Method, system and program products for sharing state information across domains

• US 7,302,402 B2
• Filed: 03/30/1998
• Issued: 11/27/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Howland, Michael James, Callaghan, Patrick Joseph, Pritko, Steven M.
• Primary Examiner(s): ELISCA, PIERRE E
• Application Number:
  US09/050,841
• Publication Number:
  US 20020007317A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,529 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26
• US Class Current: 705/26.8
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/142 Managing session states for stateless protocols; Signalling session states; State transitions; Keeping-state mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching

Abstract

State information is shared across domains. The state information is placed in one or more cookies that are shared across disjoint domains. An intermediary application is used, as one example, to enable the sharing of the state information (e.g., the cookies) across the different domains. The intermediary application is used to add state information to requests received from a client and to responses going to the client. Further, an intermediary application is used to cause a client to save state information for any range of Uniform Resource Locators (URLs), and to cause the client to send any previously stored state information to the intermediary application. Additionally, the intermediary application is used to cause state information previously saved by the client for one range of URLs to be subsequently saved by the client for one or more other range of URLs.

Claims

1. A method of providing state information, said method comprising:

determining by an intermediary application state information to be provided to at least one of a client application (client) and a server application (server); and

using the intermediary application, that is disposed to receive transmissions exchanged between said client and said server, to provide said state information to said at least one of said client and said server.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said using comprises:

receiving, by said intermediary application, a request from said client; and

sending a response to said request from said intermediary application to said client, said response including said state information.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said state information is provided to said client, and wherein said method further comprises saving said state information at said client for any specified range of Uniform Resource Locators.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising forwarding said state information saved at said client to said intermediary application.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising saving said state information for one or more other range of Uniform Resource Locators.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said using comprises adding said state information to a request for said server.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said using comprises adding said state information to a response for said client.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising saving, by said client, said state information for a specified range of Uniform Resource Locators.

9. A method of electronic shopping, said method comprising:

selecting, by a purchaser, a plurality of items to be purchased electronically from a plurality of vendors, said plurality of vendors comprising a plurality of noncooperating domains, said non-cooperating domains having no knowledge of one another and wherein said noncooperating domains do not directly communicate state information between one another, but share state information through an intermediary application; and

purchasing said plurality of items on-line via a single check out, wherein an indication of said plurality of items to be purchased need not be moved, by said purchaser, between said plurality of vendors.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising placing said selected plurality of items in a shared shopping cart, said shared shopping cart being shared between said plurality of vendors.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said shared shopping cart comprises one or more cookies representing said plurality of items to be purchased.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein said placing is controlled by the intermediary application coupled to said vendors.

13. A system of providing state information, said system comprising:

means for determining by an intermediary application state information to be provided to at least one of a client application (client) and a server application (server); and

an intermediary application, that is disposed to receive transmissions exchanged between said client and said server, adapted to provide said state information to said at least one of said client and said server.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein said intermediary application is further adapted to:

receive a request from said client; and

send a response to said request to said client, said response including said state information.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein said state information is provided to said client, and wherein said client is adapted to save said state information for any specified range of Uniform Resource Locators.

16. The system of claim 15, further comprising means for forwarding said state information saved at said client to said intermediary application.

17. The system of claim 15, further comprising means for saving said state information for one or more other range of Uniform Resource Locators.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein said intermediary application is adapted to add said state information to a request for said server.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein said intermediary application is adapted to add said state information to a response for said client.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein said client is adapted to save said state information for a specified range of Uniform Resource Locators.

21. A system of electronic shopping, said system comprising:

means for selecting, by a purchaser, a plurality of items to be purchased electronically from a plurality of vendors, said plurality of vendors comprising a plurality of noncooperating domains, said noncooperating domains having no knowledge of one another and wherein said non-cooperating domains do not directly communicate state information between one another, but share state information through an intermediary application; and

means for purchasing said plurality of items on-line via a single check out, wherein an indication of said plurality of items to be purchased need not be moved, by said purchaser, between said plurality of vendors.

22. The system of claim 21, further comprising a shared shopping cart adapted to receive said selected plurality of items, said shared shopping cart being shared between said plurality of vendors.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein said shared shopping cart comprises one or more cookies representing said plurality of items to be purchased.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein the intermediary application is coupled to said plurality of vendors, said intermediary application adapted to associate said selected plurality of items with said shared shopping cart.

25. An article of manufacture, comprising:

at least one computer useable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for causing the providing of state information, the computer readable program code means in said article of manufacture comprising;

computer readable program code means for causing a computer to determine by an intermediary application state information to be provided to at least one of a client application (client) and a server application (server); and

computer readable program code means for causing a computer to use an intermediary application, that is disposed to receive transmissions exchanged between said client and said server, to provide said state information to said at least one of said client and said server.

26. The article of manufacture of claim 25, wherein said state information is provided to said client, and wherein said article of manufacture further comprises computer readable program code means for causing a computer to save said state information at said client for any specified range of Uniform Resource Locators.

27. The article of manufacture of claim 26, further comprising computer readable program code means for causing a computer to save said state information for one or more other range of Uniform Resource Locators.

28. At least one program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying at least one program of instructions executable by the machine to perform a method of electronic shopping, said method comprising:

selecting, by a purchaser, a plurality of items to be purchased electronically from a plurality of vendors, said plurality of vendors comprising a plurality of noncooperating domains, said non-cooperating domains having no knowledge of one another and wherein said non-cooperating domains do not directly communicate state information between one another, but share state information through an intermediary application; and

purchasing said plurality of items on-line via a single check out, wherein an indication of said plurality of items to be purchased need not be moved, by said purchaser, between said plurality of vendors.