Arrangements for a 3270 compatible terminal with browser capability

• US 8,156,250 B2
• Filed: 10/29/2007
• Issued: 04/10/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Denis Neuhart, James Tyler Parcher
• Original Assignee: Denis Neuhart, James Tyler Parcher
• Inventors: Parcher, James Tyler, Neuhart, Denis
• Primary Examiner(s): Neurauter, George C
• Application Number:
  US11/978,292
• Publication Number:
  US 20090113017A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,625 Days
• Field of Search: 709/246
• US Class Current: 709/246
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a system that includes a 3270 compatible terminal that can accept browser compatible languages in a 3270 format and process these languages and display such languages in graphical user interface format. In some embodiments it can appear that the browser performs as a “plug-in” to the 3270 application. As utilized herein, a plug is a software module that can “plugs in” to another application under current execution to give the currently running application specific additional functionality.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

initiating a communication session between a primary logic unit and a secondary logic unit, the communication session defined by a 3270 based protocol;

querying the secondary logic unit during the communication session to determine if the secondary logic unit can process data in a browser compatible format;

generating triggers during the communication session, to indicate that transmissions in the communication session have encapsulated the data in the browser compatible format when it is determined that the secondary logic unit can process the browser compatible format;

activating a browser data encapsulation engine during the communication session to encapsulate the data in the browser compatible format in the 3270 based protocol by executing program instructions in the computer system;

sending the trigger and the data in the browser encapsulated format using the 3270 based protocol during the communication session, the encapsulated data in the browser encapsulated format to be un-encapsulated as part of the communication session by executing program instructions in the computer system in response to receiving the trigger and not un-encapsulating data when a trigger is not received;

detecting an out of sync condition when the currently displayed page is not the latest page received by a data stream manager; and

implementing a corrective action when an out of sync condition is detected.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting a reply to the query by the secondary logic unit in response to a browser format processing capability of the secondary logic unit.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying the data in a graphical user interface format.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising detecting a trigger and changing a processing routine based on the detection of the trigger in the transmission, from a first legacy 3270 processing routine to an unbundling of the data into the browser compatible format.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a 3270 compatible transmission and utilizing a 3270 legacy processing routine in response to receiving a transmission that does not have a trigger.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising not activating the browser encapsulation engine when it is determined that the secondary logic unit cannot process data in a browser compatible format.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a second transmission without a trigger and deactivating the browser engine.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the data is in a hypertext markup language (HTML) format.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the data is encapsulated in the 3270 based protocol.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising un-encapsulating packets using the 3270 protocol layer and processing a second protocol layer in the transmission.

11. A computer system comprising:

a memory storing;

a query engine to query a client to determine if a client has browser functionality by executing program instruction in the computer system during a 3270 compatible communication session;

a 3270 data stream manager module to process a 3270 compatible data generated using a 3270 compatible application, the 3270 compatible application to envelope a browser compatible language into the 3270 compatible data stream during the communication session;

a session state module to detect if a currently displayed page is not a latest received 3270 compatible transmission and to implement a corrective action when an out of sync condition is detected;

a trigger module to transmit a trigger in 3270 compatible data stream, the trigger invoking the browser functionality of the client during the communication session; and

a browser data de-encapsulation engine to receive, de-envelope and process the browser compatible language in response to the detected trigger by executing program instruction in the computer system during the communication session.

12. The system of claim 11, further comprising a switch to activate the browser data de-encapsulation engine and to provide at least a portion of the 3270 compatible data stream to the browser data de-encapsulation engine based on the detection of the trigger.

13. The system of claim 11, further comprising a switch to switch the 3270 compatible data stream to the browser data de-encapsulation engine in response to the trigger.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the browser compatible language is hypertext mark-up language.

15. The system of claim 11, further comprising a query reply module to respond to a query regarding the browser functionality.

16. A non-transitory machine-accessible medium containing instructions which, when the instructions are executed by a computer system cause the computer system to perform operations, comprising:

detecting a trigger in a transmission by executing program instruction in the computer system;

receiving a transmission in a 3270 compatible format, the transmission including encapsulated browser compatible data;

activating a browser engine in response to the detected trigger to by executing program instruction in the computer system;

detecting if a page that is currently displayed relates to a last received page and taking corrective action when the current page is the last received page; and

processing the browser compatible data with the browser engine by executing program instruction in the computer system.

17. The non-transitory machine-accessible medium of claim 16, that when executed causes the computer system to receive a query in a transmission, the query to determine a processing capability of the computer system and transmitting a reply to the query when the processing capability is available.

18. The non-transitory machine-accessible medium of claim 16, that when executed causes the computer system to display the browser compatible data in a graphical user interface format.

19. The non-transitory machine-accessible medium of claim 16, that when executed causes the computer system to accept input responsive to user interactions with a graphical user interface and to transmit the trigger in response to the user interaction.