Running content emitters natively on local operating system

• US 8,631,324 B2
• Filed: 01/12/2005
• Issued: 01/14/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/12/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Lection, David B., Masselle, Eric L.
• Primary Examiner(s): HUYNH, CONG LAC T
• Application Number:
  US11/033,709
• Publication Number:
  US 20060155682A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,289 Days
• Field of Search: 715/500, 715/526, 715/200, 715/203, 715/221, 715/222, 715/223, 715/224, 715/225, 715/205, 715/273, 709/203
• US Class Current: 715/273
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]

Abstract

Techniques for running content emitters natively on a local operating system, by executing a local executive as a native application on the target operating system. In some embodiments, a content emitter such as a portlet preferably invokes, by its normal inclusion mechanism, a markup emitter directed toward the native user interface environment. The markup streams created by locally-executing portlets are collected by the local executive, but instead of being combined into a browser-based markup stream as in the prior art, one or more windows represented by the markup streams is/are created for rendering with the native operating system. An association is maintained between the created window and the portlet(s) emitting content for that window, and controls can be created and valued for the window using this association. In other embodiments, the content emitters execute remotely and deliver content that is adapted for native rendering.

Claims

1. A method of executing native content emitters, comprising:

executing, on a client, an executive that issues requests to, and receives responses from, one or more content emitters that are executing on the client to emit content for native rendering, wherein at least one of the content emitters is also capable of executing remotely to emit content for delivery to the client in an aggregated stream.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the content emitters are portlets.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the content emitters emit content in a first format when executing on the client and in a second format when executing remotely.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the first format is adapted for the native rendering.

5. The method according to claim 3, wherein the second format is adapted for rendering with a client browser.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising rendering, at the client, the content emitted by at least one of the content emitters that are executing on the client.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the rendering further comprises mapping, by the executive, the emitted content to operating system capabilities on the client.

8. The method according to claim 6, wherein the rendering further comprises using, by the executive, windowing features of an operating system on the client for the rendering.

9. The method according to claim 6, wherein:

a plurality of the content emitters are executing on the client to emit the content for native rendering;

the rendering renders the content emitted by at least two of the plurality of content emitters that are executing on the client; and

the rendering further comprises displaying the content emitted by each of the at least two content emitters in distinct frames of a window.

10. The method according to claim 6, wherein:

a plurality of the content emitters are executing on the client to emit the content for native rendering;

the rendering renders the content emitted by at least two of the plurality of content emitters that are executing on the client; and

the rendering further comprises independently displaying the content emitted by each of the at least two content emitters in a separate window.

11. The method according to claim 6, further comprising refreshing the rendered content.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the executive notifies the content emitters whether to emit content for the native rendering or for delivery in the aggregated stream.

13. The method according to claim 1, further comprising requesting, by the executive, loading on the client of at least one of the content emitters from a local storage medium.

14. The method according to claim 1, further comprising requesting, by the executive, loading on the client of at least one of the content emitters from a remote repository.

15. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

a plurality of the content emitters are executing on the client to emit the content for native rendering; and

the executive operates as a client-side portal for collecting content received from each of the plurality of content emitters for rendering, using a native operating system of the client, into separate child windows of a parent frame.

16. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

a plurality of the content emitters are executing on the client to emit the content for native rendering; and

the executive operates as a client-side portal for collecting content received from each of the plurality of content emitters and rendering, using a native operating system of the client, the content collected from each of the plurality of content emitters in separate windows on a display device of the client.

17. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

each of the content emitters generates a window identifier in the content it emits for native rendering; and

the executive uses the generated window identifier, upon receiving content emitted by any of the content emitters for native rendering, for locating a window uniquely associated with that content emitter and directing the received content to the located window.

18. A method of native content rendering, comprising:

requesting, from at least one locally-executing content emitter, content for native rendering on a client using windowing support of an operating system of the client, wherein the at least one locally-executing content emitter is also capable of rendering content for aggregation and delivery to the client in an aggregated stream;

receiving the requested content; and

rendering the received content from each of the at least one locally-executing content emitter into distinct windows at the client using local controls provided by the windowing support of the operating system.

