Methods and apparatus for accessing data

• US 20070214150A1
• Filed: 03/10/2006
• Published: 09/13/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/10/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Staples, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Staples The Office Superstore LLC (Staples, Inc.)
• Inventors: Squatrito, Jason, Chace, Adam
• Granted Patent: US 8,150,943 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 16/9574 of access to content, e.g. by caching

Abstract

One embodiment of the invention is directed to automatically populating the cache of a web server. A webcrawler may send a request for a web page to the web server and receive the web page in response. The webcrawler may locate a link to a second web page in the received web page and determine if the link includes a predetermined pattern of characters. If the link includes the predetermined pattern of characters, the webcrawler may send a request to the webserver for the second web page. In another embodiment, the webcrawler may be made aware of changes to the content of a web site and revisit the web site after changes are made to repopulate the cache with the updated content.

Claims

1. A method of accessing a plurality of web pages served by a web server, the method comprising:

sending a first request to the web server for a first web page of the plurality of web pages;

receiving, from the web server, the requested first web page in response to the first request;

locating, in the first web page, a link to a second web page of the plurality of web pages;

determining whether the link includes a pattern of characters that matches a predetermined pattern of characters; and

when it is determined that the link includes the pattern of characters, sending a second request to the web server for the second web page.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the request to the web server for the first web page causes the web server to cache the first web page and sending the request to the web server for the second web page causes the web server to cache the second web page;

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of sending the second request to the web server for the second web page, further comprises:

emulating at least one user characteristic in connection with the second request, wherein sending the second request causes the web server to dynamically generate the second web page to include content based on the at least one user characteristic.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the at least one user characteristic includes a zipcode.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the web server dynamically generates the second web page using information from a database.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

monitoring the database to determine whether information in the database has changed;

when it is determined that the information in the database has changed, determining whether the changed information would result in a change of content of the second web page;

when it is determined that the changed information would result in a change of content of the second web page, sending a third request to the web server for the second web page.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the act of sending the third request causes the web server to dynamically generate the second web page including the change of content.

8. At least one computer readable medium, encoded with instructions that, when executed on a computer system including a web server, perform a method of accessing a plurality of web pages served by the web server, the method comprising:

sending a first request to the web server for a first web page of the plurality of web pages;

receiving, from the web server, the requested first web page in response to the first request;

locating, in the first web page, a link to a second web page of the plurality of web pages;

determining whether the link includes a pattern of characters that matches a predetermined pattern of characters; and

when it is determined that the link includes the pattern of characters, sending a second request to the web server for the second web page.

9. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein sending the request to the web server for the first web page causes the web server to cache the first web page and sending the request to the web server for the second web page causes the web server to cache the second web page.

10. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the act of sending the second request to the web server for the second web page, further comprises:

emulating at least one user characteristic in connection with the second request, wherein sending the second request causes the web server to dynamically generate the second web page to include content based on the at least one user characteristic.

11. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the at least one user characteristic includes a zipcode.

12. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the web server dynamically generates the second web page using information from a database.

13. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the method further comprises:

monitoring the database to determine whether information in the database has changed;

when it is determined that the information in the database has changed, determining whether the changed information would result in a change of content of the second web page;

when it is determined that the changed information would result in a change of content of the second web page, sending a third request to the web server for the second web page.

14. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the act of sending the third request causes the web server to dynamically generate the second web page including the change of content.

15. A computer system comprising:

a web server that provides access to a plurality of web pages; and

at least one controller that;

sends a first request to the web server for a first web page of the plurality of web pages;

receives, from the web server, the requested first web page in response to the first request;

locates, in the first web page, a link to a second web page of the plurality of web pages;

determines whether the link includes a pattern of characters that matches a predetermined pattern of characters; and

when it is determined that the link includes the pattern of characters, sends a second request to the web server for the second web page.

16. The computer system of claim 15, wherein sending the request to the web server for the first web page causes the web server to cache the first web page and sending the request to the web server for the second web page causes the web server to cache the second web page.

17. The computer system of claim 15, wherein the at least one controller emulates at least one user characteristic in connection with the second request, and wherein sending the second request causes the web server to dynamically generate the second web page to include content based on the at least one user characteristic.

18. The computer system of claim 17, wherein the at least one user characteristic includes a zipcode.

19. The computer system of claim 17, wherein the web server dynamically generates the second web page using information from a database.

20. The computer system of claim 19, where the at least one controller:

monitors the database to determine whether information in the database has changed;

when it is determined that the information in the database has changed, determines whether the changed information would result in a change of content of the second web page;

when it is determined that the changed information would result in a change of content of the second web page, sends a third request to the web server for the second web page.