Method and system for display of web pages

• US 20030177175A1
• Filed: 04/26/2002
• Published: 09/18/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 04/26/2001
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Dale R. Worley, Gregory O. Bruell, Kenneth A. Giusti
• Original Assignee: Dale R. Worley, Gregory O. Bruell, Kenneth A. Giusti
• Inventors: Worley, Dale R., Giusti, Kenneth A., Bruell, Gregory O.
• Application Number:
  US10/132,153
• Publication Number:
  US 20030177175A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/95 Retrieval from the web
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9574 of access to content, e.g. by caching

Abstract

A method and system enables browsers to redisplay or refresh pages periodically while limiting retransmission of data to changing dynamic portions (data fields, dynamic content) of page files and avoiding retransmission of static portions of page files. Additional aspects include: a method of detecting when the infrequently-changing ‘skeleton’ parts of the page file have changed, thus avoiding having to re-transmit those parts with every update of the frequently-changing parts; a method of integrating the specification of add-on GUI ‘modules’ with ordinary web content written in HTML, thus reducing the effort needed to use the modules; and a method for a browser to instruct a web server to provide a specially modified version of a web page file. This reduces the amount of information that needs to be transmitted to refresh web pages periodically and facilitates incorporating defined GUI modules into HTML web pages.

Claims

1. A method for refreshing the display of a web page on a client computer, the client computer having a memory, a browser and a display, the client computer receiving at least one page file associated with the displayed web page from a server connected to the client computer via a communication link over a distributed network, the method comprising the steps of:

requesting by the client computer a web page from the server;

obtaining by the server one or more page files associated with the requested web page;

modifying by the server at least one page file comprising static and dynamic data fragments into a skeleton file comprising static data and a dynamic data file representing dynamic data;

transmitting by the server to the client computer at least the skeleton file and the dynamic data file;

adapting by the client browser at least the skeleton file and the dynamic data file to display the web page associated with the modified page file; and

the server retransmitting the dynamic data file while not retransmitting the skeleton file to the client to refresh the displayed web page with changed dynamic data.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

modifying a URL by the client to specify a special mode for receiving served pages, the special mode instructing the server to modify the at least one page file into the skeleton file and the dynamic data file and to serve the skeleton file and dynamic data file to the client.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the client modifies the path portion of the URL to specify the special mode.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the client modifies the URL by appending a suffix to the path portion of the URL.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein a first suffix represents the skeleton file and a second suffix represents the dynamic data file.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the URL is modified to specify a special mode by using characters not commonly found in URLs.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein a first modification represents the skeleton file and a second modification represents the dynamic data file.

8. In a distributed network comprising at least one server and at least one client computer in electrical communication with the at least one server via a communications link, a system for modifying page files associated with web pages for display at the client computer to achieve more efficient refreshing of displayed web pages, the system comprising:

a refresh module stored on a memory accessible by a server and executable by a server processor, the server receiving a request from a client computer for a web page to be displayed at the client computer, the server obtaining at least one page file associated with the web page and providing the page file to the refresh module, the refresh module adapted to modify the page file to generate a skeleton file comprising static content and placeholders for dynamic data, and a dynamic data file comprising data identified to change over time;

the server transmitting the skeleton file and the dynamic data file to the client;

the client computer comprising an input for receiving the skeleton file and the dynamic data file from the server over the communications link;

the client computer further comprising a browser adapted to combine the skeleton file with the dynamic data file in generating and displaying the requested web page;

wherein the system is adapted to subsequently retransmit the dynamic data file while not retransmitting the skeleton file to refresh the dynamic data associated with the requested and displayed web page.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the client is further adapted to modify a URL to specify a special mode for receiving served pages, the special mode instructing the server to modify the at least one page file into the skeleton file and the dynamic data file and to serve the skeleton file and dynamic data file to the client.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the client modifies the path portion of the URL to specify the special mode.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the client modifies the URL by appending a suffix to the path portion of the URL.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein a first suffix represents the skeleton file and a second suffix represents the dynamic data file.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the URL is modified to specify a special mode by using characters not commonly found in URLs.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein a first modification represents the skeleton file and a second modification represents the dynamic data file.

