Computer network for WWW server data access over internet

• US 5,721,908 A
• Filed: 06/07/1995
• Issued: 02/24/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/1995
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Lagarde, Konrad Charles, Rogers, Richard Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Black, Thomas G.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Corrielus, Jean M.
• Application Number:
  US08/474,571
• Time in Patent Office: 993 Days
• Field of Search: 395/600, 395/610, 395/601, 395/602, 395/604, 395/329, 395/335, 395/200.09
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9532 Query formulation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/972 Access to data in other repository systems, e.g. legacy data or dynamic Web page generation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99932 Access augmentation or optimizing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99934 Query formulation, input preparation, or translation

Abstract

A World Wide Web browser makes requests to web servers on a network which receive and fulfill requests as an agent of the browser client, organizing distributed sub-agents as distributed integration solution (DIS) servers on an intranet network supporting the web server which also has an access agent servers accessible over the Internet. DIS servers execute selected capsule objects which perform programmable functions upon a received command from a web server control program agent for retrieving, from a database gateway coupled to a plurality of database resources upon a single request made from a Hypertext document, requested information from multiple data bases located at different types of databases geograhically dispersed, performing calculations, formatting, and other services prior to reporting to the web browser or to other locations, in a selected format, as in a display, fax, printer, and to customer installations or to TV video subscribers, with account tracking.

Claims

1. A computer network comprising a plurality of servers, each supporting at least one client computer, said network comprising:

said client computer for making requests;

said server coupled to said client for receiving and fulfilling a request as an agent of said client;

a plurality of information access servers, for acting a sub-agents for said server during a process of fulfilling requests,

said information access servers providing access to capsule objects which perform programmable functions which are executable upon a received command initiated from said server,

said server including a control program agent for receiving a user request initiated at the client computer for information and for transmitting said request to a sub-agent information access server having capsule objects which execute upon control programmable functions requested by said server;

said sub-agent information access servers being coupled directly and/or via the network to a plurality of database resource gateways for information retrieval from ones of a plurality of database resources having data which may fulfill a data need of said request;

said sub-agent information access servers executing a capsule object to cause any relevant information contained in said plurality of database resources which fulfill a data need of said request to be retrieved and processed by said sub-agent capsule object,

said sub-agent after retrieval from the databases and processing of said data storing said retrieved and processed data as results in a file created for return to said control program agent of said server and returning said created file to said server in response to said control program agent transmission,

said control program agent of said server upon receipt of said file from said sub-agent causing a report of said results of said sub-agent'"'"'s processed to a facility determined by said client request; and

wherein said network includes

a web browser, means for associating said web browser with a homepage including

a first control program agent node supporting a control program agent coupled to and supporting said homepage and supporting an API to access a database available to said first control program agent node,

said control program agent and API enabling a user of said web browser to gather information from said database available to said first control program agent node and to gather information from an intranet resource and to provide access thereto in response to an interrogation initiated at a remote web browser, and

wherein said web browser is at a web server location with said web server providing said control program agent node, and browser requests, if authorized for access across said intranet, accesses a command file agent in a web server on said intranet providing said second command file agent node, which then utilize capsule objects provided by a server functioning as a command file server.

2. A computer network comprising a plurality of servers, each supporting at least one client computer, said network comprising:

said client computer for making requests;

said server coupled to said client for receiving and fulfilling a request as an agent of said client;

a plurality of information access servers, for acting a sub-agents for said server during a process of fulfilling requests,

said information access servers providing access to capsule objects which perform programmable functions which are executable upon a received command initiated from said server,

said server including a control program agent for receiving a user request initiated at the client computer for information and for transmitting said request to a sub-agent information access server having capsule objects which execute upon control programmable functions requested by said server;

said sub-agent information access servers being coupled directly and/or via the network to a plurality of database resource gateways for information retrieval from ones of a plurality of database resources having data which may fulfill a data need of said request;

