System and Method for Generating a Modified Web Page by Inline Code Insertion in Response to an Information Request From a Client Computer

• US 20080016153A1
• Filed: 09/27/2007
• Published: 01/17/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/12/1996
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Smooth Ride, Series 53 of Allied Security Trust I (Allied Security Trust)
• Original Assignee: Mount Hamilton Partners, LLC (Innovation Management Sciences, LLC)
• Inventors: Schmid, Mark, Carringer, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 8,601,050 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/563 Data redirection of data network streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/564 Enhancement of application control based on intercepted application data

Abstract

Information requested by a client is intercepted by a network server, which sends the request to the requested information source. The requested information is received and examined by the server to determine if the information is HTML format. If so, the server modifies the requested information by inserting format and request instructions then sends same to the client computer. The client uses the format and request instructions to send a request for supplemental information from a supplemental information source. The associated supplemental information is sent from the supplemental information source to the network client. The format instructions cause the requested information and supplemental information to be displayed in respective first and second display areas.

Claims

1. A method of accessing information through a network server from information sources in a computer communication network and for routing the information through the network server to a network client, the method comprising:

a) sending a request for requested information from a requested information source using the network client;

b) intercepting and inspecting the request in the network server;

c) in response to inspection of the request, forwarding the request from the network server to the requested information source;

d) receiving a first portion of the requested information from the requested information source, using the network server;

e) inspecting the first portion of the requested information in the network server;

f) in response to the inspection of the first portion of the requested information, sending format and request instructions along with the first portion of the requested information to the network client;

g) receiving the format and request instructions along with the first portion of the requested information, using the network client;

h) sending a second portion of the requested information to the network client;

i) sending a request for associated supplemental information, using the request instructions at the network client;

j) in response to the request for associated supplemental information, forwarding the request from the network server to a supplemental information source;

k) receiving the associated supplemental information from the supplemental information source, using the network server;

l) sending the associated supplemental information to the network client; and

m) processing the format instructions in the network client to display the requested information and the associated supplemental information in accordance with the format instructions.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the format instructions are operative to cause the network client to display the requested information in a first display area and to display the associated supplemental information in a second display area.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the second display area comprises an inline frame or layer.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the first display area and the display areas comprise separate browser windows.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein:

a) the requests sent by the network client comprise and the requested information each comprise a stream of one or more data packets; and

b) the step of inspecting the requests from the network client and the step of inspecting the first portion of the requested information comprises inspecting each packet on a per packet basis.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein, the step of inspecting the requests from the network client includes inspecting at least one packet to determine if the request is for the requested information or for the associated supplemental information.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the step of inspecting at least one packet to determine if the request is for the requested information or for the associated supplemental information includes determining if the request is an HTTP request.

8. The method of claim 5 wherein the inspection of the first portion of the requested information received in the network server includes determining if a data packet contains an HTTP header.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the inspection of the first portion of the requested information received in the network server includes determining if the data packets having an HTTP header contain HTML data.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising appending the format and request instructions to the HTTP header of a data packet of the first portion of the requested information that is determined to contain HTML data before sending the format and request instructions to client computer.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

a) intercepting and inspecting the request for associated supplemental information in the network server; and

b) in response to inspection of the request for the associated supplemental information, forwarding the request for the associated supplemental information from the network server to the supplemental information source.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the request instructions are operative to cause the client computer to include a tag in the request for associated supplemental information and the step of inspecting the requests from the client computer to determine if the request is for the associated supplemental information comprises inspecting for the tag.

13. A method of accessing information through a network server from information sources in a computer communication network and for routing the information through the network server to a network client, the method comprising:

a) sending a request for requested information from a requested information source, using the network client;

b) intercepting and inspecting the request and determining whether the request includes a tag, using the network server,

c) if the request does not include the tag, then sending the request to the requested information source, using the network server;

d) receiving a first portion of the requested information from the requested information source, using the network server;

e) inspecting the first portion of requested information in the network server;

f) in response to the inspection of the first portion of requested information, appending format and request instructions that include the tag to the first portion of requested information;

g) sending the format and request instructions including the tag along with the first portion of requested information to the network client, using the network server;

h) receiving the format and request instructions including the tag along with the first portion of requested information, using the network client;

i) sending a second portion of the requested information, to the network client in response to the request for the requested information;

j) sending a request for associated supplemental information containing the tag, using the request instructions at the network client;

k) intercepting and inspecting the request for associated supplemental information in the network server;

l) if the request for associated supplemental information includes the tag, sending the request to the supplemental information source, using the network server;

m) receiving the associated supplemental information, using the network server;

n) sending the associated supplemental information to the network client; and

o) displaying the requested information in a first display area in the network client and displaying the associated supplemental information in a second display area in the network client, using the format instructions.

