System and method for ensuring that a web browser displays the highest ranked image format possible for an image

• US 7,769,895 B1
• Filed: 08/16/2002
• Issued: 08/03/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/17/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Domo, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Corda Technologies Incorporated (Domo, Inc.)
• Inventors: Williams, Neal, Pilling, Nathan, Cheney, Mardell
• Primary Examiner(s): WINDER, PATRICE L
• Application Number:
  US10/222,154
• Time in Patent Office: 2,909 Days
• Field of Search: 709201-203, 709/230, 709217-219, 709246-247
• 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 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]

Abstract

A system and method for ensuring that a web browser displays the highest ranked image format possible for an image is provided. In response to a request from a web browser for a dynamic web page, computer-executable code is integrated with the dynamic web page. The computer-executable code is programmed to determine web browser configuration information and request an image according to a set of image formats which are ranked according to ranking criteria and the web browser configuration information. The modified dynamic web page is sent to the web browser. A request for an image is received from the web browser which executes the computer-executable code. The image request identifies the image format for the image selected. The requested image is generated according to the indicated image format and sent to the web browser for display.

Claims

1. A method for dynamically publishing an image in a web page accessible to a variety of web browsers, the method comprising:

in response to a request from a web browser for a dynamic web page which includes the image in one or more image formats, integrating computer-executable code with the dynamic web page, the computer-executable code being programmed to determine web browser configuration information and to request an image according to a set of image formats which are ranked according to ranking criteria predetermined to rank the image formats in order of preference and the web browser configuration information;

sending the dynamic web page to the web browser;

receiving an image request from the web browser which executes the computer-executable code, the image request comprising an indicator of the image format selected according to the web browser configuration information and the ranking criteria;

generating the requested image according to the indicated image format and sending the requested image to the web browser for display.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the image request comprises an indicator of the image format selected according to ranking criteria and the web browser configuration information.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein in response to the web browser configuration information indicating that the highest ranked image format is not displayable by the web browser, the computer-executable code is programmed to request the image according to an image format which the web browser configuration information indicates is displayable and which is ranked subsequent to the highest ranked image format within the ranked set of image formats according to the ranking criteria.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein in response to the web browser configuration information indicating that the highest ranked image format is not displayable by the web browser, the computer-executable code is programmed to request the image according to an image format which the web browser configuration information indicates is displayable and which is ranked next highest to the highest ranked image format within the ranked set of image formats according to the ranking criteria.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein integrating computer-executable code comprises:

generating computer-executable detection code to detect web browser configuration information, the web browser configuration information including the image formats displayable by the web browser; and

generating computer-executable code to request the image according to the highest ranked image format which is displayable in the web browser according to the web browser configuration information and the ranking criteria.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein according to an image fallback identifier, generating computer-executable detection code comprises generating computer-executable scripts for substantially all types of web browsers, each script being programmed to determine the displayable image formats for the browser.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein according to an image fallback identifier, generating computer-executable detection code comprises:

interpreting a web browser identifier; and

generating computer-executable detection code customized to the particular web browser based on the web browser identifier, the computer-executable detection code being programmed to determine the displayable image formats for the browser.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein according to an image fallback identifier, generating computer-executable detection code comprises:

interpreting a web browser identifier; and

generating computer-executable detection code customized to the particular web browser based on the web browser identifier, the computer-executable detection code being programmed to anticipate the displayable image formats for the browser.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein the computer-executable code to request the image is programmed to download and install a software module to support the highest ranked image format when the highest ranked image format is currently unsupported in the web browser.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the ranking criteria is defined by a developer of the dynamic web page.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

communicating with an image server to produce the requested image using a dynamic data source;

receiving an identifier of data associated with the dynamic data source which the image server has pre-cached; and

incorporating the identifier in computer-executable code for requesting the image such that the pre-cached data is retrieved to generate the image.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the image is an interactive image.

