Independent update and assembly of web page elements

• US 7,152,203 B2
• Filed: 07/30/2001
• Issued: 12/19/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/11/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Appeon Corporation (hk) Limited
• Original Assignee: Appeon Corporation (hk) Limited
• Inventors: Gao, Yang, Gao, Shun, Mazda, Armeen, Shi, Zheng John
• Primary Examiner(s): Hong, Stephen
• Assistant Examiner(s): STORK, KYLE R
• Application Number:
  US09/916,248
• Publication Number:
  US 20020032701A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,968 Days
• Field of Search: 715/513, 715/526, 715/501, 715/517, 715/523, 715/530, 345/744, 345/473
• US Class Current: 715/240
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9574 of access to content, e.g. by caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

The invention permits assembly of Web pages for display, to include text elements received from discrete network locations, and permits independent update of individual text elements of a Web page without reassembling the entire Web page, and permits independent update of all types of page elements without a client side agent other than a browser. In one aspect of the invention, a browser at a client device updates the display of a Web page containing at least one first element by transmitting a request to a server for a second element that is related to the first element, receiving the second element, and then displaying the second element with the Web page, without reassembling the Web page. In another aspect of the invention, the transmitting, receiving, and displaying are accomplished without a client side agent other than the browser.

Claims

1. A method for independently updating individual display elements of a displayable Web page on a client device, the method comprising:

responsive to a first page request originating at a first browser window on the client device and directed to a first Web server at a first network address, receiving from the first Web server Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) code specifying the individual display elements of the displayable Web page and including at least one script code;

automatically interpreting the at least one script code in the browser to prepare a proxy window on the client device and transmit a second page request for a second, non-displayable phantom Web page from the proxy window to a second Web server at a second network address;

displaying in the first browser window of the client device, the displayable Web page assembled from the individual display elements of the displayable Web page downloaded from the first Web server;

responsive to the second page request for said non-displayable phantom Web page, receiving at the client device, from the second Web server at the second network address, at least one second Web page element that is related to at least one of the individual display elements of the displayable Web page;

assembling without displaying the non-displayable phantom Web page in the proxy window from the at least one second Web page element; and

while continuing to display the displayable Web page in the first browser window, updating said at least one of the individual display elements of the displayable Web page using said at least one second Web page element associated with said non-displayable phantom Web page assembled but not displayed in the proxy window.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the steps of transmitting, receiving, and updating are accomplished without a client device agent other than a Web browser.

3. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the second Web page element replaces the first Web page element on the displayable Web page.

4. A method as defined in claim 3, wherein transmitting the request for the second Web page element is responsive to a timer event.

5. A method as defined in claim 3, wherein transmitting the request for the second Web page element is responsive to a mouse-over event.

6. A method as defined in claim 3, wherein transmitting the request for the second Web page element is responsive to a mouse click event.

7. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the second Web page element augments the first Web page element on the displayable Web page.

8. A method as defined in claim 7, wherein transmitting the request for the second Web page element is responsive to a timer event.

9. A method as defined in claim 7, wherein transmitting the request for the second Web page element is responsive to a mouse over event.

10. A method as defined in claim 7, wherein transmitting the request for the second Web page element is responsive to a mouse click event.

11. A method as defined in claim 7, wherein the second Web page element is displayed in a pop-up window in the browser window.

12. A method as defined in claim 7, wherein the second Web page element is produced by a browser window action.

13. A method as defined in claim 7, wherein the second Web page element provides a responsive hyperlink of the browser window.

14. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the second Web page element is received by the client device from the Web server.

15. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the second Web page element is received by the client device from a computer other than the Web server.

16. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the second Web page element comprises a text element to be displayed with the displayable Web page.

17. A method as defined in claim 16, wherein the second Web page element comprises a text element and at least one source element to be displayed with the displayable Web page.

