Miniclient for internet appliance

• US 7,325,077 B1
• Filed: 04/18/2003
• Issued: 01/29/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/21/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Intellectual Ventures I LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Beryl Technical Assays LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Nguyen, Julien T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Burgess; Glenton B.
• Assistant Examiner(s): STRANGE, AARON N
• Application Number:
  US10/418,951
• Time in Patent Office: 1,747 Days
• Field of Search: 709/208, 709/203, 709/217, 709/219, 709/246
• US Class Current: 709/246
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0847 Transmission error
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0882 Utilisation of link capacity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416

Abstract

The invention provides a method and system for providing features for internet access at an internet appliance which go beyond the resource limitations of the internet appliance. The desired features are primarily implemented on the server, and coupled to the internet appliance for display, responsive to the ability of the internet appliance to provide those features. (1) The internet appliance and the server adapt to communication link limitations by dynamically adjusting picture quality or size for graphics to be displayed. (2) The internet appliance and the server adapt to memory and processor limitations by dynamically running applets at the server and intercepting display functions of applets for display at the internet appliance. (3) The internet appliance and the server adapt to memory and processor limitations by dynamically running editing programs or web pages at the server and by dynamically adjusting picture quality or size for graphics to be displayed.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a client configured to transmit a request for a web page; and

a server configured to receive the request, and responsive to receiving the request, the server is configured;

to fetch the web page over a network,

to determine whether or not the fetched web page includes embedded executable code,

responsive to determining that the fetched web page includes embedded executable code, to execute the embedded executable code to produce an execution result,

to generate a displayable result that includes the execution result responsive to the server determining that the web page includes embedded executable code, and

to transmit the displayable result as one or more display updates to the client;

wherein the client is configured to display an image corresponding to the web page responsive to the one or more display updates.

2. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein the server comprises a browser configured to receive the request, fetch the web page, process the fetched web page, and transmit the displayable result.

3. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein the client is a portable electronic communication device.

4. The system as recited in claim 3 wherein the portable electronic communication device is a cell phone.

5. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein the server is configured to cache the web page.

6. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein the network comprises the internet.

7. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein at least a portion of a link between the server and the client is wireless.

8. A server comprising a browser configured to receive a request for a web page from a client separate from the server, and responsive to receiving the request, the browser is configured:

to fetch the web page over a network,

to determine whether or not the fetched web page includes embedded executable code,

responsive to determining that the fetched web page includes embedded executable code, to execute the embedded executable code to produce an execution result,

to generate a displayable result that includes the execution result responsive to the server determining that the web page includes embedded executable code, and

transmit the displayable result as one or more display updates to the client.

9. The server as recited in claim 8 wherein the browser is configured to cache the web page.

10. The server as recited in claim 8 wherein the network comprises the internet.

11. The server as recited in claim 8 wherein at least a portion of a link between the server and the client is wireless.

12. A method comprising, at a server:

receiving a request for a web page from a client;

fetching the web page over a network;

detecting that the fetched web page includes embedded executable code;

processing the fetched web page on the server into a displayable result, wherein the processing comprises executing the embedded executable code to produce an execution result that is included in the displayable result; and

transmitting the displayable result as one or more display updates to the client.

13. The method as recited in claim 12 wherein the browser is configured to cache the web page.

14. A computer accessible medium storing a plurality of instructions which, when executed by a computer cause the computer to:

receive a request for a web page from a client;

fetch the web page over a network;

process the fetched web page into a displayable result, wherein processing the fetched web page comprises detecting whether or not the fetched web page includes embedded executable code and executing detected embedded executable code to produce an execution result that is included in the displayable result; and

transmit the displayable result as one or more display updates to the client.

15. The computer accessible medium as recited in claim 14 wherein the instructions, when executed by the computer, cause the computer to monitor the link to adjust a quality measure of the one or more display updates responsive to at least one transmission measure on the link.

16. The computer accessible medium as recited in claim 15 wherein the adjust of the quality measure is dynamic.

17. The computer accessible medium as recited in claim 15 wherein the transmission measure comprises a bit transmission rate.

18. The computer accessible medium as recited in claim 15 wherein the link has an associated transmission cost, and wherein the instructions, when executed by the computer, cause the computer to adjust the quality measure to display web pages for approximately constant cost.

19. The computer accessible medium as recited in claim 14 wherein the instructions, when executed by the computer, cause the computer to cache the web page.