said sub-agent information access servers executing a capsule object to cause any relevant information contained in said plurality of database resources which fulfill a data need of said request to be retrieved and processed by said sub-agent capsule object,

said sub-agent after retrieval from the databases and processing of said data storing said retrieved and processed data as results in a file created for return to said control program agent of said server and returning said created file to said server in response to said control program agent transmission,

said control program agent of said server upon receipt of said file from said sub-agent causing a report of said results of said sub-agent'"'"'s processed to a facility determined by said client request; and

wherein said network includes

a web browser at said client computer for making requests,

means for associating said web browser with a homepage at said server by a coupling or addressing with a uniform resource locator,

a control program agent at said server node located somewhere on the Internet supporting said control program agent coupled to and supporting said homepage by a coupling or addressing with a uniform resource locator,

said control program agent server being coupled via a network with facilities provided within an intranet for private owner facilities and which may be protected by firewalls at the intranet boundary,

said control program agent being coupled to an information access server functioning as a command file server and said command file server being coupled to a database gateway for gathering information from databases coupled to said database gateway and located on different database servers, said command file server supporting a plurality of command file objects which are programmed to perform web browser service support functions at the request of a user of said web browser to access information within the intranet and to gather information located elsewhere via the Internet as a sub-agent of said control program agent; and

wherein by submission of a request at a web browser a user can not only access information within an intranet, but can reach outside the intranet to gather information located elsewhere via the Internet.

3. A computer network according to claim 2

wherein said server which is said server coupled to said client for receiving and fulfilling a request as an agent of said client is a web server for supporting a web browser,

and said server includes

means for receiving from a world wide web browser a request to be fulfilled as an agent of the browser client, and

a control program agent for organizing organizing distributed sub-agents as distributed integration solution servers on an intranet network supporting the web server which also has an access agent servers accessible over the Internet.

4. A computer network according to claim 3, further comprising

a plurality of distributed integration solution servers for executing selected capsule objects which perform programmable functions upon a received command from said web server control program agent.

5. A computer network according to claim 4, further comprising

a database gateway coupled to a plurality of database resources for supplying upon a single request made from a Hypertext document, requested information from multiple data bases located at different types of databases geographically dispersed.

6. A computer network according to claim 4, further comprising

command objects for performing calculations, formatting, and other services prior to reporting to the web browser or to other locations, in a selected format a requested result report selected from a set of result reports, including a display report, facsimile report, a printer report, a report to customer installations, and a report to TV video subscribers, with account tracking.

7. A computer network comprising a plurality of servers, each supporting at least one client computer, said network comprising:

said client computer for making requests;

said server coupled to said client for receiving and fulfilling a request as an agent of said client;

a plurality of information access servers, for acting a sub-agents for said server during a process of fulfilling requests,

said information access servers providing access to capsule objects which perform programmable functions which are executable upon a received command initiated from said server,

said server including a control program agent for receiving a user request initiated at the client computer for information and for transmitting said request to a sub-agent information access server having capsule objects which execute upon control programmable functions requested by said server;

said sub-agent information access servers being coupled directly and/or via the network to a plurality of database resource gateways for information retrieval from ones of a plurality of database resources having data which may fulfill a data need of said request;

said sub-agent information access servers executing a capsule object to cause any relevant information contained in said plurality of database resources which fulfill a data need of said request to be retrieved and processed by said sub-agent capsule object,

said sub-agent after retrieval from the databases and processing of said data storing said retrieved and processed data as results in a file created for return to said control program agent of said server and returning said created file to said server in response to said control program agent transmission,

said control program agent of said server upon receipt of said file from said sub-agent causing a report of said results of said sub-agent'"'"'s processed to a facility determined by said client request; and

wherein said network includes

a web browser at said client computer for making requests,

means for associating said web browser with a homepage at said server by a coupling or addressing with a uniform resource locator,

