Technique for providing access to data

• US 7,693,992 B2
• Filed: 01/23/2004
• Issued: 04/06/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/14/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Disney Enterprises Incorporated (The Walt Disney Company)
• Original Assignee: Disney Enterprises Incorporated (The Walt Disney Company)
• Inventors: Watson, Scott F.
• Primary Examiner(s): WANG, LIANG CHE A
• Application Number:
  US10/764,783
• Publication Number:
  US 20040215741A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,265 Days
• Field of Search: 709/217, 709/219, 709/231, 709/226, 369/30.08, 700/94, 846/09
• US Class Current: 709/226
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• 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 67/564 Enhancement of application control based on intercepted application data

Abstract

A data retrieval system provides data to a user of a client computer connected to multiple data stores and multiple other computers. A request for data is received at the client computer. The request is forwarded from the client computer to a server computer and intercepted at a reverse proxy caching connection. An attempt is made to locate the data at a data store at the reverse proxy caching connection. If the data is not found the request is forwarded to the server computer. In order to provide data to a user. A user interface is provided. Initially, data elements associated with a grouping of data elements are identified. Then, a subset of the selected data elements are selected based on weights associated with the data elements, without selecting more than a specified number of data elements that are associated with a same sub-category.

Claims

1. A method of providing data that is available on one or more data stores to a client device comprising the steps of:

providing a user interface associated with the client device to enable the user to specify user desired data;

fetching the specified user desired data that is available on one or more of the data stores via a plugin module by first determining whether the specified user desired data is located on a ram or disk cache located on the client device and if the specified user desired data is not located on a ram or disk cache located on the client device then second determining if the specified user desired data is located on a reverse proxy caching connection and if the specified user desired data is not located on a reverse proxy caching connection then third determining if the specified user desired data is located on a web server or other remote network;

aggregating the fetched user desired data into a media stream, and

providing the media stream to the client device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the user desired data comprises a list of data elements.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein individual data elements contained in the list of data elements are located at diverse locations on one or more of the data stores.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of aggregating the fetched user desired data into a media stream further comprises:

concatenating the list of data elements to create the media stream.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the user interface provides categories of data.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the categories of data include music categories.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the categories of data include news categories.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the desired data comprises one or more music files that are played with a media player.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising providing a music controller.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the user interface enables a user to create music filters.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein one of the music filters comprises data on how frequently a music file is to be played.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the user interface enables a user to create a custom station.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the user interface enables a user to share the custom station with another user.

14. An apparatus for providing data available on one or more data stores to a client device, comprising:

the client device being capable of accessing the one or more data stores;

a user interface associated with the client device to enable a user to specify user desired data; and

a plugin module associated with the client device operable to fetch the specified user desired data that is available on one or more or the data stores, aggregate the fetched user desired data into a media stream, and provide the media stream to the client device;

wherein the plugin module fetches the specified user desired data by first determining whether the specified user desired data is located on a ram or disk cache located on the client device and if the specified user desired data is not located on a ram or disk cache located on the client device then second determining if the specified user desired data is located on a reverse proxy caching connection and if the specified user desired data is not located on a reverse proxy caching connection then third determining if the specified user desired data is located on a web server or other remote network.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the user desired data comprises a list of data elements.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein individual data elements contained in the list of data elements are located at diverse locations on one or more of the data stores.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the list of data elements is concatenated to create the media stream.

18. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the user desired data comprises one or more music files that are played with a media player.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising providing a music controller.

20. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the user interface enables a user to create music filters.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein a music filter comprises data on how frequently a music file is to be played.

22. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the user interface enables a user to create a custom station.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the user interface enables a user to share the custom station with another user.

24. An article of manufacture comprising computer program media readable by a computer and having stored thereon one or more instructions executable by the computer to perform method steps for providing data from multiple data stores to a client device wherein the client device has an associated plugin program, the method comprising:

providing a user interface to enable the user to specify desired data via the plugin;

fetching the specified desired data by first determining whether the specified user desired data is located on a ram or disk cache located on the client device and if the specified user desired data is not located on a ram or disk cache located on the client device then second determining if the specified user desired data is located on a reverse proxy caching connection and if the specified user desired data is not located on a reverse proxy caching connection then third determining if the specified user desired data is located on a web server or other remote network; and

aggregating the fetched data into a media stream; and

providing the media stream to the client device.

25. The article of manufacture of claim 24, wherein the user interface provides categories of data.

26. The article of manufacture of claim 25, wherein the categories of data include music categories.

27. The article of manufacture of claim 25, wherein the categories of data include news categories.

28. The article of manufacture of claim 24, wherein the desired data comprises one or more music files that are played with a media player.

29. The article of manufacture of claim 28, further comprising providing a music controller.

30. The article of manufacture of claim 28, wherein the user interface enables a user to create music filters.

31. The article of manufacture of claim 30, wherein a music filter comprises data on how frequently a music file is to be played.

32. The article of manufacture of claim 28, wherein the user interface enables a user to create a custom station.

33. The article of manufacture of claim 32, wherein the user interface enables a user to share the custom station with another user.

34. A method of providing data that is available on one or more data stores to a client device comprising:

specifying user desired data;

fetching the specified user desired data in a non-concatenated form by first determining whether the specified user desired data is located on a ram or disk cache located on the client device and if the specified user desired data is not located on a ram or disk cache located on the client device then second determining if the specified user desired data is located on a reverse proxy caching connection and if the specified user desired data is not located on a reverse proxy caching connection then third determining if the specified user desired data is located on a web server or other remote network;

concatenating the fetched user desired data, and

providing the concatenated user desired data to the client device.

35. An apparatus for providing data to a user of a client computer, comprising:

a client computer capable of accessing multiple data stores; and

one or more computer programs adapted to be executed by the client computer for providing a user interface to enable the user to identify desired data from one or more of the data stores, retrieve the desired data in a non-concatenated form by first determining whether the desired data is located on a ram or disk cache located on the client device and if the desired data is not located on a ram or disk cache located on the client device then second determining if the desired data is located on a reverse proxy caching connection and if the desired data is not located on a reverse proxy caching connection then third determining if the desired data is located on a web server or other remote network, concatenate the desired data on the client computer, and provide the desired concatenated data to the user.