Learning computer-generated screens based on user key selections

• US 8,069,416 B2
• Filed: 05/14/2004
• Issued: 11/29/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Cohen, Gabriel A., Mitchell, Gerald L. Jr., Mathewson, James M. II, Muralidharan, Srinivasan
• Primary Examiner(s): Augustine; Nicholas
• Application Number:
  US10/845,684
• Publication Number:
  US 20050257155A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,755 Days
• Field of Search: 715/745, 715/811, 715/812, 715/737, 715/739, 715/854, 715/855, 707/102, 707/203, 709/219, 709/231
• US Class Current: 715/745
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation

Abstract

As a user navigates through a sequence of screens by selecting certain “aid” keys, a graph will be built reflecting the navigation history of the user. When a user requests a certain screen by selecting a particular key, screen data is received from a host on a web server. The screen data for the requested screen is compared to the screen data for the screen(s) in the graph associated with the selected key. If a match is established, the user has visited this screen before and its data has already been converted (e.g., scraped). As such, the screen can be retrieved from storage and served to the user. If, however, a match cannot be established, the requested screen will be converted and stored, and the graph will be updated.

Claims

1. A method for managing conversions of screen data generated by a host based on key selections, comprising:

receiving a selection of a key made while a particular screen is visited from a client device, the key being one of a plurality of keys selectable from a keyboard of the client device and the key selection indicating a request to visit a different screen;

retrieving screen data for the different screen from a host;

accessing a graph to determine whether the retrieved screen data for the different screen has already been converted into a display format usable by the client device, wherein;

the graph comprises a hierarchical tree of nodes originating from a root node;

the root node represents an initial screen visited from the client device;

each one of the nodes except the root node is associated with one of the plurality of selectable keys and represents one or more screens which were previously visited by selecting the associated one of the selectable keys while visiting a screen represented by a parent of the node; and

if the hierarchical tree contains a node associated with the selected key and for which the particular visited screen is represented by the parent of the contained node, concluding that the retrieved screen data for the different screen has already been converted into the display format if the retrieved screen data matches screen data corresponding to any of the one or more screens represented by the contained node; and

if the accessing concludes that the retrieved screen data for the different screen has already been converted into the display format, serving, as the requested different screen, the previously visited screen to which the matched screen data corresponds without performing a conversion of the retrieved screen data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

at least one of the nodes represents a plurality of screens; and

for each of the at least one nodes, the screens are represented within the node in an order that is based on a frequency of previously visiting each of the screens represented within the node by selecting the key associated with the node while visiting the screen represented by the parent of the node.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the selection of the key is received on a web server from the client device, and wherein the retrieved screen data for the different screen is retrieved on the web server from the host.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the concluding that the retrieved screen data for the different screen has already been converted into the display format further comprises determining whether fields and attribute strings in the retrieved screen data match corresponding fields and attribute strings in the screen data corresponding to any of the one or more screens represented by the contained node.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected key is an aid key.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the display format usable by the client device comprises a Web page.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the retrieved data comprises a host data format not displayable by the client device without conversion into the display format usable by the client device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the host is a legacy host.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

if the accessing does not conclude that the retrieved screen data for the different screen has already been converted into the display format, then performing the conversion of the retrieved screen data into the display format, storing a result of the conversion as a new screen to which the retrieved screen data corresponds, serving the new screen as the requested different screen, and updating the graph to represent the new screen as a previously visited screen.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein updating the graph to represent the new screen as a previously visited screen comprises:

updating the contained node to also represent the new screen when the retrieved screen data for the different screen does not match the screen data corresponding to any of the one or more screens represented by the contained node; and

adding a new node to the hierarchical tree when the hierarchical tree does not contain any node associated with the selected key and for which the particular visited screen is represented by the parent of the contained node, the new node being associated with the selected key and representing the new screen.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the graph represents screens visited from the client device by a particular user and converted into the display format for serving to the client device for the particular user.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the graph represents screen data retrieved by a group of users, and converted into the display format for serving to client devices for the users in the group.

13. A method for managing conversions of screen data obtained from a host, comprising:

receiving selections of keys made to navigate through a sequence of screens on a client device, the keys being aid keys selectable from a keyboard of the client device; and

managing conversions of screen data obtained from a host into screens in a display format usable by the client device by building a hierarchical tree that contains a plurality of nodes originating from a root node that represents an initially-visited one of the screens, wherein;

each of the nodes represents one or more of the screens in the sequence; and

for each one of the nodes except the root node, one of the selected keys is associated therewith and the one or more screens represented by the node were navigated to by selecting the associated key while visiting a screen represented by a parent of the node;

responsive to receiving each of the key selections, determining which of the screens in the sequence is currently visited and obtaining screen data for a different one of the screens in the sequence from the host, the different one being indicated by the key selection and the currently-visited screen;

the hierarchical tree indicates that the obtained screen data for the different one of the screens has already been converted into the display format if the obtained screen data matches screen data corresponding to any of the one or more screens represented by a particular node contained within the tree, wherein the selected key is associated with the particular node and the parent of the particular node represents the currently-visited screen; and

when the hierarchical tree indicates that the obtained screen data for the different one of the screens has not already been converted into the display format, converting the obtained screen data into the display format and updating the hierarchical tree to indicate that the obtained screen data for the different one of the screens has been converted into the display format.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the selections are received on a web server from the client device.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the web server communicates with the host to obtain the screen data for the screens in the sequence.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein:

at least one of the nodes represents a plurality of the screens in the sequence; and

for each of the at least one nodes, the screens are represented within the node in an order that is based on a frequency of previously navigating to each of the screens represented within the node by selecting the key associated with the node while visiting the screen represented by the parent of the node.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the screens in the sequence comprise 3270 screens or 5250 screens.

