Content transform proxy

• US 20080183902A1
• Filed: 01/31/2007
• Published: 07/31/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: FGM, Incorporated (Accenture PLC)
• Original Assignee: FGM, Incorporated (Accenture PLC)
• Inventors: Hodecker, Steven, Cooper, Nathaniel, Yeager, Douglas
• Granted Patent: US 7,647,404 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/250
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0236 Filtering by address, protocol, port number or service, e.g. IP-address or URL
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0281 Proxies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/565 Conversion or adaptation of application format or content adding application control or application functional data H04L67/561

Abstract

The Content Transform Proxy (CTP) service is an advanced Web proxy service, the basic function of which is to modify incoming HTTP requests having a server-side destination and/or outgoing HTTP responses. The CTP service is implemented by the CTP program, which resides on a host in a data communications network between an end user (the Web client) and a content server that the client is attempting to access. The HTTP request and/or an HTTP response is modified by making an HTTP request on the client side using a client web browser, processing the HTTP request on the server side using outgoing proxy rules, passing on the processed HTTP transaction to the server-side destination, returning the results of the processed HTTP request from the server-side destination, processing the HTTP response on the server side using incoming proxy rules, and returning the processed HTTP response to the client web browser on the client side.

Claims

1. A method of modifying content transferred to and from the Internet during a web transaction having a client side and a server side, comprising the steps of:

initiating a Web transaction on the client side, wherein the Web transaction includes a plurality of components; and

acting on at least one component of the Web transaction on the server side by at least one of searching, altering, and replacing the at least one component.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the Web transaction is one of an HTTP request or an HTTP response.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of breaking down the Web transaction into a plurality of processing stages, wherein the acting step can be carried out during any of the processing stages.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein each component of the Web transaction includes HTTP data having a plurality of parts, and wherein during the acting step, any of the parts of the HTTP data can be acted on.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the processing stages comprise a pre-processing stage, a request processing stage, a content processing stage, and an output processing stage.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein each of the components of the Web transaction includes HTTP data having a plurality of parts, and wherein in the acting step, in each of the processing stages, any of the parts of the HTTP data can be acted on.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of components include an initial request from a Web client to a content transform proxy host, a modified request from the content transform proxy host to a Web server, a response from the Web server to the content transform proxy host, and a modified response from the content transform proxy host to the Web client.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein each of the components of the Web transaction includes HTTP data having a plurality of parts, and wherein during the acting step, any of the parts of the HTTP data can be acted on.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the acting step comprises dynamically and seamlessly injecting data into existing Web content in real time at any time.

10. A method of modifying at least one of an HTTP request and an HTTP response during a web transaction having a client side and a server side, comprising the steps of:

making an HTTP request on the client side using a client Web browser, the HTTP request having a server-side destination;

processing the HTTP request on the server side using outgoing proxy rules to determine whether to modify the HTTP request;

passing on the processed HTTP transaction to the server-side destination;

returning the results of the processed HTTP request from the server-side destination;

processing the HTTP response on the server side using incoming proxy rules to determine whether to modify the HTTP response; and

returning the processed HTTP response to the client web browser on the client side.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising the steps of:

setting up a sequence of filtering streams;

reading one of the filtering streams;

building a window of operation containing possible text of interest when one of the streams is read, wherein at least one regular expression is used to define a corresponding at least one rule that in turn defines the text of interest and the actions required on the text of interest;

creating a buffer by comparing the possible text of interest with text bounding the possible text of interest;

determining whether the buffer matches a predefined condition; and

when the buffer matches the predefined condition, handing off the buffer to another entity responsible for running the at least one regular expression.

12. A system for modifying Web transactions having a client side and a server side, comprising:

a host on the server side; and

Web proxy transform means residing on the host for modifying a Web transaction at least one of before and after the Web transaction passes through the host.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the Web transaction includes a request coming from the client side and a response to the request coming from the server side, the request and the response each having HTTP content, and wherein the Web proxy transform means includes:

content transform proxy server means for containing data storage for the host,

JSP server means for carrying out primary transaction processing in the host, and

content transform proxy Web server means for initially receiving an incoming request from the client side.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the content transform proxy server means includes management means for managing a user session with the Web transaction.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the JSP server means includes means for reading and parsing XML formatted proxy rules, determining what rules should be run, and at least one of retrieving and modifying HTTP content coming from the client side.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the JSP server means includes transaction processor means for managing the processing stages in the transaction processing.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the transaction processor means includes:

stream buffering means for processing multiple sequences of regular expressions in the HTTP content;

transaction processing means for prompting actions on the request in response to triggers, for modifying the request based on rules, and for modifying the response based on rules;

authentication processing means for carrying out authentication processing required as part of any aspect of at least one of a transaction processing request, content processing, and output processing; and

URL wrapping means for encoding URLs contained in the proxied pages.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein the Web proxy transform means has a plurality of system components and including:

server means for containing the data storage of all system components in the Web proxy server;

servlet engine means for processing primary transactions in the Web proxy server; and

request-receiving means for initially receiving an incoming HTTP request.

19. The system of claim 12, wherein the request-receiving means is a Web server separate from the servlet engine means.

20. The system of claim 12, wherein the servlet engine means includes an HTTP server component, and the request-receiving means is the HTTP server component of the servlet engine means.

21. A method of authentication processing during a Single Sign On transaction when any aspect of at least one of a transaction processing request, content processing, and output processing is accessed via a Web connection, and an authentication is required as part of that application, the method comprising the steps of:

using a Web client to request content from a Web application, wherein the Web application is proxied through a content transform proxy service;

using the Web application to match a set of definitions in the content transform proxy program;

creating a content transform proxy process for the content request;

determining whether the content request matches a specific Web application single sign on;

if the content request matches the specific Web application single sign on, continuing the authentication processing;

using the content transform proxy process to request an AuthToken for the Web application from a login proxy service;

using the login proxy service to obtain an AuthToken;

reading in pre-determined Resolver definitions;

after reading in the resolver definitions, using the resolver to determine specific authentication definitions that are required for the Web application;

using the resolver to check the database to determine whether the authentication credentials are stored for the user/application;

if the authentication credentials are stored for the user/application, using the resolver to re-submit the credentials from the database;

if the authentication credentials are not stored for the user/application, using the resolver to query the user for input for the credentials;

upon successful authentication, using the resolver to store the active AuthToken in the database; and

using the database to return the active AuthToken to the login proxy service used in the request to the proxied Web application.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the step of using the login proxy service to obtain an AuthToken comprises the further steps of:

using the login proxy service to check with the Authentication Service to determine if there is already an AuthToken created for this particular user/application;

if an AuthToken has already been created, then returning the AuthToken;

if an AuthToken has not already been created, then running a new resolver; and

using the new Resolver to obtain initial authentication from the external service.