a control program agent at said server node located somewhere on the Internet supporting said control program agent coupled to and supporting said homepage by a coupling or addressing with a uniform resource locator,

said control program agent server being coupled via a network with facilities provided Within an intranet for private owner facilities and which may be protected by firewalls at the intranet boundary,

said control program agent being coupled to an information access server functioning as a command file server and said command file server being coupled to a database gateway for gathering information from databases coupled to said database gateway and located on different database servers, said command file server supporting a plurality of command file objects which are programmed to perform web browser service support functions at the request of a user of said web browser to access information within the intranet and to gather information located elsewhere via the Internet as a sub-agent of said control program agent; and

wherein there are on the network including an intranet and the Internet a plurality of database gateways, and at the command of a command file running within a command file server one database gateway is coupled to another database gateway via the network by an inter-network routing protocol.

8. A computer network according to claim 7,

wherein a web browser initiated request is distributed via an intranet to the Intranet whereby access of data is obtained not only intranet, but also via the Internet to gather data from a database supported by a command file server located outside the intranet.

9. A computer network according to claim 7,

wherein a web browser initiated request is distributed via an intranet to the Intranet whereby access of data is obtained not only intranet, but also via the Internet to gather data from a database supported by a command file server located outside the intranet and coupled to said command file server with public access or access obtained after processing of variable access authorization data provided through said command file server.

10. A computer network according to claim 7, further comprising

wherein by submission of a request at a web browser a user can not only access information within an intranet, but can reach outside the intranet to gather information located elsewhere via the Internet.

11. A computer network according to claim 10

wherein said server which is said server coupled to said client for receiving and fulfilling a request as an agent of said client is a web server for supporting a web browser,

and said server includes means for receiving from a world wide web browser a request to be fulfilled as an agent of the browser client,

a control program agent for organizing organizing distributed sub-agents as distributed integration solution servers on an intranet network supporting the web server which also has an access agent servers accessible over the Internet.

12. A computer network according to claim 11, further comprising

a plurality of distributed integration solution servers for executing selected capsule objects which perform programmable functions upon a received command from a web server control program agent.

13. A computer network according to claim 11, further comprising

a database gateway coupled to a plurality of database resources for supplying upon a single request made from a Hypertext document, requested information from multiple data bases located at different types of databases geographically dispersed.

14. A computer network according to claim 11, further comprising

command objects for performing calculations, formatting, and other services prior to reporting to the web browser or to other locations, in a selected format a requested result report selected from a set of result reports, including a display report, facsimile report, a printer report, a report to customer installations, and a report to TV video subscribers, with account tracking.

15. A computer network comprising a plurality of servers, each supporting at least one client computer, said network comprising:

said client computer for making requests;

said server coupled to said client for receiving and fulfilling a request as an agent of said client;

a plurality of information access servers, for acting a sub-agents for said server during a process of fulfilling requests,

said information access servers providing access to capsule objects which perform programmable functions which are executable upon a received command initiated from said server,

said server including a control program agent for receiving a user request initiated at the client computer for information and for transmitting said request to a sub-agent information access server having capsule objects which execute upon control programmable functions requested by said server;

said sub-agent information access servers being coupled directly and/or via the network to a plurality of database resource gateways for information retrieval from ones of a plurality of database resources having data which may fulfill a data need of said request;

said sub-agent information access servers executing a capsule object to cause any relevant information contained in said plurality of database resources which fulfill a data need of said request to be retrieved and processed by said sub-agent capsule object,

said sub-agent after retrieval from the databases and processing of said data storing said retrieved and processed data as results in a file created for return to said control program agent of said server and returning said created file to said server in response to said control program agent transmission,

said control program agent of said server upon receipt of said file from said sub-agent causing a report of said results of said sub-agent'"'"'s processed to a facility determined by said client request; and

wherein said network includes

a web browser at said client computer for making requests,

means for associating said web browser with a homepage at said server by a coupling or addressing with a uniform resource locator,

