Advanced content and data distribution techniques

• US 20060064476A1
• Filed: 09/23/2004
• Published: 03/23/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/23/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Original Assignee: Orbital Data Corporation (Cloud Software Group)
• Inventors: Dittia, Zubin, Mundkur, Prashanth, Ghosh, Rajib, Decasper, Dan S.
• Granted Patent: US 7,555,532 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9574 of access to content, e.g. by caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

A method and apparatus for displaying locally stored content objects is disclosed. In one embodiment, the method comprises receiving a message containing one or more parameters indicative of one or more characteristics of a client, and sending one of a plurality of groups of one or more content objects from a set of content objects to the client based on the one or more parameters, wherein each of the plurality of groups is suited for use with clients having a different set of one or more parameters.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a message containing one or more parameters indicative of one or more characteristics of a client; and

sending one of a plurality of groups of one or more content objects from a set of content objects to the client based on the one or more parameters, wherein each of the plurality of groups is suited for use with clients having a different set of one or more parameters.

2. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising applying a filter to the set of content objects to determine the one group of the plurality of groups to send to the client.

3. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising storing the one or more parameters while a connection is maintained between the client and a computing device.

4. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising associating the one or more parameters with the client.

5. The method defined in claim 1 wherein sending the one group of one or more content objects to the client is performed in response to the client subscribing to receive the one or more content objects.

6. The method defined in claim 1 wherein the one or more parameters are necessary to experience the one group of one or more content objects at its best quality.

7. The method defined in claim 1 wherein the one or more parameters comprise resources of the client.

8. The method defined in claim 1 wherein the one or more parameters comprises one or more selected from the group consisting of a central processing unit (CPU) type, CPU speed, memory, video card type, video card memory, operating system type, an installed application, network bandwidth, and network connectivity type.

9. An article of manufacture having one or more recordable media which, when executed by a system, causes the system to perform a method comprising:

receiving a message containing one or more parameters indicative of one or more characteristics of a client;

sending one of a plurality of groups of one or more content objects from a set of content objects to the client based on the one or more parameters, wherein each of the plurality of groups is suited for use with clients having a different set of one or more parameters.

10. The article of manufacture defined in claim 9 wherein the method further comprises applying a filter to the set of content objects to determine the one group of the plurality of groups to send to the client.

11. The article of manufacture defined in claim 9 wherein the method further comprises storing the one or more parameters while a connection is maintained between the client and a computing device.

12. The article of manufacture defined in claim 9 wherein the method further comprises associating the one or more parameters with the client.

13. The article of manufacture defined in claim 9 wherein to sending the one group of one or more content objects to the client occurs in response to the client subscribing to receive the one or more content objects.

14. The article of manufacture defined in claim 9 wherein the one or more parameters are necessary to experience the one group of one or more content objects at its best quality.

15. The article of manufacture defined in claim 9 wherein the one or more parameters comprise resources of the client.

16. The article of manufacture defined in claim 9 wherein the one or more parameters comprises one or more selected from the group consisting of a central processing unit (CPU) type, CPU speed, memory, video card type, video card memory, operating system type, an installed application, network bandwidth, and network connectivity type.

17. An apparatus comprising:

a communication interface to receive a message containing one or more parameters indicative of one or more characteristics of a client; and

a processing engine coupled to the communication interface to send one of a plurality of groups of one or more content objects from a set of content objects to the client, via the communication interface, based on the one or more parameters, wherein each of the plurality of groups is suited for use with clients having a different set of one or more parameters.

18. An apparatus comprising:

means for receiving a message containing one or more parameters indicative of one or more characteristics of a client; and

means for sending one of a plurality of groups of one or more content objects from a set of content objects to the client based on the one or more parameters, wherein each of the plurality of groups is suited for use with clients having a different set of one or more parameters.

19. A method comprising:

downloading a table of contents associated with a newer version of a content object;

comparing checksums of files in the content object to determine a portion of the newer version of the content object that represents a difference between the newer version and an earlier version of the content object; and

signaling a client to download only the portion of the newer version of the content object if the client is storing the earlier version of the content object, the portion of the newer version being combinable with the earlier version of the content object to enable the client to have access to the newer version of the content object.

