Apparatus, method, and program for transferring structured documents including plurality of document elements

• US 20060004908A1
• Filed: 05/10/2005
• Published: 01/05/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/27/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Sumi, Tetsuhiro, Saitou, Daitoku
• Granted Patent: US 8,156,003 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/201
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0254 based on statistics
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0262 during computer stand-by mode
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/62 Establishing a time schedule for servicing the requests

Abstract

A web browser 11 of a client 10 requests a transfer of a parent document having a banner advertisement and a news article included therein from a document processing module 21. Upon receiving their file names, a transfer rate determination module 24 instructs the document processing module 21 to check on a band and to stand by for transferring the news article. When the document processing module 21 completes the band check, the transfer rate determination module 24 calculates a transfer rate of the banner advertisement and a transfer rate of the news article and instructs the document processing module 21 to transfer the banner advertisement and the news article at the transfer rates. The transfer rates assure that the banner advertisement is displayed for a predetermined period of time before the news article is fully displayed.

Claims

1. An apparatus for transferring a structured document including at least a first and a second document element via a communication line for a display on a client, comprising:

means for receiving a request to send the structured document from the client;

a memory for storing a specific period of time for displaying only a first document element on the client before displaying the entire structured document; and

determination means for determining a first transfer rate for the first document element and a second transfer rate for the second document element so that a period of time from a completion of transferring the first document element to a completion of transferring the second document element is equal to or longer than the specific period of time.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising transfer means for transferring the first document element and the second document element to the client at the first and the second transfer rates determined by said determination means.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the first and the second transfer rates are represented by a communication band of the communication line.

4. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said transfer means previously checks on the communication band by transferring a part of data of the first document element.

5. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said determination means starts to transfer remaining data of the first document element at the first transfer rate and the second document element at the second transfer rate after checking on the communication band.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said determination means determines the first transfer rate and the second transfer rate by distributing the communication band v_T in the communication line in a distribution ratio of (1−

α

);

α

(0<

α

<

1) (α

is determined by solving an equation where B is an amount of data of the first document element, N is an amount of data of the second document element, and t is the specific period of time).

7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said determination means calculates the communication band v_T by transferring a part of data of the first document element and determines a as the amount of data B as an amount of data acquired by subtracting the part of data from total data of the first document element.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said determination means readjusts the second transfer rate so that the second document element not transferred yet is transferred over the specific period of time or longer at the completion of transferring the first document element.

9. A method of transferring a structured document including at least a first and a second document element from a first computer to a second computer via a communication line, comprising the steps of:

receiving a request to send the structured document from said second computer;

acquiring amounts of data of the first document element and the second document element;

checking on a communication band in the communication line;

distributing the communication band in proportions calculated on the basis of the communication band, the specific period of time, and the amounts of data of the acquired first and second document elements, thereby determining a first transfer rate for the first document element and a second transfer rate for the second document element so that a period of time from a completion of transferring the first document element to a completion of transferring the second document element is equal to or longer than the specific period of time; and

transferring the first document element at the determined first transfer rate and the second document element at the determined second transfer rate to said second computer.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein:

the communication band is checked on by transferring a part of data of the first document element in said checking step; and

an amount of data acquired by subtracting the part of data from the total data of the first document element is used as the amount of data of the first document element for use in calculating the proportions in said determination step.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein said transfer step is to transfer remaining data of the first document element at the determined first transfer rate and the second document element at the determined second transfer rate.

12. The method according to claim 9, wherein the first transfer rate and the second transfer rate are determined by distributing the communication band VT in the communication line in a distribution ratio of (1−

α

);

a (0<

α

<

1) in said determination step (α

is determined by solving an equation below where B is the amount of data of the first document element, N is the amount of data of the second document element, and t is the specific period of time).

13. The method according to claim 9, wherein the second transfer rate is readjusted so that the second document element not transferred yet is transferred over the specific period of time or longer at the completion of transferring the first document element in said determination step.

14. A program causing a first computer, which transfers a structured document including at least a first and a second document element to a second computer via a communication line, to execute the steps of:

storing a specific period of time for displaying only a first document element on the second computer before displaying the entire structured document into a memory;

receiving a request to send the structured document from the second computer;

acquiring amounts of data of the first document element and the second document element;

checking on a communication band in the communication line;

distributing the communication band in proportions calculated on the basis of the communication band, the specific period of time, and the amounts of data of the acquired first and second document elements, thereby determining a first transfer rate of the first document element and a second transfer rate of the second document element so that a period of time from a completion of transferring the first document element to a completion of transferring the second document element is equal to or longer than the specific period of time; and

transferring the first document element at the determined first transfer rate and the second document element at the determined second transfer rate to the second computer.

15. The program according to claim 14, wherein:

the communication band is checked on by transferring a part of data of the first document element in said checking step; and

an amount of data acquired by subtracting the part of data from the total data of the first document element is used as the amount of data of the first document element for use in calculating the proportions in said determination step.

16. The program according to claim 15, wherein said transfer step is to transfer remaining data of the first document element and the second document element at the determined first and second transfer rates.

17. The program according to claim 14, wherein the first transfer rate and the second transfer rate are determined by distributing the communication band v_T in the communication line in a distribution ratio of (1−

α

);

a (0<

α

<

1) in said determination step (α

is determined by solving an equation where B is the amount of data of the first document element, N is the amount of data of the second document element, and t is the specific period of time).

18. The program according to claim 14, wherein the second transfer rate is readjusted so that the second document element not transferred yet is transferred over the specific period of time or longer at the completion of transferring the first document element in said determination step.