18. A system for managing conversions of screen data generated by a host based on key selections, comprising:

a computer comprising a processor; and

instructions which execute, using the processor, to perform functions comprising;

receiving a selection of a key made while a particular screen is visited from a client device, the key being one of a plurality of keys selectable from a keyboard of the client device and the key selection indicating a request to visit a different screen;

retrieving screen data for the different screen from a host;

accessing a graph to determine whether the retrieved screen data for the different screen has already been converted into a display format usable by the client device, wherein;

the graph comprises a hierarchical tree of nodes originating from a root node;

the root node represents an initial screen visited from the client device;

each one of the nodes except the root node is associated with one of the plurality of selectable keys and represents one or more screens which were previously visited by selecting the associated one of the selectable keys while visiting a screen represented by a parent of the node; and

if the hierarchical tree contains a node associated with the selected key and for which the particular visited screen is represented by the parent of the contained node, concluding that the retrieved screen data for the different screen has already been converted into the display format if the retrieved screen data matches screen data corresponding to any of the one or more screens represented by the contained node; and

if the accessing concludes that the retrieved screen data for the different screen has already been converted into the display format, serving, as the requested different screen, the previously visited screen to which the matched screen data corresponds without performing a conversion of the retrieved screen data.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein:

at least one of the nodes represents a plurality of screens; and

for each of the at least one nodes, the screens are represented within the node in an order that is based on a frequency of previously visiting each of the screens represented within the node by selecting the key associated with the node while visiting the screen represented by the parent of the node.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the selection of the key is received on a web server from the client device, and wherein the retrieved screen data for the different screen is retrieved on the web server from the host.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein the concluding that the retrieved screen data for the different screen has already been converted into the display format further comprises determining whether fields and attribute strings in the retrieved screen data match corresponding fields and attribute strings in the screen data corresponding to any of the one or more screens represented by the contained node.

22. The system of claim 18, wherein the selected key is an aid key.

23. The system of claim 18, the functions further comprising:

if the accessing does not conclude that the retrieved screen data for the different screen has already been converted into the display format, then performing the conversion of the retrieved screen data into the display format, storing a result of the conversion as a new screen to which the retrieved screen data corresponds, serving the new screen as the requested different screen, and updating the graph to represent the new screen as a previously visited screen.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein updating the graph to represent the new screen as a previously visited screen comprises:

updating the contained node to also represent the new screen when the retrieved screen data for the different screen does not match the screen data corresponding to any of the one or more screens represented by the contained node; and

adding a new node to the hierarchical tree when the hierarchical tree does not contain any node associated with the selected key and for which the particular visited screen is represented by the parent of the contained node, the new node being associated with the selected key and representing the new screen.

25. A computer program product for managing conversions of screen data generated by a host based on key selections, the computer program product embodied on at least one computer-readable storage media and comprising computer-readable program code for:

receiving a selection of a key made while a particular screen is visited from a client device, the key being one of a plurality of keys selectable from a keyboard of the client device and the key selection indicating a request to visit a different screen;

retrieving screen data for the different screen from a host;

accessing a graph to determine whether the retrieved screen data for the different screen has already been converted into a display format usable by the client device, wherein;

the graph comprises a hierarchical tree of nodes originating from a root node;

the root node represents an initial screen visited from the client device;

each one of the nodes except the root node is associated with one of the plurality of selectable keys and represents one or more screens which were previously visited by selecting the associated one of the selectable keys while visiting a screen represented by a parent of the node; and

if the hierarchical tree contains a node associated with the selected key and for which the particular visited screen is represented by the parent of the contained node, concluding that the retrieved screen data for the different screen has already been converted into the display format if the retrieved screen data matches screen data corresponding to any of the one or more screens represented by the contained node; and

if the accessing concludes that the retrieved screen data for the different screen has already been converted into the display format, serving, as the requested different screen, the previously visited screen to which the matched screen data corresponds without performing a conversion of the retrieved screen data.

26. The computer program product of claim 25, wherein:

at least one of the nodes represents a plurality of screens; and

for each of the at least one nodes, the screens are represented within the node in an order that is based on a frequency of previously visiting each of the screens represented within the node by selecting the key associated with the node while visiting the screen represented by the parent of the node.

27. The computer program product of claim 25, wherein the selection of the key is received on a web server from the client device, and wherein the retrieved screen data for the different screen is retrieved on the web server from the host.

28. The computer program product of claim 25, wherein the concluding that the retrieved screen data for the different screen has already been converted into the display format further comprises determining whether fields and attribute strings in the retrieved screen data match corresponding fields and attribute strings in the screen data corresponding to any of the one or more screens represented by the contained node.

29. The computer program product of claim 25, wherein the selected key is an aid key.

30. The computer program product of claim 25, further comprising computer-readable program code for:

if the accessing does not conclude that the retrieved screen data for the different screen has already been converted into the display format, then performing the conversion of the retrieved screen data into the display format, storing a result of the conversion as a new screen to which the retrieved screen data corresponds, serving the new screen as the requested different screen, and updating the graph to represent the new screen as a previously visited screen.

31. The computer program product of claim 30, wherein updating the graph to represent the new screen as a previously visited screen comprises:

updating the contained node to also represent the new screen when the retrieved screen data for the different screen does not match the screen data corresponding to any of the one or more screens represented by the contained node; and

adding a new node to the hierarchical tree when the hierarchical tree does not contain any node associated with the selected key and for which the particular visited screen is represented by the parent of the contained node, the new node being associated with the selected key and representing the new screen.