15. The system of claim 8 wherein the client computer is adapted to request retransmission of the dynamic data file while not requesting retransmission of the skeleton file to refresh the dynamic data file associated with the requested and displayed web page.

16. The system of claim 8 wherein the client computer further comprises a cache memory for storing the skeleton file and a non-cache memory for storing the dynamic data file.

17. For use in a distributed network comprising at least one server having a processor and a memory and being in electrical communication with at least one client computer over a communications link, a computer readable medium comprising a set of executable instructions stored on the server memory and being machine readable by and adapted to manipulate the server processor to cause the server to perform a plurality of functions, the functions comprising:

obtaining from a memory at least one page file associated with a web page requested by the client, the page file comprising both static and dynamic data;

modifying the page file to generate a skeleton file comprising static data and having markers for dynamic data associated with the web page;

modifying the page file to generate a dynamic data file comprising dynamic data associated with the web page;

recognizing a request for updated dynamic data; and

retransmitting the dynamic data file to the client to refresh dynamic data of the web page displayed at the client.

18. In a distributed network comprising a first computer and having stored therein an HTML file comprising static data and dynamic data, the first computer being in electrical communication with a second computer over the network and transmitting thereto data representative of the HTML file for displaying a web page at the second computer, a system for updating the dynamic data portion of the HTML file without updating the static portion of the HTML file cached at the second computer to achieve more efficient refreshing of the displayed web page, the system comprising:

a refresh module stored and executable at the first computer and adapted to modify the HTML file to generate a skeleton file comprising static content and placeholders for dynamic data, and a dynamic data file comprising data identified to change over time;

the first computer being adapted to transmit the skeleton file and the dynamic data file to the second computer;

the second computer being adapted to receive the skeleton and dynamic data files;

a browser operable on the second computer and being adapted to combine the skeleton file with the dynamic data file to generate and display a web page associated with the HTML file;

the first computer subsequently retransmitting the dynamic data file while not retransmitting the skeleton file to refresh dynamic data associated with the HTML file and the displayed web page.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the browser is adapted to modify a URL to specify a special mode for receiving pages, the special mode instructing the first computer to modify the at least one page file into the skeleton file and the dynamic data file and to send the skeleton file and dynamic data file to the second computer.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the browser modifies the path portion of the URL to specify the special mode.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the browser modifies the URL by appending a suffix to the path portion of the URL.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein a first suffix represents the skeleton file and a second suffix represents the dynamic data file.

23. The system of claim 19, wherein the URL is modified to specify a special mode by using characters not commonly found in URLs.

24. The system of claim 19, wherein a first modification represents the skeleton file and a second modification represents the dynamic data file.

25. The system of claim 18 wherein the second computer is adapted to request retransmission of the dynamic data file while not requesting retransmission of the skeleton file to refresh the dynamic data file associated with the requested and displayed web page.

26. The system of claim 18 wherein the second computer further comprises a cache memory for storing the skeleton file and a non-cache memory for storing the dynamic data file.

27. (refreshing static content) A method for refreshing the display of a web page on a client computer having a memory, a browser and a display, the client receiving page files associated with the displayed web page from a server connected to the client computer via a communication link over a distributed network, the method comprising the steps of:

requesting from the client computer a web page from the server;

obtaining by the server page files associated with the requested web page;

modifying by the server at least one page file comprising static and dynamic data fragments into a skeleton file comprising static data and a dynamic data file representing dynamic data;

transmitting by the server to the client at least the skeleton file and the dynamic data file;

processing by the browser at least the skeleton file and the dynamic data file to display the web page associated with the modified page file;

subsequently retransmitting by the server a refreshed dynamic data file while not retransmitting the skeleton file to the client to refresh the displayed web page with updated dynamic data;

determining that a change in the content of the skeleton file has occurred; and

transmitting by the server to the client a revised skeleton file representing the change in content for replacing the skeleton file and for storing the revised skeleton file at the client.

