PLATFORM-INDEPENDENT DISTRIBUTED USER INTERFACE SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE
First Claim
1. A data processing method comprising:
- generating, with a client device, a particular client-resident intermediate user interface (UI) for a server-based and client-side controlled application according to a UI format determined by a UI server, including supplementing a skeletal UI stored in a first memory location with one or more icons, labels or menu items, or combinations thereof stored in a second memory location, wherein the skeletal UI specifies a layout of the client-resident intermediate UI including respective locations of the one or more icons, labels or menu items, or combinations thereof, and wherein the first memory location and the second memory location are situated on said client device, the skeletal UI and the one or more icons, labels, and menu items being independently updateable from one another;
formatting characteristics of said intermediate UI based upon a number of device capabilities for said client device;
transmitting a number of source data items related to said server-based application from said UI server to said client device;
populating at least one native UI control used by said intermediate UI with said number of source data items; and
maintaining a shadow cache at said UI server, said shadow cache including a list of source data items transmitted from said UI server to said client device.
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Abstract
A distributed user interface (UI) system includes a client device configured to render a UI for a server-based application. The client device communicates with a UI server over a network such as the Internet. The UI server performs formatting for the UI, which preferably utilizes a number of native UI controls that are available locally at the client device. In this manner, the client device need only be responsible for the actual rendering of the UI. The source data items are downloaded from the UI server to the client device when necessary, and the client device populates the UI with the downloaded source data items. The client device employs a cache to store the source data items locally for easy retrieval.
51 Citations
70 Claims
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1. A data processing method comprising:
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generating, with a client device, a particular client-resident intermediate user interface (UI) for a server-based and client-side controlled application according to a UI format determined by a UI server, including supplementing a skeletal UI stored in a first memory location with one or more icons, labels or menu items, or combinations thereof stored in a second memory location, wherein the skeletal UI specifies a layout of the client-resident intermediate UI including respective locations of the one or more icons, labels or menu items, or combinations thereof, and wherein the first memory location and the second memory location are situated on said client device, the skeletal UI and the one or more icons, labels, and menu items being independently updateable from one another;
formatting characteristics of said intermediate UI based upon a number of device capabilities for said client device;
transmitting a number of source data items related to said server-based application from said UI server to said client device;
populating at least one native UI control used by said intermediate UI with said number of source data items; and
maintaining a shadow cache at said UI server, said shadow cache including a list of source data items transmitted from said UI server to said client device. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 65)
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2. (canceled)
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9. (canceled)
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19. A data processing method comprising:
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defining a user interface (UI) form in response to a number of device capabilities for a client device, wherein the UI form includes a list of controls and respective locations of the controls as rendered on the client device, the controls being UI objects provided by the client device operating system or other client-resident application, the UI form and the controls being independently updateable from one another;
storing said UI form locally at said client device;
saving a number of source data items locally at said client device, said number of source data items being related to a server-based application executed by a UI server;
maintaining a shadow cache at said UI server, said shadow cache including a list of source data items transmitted from said UI server to said client device; and
populating said UI form with said number of source data items, wherein said number of source data items comprises a smaller subset than a total number of source data items related to said server-based application, and wherein further subsets of said total number of source data items are downloadable based upon execution of one or more client-side controls. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 66)
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38. A data processing method comprising:
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executing, at a user interface (UI) server, a server-based application configured to manipulate source data items for presentment at a client device;
displaying a particular UI form of a client-resident intermediate UI at said client device according to a UI format determined by a UI server and based upon a number device capabilities for said client device, including the step of supplementing a skeletal UI stored in a first memory location with one or more icons, labels or menu items, or combinations thereof stored in a second memory location, wherein the skeletal UI specifies a layout of the client-resident intermediate UI including respective locations of the one or more icons, labels or menu items, or combinations thereof, and said UI form being capable of presenting data items to a user of said client device, wherein the first memory location and the second memory location are situated on said client device, the skeletal UI and the one or more icons, labels and menu items being independently updateable from one another;
generating a client-side controlled action request in response to a manipulation of said UI form by a user of said client device;
updating said UI form in response to said action request; and
maintaining a shadow cache at said UI server, said shadow cache including a list of source data items transmitted from said UI server to said client device. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 67)
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45. A data processing method comprising:
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generating a user interface (UI) form definition for a server-based application based upon a number of device capabilities for a client device, wherein the UI form definition includes a list of controls and respective locations of the controls as rendered on the client device, the controls being UI objects provided by the client device operating system or other client-resident application, the UI form definition and the controls being independently updateable from one another;
instructing said client device to render a UI form corresponding to said UI form definition;
rendering said UI form with at least one of the controls associated with the operating system for said client device, wherein the at least one control is a native UI control;
transmitting a number of data items from a UI server to said client device, said number of data items being related to said server-based application;
maintaining a shadow cache at said UI server, said shadow cache including a list of source data items transmitted from said UI server to said client device; and
displaying said number of data items in said at least one native UI control, and wherein said number of source data items comprises a smaller subset than a total number of source data items related to said server-based application, and wherein further subsets of said total number of source data items are downloadable based upon execution of one or more client-side controls. - View Dependent Claims (46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 68)
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53. A distributed user interface (UI) architecture comprising:
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a client device architecture comprising a UI module configured to generate a particular form of a client-resident intermediate UI for a server-based and client-side controlled application according to a UI form definition, by supplementing a skeletal UI stored in a first memory location with one or more icons, labels or menu items, or combinations thereof, stored in a second memory location, wherein the skeletal UI specifies a layout of the client-resident intermediate UI including respective locations of the one or more icons, labels or menu items, or combinations thereof, and to further populate at least one native UI control used by said intermediate UI with source data items, wherein the first memory location and the second memory location are situated in said client device architecture, the skeletal UI and the one or more icons, labels, and menu items being independently updateable from one another; and
a UI server architecture comprising a server send module configured to transmit, to said client device architecture, a number of source data items related to said server-based application, a shadow cache module, including a list of source data items transmitted from said UI server to said client device, and a UI formatting module that generates said UI form definition based upon a number of device capabilities for a client device that includes said client device architecture;
whereinsaid UI module populates said UI control with said number of source data items. - View Dependent Claims (55, 57, 58, 69)
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54. (canceled)
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56. (canceled)
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59. A distributed user interface (UI) system comprising:
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a client device having a client processing architecture and a client communication element configured to communicate with a compatible communication element, wherein said client device includes a number of device capabilities related to UI characteristics; and
a UI server having a server processing architecture and a server communication element configured to communicate with said client communication element;
said client processing architecture being configured to;
transmit a device identifier to said UI server;
generate a UI form in accordance with a UI form definition, wherein the UI form definition includes a list of controls and respective locations of the controls as rendered on the client device, the controls being UI objects provided by the client device operating system or other client-resident application, the UI form definition and the controls being independently updateable from one another; and
populate at least one of the controls with a number of source data items associated with a server-based application, wherein the at least on control is a native UI control;
said server processing architecture being configured to;
receive said device identifier from said client device;
identify said UI form definition in response to service identifier;
send said number of source data items to said client device for rendering with said UI form, wherein said number of source data items comprises a smaller subset than a total number of source data items related to said server-based application, and wherein further subsets of said total number of source data items are downloadable based upon execution of one or more client-side controls, and wherein said server processing architecture is further configured to generate said UI form definition based upon said number of device capabilities; and
maintain a shadow cache, said shadow cache including a list of source data items transmitted from said UI server to said client device. - View Dependent Claims (61, 62, 63, 64, 70)
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60. (canceled)
Specification