Method of providing a web page with inserted content

• US 20060031404A1
• Filed: 05/16/2005
• Published: 02/09/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: MobiLaps LLC
• Original Assignee: MobiLaps LLC
• Inventors: Kassab, Hisham
• Granted Patent: US 7,533,144 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/218
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/972 Access to data in other repository systems, e.g. legacy data or dynamic Web page generation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/289 Intermediate processing functionally located close to the data consumer application, e.g. in same machine, in same home or in same sub-network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/53 using third party service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/561 Adding application-functional data or data for application control, e.g. adding metadata
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/563 Data redirection of data network streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/567 Integrating service provisioning from a plurality of service providers

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided for inserting content into a web page and providing the modified web page to a web browser. A request for a web page is intercepted and redirected to a web page processing agent, which fetches the requested web content. A new web page is generated that includes the requested web content and inserted content provided from another source, such as from an ISP. The inserted content is presented in a dedicated screen area. The new web page may include a first frame comprising the inserted content and a second frame including the requested web content, such that the end user can scroll the web content without affecting the inserted content.

Claims

1. A method for rendering web content, comprising the steps of:

(1) receiving a first request to fetch web content located at a specified web address;

(2) intercepting the first request and redirecting it to a processing agent;

(3) generating from the processing agent a second request to fetch the web content from a server corresponding to the specified web address;

(4) receiving the web content from the server;

(5) generating new web content comprising the web content and an Intermediate Network Entity (INE) platform having content independent from the web content; and

(6) providing the new web content in response to the first request.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

in steps (1) and (3), the web content comprises a web page;

in step (5), the new web content comprises a new web page comprising a first frame having an INE platform including a dedicated area in which content independent from the web page is displayed and a second frame comprising web content from the server, wherein the first frame and second frame are both displayed within a single web browser window; and

in step (6), the new web page is provided to a web browser.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

in steps (1) and (3), the web content comprises audio data; and

in step (5), the new web content comprises new audio data comprising the audio data and an INE platform in which audio content independent from the audio data is placed.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein:

in steps (1) and (3), the web content comprises video data; and

in step (5), the new web content comprises new video data comprising the video data and an INE platform in which video content independent from the video data is placed.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein:

in step (1) and (3), the web content comprises an e-mail message body; and

in step (5), the new web content comprises a new e-mail message body comprising the e-mail message body and an INE platform in which content independent from the e-mail message body is placed.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein:

in steps (1) and (3), the web content comprises a web page;

in step (5), the new web content comprises a new web page comprising the web page and a cascading style sheet (CSS) element comprising a dedicated area in which content independent from the web page is placed; and

in step (6), the new web page is provided to a web browser.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein:

in steps (1) and (3), the web content comprises a web page;

in step (5), the new web content comprises a new web page comprising the web page and a Java applet comprising a dedicated area in which content independent from the web page is placed; and

in step (6), the new web page is provided to a web browser.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein:

in steps (1) and (3), the web content comprises a web page;

in step (5), the new web content comprises a new web page comprising the web page and an ActiveX control comprising a dedicated area in which content independent from the web page is placed; and

in step (6), the new web page is provided to a web browser.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein:

in steps (1) and (3), the web content comprises a web page;

in step (5), the new web content comprises a new web page comprising the web page and a third-party web browser plug-in object comprising a dedicated are in which content independent from the web page is placed; and

in step (6), the new web page is provided to a web browser.

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

(7) in the processing agent, detecting embedded Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) in the web page received from the server and replacing them with modified URLs prior to step (6).

11. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of maintaining state information for the INE platform in an INE server.

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

(7) in response to detecting that a user of the web browser has selected an embedded URL in the web page, retrieving a second web page corresponding to the embedded URL and returning the second web page to the web browser without modifying the contents of the first frame; and

(8) in response to detecting that a user of the web browser has selected a new web page in an address line of the web browser, repeating steps (5) and (6) for the new web page.

13. The method of claim 2, wherein the processing agent flags embedded URLs by modifying them in a manner that indicates whether a URL was modified and allows for the retrieval of the original URL from the modified URL.

14. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of generating INE platform content independent from the web page and inserting the INE platform content into the first frame prior to step (6).

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising the step of changing the platform content after step (6) without changing the content from the web page.

16. The method of claim 2, wherein the second frame is scrollable independently of the first frame in the browser window.

