Dynamic web content unfolding in wireless information gateways

• US 20040205650A1
• Filed: 09/10/2001
• Published: 10/14/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 09/10/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Cheng, Lebin
• Granted Patent: US 6,941,512 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/530
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]

Abstract

A method and apparatus for unfolding dynamic web content in a wireless information gateway for presentation on wireless information devices. The apparatus includes an unfolding engine that converts dynamic web content to static web pages, and a wireless markup language translator module that translates static web content to a format suitable for display by wireless devices. The method includes the steps of intercepting a request for a web page from a wireless device; determining if the requested web page is already stored in an interpreted page cache; fetching the requested web page from an appropriate web server; reading the returned web page in an unfolding engine to detect any dynamic content embedded in the returned web page; unfolding any dynamic content into multiple static content pages by simulation of all possible paths in a dynamic content runtime environment; generating multiple static web pages from the output of the dynamic content runtime environment; storing the multiple static web pages in the interpreted page cache; and delivering to the wireless device one of the stored multiple static web pages appropriate to each action taken on the dynamic content at the requesting wireless device.

Claims

1. An apparatus for unfolding dynamic world wide web content on a wireless information gateway for presentation on wireless devices, the apparatus comprising:

an unfolding engine that converts dynamic web content to static web pages; and

a wireless markup language translator module that translates static web content to a format suitable for display by wireless devices.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the unfolding engine comprises:

an inspection module that detects and separates dynamic content from static content in web pages requested by the wireless devices;

a dynamic content runtime environment that simulates interactive execution of dynamic content scripts and applets;

a pre-processing module that prepares dynamic content for simulated interactive execution in the dynamic content runtime environment;

a static page generator that generates static pages from the output of the dynamic content runtime environment; and

an interpreted page cache that stores the static pages generated by the static page generator.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the pre-processing module comprises:

a dynamic content reader that reads the dynamic content;

a document object instantiation module to instantiate document and server-side objects necessary for simulation of the dynamic content; and

a dynamic content runtime initiator that starts and initializes the dynamic content runtime environment and passes the dynamic content to the dynamic content runtime environment.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the document and server-side objects necessary for simulation of the dynamic content conform to an industry-standard Document Object Model.

5. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the unfolding engine further comprises a user session manager that manages multiple wireless device user sessions and segregates and tracks the multiple static web pages generated by each of the multiple wireless device user sessions.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the interpreted page cache further comprises a user session timeout mechanism to permit discarding the multiple static web pages generated by one of the multiple wireless device user sessions upon the timeout of said user session.

7. A system for unfolding dynamic world wide web content on a wireless information gateway for presentation on wireless devices, the system comprising:

a means for separating dynamic content from requested web pages;

a means for simulating interactive execution of dynamic content separated from requested web pages;

a means for generating multiple static web pages from the results of the simulation of the interactive execution of dynamic content;

a means for storing the resulting multiple static web pages; and

a means for translating the multiple static web pages to a format suitable for delivery to and display by wireless devices.

8. A method for unfolding dynamic world wide web content on a wireless information gateway for presentation on wireless devices, the method comprising the steps of:

intercepting a request for a web page from a wireless device;

determining if the requested web page is already stored in an interpreted page cache;

fetching the requested web page from an appropriate web server;

reading the returned web page in a unfolding engine on the wireless information gateway to detect any dynamic content embedded in the returned web page;

unfolding any dynamic content embedded in the returned web page into multiple static content pages by simulation of all possible paths through the dynamic content in a dynamic content runtime environment;

generating multiple static web pages from the output of the dynamic content runtime environment;

storing the multiple static web pages in the interpreted page cache;

delivering from the interpreted page cache to the wireless device one of the stored multiple static web pages appropriate to each action taken on the dynamic content at the requesting wireless device.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the fetching step comprises:

forwarding the page request on to the appropriate web server hosting the requested web page; and

returning the requested web page from the web server to the wireless information gateway.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the reading step comprises:

reading the returned web page in an inspection module to detect any dynamic content embedded in the returned web page;

separating the static content and preparing the dynamic content in a pre-processing module;

the pre-processing module instantiating any document and server objects necessary to unfold the dynamic content; and

the pre-processing module initiating a dynamic content runtime environment.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the delivering step further comprises translating the generated web pages into a format suitable for display on wireless devices prior to delivering the interpreted pages to the wireless device.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the intercepting step further comprises assigning a unique user session identifier to the page request from a specific wireless device and all subsequently fetched web pages and resulting multiple static web pages associated with the page request and specific wireless device.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the storing step further comprises:

segregating the multiple static web pages associated with a user session identifier from the multiple static web pages associated with other user session identifiers, ensuring privacy of content and user data; and

discarding all stored multiple static web pages associated with a specific user session identifier if the user session associated with the specific user session identifier has terminated or otherwise exceeded a defined inactivity period.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of the pre-processing module instantiating document and server objects conforms to the industry-standard Document Object Model.

15. A computer readable medium upon which is embedded instructions for carrying out a method for unfolding dynamic world wide web content on a wireless information gateway for presentation on wireless devices, the method comprising the steps of:

intercepting a request for a web page from a wireless device;

determining if the requested web page is already stored in an interpreted page cache;

fetching the requested web page from an appropriate web server;

reading the returned web page in a unfolding engine on the wireless information gateway to detect any dynamic content embedded in the returned web page;

unfolding any dynamic content embedded in the returned web page into multiple static content pages by simulation of all possible paths through the dynamic content in a dynamic content runtime environment;

generating multiple static web pages from the output of the dynamic content runtime environment;

storing the multiple static web pages in the interpreted page cache;

delivering from the interpreted page cache to the wireless device one of the stored multiple static web pages appropriate to each action taken on the dynamic content at the requesting wireless device.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the fetching step comprises:

forwarding the page request on to the appropriate web server hosting the requested web page; and

returning the requested web page from the web server to the wireless information gateway.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the reading step comprises:

reading the returned web page in an inspection module to detect any dynamic content embedded in the returned web page;

separating the static content and preparing the dynamic content in a pre-processing module;

the pre-processing module instantiating any document and server objects necessary to unfold the dynamic content; and

the pre-processing module initiating a dynamic content runtime environment.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the delivering step further comprises translating the generated web pages into a format suitable for display on wireless devices prior to delivering the interpreted pages to the wireless device.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the intercepting step further comprises assigning a unique user session identifier to the page request from a specific wireless device and all subsequently fetched web pages and resulting multiple static web pages associated with the page request and specific wireless device.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 19, wherein the storing step further comprises:

segregating the multiple static web pages associated with a user session identifier from the multiple static web pages associated with other user session identifiers, ensuring privacy of content and user data; and

discarding all stored multiple static web pages associated with a specific user session identifier if the user session associated with the specific user session identifier has terminated or otherwise exceeded a defined inactivity period.