Method, system and computer program for downloading information based on a snapshot approach

• US 7,853,580 B2
• Filed: 10/31/2007
• Issued: 12/14/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Marinelli, Claudio, Lerro, Marco
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong; Don
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen; Kim T
• Application Number:
  US11/931,148
• Publication Number:
  US 20080133542A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,140 Days
• Field of Search: 707/706, 707/770
• US Class Current: 707/706
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques

Abstract

A solution is proposed for reducing the response time of a long query submitted by a client (110) to a server (105)—storing a corresponding database (205). For this purpose, when the server receives the query from the client it starts collecting the result of the query into a table (210), wherein the corresponding selected records are directly accessible at page level (to the contrary of the database). As soon as a first page (Pg1) of the selected records is available in the table, the page is transmitted to the client for its display. Meanwhile, in a completely asynchronous manner, the server continues populating the table. Later on, the user of the client submits a browsing command to the server for moving to a different page (Pgk). In response thereto, the server extracts this page from the table (as soon as available) and returns it to the client directly.

Claims

1. A method for downloading information in a data processing system, the method including the steps of:

receiving, at a server entity of the system, a downloading request from a client entity of the system for downloading selected information including a plurality of logic blocks from a source structure, wherein the source structure is a database, wherein the source structure is accessible to the server entity, wherein the source structure does not allow accessing only a selected portion of the plurality of logic blocks of the selected information;

transferring the plurality of blocks of the selected information from the source structure into an auxiliary structure wherein any block in the plurality of blocks is directly accessible, the transferring including running a query on the database and inserting a result of the query into the auxiliary structure;

downloading a selected one of the blocks from the auxiliary structure to the client entity;

receiving a browsing command from the client entity for accessing a further selected one of the blocks; and

downloading the further selected block from the auxiliary structure to the client entity.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein each step of downloading includes:

transmitting the selected block or the further selected block from the server entity to the client entity through a telecommunication channel.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of collecting the selected information includes:

copying the whole selected information from the source structure into the auxiliary structure.

4. The method according to claim 1, further including the step of:

causing the client entity to display each downloaded block individually.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the client entity is adapted to display pages in succession on a monitor, each downloaded block fitting a corresponding page.

6. The method according to claim 1, further including the steps of:

receiving another download request from another client entity of the system for downloading said selected information;

verifying the availability of the selected information in the auxiliary structure;

starting collecting the selected information from the source structure into the auxiliary structure in response to the non-availability; and

downloading another selected one of the blocks from the auxiliary structure to the other client entity.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein for extracting a logic block the selected information has to be extracted from the source structure in succession until the logic block is reached.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein a transfer speed for transferring the selected information from the source structure into the auxiliary structure is higher than a transfer speed for downloading the selected information from the auxiliary structure to the client entity.

7. A computer program in a computer readable storage medium for downloading information when the computer program is executed on a data processing system performing a method including the steps of:

receiving, at a server entity of the system, a downloading request from a client entity of the system for downloading selected information including a plurality of logic blocks from a source structure, wherein the source structure is a database, wherein the source structure is accessible to the server entity, wherein the source structure does not allow accessing only a selected portion of the plurality of logic blocks of the selected information;

transferring the plurality of blocks of the selected information from the source structure into an auxiliary structure wherein any block in the plurality of blocks is directly accessible, the transferring including running a query on the database and inserting a result of the query into the auxiliary structure;

downloading selected one of the blocks from the auxiliary structure to the client entity;

receiving a browsing command from the client entity for accessing a further selected one of the blocks; and

downloading the further selected block from the auxiliary structure to the client entity.

11. The computer program according to claim 7, wherein each step of downloading includes:

transmitting the selected block or the further selected block from the server entity to the client entity through a telecommunication channel.

12. The computer program according to claim 7, wherein the step of collecting the selected information includes:

copying the whole selected information from the source structure into the auxiliary structure.

13. The computer program according to claim 7, further including the step of:

causing the client entity to display each downloaded block individually.

14. The computer program according to claim 13, wherein the client entity is adapted to display pages in succession on a monitor, each downloaded block fitting a corresponding page.

15. The computer program according to claim 7, further including the steps of:

receiving another download request from another client entity of the system for downloading said selected information;

verifying the availability of the selected information in the auxiliary structure;

starting collecting the selected information from the source structure into the auxiliary structure in response to the non-availability; and

downloading another selected one of the blocks from the auxiliary structure to the other client entity.

8. A system for downloading information, the system including:

a storage device including a storage medium, wherein the storage device stores computer usable program code; and

a processor, wherein the processor executes the computer usable program code, and wherein the computer usable program code comprises;

computer usable code for receiving, at a server entity of the system, a downloading request from a client entity of the system for downloading selected information including a plurality of logic blocks from a source structure, wherein the source structure is a database, wherein the source structure is accessible to the server entity, wherein the source structure does not allow accessing only a selected portion of the plurality of logic blocks of the selected information;

computer usable code for transferring the plurality of blocks of the selected information from the source structure into an auxiliary structure wherein any block in the plurality of blocks is directly accessible, the computer usable code for transferring including computer usable code for running a query on the database and computer usable code for inserting a result of the query into the auxiliary structure;

computer usable code for downloading a selected one of the blocks from the auxiliary structure to the client entity;

computer usable code for receiving a browsing command from the client entity for accessing a further selected one of the blocks; and

computer usable code for downloading the further selected block from the auxiliary structure to the client entity.