Group-browsing system

• US 20060129642A1
• Filed: 02/09/2006
• Published: 06/15/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/07/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Net2Phone, Inc. (IDT Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Net2Phone, Inc. (IDT Corporation)
• Inventors: Zhang, Cheng, Ward, James, Qian, Dahong, Eichner, Matthew, Xie, Feiyu
• Granted Patent: US 7,305,439 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/205
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2216/15 Synchronised browsing

Abstract

A group-browsing system for a plurality of clients each including a shared web browser. A server is linked to the shared web browser of each client and is configured to monitor the transmission of the web site URL request from the shared web browser of one client of the group and to direct the request to the shared web browser of other clients in the group. A gatekeeper module is configured to first mask the identity of each client'"'"'s computer on the shared browser. This prevents the web site from retrieving any client'"'"'s actual identifier. Second, the gatekeeper is also configured to create a same temporary identifier for each client when any client logs on to the web site so that the same web page is displayed for all the clients in the group.

Claims

1. A group-browsing system comprising:

a shared web browser for each client of a group of clients; and

a gatekeeper module configured;

first to mask the identity of each group member using a shared web browser to prevent a web site from retrieving any group member'"'"'s actual identifier,

second to create a temporary identifier for each member of the group so that the same web page is displayed for all group members,

third to automatically establish a non-shared browser when a client enters a secure server,

fourth to automatically transfer the temporary identifier to the non-shared browser, and

fifth to delete the temporary identifier at the end of the group-browsing session to prevent any client from returning to the web site as another client.

2. The system of claim 1 in which the identifier is a cookie, the temporary identifier is a temporary cookie, and the secure server is a checkout server.

3. A group-browsing method comprising:

masking the identity of each group member using a shared web browser to prevent a web site from retrieving any group member'"'"'s actual identifier;

creating a temporary identifier for each member of the group so that the same web page is displayed for all group members;

establishing a non-shared browser when a client enters a secure server;

transferring the temporary identifier to the non-shared browser; and

deleting the temporary identifier at the end of the group-browsing session to prevent any client from returning to the web site as another client.

4. The method of claim 3 in which the identifier is a cookie, the temporary identifier is a temporary cookie, and the secure server is a checkout server.