Method and apparatus for flexibly linking to remotely located content on a network server through use of aliases
First Claim
1. A method for displaying a home page on a display screen associated with a remote client-side computing device operating a browser program and being coupled to a network server, said method comprising:
- (a) identifying, at the remote client-side computing device, an alias URL that corresponds to the home page to be displayed on the display screen;
(b) downloading alias data from the network server to the remote client-side computing device;
(c) converting, within the remote client-side computing device, the alias URL to a resulting URL in accordance with the downloaded alias data;
(d) requesting the home page from the network server using the resulting URL; and
(e) thereafter displaying the home page received from the network server on the display screen of the remote client-side computing device, wherein the downloaded alias data pertains to a plurality of alias URLs to be stored in a data storage of the remote client-side computing device, and wherein said downloading (b) of the alias data from the network server is performed prior to use of the downloaded alias data by said converting (c).
7 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Aliasing techniques that permit flexibly linking to remotely located resources are disclosed. The aliasing techniques are used by a browser application to link to a remote resource located on a network (e.g., the Internet) when the location of the remote resource is initially unknown or likely to be changed based on events external to the browser application. For example, the external events can include: relocation of the remote resource, use of a different device, user or carrier service to access the remote resource, or selection of different service levels. In one embodiment, a browser application executes on a wireless remote computing device and couples to a network gateway via a carrier network. The aliasing techniques are provided by sending alias information from the network gateway to the browser application, and then having the browser application form an alias table and store the alias table in the wireless remote computing device. The wireless remote computing device can be any of a wide range of devices that have wireless and computing capabilities, including a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant and a portable general purpose computer.
85 Citations
43 Claims
-
1. A method for displaying a home page on a display screen associated with a remote client-side computing device operating a browser program and being coupled to a network server, said method comprising:
-
(a) identifying, at the remote client-side computing device, an alias URL that corresponds to the home page to be displayed on the display screen;
(b) downloading alias data from the network server to the remote client-side computing device;
(c) converting, within the remote client-side computing device, the alias URL to a resulting URL in accordance with the downloaded alias data;
(d) requesting the home page from the network server using the resulting URL; and
(e) thereafter displaying the home page received from the network server on the display screen of the remote client-side computing device, wherein the downloaded alias data pertains to a plurality of alias URLs to be stored in a data storage of the remote client-side computing device, and wherein said downloading (b) of the alias data from the network server is performed prior to use of the downloaded alias data by said converting (c). - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
wherein said converting (c) converts the alias URL to the resulting URL using the conversion table. -
8. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the downloaded alias data comprises a conversion table formed at the network server, and
wherein said converting (c) converts the alias URL to the resulting URL using the conversion table. -
9. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the remote client-side computing device has a unique device identifier associated therewith, and wherein the downloaded alias data for the remote client-side computing device is obtained from the network server based on the unique device identifier.
-
10. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the network server is a gateway server,
wherein a subscriber is associated with the remote client-side computing device, and the gateway server maintains an account for the subscriber, and wherein the downloaded alias data for the remote client-side computing device is dependent on the status of the account of the subscriber. -
11. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein by altering the downloaded alias data, the home page being displayed can be changed by an operator of the network server.
-
12. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein a network administrator can alter configuration of the remote client-side computing device based on the downloaded alias data supplied to the remote client-side computing device during said downloading.
-
-
13. A method for displaying a home page on a display screen associated with a remote client-side computing device operating a browser program and being coupled to a network server, said method comprising:
-
(a) identifying at the remote client-side computing device, an alias URL that corresponds to the home page to be displayed on the display screen;
(b) converting, within the remote client-side computing device the alias URL to a resulting URL using a look-up table;
(c) requesting the home page from the network server using the resulting URL; and
(d) thereafter displaying the home page received from the network server on the display screen of the remote client-side computing device, wherein the remote client-side computing device includes a memory, and wherein said converting (b) comprises;
(b1) downloading the look-up table from the network server;
(b2) storing the look-up table in the memory of the remote client-side computing device;
(b3) indexing into the look-up table using the alias URL to identify an actual URL associated with the alias URL; and
(b4) forming the resulting URL based on the actual URL. - View Dependent Claims (14)
-
-
15. A method for displaying a page on a display screen associated with a remote wireless client computing device operating a browser program and being coupled to a network server in a wireless manner, said method comprising:
-
(a) identifying a link URL that corresponds to a page to be displayed on the display screen by the browser program;
(b) determining whether the link URL is an alias URL and downloading alias data from the network server to the remote wireless client computing device;
(c) converting, within the remote wireless client computing device, the link URL to a resulting URL based on the downloaded alias data previously received from the network server when said determining (b) determines that the link URL is an alias URL;
(d) requesting the page from the network server using the resulting URL; and
(e) thereafter displaying the page received from the network server on the display screen of the remote wireless client computing device, wherein the downloaded alias data pertains to a plurality of alias URLs to be stored in a data storage of the remote wireless client computing device, and wherein said downloading of the alias data from the network server is performed prior to use of the downloaded alias data by said converting (c). - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19)
(f) determining whether the link URL is a relative URL; and
(g) converting, within the remote wireless client computing device, the link URL to a resulting URL in accordance with a base URL associated with a page containing the link URL when said determining (f) determines that the link URL is a relative URL and said determining (b) determines that the link URL is not an alias URL.
