COMMUNICATING INFORMATION ABOUT A LOCAL MACHINE TO A BROWSER APPLICATION

• US 20110016382A1
• 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 8,601,363 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/234
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/986 Document structures and storage, e.g. HTML extensions
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44526 Plug-ins; Add-ons

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 giving a browser application access to information associated with a portion of a file system which the browser application is not allowed to directly access, the method comprising:

receiving a markup language document by the browser application, wherein the markup language document includes instructions to access a portion of the file system which the browser application is not allowed to directly access;

processing the markup language document by the browser application;

sending a request for information associated with the portion of the file system from the browser application to a browser plug-in module, wherein the request includes information identifying the portion of the file system;

receiving by the browser application the requested information associated with the portion of the file system; and

rendering the received information associated with the portion of the file system by the browser application according to instructions in the markup language document.

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

responsive to an instruction in the markup language document, loading the browser plug-in module.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the browser plug-in is headless.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the information associated with the portion of the file system includes metadata for a file in the portion of the file system.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the information associated with the portion of the file system includes metadata for a directory in the portion of the file system.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the information associated with the portion of the file system includes picture information associated with a file in the portion of the file system.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the information associated with the portion of the file system includes content from a file in the portion of the file system.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein sending a request for information to the browser plug-in module comprises performing a call to a function provided by the browser plug-in module.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the information identifying the portion of the file system includes a path of a directory within the portion of the file system.

10. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the information identifying the portion of the file system includes a path of a file within the portion of the file system.

11. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the request for information to the browser plug-in module comprises a hash value that allows the browser plug-in module to verify the authenticity of the application sending the request.

12. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the rendering comprises rendering names of files from the portion of the file system by the browser application.

13. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the rendering comprises rendering a thumbnail image associated with one or more files in the portion of the file system.

14. A computer program product for rendering on a browser application running on a computer system, information associated with a portion of a file system of the computer system that the browser application is not allowed to directly access, 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 retrieving information associated with a portion of a file system of the computer system that the browser application is not allowed to directly access and rendering the information by the browser application, the instructions for being interpreted by the browser application executing on a computer system to cause the computer system to;

send a request for information associated with the portion of the file system from the browser application, wherein the request includes information identifying the portion of the file system;

receive by the browser application the requested information associated with the portion of the file system; and

render the received information associated with the portion of the file system by the browser application according to instructions in the markup language document.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the instructions for retrieving information cause the computer system to load the browser plug-in module.

16. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the information associated with the portion of the file system includes picture information associated with a file in the portion of the file system.

17. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the information identifying the portion of the file system includes a path of a file within the portion of the file system.

18. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the request for information to the browser plug-in module comprises a hash value that allows the browser plug-in module to verify the authenticity of the application sending the request.

19. A computer implemented method for giving a browser application access to information associated with a portion of a file system which the browser application is not allowed to directly access, wherein the access is provided by a browser plug-in, the method comprising:

receiving a request for information associated with the portion of the file system that a browser application is not allowed to directly access, wherein the request is sent by the browser application in response to processing of instructions in a markup language document; and

sending to the browser application the requested information associated with the portion of the file system, wherein the information is rendered by the browser application according to instructions in the markup language document.

20. The computer implemented method of claim 19, wherein the request for information comprises a hash value that allows the browser plug-in module to verify the authenticity of the application sending the request

21. The computer implemented method of claim 20, further comprising:

generating a second hash value for comparison against the hash value received in the request for information.

22. The computer implemented method of claim 19, wherein the information associated with the portion of the file system includes metadata for a file in the portion of the file system.

23. The computer implemented method of claim 19, wherein the information associated with the portion of the file system includes metadata for a directory in the portion of the file system.

24. The computer implemented method of claim 19, wherein the information associated with the portion of the file system includes picture information associated with a file in the portion of the file system.

25. The computer implemented method of claim 19, wherein the information associated with the portion of the file system includes content from a file in the portion of the file system.

26. The computer implemented method of claim 19, wherein the information identifying the portion of the file system includes a path of a file within the portion of the file system.

27. A computer program product for rendering, on a browser application running on a computer system, information associated with a portion of a file system of the computer system that the browser application is not allowed to directly access, 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 retrieving information associated with a portion of a file system of the computer system that the browser application is not allowed to directly access and rendering the information by the browser application, the instructions for being interpreted by the browser application executing on a computer system to cause the browser plug-in to;

receive a request for information associated with the portion of the file system that a browser application is not allowed to directly access, wherein the request is sent by the browser application in response to processing of instructions in a markup language document; and

send to the browser application the requested information associated with the portion of the file system, wherein the information is rendered by the browser application according to instructions in the markup language document.