Method and apparatus for communicating information between a browser and an application program

• US 7,409,672 B1
• Filed: 07/01/2004
• Issued: 08/05/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/07/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Datla, Krishnam R.
• Primary Examiner(s): STEELMAN, MARY J
• Application Number:
  US10/884,433
• Time in Patent Office: 1,496 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 717/106
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/547 Remote procedure calls [RPC]; Web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]

Abstract

A method and apparatus are provided for communicating information and carrying out other interactions between a browser and an application program. A hyperaction protocol is defined that enables a browser to directly call functions of an application program executed by a separate server over a public network. In one embodiment, in the course of parsing and displaying an HTML document or other HTML source text, a browser encounters or receives a hyperaction request of the form “hyperaction://<ApplicationAction>#<Payload>.” In response, the browser identifies a function or other action of a separate application. The browser calls that function of the application over the network and provides the payload. When a response is received, the browser extracts data values or function results provided by the application. As a result, a browser can directly interact with an application without using scripts or other awkward mechanisms of existing protocols.

Claims

1. A method of activating a function of a browser, comprising the computer-implemented steps of:

receiving, at the browser, a request from a separate application program to invoke the function of the browser, wherein receiving the request comprises;

receiving, at the browser, the request from the separate application program to invoke the function of the browser, wherein the request conforms to the format

“

hyperaction;

//<

Application Action>

#<

Payload>

”

wherein “

hyperaction”

identifies a hyperaction protocol, “

Application Action”

identifies the function of the browser, and “

Payload”

comprises one or more data identifiers that specify data for use by the browser in carrying out the function;

requesting the application program to provide one or more values needed to carry out the requested function;

receiving one or more values from the application program; and

executing the function using the received values;

wherein all preceding steps are performed at the browser.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein receiving the request comprises receiving the request at the browser that comprises a function identifier and one or more data identifiers that specify data for use by the browser in carrying out the function.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein receiving the request comprises receiving the request at the browser that comprises information identifying the browser function to carry out and which is formatted according to a protocol not supported by an HTML standard.

4. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising the step of mapping a function identifier in the request to a name of the function of the browser.

5. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the step of receiving the request comprises the step of identifying, in a portion of HTML source code that is received at the browser for interpretation and display, the request to carry out the function of the separate application program.

6. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising mapping a program action that is identified in the request to the function by looking up the program action in an action list that is stored at a client in association with the browser.

7. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

receiving function information that describes available functions of the application program;

registering the function information in association with one or more function identifiers in an action list that is stored at a client in association with the browser.

8. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the function is selected from one of a plurality of available hyperaction functions that are defined within the browser.

9. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein:

the request from the separate application program to invoke the function of the browser comprises a protocol identifier associated with a browser-application communication protocol, a function identifier associated with the function of the browser, and one or more data identifiers that specify data for use by the browser in carrying out the function;

requesting the application program to provide the one or more values comprises sending a message from the browser to the application program that is formatted according to the browser-application communication protocol and that requests the application program to provide then-current values associated with the data identifiers;

receiving the one or more values comprises receiving the then-current values from the application program; and

executing the function comprises executing the function of the browser using the then-current values.

10. A method as recited in claim 9, further comprising the steps of identifying the request in the browser-application communication protocol within an HTML document that is received by the browser.

11. A method as recited in claim 10, further comprising the steps of identifying the request by scanning the HTML document to identify a hyperaction identifier of the form “

hyperaction;

//”

in the HTML document.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the separate application program is at a client.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the separate application program is at a server.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the browser resides within a client.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the browser function is invoked without sending an HTML document to the browser.

16. A computer-readable storage medium storing one or more sequences of instructions for activating a function of a browser, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

receiving, at the browser, a request from a separate application program to invoke the function of the browser, wherein receiving the request comprises;

receiving, at the browser, the request from the separate application program to invoke the function of the browser, wherein the request conforms to the format

“

hyperaction;

//<

Application Action>

#<

Payload>

”

wherein “

hyperaction”

identifies a hyperaction protocol, “

Application Action”

identifies the function of the browser, and “

Payload”

comprises one or more data identifiers that specify data for use by the browser in carrying out the function;

requesting the application program to provide one or more values needed to carry out the requested function;

receiving one or more values from the application program; and

executing the function using the received values;

wherein all preceding steps are performed at the browser.

17. A computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 16, wherein the request received at the browser comprises a function identifier and one or more data identifiers that specify data for use by the browser in carrying out the function.

18. A computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 16, wherein the request received at the browser comprises information identifying the browser function to carry out, wherein the information is formatted according to a protocol not supported by an HTML standard.

19. A computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 16, wherein the one or more sequences of instructions further comprise instructions the execution of which by the one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

receiving function information that describes available functions of the application program;

registering the function information in association with one or more function identifiers in an action list that is stored at a client in association with the browser.

20. A computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 16, wherein:

the request from the separate application program to invoke the function of the browser comprises a protocol identifier associated with a browser-application communication protocol, a function identifier associated with the function of the browser, and one or more data identifiers that specify data for use by the browser in carrying out the function;

the instructions that cause the one or more processors to perform the step of requesting the application program to provide the one or more values comprise instructions the execution of which by the one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the step of sending a message from the browser to the application program that is formatted according to the browser-application communication protocol and that requests the application program to provide then-current values associated with the data identifiers;

the instructions that cause the one or more processors to perform the step of receiving the one or more values comprise instructions the execution of which by the one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the step of receiving the then-current values from the application program; and

the instructions that cause the one or more processors to perform the step of executing the function comprise instructions the execution of which by the one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the step of executing the function of the browser using the then-current values.

