System and method for URL virtualization and mapping

• US 20060265345A1
• Filed: 05/20/2005
• Published: 11/23/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/20/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Krabach, Todd, Christian, Brian S.
• Granted Patent: US 7,536,391 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation

Abstract

A system and method are provided for URL virtualization. The system and method for URL virtualization provide a contextually relevant URL to a requesting agent. The system may include a browser parameter determination mechanism for matching incoming request header parameters with stored information indicative of a content version and a URL lookup mechanism for locating a contextual URL mapping to a non-contextual URL that leads to the requested content version. The system may additionally include navigation controls for navigating to the requested content version using the non-contextual URL and display controls for displaying the contextual URL to the requesting agent.

Claims

1. A method for URL virtualization in order to provide a contextually relevant URL to a requesting agent, the method comprising:

receiving a request from the requesting agent that leads to requested content through a non-contextual URL;

searching for a corresponding contextual URL that maps to the non-contextual URL;

navigating to the requested content using the non-contextual URL; and

displaying the contextual URL to the requesting agent if the contextual URL is found.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising reading request header parameters to determine a requested content version appropriate to the requesting agent.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a request type and bypassing the virtualization if the request is of a pre-selected type.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising searching for the corresponding contextual URL in a database system.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising searching for an additional attribute corresponding to the contextual URL.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the additional attribute comprises one of a redirect attribute and a transfer attribute.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the contextual URL comprises a URL that references a directory.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing the contextual URL without storing an associated physical file.

9. A method for URL virtualization in order to provide a contextually relevant URL to a requesting agent, the method comprising:

receiving a request from the requesting agent that leads to requested content through a non-contextual URL;

reading request header parameters in order to select a version of the requested content;

searching for a corresponding contextual URL;

navigating to the requested content version using the non-contextual URL; and

displaying the contextual URL and the requested content version to the requesting agent.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising searching for the corresponding contextual URL in a database system.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising searching for an additional attribute corresponding to the contextual URL.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the additional attribute comprises one of a redirect attribute and a transfer attribute.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the contextual URL comprises a URL that references a directory.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising providing the contextual URL without storing an associated physical file.

15. A system for URL virtualization that provides a contextually relevant URL to a requesting agent, the system comprising:

a browser parameter determination mechanism for matching incoming request header parameters with stored information indicative of a content version;

a URL lookup mechanism for locating a contextual URL mapping to a non-contextual URL that leads to the requested content version;

navigation controls for navigating to the requested content version using the non-contextual URL; and

display controls for displaying the contextual URL to the requesting agent.

16. The system of claim 15, further comprising a database for storing the contextual URL that maps to the non-contextual URL.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the database additionally stores attributes corresponding to the contextual URL.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the additional attribute comprises one of a redirect attribute and a transfer attribute.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the contextual URL comprises a URL that references a directory.

20. The system of claim 15, further comprising a physical content file corresponding to the non-contextual URL and a mapping between the contextual URL and non-contextual URL without an additional physical content file.