RENDERING A WEB PAGE USING CONTENT COMMUNICATED TO A BROWSER APPLICATION FROM A PROCESS RUNNING ON A CLIENT

• US 20110016169A1
• Filed: 07/20/2009
• Published: 01/20/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/20/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Cahill, Matthew, Weatherford, Daniel Reed, Putnam, Christopher W.
• Granted Patent: US 8,706,801 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/54 by adding security routines or objects to programs
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2119 Authenticating web pages, e.g. with suspicious links
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]

Abstract

The functionality of a browser application is enhanced using a browser plug-in, which enables the browser application to access portions of a file system not otherwise accessible to the browser application. The enhanced functionality provided by the browser plug-in is used in one example by an image uploading web application. The browser application may also start a task in the background, such as a task for uploading several images, and then monitor the progress of the task even when the browser application navigates away from the page that initiated the task. The browser application may use a local web server running on the client device to perform tasks, including the rendering of images and monitoring progress of long running tasks.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for allowing a browser application running on a client device to access resources stored on the client device, the method comprising:

receiving a markup language document from a website, wherein the markup language document includes instructions to display an image associated with a resource on the client device;

sending a request to a process running on the client device, the request including information identifying a resource on the client device;

receiving from the process information associated with the identified resource;

rendering the image associated with the resource in the browser application based on the information associated with the identified resource; and

causing the display of the image associated with the resource by the client device.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the process is a local web server.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the information associated with the identified resource is received from the process directly in a runtime environment of the browser application.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

starting the process on the client device, wherein the process is allowed direct access to resources on the client device.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the request to the process comprises a hash value that allows the process to verify the authenticity of the application sending the request.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 2, wherein the request to the web server on the client device is an HTTP request.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the resource on the client device is a file.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the resource on the client device is a file storing an image.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the resource on the client device is a media file.

10. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the resource on the client device is a video file.

11. The computer implemented method of claim 7, wherein the image associated with the resource is a thumbnail image.

12. The computer implemented method of claim 8, wherein the image associated with the resource is the image stored in the file.

13. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a user selection of one or more images displayed on the client device.

14. The computer implemented method of claim 13, further comprising:

receiving a request to start an upload process for uploading one or more resources on the client device associated with the selected images to a remote server; and

initiating the upload process to upload the one or more resources on the client device associated with the selected images to a remote server.

15. The computer implemented method of claim 14, further comprising:

receiving information describing the progress of the upload process; and

causing the display of the progress of the upload process by the client device.

16. The computer implemented method of claim 15, wherein the display of the progress of the upload process shows a number of resources uploaded to the server from the one or more resources.

17. The computer implemented method of claim 15, wherein the display of the progress of the upload process shows an estimate of time remaining to upload the one or more resources to the server.

18. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the information associated with the identified resource used for rendering the image comprises data from the resource on the client device that has been processed by the process.

19. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the information associated with the identified resource is metadata associated with the resource.

20. A computer program product for allowing a browser application running on a client device to access resources stored on the client device, the computer program product comprising a computer-readable storage medium containing a markup language document, the markup language document comprising:

content items encoded in a markup language comprising instructions for rendering information in a browser application; and

instructions for being interpreted by the browser application executing on a computer system to cause the browser application to;

send a request to a process running on the client device, the request including information identifying a resource on the client device;

receive from the process, information associated with the identified resource;

render the image associated with the resource in the browser application based on the information associated with the identified resource; and

cause the display of the image associated with the resource by the client device.

21. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein the process is a local web server.

22. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein the request to the process comprises a hash value that allows the process to verify the authenticity of the application sending the request.

23. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the request to the web server on the client device is an HTTP request.

24. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein the resource on the client device is a file.

25. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein the resource on the client device is a media file.

26. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein the image associated with the resource is a thumbnail image.

27. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein the instructions for being interpreted by the browser application executing on a computer further cause the browser application to:

receive a user selection of one or more images displayed on the client device.

28. The computer program product of claim 27, wherein the instructions for being interpreted by the browser application executing on a computer further cause the browser application to:

receive a request to start an upload process for uploading one or more resources on the client device associated with the selected images to a remote server; and

initiate the upload process to upload the one or more resources on the client device associated with the selected images to a remote server.

29. The computer program product of claim 28, wherein the instructions for being interpreted by the browser application executing on a computer further cause the browser application to:

receive information describing the progress of the upload process; and

cause the display of the progress of the upload process by the client device.