a control program agent at said server node located somewhere on the Internet supporting said control program agent coupled to and supporting said homepage by a coupling or addressing with a uniform resource locator,

said control program agent server being coupled via a network with facilities provided within an intranet for private owner facilities and which may be protected by firewalls at the intranet boundary,

said control program agent being coupled to an information access server functioning as a command file server and said command file server being coupled to a database gateway for gathering information from databases coupled to said database gateway and located on different database servers, said command file server supporting a plurality of command file objects which are programmed to perform web browser service support functions at the request of a user of said web browser to access information within the intranet and to gather information located elsewhere via the internet as a sub-agent of said control program agent; and

wherein there are on the networking including an intranet and the Internet a plurality of database gateways, and at the command of a command file running within a command file server one database gateway is coupled to another database gateway via the network by an inter-network routing protocol invoking coupling of database gateways by UALs.

16. A computer network according to claim 15, further comprising

wherein by submission of a request at a web browser a user can not only access information within an intranet, but can reach outside the intranet to gather information located elsewhere via the Internet.

17. A computer network according to claim 16

wherein said server which is said server coupled to said client for receiving and fulfilling a request as an agent of said client is a web server for supporting a web browser,

and said server includes means for receiving from a world wide web browser a request to be fulfilled as an agent of the browser client,

a control program agent for organizing organizing distributed sub-agents as distributed integration solution servers on an intranet network supporting the web server which also has an access agent servers accessible over the Internet.

18. A computer network according to claim 17, further comprising

command objects for performing calculations, formatting, and other services prior to reporting to the web browser or to other locations, in a selected format a requested result report selected from a set of result reports, including a display report, facsimile report, a printer report, a report to customer installations, and a report to TV video subscribers, with account tracking.

19. A computer network according to claim 16, further comprising

a plurality of distributed integration solution servers for executing selected capsule objects which perform programmable functions upon a received command from a web server control program agent.

20. A computer network according to claim 16, further comprising

a database gateway coupled to a plurality of database resources for supplying upon a single request made from a Hypertext document, requested information from multiple data bases located at different types of databases geographically dispersed.

21. A computer network comprising a plurality of servers, each supporting at least one client computer, said network comprising:

said client computer for making requests;

said server coupled to said client for receiving and fulfilling a request as an agent of said client;

a plurality of information access servers, for acting a sub-agents for said server during a process of fulfilling requests,

said information access servers providing access to capsule objects which perform programmable functions which are executable upon a received command initiated from said server,

said server including a control program agent for receiving a user request initiated at the client computer for information and for transmitting said request to a sub-agent information access server having capsule objects which execute upon control programmable functions requested by said server;

said sub-agent information access servers being coupled directly and/or via the network to a plurality of database resource gateways for information retrieval from ones of a plurality of database resources having data which may fulfill a data need of said request;

said sub-agent information access servers executing a capsule object to cause any relevant information contained in said plurality of database resources which fulfill a data need of said request to be retrieved and processed by said sub-agent capsule object,

said sub-agent after retrieval from the databases and processing of said data storing said retrieved and processed data as results in a file created for return to said control program agent of said server and returning said created file to said server in response to said control program agent transmission,

said control program agent of said server upon, receipt of said file from said sub-agent causing a report of said results of said sub-agent'"'"'s processed to a facility determined by said client request; and

wherein said network includes

a web browser at said client computer for making requests,

means for associating said web browser with a homepage at said server by a coupling or addressing with a uniform resource locator,

a first control program agent at said server located somewhere on the Internet supporting said a control program agent coupled to and supporting said homepage by a coupling or addressing with a uniform resource locator,

said second control program agent node being coupled via a network with facilities provided within an intranet for private owner facilities and which may be protected by firewalls at the intranet boundary,

a second control program agent node located somewhere on the Internet supporting a second control program agent by a coupling or addressing with a uniform resource locator,

said second control program agent node being coupled via a network with facilities provided within an intranet for private owner facilities and which may be protected by firewalls at the intranet boundary,

said first control program agent being coupled to said second control program agent node located somewhere on the Internet supporting said second control program agent and coupled to and supporting a a command file server, said command file server being coupled to a database gateway for gathering information from databases coupled to said database gateway and located on different database servers, said command file server supporting a plurality of command file objects which are programmed to perform web browser service support functions at the request of a user of said web browser to access information within the intranet and to gather information located elsewhere via the Internet as a sub-agent of said control program agent.

