Creating dynamic web pages at a client browser

• US 7,376,653 B2
• Filed: 05/22/2001
• Issued: 05/20/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/22/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Refinitiv US Organization, LLC (Refinitiv US Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Reuters America LLC (The Woodbridge Co. Ltd.)
• Inventors: Hart, James W. III
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong; Leslie
• Application Number:
  US09/862,251
• Publication Number:
  US 20030009488A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,555 Days
• Field of Search: 707 3- 7, 707/10, 707/101, 707/102, 707/104.1, 709/203, 709/219, 717/115, 717/118
• US Class Current: 717/115
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• 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 67/75 Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/957 Multidimensional
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/959 Network
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation

Abstract

A system and method for accelerated downloading of dynamic web pages. Initially, customized script library functions are downloaded from the server to the client browser as part of the page frameset. A page request from a user is received by the client browser and transmitted to the server. In turn, page data is fetched by the server from remote data sources and formatted to include library code for invoking associated library functions written in a script programming language, e.g., JavaScript. The formatted data pages is transmitted from the server to the client browser which calls the library functions that were previously downloaded to the client browser in response to the library code in the data pages. The appropriate library functions are invoked from the client browser to generate Hyper-Text Markup Language code that is written to a target frame. Finally, the Hyper-Text Markup Language code written to the target frame is rendered. The downloaded JavaScript library functions are therefore downloaded to the client side only once but accessed multiple times thereby increasing efficiency of downloading and reducing bandwidth. Faster page draw is achieved because of the limited amount of information or data that is repeatedly transferred to the client browser from the server.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

downloading customized script library functions from a server at a client browser as part of a first data page;

receiving at the client browser a page request from a user;

transmitting the page request from the client browser to the server;

receiving a formatted second data page at the client browser transmitted from the server, the second data page including library code configured to invoke associated library functions and data fetched from remote data sources;

storing the data fetched from remote data sources in a multi-dimensional array at the client browser;

in response to the library code in the second data page, automatically calling the library functions that were previously downloaded to the client browser as part of the first data page to generate Hyper-Text Markup Language code written to a target frame; and

rendering the Hyper-Text Markup Language code written to the target frame including rendering data from the multi-dimensional array.

2. The method in accordance with claim 1, wherein for the step of downloading, the script library functions are written in a script program language.

3. The method in accordance with claim 2, wherein the script program language is JavaScript.

4. The method in accordance with claim 1, further comprising invoking at the client browser a filtering function configured to filter the data in the multi-dimensional array, wherein the step of rendering includes rendering filtered data from the multi-dimensional array.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising invoking at the client browser a sorting function configured to sort the data in the multi-dimensional array, wherein the step of rendering includes rendering sorted data from the stored multi-dimensional array.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first data page comprises a frameset.

7. A system comprising:

a network;

a server electronically connected to the network configured to fetch data pages from remote data sources in response to the user'"'"'s page request and to format the data pages to include library code configured to invoke associated library functions; and

a client browser in electronic communication with the server through the network configured to perform steps comprising;

receiving downloaded customized script library functions downloaded once from the server to the client browser as part of a first data page;

automatically calling the library functions previously downloaded in the first data page in response to the library code in a second data page from the server to generate HTML code written to a target frame;

storing data fetched from remote data sources in a multi-dimensional array;

rendering the HTML code written to the target frame including rendering data from the multi-dimensional array.

8. The system in accordance with claim 7, wherein the network is one of the Internet, World Wide Web, Local Area Network, Wide Area Network, and Intranet.

9. The system in accordance with claim 7, wherein the library functions are in a script programming language.

10. The system in accordance with claim 9, wherein the script programming language is JavaScript.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the first data page comprises a frameset.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein the client browser is further configured to invoke a sorting function, which is configured to sort the data in the multi-dimensional array, and the step of rendering includes rendering sorted data from the multi-dimensional array.