21. A computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 16, wherein the separate application program is at a server.

22. A computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 16, wherein the browser function is invoked without sending an HTML document to the browser.

23. A method of an application program carrying out a function thereof upon request by a separate client, comprising the computer-implemented steps of:

receiving, at the application program, a message including a request from a separate client to invoke a program action by the application program, the program action being identified in the request;

wherein the request included in the message conforms to the format “

hyperaction;

//<

Application Action>

#<

Payload>

”

wherein “

hyperaction”

identifies a hyperaction protocol, “

Application Action”

identifies the function of the application program, and “

Payload”

comprises one or more data identifiers that specify data for use by the application program in carrying out the function;

wherein the function of the application program to invoke is based on the program action identified in the request and is determined at the separate client;

wherein the request in the message requests the application program to carry out the function using a label for the function that is meaningful to the application program;

sending result information from the application program to the separate client as a result of the application program carrying out the requested function;

wherein the result information is for use at the separate client.

24. A method as recited in claim 23, further comprising:

sending function information from the application program to the separate client that describes available functions of the application program;

wherein the sending is for registering the function information in association with one or more function identifiers in an action list that is stored at the client in association with a browser; and

determining the function of the application program to invoke based on the program action identified in the request.

25. A method as recited in claim 23, wherein the program function is selected from one of a plurality of available hyperaction functions that are defined within the application program.

26. A method of causing an application program to carry out a function thereof upon request by a separate client, comprising the computer-implemented steps of:

sending, to the separate client, a request to invoke a program action, the program action being identified in the request, wherein the step of sending the request includes at least the step of

sending information to a browser at the separate client, sufficient to identify the request to carry out the function of the application program, wherein the request conforms to the format

“

hyperaction;

//<

Application Action>

#<

Payload>

”

wherein “

hyperaction”

identifies a hyperaction protocol, “

Application Action”

identifies the function of the application program, and “

Payload”

comprises one or more data identifiers that specify data for use by the application program in carrying out the function;

receiving, at the application program, a message including the request from the separate client to invoke a program action by the application program, the program action being identified in the request;

wherein the function of the application program to invoke is based on the program action identified in the request, and determined at the separate client;

wherein the request in the message requests the application program to carry out the function using a label for the function of the application program;

wherein the function of the application program to invoke is determinable by the separate client based on the program action identified in the request;

sending result information from the application program to the separate client as a result of the application program carrying out the requested function;

wherein the result information is for use at the separate client.

27. A method as recited in claim 26, wherein the sending is performed by the application program.

28. A method as recited in claim 26, further comprising the application program sending a message to the separate client, including a portion of HTML source code that is for receipt by the browser and for interpretation and display, and that identifies the request to carry out the function of the application program.

29. A computer-readable storage medium storing one or more sequences of instructions for causing an application program to carry out a function thereof upon request by a separate client, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

receiving, at the application program, a message including a request from the separate client to invoke a program action by the application program, the program action being identified in the request;

wherein the request included in the message conforms to the format “

hyperaction;

//<

Application Action>

#<

Payload>

”

wherein “

hyperaction”

identifies a hyperaction protocol, “

Application Action”

identifies the function of the application program, and “

Payload”

comprises one or more data identifiers that specify data for use by the application program in carrying out the function;

wherein the function of the application program to invoke is based on the program action identified in the request and is determined at the separate client;

wherein the request in the message requests the application program to carry out the function using a label for the function that is meaningful to the application program;

sending result information from the application program to the separate client as a result of the application program carrying out the requested function;

wherein the result information is for use at the separate client.

30. A computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 29, wherein the one or more sequences of instructions further comprise instructions the execution of which by the one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

sending function information from the application program to the separate client that describes available functions of the application program;

wherein the sending is for registering the function information in association with one or more function identifiers in an action list that is stored at the client in association with a browser; and

determining the function of the application program to invoke based on the program action identified in the request.

31. A computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 29, wherein the program function is selected from one of a plurality of available hyperaction functions that are defined within the application program.

32. A system comprising:

a server executed by one or more processors;

a client operable to communicative connect to the server wherein the client is executed by a second one or more processors;

an application program associated with the server;

a set of one or more hyperaction programs that are associated with the application program available for being called by the client; and

a mechanism for registering the hyperaction programs within the client,

wherein the mechanism is associated with the application program, and wherein the registering creates a mapping between the hyperaction programs and an action list residing at the client; and

wherein the client is operable to send, and the application program is operable to receive, a message including a request to invoke a hyperaction program from the set of one or more hyperaction programs, wherein the request substantially conforms to the format

“

hyperaction;

//<

Application Action>

#<

Payload>

”

wherein “

hyperaction”

identifies a hyperaction protocol, “

Application Action”

identifies the hyperaction program associated with the application program, and “

Payload”

comprises one or more data identifiers that specify data for use by the application program in carrying out the hyperaction program.