22. A computer network according to claim 21,

wherein said first control program agent resides on a first web server supporting said web browser and said second control program agent resides on a second web server which is coupled via its own network to an associated command file server to perform tasks requested by said web browser and communicated to said web browser after passing through multiple networks.

23. A computer network comprising a plurality of servers, each supporting at least one client computer, said network comprising:

said client computer for making requests;

said server coupled to said client for receiving and fulfilling a request as an agent of said client;

a plurality of information access servers, for acting a sub-agents for said server during a process of fulfilling requests,

said information access servers providing access to capsule objects which perform programmable functions which are executable upon a received command initiated from said server,

said server including a control program agent for receiving a user request initiated at the client computer for information and for transmitting said request to a sub-agent information access server having capsule objects which execute upon control programmable functions requested by said server;

said sub-agent information access servers being coupled directly and/or via the network to a plurality of database resource gateways for information retrieval from ones of a plurality of database resources having data which may fulfill a data need of said request;

said sub-agent information access servers executing a capsule object to cause any relevant information contained in said plurality of database resources which fulfill a data need of said request to be retrieved and processed by said sub-agent capsule object,

said sub-agent after retrieval from the databases and processing of said data storing said retrieved and processed data as results in a file created for return to said control program agent of said server and returning said created file to said server in response to said control program agent transmission,

said control program agent of said server upon receipt of said file from said sub-agent causing a report of said results of said sub-agent'"'"'s processed to a facility determined by said client request; and

wherein said network includes

a web browser, means for associating said web browser with a homepage including

a first control program agent node supporting a control program agent coupled to and supporting said homepage and supporting an API to access a database available to said first control program agent node,

said control program agent and API enabling a user of said web browser to gather information from said database available to said first control program agent node and to gather information from an intranet resource and to provide access thereto in response to an interrogation initiated at a remote web browser.

24. A computer network according to claim 23,

wherein said remote web browser is also coupled to a second control program agent node located on the Internet, said second control program agent node supporting a second control program agent supporting an API to access a database available to said first control program agent node via said second control program agent

said second control program agent and API enabling a user of said web browser to gather information from a database available to said first control program agent node via said second control program agent node and to gather information from an intranet resource and to provide access thereto in response to an interrogation initiated at said web browser across the Internet by a coupling or addressing with a uniform resource locator to said second control agent node and from resources available on an intranet coupled to said second control program agent node.

25. A computer network according to claim 23,

wherein said second control program agent node is coupled via a network with facilities provided within an intranet for private owner facilities and which may be protected by firewalls at the intranet boundary,

said second control program agent node located somewhere on the Internet supporting said second control program agent by a coupling or addressing with a uniform resource locator,

said first control program agent being coupled to said second control program agent node located somewhere on the Internet supporting said second control program agent and coupled to and supporting a a command file server, said command file server being coupled to a database gateway for gathering information from databases coupled to said database gateway and located on different database servers, said command file server supporting a plurality of command file objects which are programmed to perform web browser service support functions at the request of a user of said web browser to access information within the intranet and to gather information located elsewhere via the Internet as a sub-agent of said control program agent.

26. A computer network according to claim 23,

wherein said web browser is at a web server location with said web server providing said control program agent node, and browser requests, if authorized for access across said intranet, accesses a command file agent in a web server on said intranet providing said second command file agent node, which then utilize DIS capsules provided by a DIS Server functioning as a command file server.