13. The system of claim 7, wherein the client browser is further configured to invoke a filtering function, which is configured to filter the data in the multi-dimensional array, and the step of rendering includes rendering filtered data from the multi-dimensional array.

14. A method comprising:

transmitting customized script library functions to a client browser from a server as part of a first data page;

receiving a user page request from the client browser;

fetching data from remote data sources;

formatting a second data page to include library code configured to automatically invoke associated library functions previously transmitted to the client browser as part of the first data page and to instruct the client browser to generate Hyper-Text Markup Language code for a target frame in response to the library code and to further include the data fetched from remote data sources arranged in a multi-dimensional array; and

transmitting the formatted second data page to the client browser.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein for the step of transmitting customized library script functions, the script library functions are written in a script program language.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the script program is JavaScript.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the first data page comprises a frameset.

18. A computer readable medium storing computer executable instructions configured to instruct a computer to perform the steps of:

downloading customized script library, functions from a server at a client browser as part of a first data page;

receiving at the client browser a page request from a user;

transmitting the page request from the client browser to the server;

receiving a formatted second data page at the client browser transmitted from the server, the second data page including library code configured to invoke associated library functions and data fetched from remote data servers;

storing the data fetched from remote data servers in a multi-dimensional array at the client browser;

in response to the library code in the second data page, automatically calling the library functions that were previously downloaded to the client browser as part of the first data page to generate Hyper-Text Markup Language code written to a target frame; and

rendering the Hyper-Text Markup Language code written to the target frame including rendering data from the multi-dimensional array.

19. A computer readable medium storing computer executable instructions configured to instruct a computer to perform the steps of:

downloading customized script library functions from a server at a client browser as part of a first data page;

receiving at the client browser a page request from a user;

transmitting the page request from the client browser to the server;

receiving a formatted second data page at the client browser transmitted from the server, the second data page including library code configured to invoke associated library functions and data fetched from remote data servers;

in response to the library code in the second data page, automatically calling the library functions that were previously downloaded to the client browser as part of the first data page to generate Hyper-Text Markup Language code written to a target frame;

rendering the Hyper-Text Markup Language code written to the target frame;

downloading customized script library functions from a server at a client browser as part of a first data page;

storing the downloaded page data in a multi-dimensional array in the client browser;

receiving at the client browser a sort request from a user;

invoking at the client browser a sorting function configured to sort the data in the multi-dimensional array in response to the sort request from the user; and

rendering data from the sorted multi-dimensional array in response to the sort request from the user.

20. A computer readable medium storing computer executable instructions configured to instruct a computer to perform the steps of:

downloading customized script library functions from a server at a client browser as part of a first data page;

receiving at the client browser a page request from a user;

transmitting the page request from the client browser to the server;

receiving a formatted second data page at the client browser transmitted from the server, the second data page including library code configured to invoke associated library functions and data fetched from remote data servers;

in response to the library code in the second data page, automatically calling the library functions that were previously downloaded to the client browser as part of the first data page to generate Hyper-Text Markup Language code written to a target frame;

rendering the Hyper-Text Markup Language code written to the target frame;

downloading customized script library functions from a server at a client browser as part of a first data page;

storing the downloaded page data in a multi-dimensional array in the client browser;

receiving at the client browser a filter request from a user;

invoking at the client browser a filtering function configured to filter the data in the multi-dimensional array in response to the filter request from the user; and

rendering data from the filtered multi-dimensional array in response to the filter request from the user.

21. A computer readable medium storing computer executable instructions configured to instruct a computer to perform the steps of:

transmitting customized script library functions to a client browser from a server as part of a first data page;

receiving a user page request from the client browser;

fetching data from remote data sources;

formatting a second data page to include library code configured to automatically invoke associated library functions previously transmitted to the client browser as part of a first data page and to instruct the client browser to generate Hyper-Text Markup Language code for a target frame in response to the library code and to further include the data fetched from remote data sources arranged in a multi-dimensional array; and

transmitting the formatted second data page to the client browser.