13. A method for developing web pages which automatically displays images in a user'"'"'s web browser according to a highest ranked image format in a set of ranked image formats, the method comprising:

providing an application programming interface for detecting a web browser'"'"'s configuration information and displaying images in an image format selected from a set of one or more ranked image formats, the selected image format being supported by the web browser configuration information and selected according to ranking criteria predetermined to rank the image formats in order of preference;

calling one or more application interface functions for integrating a customized image into a dynamically generated web page and designating an image format from the set of ranked image formats as a preferred image format;

calling an application programming interface function for automatically generating browser-specific executable code for determining whether a user'"'"'s web browser supports the preferred image format designated; and

wherein browser-specific executable code is programmed such that when the preferred image format is unsupported, a supported image format ranked next highest to the preferred image format is automatically selected and the image is requested from the image server in the supported image format which is ranked next highest to the preferred image format.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

instantiating a software object by calling functions of the application programming interface;

configuring the software object for use by an image server to provide the customized image; and

configuring the software object to designate an image format from the set of ranked image formats as the preferred image format.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the application programming interface is written in a programming language selected from the group comprising Java, JavaScript, COM, .NET, PHP, PERL, C, C#, VB, Cold Fusion, and C++.

16. A method for dynamically publishing an image in a web page accessible to a variety of web browsers, the method comprising:

in response to a request from a web browser for a dynamic web page which includes the image in one or more image formats, determining web browser configuration information from the request;

integrating computer-executable code with the dynamic web page, the computer-executable code being programmed to request an image according to a set of image formats which are ranked according to ranking criteria predetermined to rank the image formats in order of preference and the web browser configuration information;

sending the dynamic web page to the web browser;

receiving an image request from the web browser which executes the computer-executable code, the image request comprising an indicator of the image format selected according to the web browser configuration information and ranking criteria;

generating the requested image according to the indicated image format and sending the requested image to the web browser for display.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the computer-executable code is further programmed to request the image based on an image fallback identifier associated with the request.

18. A computer-readable medium stored/embedded instructions for dynamically publishing an image in a web page accessible to a variety of web browsers, wherein the instructions comprise executable instructions for implementing a method comprised of the steps of:

in response to a request from a web browser for a dynamic web page which includes the image in one or more image formats, integrating computer-executable code with the dynamic web page, the computer-executable code being programmed to determine web browser configuration information and to request an image according to a set of image formats which are ranked according to ranking criteria predetermined to rank the image formats in order of preference and the web browser configuration information;

sending the dynamic web page to the web browser;

receiving an image request from the web browser which executes the computer-executable code, the image request comprising an indicator of the image format selected according to the web browser configuration information;

generating the requested image according to the indicated image format and sending the requested image to the web browser for display.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the method step of integrating computer-executable code further comprises:

generating computer-executable detection code to detect web browser configuration information, the web browser configuration information including the image formats displayable by the web browser; and

generating computer-executable code to request the image according to a highest ranked image format which is displayable in the web browser according to the web browser configuration information.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein in response to the web browser configuration information indicating that the highest ranked image format is not displayable by the web browser, the computer-executable code is programmed to request the image according to an image format which the web browser configuration information indicates is displayable and which is ranked subsequent to the highest ranked image format within the ranked set of image formats according to the ranking criteria.

21. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein in response to the web browser configuration information indicating that the highest ranked image format is not displayable by the web browser, the computer-executable code is programmed to request the image according to an image format which the web browser configuration information indicates is displayable and which is ranked next highest to the highest ranked image format within the ranked set of image formats according to the ranking criteria.

22. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein according to an image fallback identifier, the method step of generating computer-executable detection code further comprises:

interpreting a web browser identifier; and

generating computer-executable detection code customized to the particular web browser based on the web browser identifier, the computer-executable detection code being programmed to determine the displayable image formats for the browser.

23. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein according to an image fallback identifier, the method step of generating computer-executable detection code further comprises:

interpreting a web browser identifier; and

generating computer-executable detection code customized to the particular web browser based on the web browser identifier, the computer-executable detection code being programmed to anticipate the displayable image formats for the browser.

24. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the method further comprises:

communicating with an image server to produce the requested image using a dynamic data source;

receiving an identifier of data associated with the dynamic data source which the image server has pre-cached; and

incorporating the identifier in computer-executable code for requesting the image such that the pre-cached data is retrieved to generate the image.

25. A computer-readable medium containing stored/embedded instructions for developing web pages which automatically display images in a user'"'"'s web browser according to a highest ranked image format in a set of ranked image formats, wherein the instructions comprise executable instructions for implementing a method comprising:

providing an application programming interface for detecting a web browser'"'"'s configuration information and displaying images in an image format selected from a set of ranked image formats, the selected image format being supported by the web browser configuration information and selected according to ranking criteria predetermined to rank the image formats in order of preference;

calling one or more application interface functions for integrating a customized image into a dynamically generated web page and designating an image format from the set of ranked image formats as a preferred image format;

calling an application programming interface function for automatically generating browser-specific executable code for determining whether a user'"'"'s web browser supports the preferred image format designated; and

wherein browser-specific executable code is programmed such that when the preferred image format is unsupported, a supported image format ranked next highest to the preferred image format is automatically selected and the image is requested from an image server in the supported image format which is ranked next highest to the preferred image format.

26. The computer-readable medium of claim 25, the method further comprising:

instantiating a software object by calling functions of the application programming interface;

configuring the software object for use by the image server to provide the customized image; and

configuring the software object to designate an image format from the set of ranked image formats as a preferred image format.

27. The computer-readable medium of claim 25, wherein the image formats are selected from the group comprising Flash, SVG, PNG, JPEG, TIFF, BITMAP, and GIF.

28. A system for dynamically publishing an image in a web page accessible to a variety of web browsers, the system comprising:

a web server that integrates computer-executable code with a dynamic web page sent to a web browser in response to a request from the web browser for a dynamic web page which includes the image, the computer-executable code being programmed to determine web browser configuration information and to request an image according to a set of one or more image formats which are ranked according to ranking criteria predetermined to rank the image formats in order of preference and the web browser configuration information; and

an image server in communication with the web server which generates the image and sends the image to the web browser in response to an image request from the web browser, the image request comprising an indicator of the image format selected according to the web browser configuration information and the ranking criteria.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the web server and image server comprise a single integrated module.

30. The system of claim 28, wherein the computer-executable code is generated by the web server, the computer-executable code comprising computer-executable detection code to detect web browser configuration information, the web browser configuration information including the image formats displayable by the web browser and computer-executable code programmed to request the image according to a highest ranked image format which is displayable in the web browser according to the web browser configuration information.

31. The system of claim 28, wherein in response to the web browser configuration information indicating that the highest ranked image format is not displayable by the web browser, the computer-executable code is programmed to request the image according to the image format which the web browser configuration information indicates is displayable and ranked subsequent to the highest ranked image format within the ranked set of image formats according to the ranking criteria.

32. The system of claim 28, wherein in response to the web browser configuration information indicating that the highest ranked image format is not displayable by the web browser, the computer-executable code is programmed to request the image according to the image format which the web browser configuration information indicates is displayable and ranked next highest to the highest ranked image format within the ranked set of image formats according to the ranking criteria.

33. The system of claim 28, wherein the web server executes a script file which includes an image fallback identifier and based on the image fallback identifier, the web server interprets a web browser identifier to identify a particular type of web browser and generates computer-executable detection code customized to the particular web browser based on the web browser identifier, the computer-executable detection code being programmed to determine the displayable image formats for the browser.

34. The system of claim 28, wherein the web server executes a script file which includes an image fallback identifier and based on the image fallback identifier, the web server interprets a web browser identifier to identify a particular type of web browser and generates computer-executable detection code customized to the particular web browser based on the web browser identifier, the computer-executable detection code being programmed to anticipate the displayable image formats for the browser.

35. The system of claim 28, wherein the web server communicates with the image server to produce the requested image using a dynamic data source, the web server receiving an identifier of data associated with the dynamic data source which the image server has pre-cached from the image server, and incorporating the identifier in computer-executable code for requesting the image such that the pre-cached data is retrieved to generate the image.