in which the packed objects are to be presented.

13. A client processor, comprising:

a communications module configured to receive a response message from a server, the response message containing a plurality of packed objects;

an unpacking module configured to automatically unpack from the response message the plurality of packed objects; and

a browser coupled to the unpacking module, configured to present the plurality of unpacked objects to a user.

14. The client processor of claim 13, further comprising a decompression module configured to decompress the plurality of unpacked objects.

15. The client processor of claim 13, wherein the decompression module is configured to automatically decompress the plurality of unpacked objects in response to receiving the response message.

16. The client processor of claim 13, wherein the communication module is configured to request the plurality of objects by packing a plurality of requests for the plurality of objects into a packed request message and transmitting the packed request message to the server.

17. The client processor of claim 13, wherein the communication is configured to transmit to the server separate requests for each of the plurality of objects.

18. The client processor of claim 13, wherein the unpacking module is configured to output the plurality of unpacked objects to the browser in an order indicated in the response message.

19. The client processor of claim 18, wherein the browser presents the plurality of unpacked objects in the order the objects are output by the unpacking module.

20. A server processor, comprising:

a communication module configured to receive a request message from a client processor for delivery of a plurality of objects;

a request processor configured to coordinate requests for the plurality of objects;

an object access module configured to retrieve the plurality of objects requested by the request processor;

an object packing module coupled to the object access module and configured to automatically pack the plurality of objects retrieved by the object access module into a response message; and

an object delivery module coupled to the object packing module and the communication module and configured to output the response message containing the plurality of packed objects to a client processor.

21. The server processor of claim 20, further comprising a compression module configured to automatically compress the retrieved plurality of requested objects prior to packing the plurality of objects into the response message.

22. The server processor of claim 20, further comprising a compression module configured to automatically compress the response message prior to transmitting the response message to the client.

23. The server processor of claim 20, wherein the packing module is configured to pack the plurality of objects into the response message in a designated order.

24. The server processor of claim 20, wherein the response message includes an indicator of the order in which the packed objects are to be presented.

25. A computer-readable medium of instructions for requesting and processing a plurality of objects from a server, comprising:

program instructions for requesting a plurality of objects from the server;

program instructions for receiving a response message from the server, the response message containing the plurality of objects packed into the response message; and

program instructions for automatically unpacking the plurality of objects contained in the response message.

26. The computer-readable medium of instructions of claim 25, further comprising program instructions for decompressing the plurality of unpacked objects.

27. The computer-readable medium of instructions of claim 25, further comprising program instructions for outputting the plurality of unpacked objects in an order indicated in the response message.

28. A computer-readable medium of instructions for transferring a plurality of objects from a server to a client, comprising:

program instructions for receiving a request from the client for the plurality of objects;

program instructions for retrieving the plurality of requested objects from one or more object stores;

program instructions for automatically packing the retrieved plurality of objects into a response message; and

program instructions for transmitting the response message to the client.

29. The computer-readable medium of instructions of claim 28, further comprising program instructions for automatically compressing the retrieved plurality of requested objects prior to packing said objects into the response message.

30. The computer-readable medium of instructions of claim 28, wherein the response message includes an indicator of the order in which the packed objects are to be presented.

31. A method of transferring a plurality of objects from a server to a client, comprising:

receiving a request from the client for the plurality of objects;

retrieving from an object store a packed object having a plurality of objects corresponding to the requested plurality of objects, wherein the plurality of objects are packed into the packed object prior to receiving the request for the plurality of objects; and

transmitting the packed object in a response message to the client.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the retrieved objects are packed into the response message in a designated order.

33. The method of claim 31, wherein the response message includes an indicator of the order in which the packed objects are to be presented.