-
-
17. A method as recited in claim 15, wherein the remote wireless client computing device is a mobile device having the display screen integrally formed therewith.
-
18. A method as recited in claim 15, wherein the page to be displayed on the display screen is a home page associated with the remote wireless client computing device.
-
19. A method as recited in claim 15, wherein said converting (c) is performed by the browser program operating in the remote wireless client computing device.
-
20. A method for displaying a page on a display screen associated with a remote wireless client computing device operating a browser program and being coupled to a network server in a wireless manner, said method comprising:
-
(a) identifying a link URL that corresponds to a page to be displayed on the display screen by the browser program;
(b) determining whether the link URL is an alias URL;
(c) converting, within the remote wireless client computing device, the link URL to a resulting URL when said determining (b) determines that the link URL is an alias URL;
(d) requesting the page from the network server using the resulting URL; and
(e) thereafter displaying the page received from the network server on the display screen of the remote wireless client computing device, wherein said converting (c) is performed using a look-up table stored in the remote wireless client computing device, wherein the remote wireless client computing device includes a memory, and wherein said converting (c) comprises;
(c1) downloading the look-up table from the network server;
(c2) storing the look-up table in the memory of the remote wireless client computing device;
(c3) indexing into the look-up table using the alias URL to identify an actual URL associated with the alias URL; and
(c4) forming the resulting URL based on the actual URL. - View Dependent Claims (21)
-
-
22. A method for displaying a page on a display screen associated with a remote wireless client computing device operating a browser program and being coupled to a network server in a wireless manner, said method comprising:
-
(a) identifying a link URL that corresponds to a page to be displayed on the display screen by the browser program;
(b) determining whether the link URL is an alias URL;
(c) converting the link URL to a resulting URL when said determining (b) determines that the link URL is an alias URL;
(d) requesting the page from the network server using the resulting URL; and
(e) thereafter displaying the page received from the network server on the display screen of the remote wireless client computing device, wherein the remote wireless client computing device includes a memory, and wherein said converting (c) comprises;
(c1) dividing the alias URL into an alias base URL portion and a relative URL potion;
(c2) looking up the alias base URL portion in an alias table to obtain an actual base URL; and
(c3) combining the actual base URL with the relative URL portion to obtain the resulting URL wherein the alias table is stored in the remote wireless client computing device, and at least a portion of the contents of the alias table is obtained by download from the network server. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24)
wherein said converting (c) is performed within the remote wireless client computing device. -
24. A method as recited in claim 23,
wherein the remote wireless client computing device is a mobile device having the display screen integrally formed therewith, and wherein the page to be displayed on the display screen is a home page associated with the remote wireless client computing device.
-
-
25. A mobile device, comprising:
-
a memory, said memory storing a browser and an alias table; and
a device controller operatively coupled to said memory, said device controller operates to execute said browser and to evaluate link requests by said browser to determine whether the link requests are aliases, and for each of the link requests that are determined to be an alias, operates to convert the alias to an actual link in accordance with alias information stored in the alias table, wherein the alias information is downloaded to the alias table from a network server;
wherein said mobile device is a portable computing device including a display screen, wherein said device controller further operates to request a resource from a network as identified by the actual link associated with the alias, and upon receipt of the resource at said portable computing device operates to display the resource on said display screen, and wherein the downloaded alias information for a plurality of alias entries to be stored in the alias table is downloaded to the alias table from the network server prior to use of the alias table by said device controller to convert the alias into the actual link. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
wherein said portable computing device couples to the network gateway which in-turn couples to the Internet. -
30. A mobile device as recited in claim 29, wherein the alias information for the alias table is downloaded from the network gateway to said portable computing device each time said portable computing device is initialized.
-
31. A mobile device as recited in claim 30, wherein said memory includes RAM and ROM, and
wherein the alias table is stored in the RAM. -
32. A mobile device as recited in claim 25,
wherein said portable computing device is coupled to a network of computers through wireless communications, the network of computers storing resources. -
33. A mobile device as recited in claim 32, wherein the resource requested is supplied to said portable computing device as an information page, and the information page is displayed on said display screen.