14. A network server that accesses information from information sources in a computer communication network and routes the information to a network client, the network server comprising:

a) interception means for receiving, from the network client a request for requested information from a requested information source;

b) communication monitoring means for inspecting the request and for determining whether the request includes a tag;

c) transmission means for requesting the requested information;

d) the interception means further operative to receive the requested information in a case where the request does not include the tag;

e) means for storing at least a first portion of the requested information

f) the transmission means further operative to append format and request instructions including the tag to the first portion of the requested information;

g) the transmission means further operative to send the format and request instructions along with the first portion of the requested information to the network client;

h) the transmission means further operative to send a second portion of the requested information to the network client in a case where the request does include the tag;

i) the interception means further operative to receive from the network client a request for associated supplemental information from a supplemental information source in response to receipt of the format and request instructions;

j) the transmission means further operative to request the associated supplemental information;

k) the interception means further operative to receive the associated supplemental information;

l) the transmission means further operative to send the associated supplemental information to the network client in response to the request for the supplemental information from the network client; and

m) the format instructions including instructions operable to display in the network client the requested information in a first display area in the network client and to display the associated supplemental information in a second display area in the network client associated with the first display area.

15. The server of claim 14 wherein the second display area comprises an inline frame or layer.

16. The server of claim 14 wherein the first display area and the second display area comprise separate windows.

17. A method of generating a modified web page in a client computer in response to a request for a web page sent from the client computer to an information source on a computer network comprising the steps of:

a) receiving and monitoring in a server computer connected to the network the request for the web page sent to the information source;

b) sending the request for the web page to the information source from the server computer;

c) receiving the requested web page in the server computer and buffering at least a first portion of the requested web page in server computer memory of the server computer;

d) in response to the request, transmitting formatting and request instructions along with the first portion of the requested web page from the server computer to the client computer;

e) processing the request instructions in the client computer to automatically generate a request for supplemental web page content from the server computer;

f) receiving the request for supplemental web page content in the server computer;

g) sending the request for supplemental web page content to the supplemental information source from the server computer;

h) receiving the supplemental web page content in the server computer;

i) sending the supplemental web page content to the client computer from the server computer;

j) processing the format instructions in the client computer to display the supplemental web page content with the requested web page content in first and second display areas in a browser.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the second display area comprises an inline frame or layer.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein the first and second display areas comprise separate windows in the browser.

20. The method of claim 17 wherein the supplemental web page content sent to the client computer is the, same for each of a plurality of modified web pages, whereby the format instructions cause the browser program to display the first and second display areas with a constant position and appearance in each of the plurality of modified web pages.

21. The method of claim 17 wherein only a first portion of the requested web page is buffered in the server computer memory and wherein after the first portion of the requested web page is modified and sent to the client computer as a first portion of the web page, a second portion of the requested web page is received in the sever computer and sent to the client computer as a second portion of the web page.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein the requested web page is transmitted across the network as a plurality of data packets and is received, inspected and modified in the server computer on a per packet basis.

23. A method of displaying web page content at a client computer in response to a request for the web page content sent by the client computer to a content server comprising:

a) intercepting the request for the web page content in a network server and sending the request for the web page from the network server to the content server;

b) in the network server, receiving at least a first portion of the web page content from the content server and inserting format and request instructions between the first portion of the web page content and a second portion of the web page content while the web page content is sent to the client computer;

c) processing the format and request instructions in the client computer to generate a request for supplemental content from the client computer to a supplemental content server;

d) receiving the supplemental content in the client computer; and

e) processing the format and request instructions in the client computer to display the supplemental content together with the web page in a browser.

24. The method of claim 23 further comprising using the format and request instructions in the client computer to attach a tag to the request for supplemental content, intercepting and inspecting the request for supplemental content in the network server, sending the request for supplemental content from the network server to the supplemental content server if the tag is present in the request, receiving the supplemental content in the network server, and sending the supplemental content from the network server to the network client.

25. The method of claim 24 further comprising identifying the web page content and the supplemental content to the client computer as having been received from the content server.