20. The method defined in claim 19 further comprising specifying a range of data corresponding to data in the newer version of the content object corresponding to the portion of the newer version of the content object that is to be downloaded.

21. The method defined in claim 20 wherein the range of data comprises a byte range.

22. An article of manufacture having one or more recordable media which, when executed by a system, causes the system to perform a method comprising:

downloading a table of contents associated with a newer version of a content object;

comparing checksums of files in the content object to determine a portion of the newer version of the content object that represents a difference between the newer version and an earlier version of the content object; and

signaling a client to download only the portion of the newer version of the content object if the client is storing the earlier version of the content object, the portion of the newer version being combinable with the earlier version of the content object to enable the client to have access to the newer version of the content object.

23. The article of manufacture defined in claim 22 wherein the method further comprises specifying a range of data corresponding to data in the newer version of the content object corresponding to the portion of the newer version of the content object that is to be downloaded.

24. The article of manufacture defined in claim 23 wherein the range of data comprises a byte range.

25. In a network architecture having a web server distributed over clients that are connected to a network operation center, a method comprising:

downloading a directory tree having one or more files for one channel of objects, the directory tree having a browsing file;

downloading a change in the directory tree, the change being a difference file; and

combining the difference file with the directory tree.

26. An apparatus comprising:

means for downloading a table of contents associated with a newer version of a content object;

means for comparing checksums of files in the content object to determine a portion of the newer version of the content object that represents a difference between the newer version and an earlier version of the content object; and

means for signaling a client to download only the portion of the newer version of the content object if the client is storing the earlier version of the content object, the portion of the newer version being combinable with the earlier version of the content object to enable the client to have access to the newer version of the content object.

27. A method comprising:

sending a first directory tree having one or more files to a client; and

computing a difference file representing the difference between the first directory tree and a second directory tree, the second directory tree being a newer version of the first directory tree; and

sending the difference file to the client, the difference file being combined with the directory tree to create a copy of the second directory tree.

28. An article of manufacture having one or more recordable media which, when executed by a system, causes the system to perform a method comprising:

sending a first directory tree having one or more files to a client; and

computing a difference file representing the difference between the first directory tree and a second directory tree, the second directory tree being a newer version of the first directory tree; and

sending the difference file to the client, the difference file being combined with the directory tree to create a copy of the second directory tree.

29. A method comprising:

downloading a content object that includes an object specification having a field that specifies a storage location where the content object is to be stored on a client; and

storing the content object in the storage location specified in the object specification.

30. The method defined in claim 29 wherein the location is a directory.

31. The method defined in claim 29 wherein the object specification indicates an application program with which the content object is associated.

32. The method defined in claim 29 wherein the content object is downloaded from a network location.

33. The method defined in claim 29 wherein further comprising sending the storage location to a server to enable the storage location to be specified in the object specification.

34. The method defined in claim 33 further comprising sending the application version for which the contact object is intended to the server location.

35. An article of manufacture having one or more recordable media which, when executed by a system, causes the system to perform a method comprising:

downloading a content object that includes an object specification having a field that specifies a storage location where the content object is to be stored on a client; and

storing the content object in the storage location specified in the object specification.

36. The article of manufacture defined in claim 35 wherein the location is a directory.

37. The article of manufacture defined in claim 35 wherein the object specification indicates an application program with which the content object is associated.

38. The article of manufacture defined in claim 35 wherein the content object is downloaded from a network location.

39. The article of manufacture defined in claim 35 wherein the method further comprises sending the storage location to a server to enable the storage location to be specified in the object specification.

40. The article of manufacture defined in claim 39 wherein the method further comprises sending the application version for which the contact object is intended to the server location.

41. An apparatus comprising:

a communication interface to receive a message containing one or more parameters indicative of one or more characteristics of a client;

a processing engine coupled to the communication interface to download a content object that includes an object specification having a field that specifies a storage location where the content object is to be stored on a client, and store the content object in the storage location specified in the object specification.

42. An apparatus comprising:

means for downloading a content object that includes an object specification having a field that specifies a storage location where the content object is to be stored on a client; and

means for storing the content object in the storage location specified in the object specification.