-
-
34. A mobile device that couples to a network server, comprising:
-
a display screen; and
a computer readable media storing computer program instructions for operating a browser program and for storing computer program instructions for displaying a page on said display screen, wherein the computer program instructions for displaying the page on said display screen include;
program code for identifying a link URL that corresponds to the page to be displayed on the display screen by the browser program;
program code for determining whether the link URL is an alias URL;
program code for downloading alias data from the network server to the mobile device;
program code for converting the link URL to a resulting URL based on the downloaded alias data previously received from the network server when said program code for determining determines that the link URL is an alias URL;
program code for requesting the page from the network server using the resulting URL; and
program code for displaying the page received from the network server on the display screen, wherein the downloaded alias data pertains to a plurality of alias URLs to be stored in a data storage of the mobile device, and wherein said program code for downloading of the alias data from the network server operates to perform the downloading prior to use of the downloaded alias data by said program code for converting. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37)
wherein said mobile device includes volatile memory storage, and wherein said program code for converting utilizes a look-up table stored in said volatile memory storage, the look-up table containing the downloaded alias data. -
37. A mobile device as recited in claim 36, wherein said program code for converting comprises:
-
program code for storing the look-up table in said volatile memory storage;
program code for indexing into the look-up table using the alias URL to identify an actual URL associated with the alias URL; and
program code for forming the resulting URL based on the actual URL.
-
-
-
38. A computer readable medium containing program code for displaying a page on a display screen associated with a remote client-side computing device coupleable to a network server, said computer readable medium comprising:
-
first program code for identifying a link URL that corresponds to a page to be displayed on the display screen;
second program code for determining whether the link URL is an alias URL and downloading alias data from the network server to the remote client-side computing device;
third program code, within the remote client-side computing device, for converting the link URL to a resulting URL based on the alias data previously downloaded from the network server when said second program code determines that the link URL is an alias URL;
fourth program code for requesting the page from the network server using the resulting URL; and
fifth program code for thereafter displaying the page received from the network server on the display screen of the remote client-side computing device, wherein the downloaded alias data pertains to a plurality of alias URLs to be stored in a data storage of the remote client-side computing device, and wherein said second program code for downloading of the alias data from the network server operates to perform the downloading prior to use of the downloaded alias data by said third program code. - View Dependent Claims (39)
-
-
40. A method of managing pages displayed on a display screen associated with a client-side computing device operating a browser program, said method comprising:
-
(a) identifying a link URL that corresponds to a page to be displayed on the display screen by the browser program;
(b) determining whether the link URL is an alias URL and downloading alias conversion information from a remote server-side computing device to the client-side computing device;
(c) converting, at the client-side computing device, the link URL to a resulting URL when said determining (b) determines that the link URL is an alias URL using alias conversion information received at the client-side computing device from the remote server-side computing device;
(d) requesting the page from a remote network server using the resulting URL;
(e) thereafter displaying the page received from the remote network server on the display screen of the client-side computing device; and
(f) caching the page received from the remote network server based on the resulting URL, wherein the downloaded alias conversion information pertains to a plurality of alias URLs to be stored in a data storage of the client-side computing device, and wherein said downloading of the alias conversion information from the network server is performed prior to use of the downloaded alias conversion information by said converting (c). - View Dependent Claims (41)
-
-
42. A computer readable medium containing program code for displaying a web page on a display screen associated with a remote client-side computing device operating a browser program and being coupled to a network server, said computer readable medium comprising:
-
program code for identifying an alias URL that corresponds to the web page to be displayed on the display screen;
program code for downloading alias conversion information from the network server to the remote client-side computing device;
program code for substituting, within the remote client-side computing device a resulting URL for the alias URL based on the alias conversion information previously downloaded from the network server;
program code for requesting the web page from the network server using the resulting URL; and
program code for thereafter displaying the web page received from the network server on the display screen of the remote client-side computing device, wherein the downloaded alias conversion information pertains to a plurality of alias URLs to be stored in a data storage of the remote client-side computing device, and wherein said program code for downloading of the alias conversion information from the network server operates to perform the downloading prior to use of the downloaded alias conversion information by said program code for substituting.
-
-
43. A method for displaying a page on a display screen associated with a remote wireless client computing device operating a browser program and being coupled to a network server in a wireless manner, said method comprising:
-
(a) identifying a link URL that corresponds to a page to be displayed on the display screen by the browser program;
(b) determining whether the link URL is a relative URL and downloading base data from the network server to the remote wireless client computing device;
(c) converting, within the remote wireless client computing device, the link URL to a resulting URL when said determining (b) determines that the link URL is a relative URL, and after said downloading (b) downloads the base data from the network server said convening (c) including at least (c1) identifying a base URL that is associated with the link URL, and (c2) combining the base URL with the link URL to obtain the resulting URL;
(d) requesting the page from the network server using the resulting URL; and
(e) thereafter displaying the page received from the network server on the display screen of the remote wireless client computing device, wherein the downloaded base data pertains to a plurality of alias URLs to be stored in a data storage of the remote wireless client computing device, and wherein said downloading of the base data from the network server is performed prior to use of the downloaded base data by said converting (c).
-
Specification