17. The method of claim 2, wherein step (5) comprises the step of generating the first frame in a non-overlapping position with the second frame, such that both the first and second frames are fully visible in a window of the browser.

18. The method of claim 2, wherein steps (2) through (6) are performed on a server located separately from a computer on which the web browser is located.

19. The method of claim 2, wherein steps (2) through (6) are performed on the same computer on which the web browser is located.

20. The method of claim 2, wherein steps (2) through (6) are performed in the web browser.

21. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of detecting whether the first request was flagged and, if so, inhibiting the generation of the first frame.

22. The method of claim 2, wherein step (5) comprises the step of flagging one or more embedded URLs in the web page, by modifying them in a manner that indicates whether a URL was modified and allows for retrieving the original URL from the modified URL, wherein the flagging serves to inhibit further generation of the first frame upon activation of the one or more embedded tags.

23. The method of claim 2, wherein step (5) comprises the step of detecting whether the first request was generated from an embedded URL in the web page and, if so, inhibiting generation of the first frame.

24. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of generating content for the INE platform that is dependent upon a determined location of a user of the web browser.

25. The method of claim 2, wherein steps (1) through (6) are performed by an Internet Service Provider (ISP).

26. The method of claim 2, wherein:

in steps (1) and (3), the web content comprises a web page; and

step (5) comprises the step of generating JavaScript code that checks for the presence of a frameset and, if no frameset exists, creates a frameset including a first frame comprising an INE platform including a dedicated area in which content independent from the web page is displayed and a second frame comprising the web content.

27. Apparatus for inserting content into a web page, comprising:

a proxy server configured to generate requests for web content;

a web page redirection agent configured to intercept a first request for a web page and to redirect the first request to the proxy server;

a request modification agent configured to receive the first request from the proxy server and to determine whether the first request was previously flagged and, if the first request was not previously flagged, causing a first frame to be generated comprising content independent of the web content and, if the request was previously flagged, inhibiting generation of the first frame; and

a response modification agent configured to flag URLs contained in responses received by the proxy server,

wherein web page redirection agent returns to a web browser the first frame and a second frame comprising the web content.

28. Apparatus for inserting content, comprising:

means for receiving a first request to fetch a web page located at a specified web address;

means for generating a second request to fetch the web page from a server corresponding to the specified web address;

means for receiving the web page from the server;

means for generating a new web page comprising a first frame having an INE platform including a dedicated area on which content independent from the web page is displayed and a second frame comprising content from the web page; and

means for returning the new web page comprising the first and second frames to a web browser.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the means for generating determines whether the first request was previously flagged and, in response thereto, inhibits generation of the first frame.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the means for generating further comprises means for detecting embedded Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) in the web page received from the server and, in response thereto, replacing them with modified URLs.

31. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the means for generating the new web page generates the first frame and the second frame in a non-overlapping positions.

32. A method for inserting content into a web page, comprising the steps of:

(1) detecting that an IP datagram is requesting a web page;

(2) intercepting the IP datagram and redirecting it to a proxy server;

(3) in response to detecting that a URL corresponding to the requested web page has not been previously flagged, performing the steps of (a) generating a new web page comprising a two-frame frameset, a first frame comprising a URL corresponding to a content server under control of an Internet Service Provider and a second frame comprising a URL corresponding to a content server corresponding to the requested web page;

(b) causing content corresponding to the first URL to be fetched and inserted into the first frame and content corresponding to the second URL to be fetched and inserted into the second frame;

(c) flagging the second URL by modifying it in a manner that indicates whether it was modified and allows for retrieving the original URL from the modified URL, and (d) returning the new web page comprising the first frame, the second frame, and the flagged URL to a requestor that requested the web page; and

(4) in response to detecting that the URL has been previously flagged by the processing agent, performing the steps of (a) retrieving an original URL from the modified URL;

(b) fetching a response from a web server corresponding to the original URL;

(c) flagging any embedded URLs in the fetched response; and

(d) returning the fetched response with the flagged URLs to a requestor that requested the web page.

33. Apparatus for displaying a web page, comprising:

a web browser configured to fetch web pages from a web-based server; and

a browser-installed object configured to communicate over a persistent channel with an Intermediate Network Entity (INE) and to provide location-based services to a user of the web browser independent of any web pages displayed in the web browser.