28. The method of claim 27 wherein the skeleton file includes at least one tag of a first type representative of dynamic data and the dynamic data file includes at least one tag of a second type representative of dynamic data, and wherein the step of determining a change in skeleton file content comprises the steps of:

comparing tags of the first type contained in the skeleton file with tags of the second type contained in the dynamic data file; and

detecting a lack of correlation between the tags of the first type and the tags of the second type.

29. The method of claim 28 wherein the determining step is carried out at the client computer by comparing the tags of the refreshed dynamic data file with the tags of the skeleton file stored in cache memory.

30. The method of claim 28 wherein the tags of the first type and tags of the second type include at least one attribute and the step of comparing the tags is accomplished by comparing the number of occurrences of tags having the attribute.

31. (refreshing static content) In a distributed network comprising at least one server and at least one client computer in electrical communication with the at least one server via a communications link, a system for modifying page files associated with web pages for display at the client computer to achieve more efficient refreshing of displayed web pages, the system comprising:

a refresh module stored on a memory accessible by a server and executable by a server processor, the server receiving a request from a client computer for a web page to be displayed at the client computer, the server obtaining at least one page file associated with the web page and providing the page file to the refresh module, the refresh module adapted to modify the page file to generate a skeleton file comprising static content and placeholders for dynamic data, and a dynamic data file comprising data identified to change over time;

the server transmitting the skeleton file and the dynamic data file to the client;

the client computer having an input for receiving the skeleton file and the dynamic data file from the server over the communications link;

the client further comprising a browser adapted to combine the skeleton file with the dynamic data file in generating and displaying the requested web page; and

wherein the system is adapted to subsequently retransmit the dynamic data file while not retransmitting the skeleton file to refresh the dynamic data associated with the requested and displayed web page;

the system being further adapted to determine a change in the content of the skeleton file and to transmit to the client a revised skeleton file representing the change in content for replacing the skeleton file and for storing the revised skeleton file at the client.

32. The system of claim 31 wherein the skeleton file includes at least one tag of a first type representative of dynamic data and the dynamic data file includes at least one tag of a second type representative of dynamic data, and wherein the system is adapted to compare tags of the first type contained in the skeleton file with tags of the second type contained in the dynamic data file to detect a lack of correlation between the tags of the first type and the tags of the second type.

33. The system of claim 32 wherein the client computer is adapted to compare the tags of the refreshed dynamic data file with the tags of the skeleton file stored in cache memory.

34. The system of claim 32 wherein the tags of the first type and tags of the second type include at least one attribute and the system is adapted to compare the number of occurrences of tags having the attribute.

35. The system of claim 31 wherein the client computer is adapted to request retransmission of the dynamic data file while not requesting retransmission of the skeleton file to refresh the dynamic data file associated with the requested and displayed web page.

36. The system of claim 31 wherein the client computer further comprises a cache memory for storing the skeleton file and a non-cache memory for storing the dynamic data file.

37. In a distributed network comprising a server serving an XHTML file to a client computer over a communications link, the client comprising a browser and GUI, a method of converting the XHTML file into an HTML file for displaying a requested web page, the method comprising the steps of:

assigning, using the namespace mechanism in XML, a namespace to mark at least one GUI HTML module contained in the XHTML file;

parsing the XHTML file to locate GUI HTML module; and

assembling the HTML file by the browser, including the GUI HTML module, to display a requested web page.

38. The method of claim 37 wherein the GUI HTML module contains HTML fragments that are included in the displayed web page.

39. In a distributed network having a server serving an XHTML file to a client computer over a communications link, the client having a browser and GUI, a method of converting the XHTML file into an HTML file for displaying a requested web page, the method comprising the steps of:

assigning, using the namespace mechanism in XML, a namespace to mark at least one GUI XML element contained in the XHTML file;

parsing the XHTML file to locate a GUI XML element;

converting the GUI XML element into an HTML template which instructs the browser to perform actions intended by the GUI XML element;

replacing the GUI XML element within the XHTML file with the HTML template; and

displaying the resulting HTML file by the browser, resulting in displaying the requested web page.

40. The method of claim 39 wherein the GUI XML element contains HTML fragments that are included in the displayed web page.