Handling external content in web applications

• US 8,255,873 B2
• Filed: 11/20/2006
• Issued: 08/28/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Lazier, Ari, Williams, Hugh, Whyte, Nick
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong, Don
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lee, Marina
• Application Number:
  US11/561,464
• Publication Number:
  US 20080120533A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,108 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 717/124
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1415 with means for detecting differences between the image stored in the host and the images displayed on the displays

Abstract

A media and method for detecting third-party content in web pages is provided. Computer software operates on a server or a client-side computer to identify and analyze third-party links and contents in web pages to determine if a third-party content sill exists, is available, has changed, or disrupts a web browser. A third-party link or content can be removed, changed, or replaced. A user can be notified or given an option to handle changed third-party content. The server may remove the third-party link or content by changing an HTML file for the web page. The client-side computer may remove the third-party link or content by dynamically changing the rendered web page before it is displayed to the user.

Claims

1. One or more computer-readable media containing thereon computer-readable code executed by one or more computers for performing a method for handling third-party content in web applications, comprising:

operating a set of software to detect third-party content controlled by third party, wherein the third-party content is embedded in a web page, and the third-party content is accessed or executed from embedded content in the web page rendered by a host application;

detecting the third-party content in the web page;

downloading the third-party content so that the third-party content is classified;

analyzing the third-party content with a classifier;

detecting one or more problems with the third-party content as an output of the classifier, wherein detecting the one or more problems comprises at least one of detecting when one or more variables is set to perform a frame break, identifying one or more software patterns associated with the frame break, and detecting a particular software for the frame break; and

wherein the one or more problems include at least one of the third-party content no longer exists, the third-party content is unavailable, the third-party content changes, or the third-party content disrupts the host application; and

modifying the web page to remove the one or more problems that are detected before rendering the web page.

2. The media of claim 1, wherein operating the set of software comprises gathering the third-party content controlled by the third party associated with the embedded content in the web page.

3. The media of claim 2, wherein the third party comprises an owner or a controller of the third-party content, and the third party is not the owner nor the controller of the web page.

4. The media of claim 3, wherein the third-party content is selected from a group including one or more links, another web page, an image, a video, an audio, a document, a flash application, a data in an really simple syndication (RSS) feed, an extensible markup language (XML) content, and a Javascript application.

5. The media of claim 1, wherein the set of software resides on a server.

6. The media of claim 1, wherein the set of software resides on a client-side computing device.

7. The media of claim 1, wherein detecting the one or more problems comprises analyzing the third-party content to determine if the set of content no longer exists, if the third-party content is unavailable, if the third-party content changes, or if the third-party content disrupts the host application.

8. The media of claim 7, wherein the host application is a web browser.

9. The media of claim 8, wherein upon a detection of the frame break, the web browser is redirected to another web page.

10. The media of claim 1, wherein modifying the web page comprises modifying one or more hypertext markup language (HTML) files to remove the embedded content associated with the third-party content.

11. The media of claim 10, wherein modifying the web page comprises at least one of adding other content to the one or more HTML files wherein the other content is associated with another third-party content, or adding the another third-party content directly to the one or more HTML files.

12. The media of claim 1, wherein modifying the web page comprises changing the third-party content or replacing the set of content.

13. The media of claim 12, wherein modifying the web page comprises changing the web page before it is displayed on a computing device of a user.

14. One or more computer-readable media containing thereon computer-readable code executed by one or more computers for performing a method for handling third-party content in web applications, comprising:

operating a set of software to detect third-party content controlled by third party, wherein the third-party content is embedded in a web page, and the third-party content is accessed or executed from embedded content in the web page rendered by a host application;

detecting the third-party content in the web page;

downloading the third-party content so that the third-party content is classified;

analyzing the third-party content with a classifier;

detecting one or more problems with the third-party content as an output of the classifier, wherein detecting the one or more problems comprises at least one of detecting when one or more variables is set to perform a frame break, identifying one or more software patterns associated with the frame break, and detecting a particular software for the frame break; and

wherein the one or more problems include at least one of the third-party content no longer exists, the third-party content is unavailable, the third-party content changes, or the third-party content disrupts the host application; and

providing to a user at least one of a notification about the one or more problems, an option to display the set of content, and an option to display another set of content before rendering the web page.

15. A method for detecting a validity of third-party content in a web application using a set of computer software, comprising:

periodically, verifying one or more third-party links and one or more third-party content in a web page;

searching for the one or more third-party links or the one or more third-party content associated with the web page;

downloading the one or more third-party links or the one or more third-party content so that the one or more third-party links or the one or more third-party content are analyzed;

analyzing the one or more third-party links or the one or more third-party content to create one or more identifiers for each of the one or more third-party links or the one or more third-party content;

creating the one or more identifiers for each of the one or more third-party links or the one or more third-party content; and

detecting a change in a link or a content from a comparison of a last identifier associated with a last analysis of the link or the content to the current identifier associated with a current analysis of the link or the content, wherein detecting the change in the link or the content comprises at least one of detecting when one or more variables is set to perform a frame break, identifying one or more software patterns associated with the frame break, and detecting a particular software for the frame break.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising modifying the link or the content if the last identifier and the current identifier are different.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the set of computer software operates on one or more servers.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the set of computer software operates on the one or more servers to determine the last identifier and a set of computer software operates on a computing device of a user to determine the current identifier.