18. A method as defined in claim 17, wherein the source element comprises a sound file.

19. A method as defined in claim 17, wherein the source element comprises an image file.

20. A method as defined in claim 17, wherein the source element comprises a video file.

21. A method as defined in claim 17, wherein the soiree element comprises a streaming multimedia file.

22. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the second Web page element comprises a source element to be processed by the browser.

23. A method as defined in claim 22, wherein the source element comprises an image file.

24. A method as defined in claim 22, wherein the source element comprises an applet.

25. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the second Web page element replaces the first Web page element on the displayable Web page.

26. A method of assembling, displaying and updating a Web page at a client device in a Web client-server network, the method comprising the steps of:

providing a browser application executing on the client device and operative to display at least one first browser window on the client device;

responsive to a first web-page request to a Web server originating from the first browser window on the client device, downloading HTML code to the client device from the Web sewer wherein the HTML code includes, at least in part, a reference to a JavaScript file at the Web server;

processing said HTML code using said browser application to cause the browser to request one or more Web page elements associated with a first Web page from the Web sewer;

parsing said reference to the JavaScript file using the browser application to cause the browser to generate a data-request from a JavaScript-file-referenced web server;

responsive to the data-request from a JavaScript-file-referenced web server, generating a JavaScript code at the JavaScript-file-referenced web server and delivering it to the browser;

assembling the one or more Web page elements to generate and visibly display the first Web page in the first browser window as directed by the first Web page instructions;

responsive to the JavaScript code encountered upon processing said, causing the browser to request a phantom web-page from the Web server for receipt within a second browser window on the client device, said JavaScript code operative to cause the phantom web-page to be non-displayable in said second browser window;

responsive to the browser requesting said phantom web-page, retrieving a data associated with the non-displayable phantom Web page from the Web server, the data related at least in part to the one or more Web page elements of the first Web page; and

selectively updating the one or more Web page elements in said first visible web page in the first browser window using said data associated with the non-displayable phantom Web page so as to preclude reassembly of the first visible web page.

27. A method as defined in claim 26, wherein the step of selectively updating the one or more Web page elements in said first web page in the first browser window further comprising updating the displayed Web page without refreshing the entire page.

28. A method as defined in claim 26,wherein said client device is a personal computer.

29. A method as defined in claim 26, wherein said client device is a handheld device.

30. A method as defined in claims 28 or 29, wherein said second Web page element is not a multimedia or image file.

31. A method as defined in claim 30, wherein no browser plug-ins are utilized.

32. A method as defined in claim 31, wherein no Java Applets are utilized.

33. A method as defined in claim 32, wherein transmitting a request for the second element of the Web page occurs after the HTTP connection has terminated.

34. A method as defined in claim 33, wherein the server utilizes non-Microsoft Web server software.

35. The method of claim 26, wherein said first Web page instructions are, at least in part, browser display instructions specifying the format of the first Web page and a location of at least one text element to be displayed on the first Web page.

36. A method as defined in claim 26, wherein the one or more Web page elements associated with the first Web page include at least one text element.

37. A method as defined in claim 36, wherein the text element is received by the client device from the server.

38. A method as defined in claim 36, wherein the text element is received byte client device from a computer other than the server.

39. A method as defined in claim 36, wherein the steps of retrieving and selectively updating the text element are accomplished without a client device agent other than a Web browser.

40. A method as defined in claim 36, wherein the step of retrieving the data associated with the non-displayable phantom Web page from the Web server includes receiving an updated text element of the displayed Web page.

41. A method as defined in claim 26, further comprising receiving an updated source element of the displayed Web page.

42. The method of claim 26, wherein the JavaScript code is placed at an appropriate location in the HTML code for the Web page.

43. The method of claim 42, wherein, the JavaScript code is interpreted by the browser causing the browser to request the phantom web-page from the Web server.

44. The method of claim 43, wherein responsive to the browser requesting said phantom web-page from the Web server, the Web server generates and sends update data to the browser.

45. The method of claim 44, wherein upon receipt of said update data, the browser processes the update data according to the JavaScript code to cause the selective updating of the one or more Web page elements in said first visible web page.