19. A system comprising a computer processor for executing of an executive on a client, the executive issuing requests to, and receiving responses from, one or more content emitters that are executing on the client to emit content for native rendering, wherein at least one of the content emitters is also capable of executing remotely to emit content for delivery to the client in an aggregated stream.

20. The system according to claim 19, wherein the content emitters are portlets.

21. The system according to claim 19, wherein:

the content emitters emit content in a first format adapted for the native rendering when executing on the client; and

the content emitters emit content in a second format adapted for rendering with a client browser when executing remotely.

22. The system according to claim 19, further comprising a renderer for rendering, at the client, the content emitted by at least one of the content emitters that are executing on the client.

23. The system according to claim 22, wherein the renderer further comprises a mapper for mapping, by the executive, the emitted content to operating system capabilities on the client for the rendering.

24. The system according to claim 22, wherein the renderer uses windowing features of an operating system on the client for the rendering.

25. The system according to claim 22, wherein:

a plurality of the content emitters are executing on the client to emit the content for native rendering;

the renderer renders the content emitted by at least two of the plurality of content emitters that are executing on the client; and

the renderer displays the content emitted by each of the at least two content emitters in distinct frames of a window.

26. The system according to claim 22, wherein:

a plurality of the content emitters are executing on the client to emit the content for native rendering;

the renderer renders the content emitted by at least two of the plurality of content emitters that are executing on the client; and

the renderer independently displays the content emitted by each of the at least two content emitters in a separate window.

27. The system according to claim 19, wherein the executive notifies the content emitters whether to emit content for the native rendering or for delivery in the aggregated stream.

28. The system according to claim 19, wherein:

a plurality of the content emitters are executing on the client to emit the content for native rendering; and

the executive operates as a client-side portal for collecting content received from each of the plurality of content emitters for rendering, using a native operating system of the client, into separate child windows of a parent frame.

29. The system according to claim 19, wherein:

a plurality of the content emitters are executing on the client to emit the content for native rendering; and

the executive operates as a client-side portal for collecting content received from each of the plurality of content emitters and rendering, using a native operating system of the client, the content collected from each of the plurality of content emitters in separate windows on a display device of the client.

30. The system according to claim 19, wherein:

each of the content emitters generates a window identifier in the content it emits for native rendering; and

the executive uses the generated window identifier, upon receiving content emitted by any of the content emitters for native rendering, for locating a window uniquely associated with that content emitter and directing the received content to the located window.

31. A system for native content rendering, the system comprising a computer comprising a processor and a memory storing instructions which are executable, using the processor, to perform:

requesting, from at least one locally-executing content emitter, content for native rendering on a client using windowing support of an operating system of the client, wherein the at least one locally-executing content emitter is also capable of rendering content for aggregation and delivery to the client in an aggregated stream;

receiving the requested content; and

rendering the received content from each of the at least one locally-executing content emitter into distinct windows at the client using local controls provided by the windowing support of the operating system.

32. A computer program product for executing native content emitters, the computer program product embodied on at least one computer-readable storage media and comprising computer-readable instructions for executing, on a client, an executive that issues requests to, and receives responses from, one or more content emitters that are executing on the client to emit content for native rendering, wherein at least one of the content emitters is also capable of executing remotely to emit content for delivery to the client in an aggregated stream.

33. The computer program product according to claim 32, wherein the content emitters are portlets.

34. The computer program product according to claim 32, wherein:

the content emitters emit content in a first format adapted for the native rendering when executing on the client; and

the content emitters emit content in a second format adapted for rendering with a client browser when executing remotely.

35. The computer program product according to claim 32, further comprising computer-readable instructions for rendering, at the client, the content emitted by at least one of the content emitters that are executing on the client.

36. The computer program product according to claim 35, wherein the computer-readable instructions for rendering further comprise computer-readable instructions for mapping, by the executive, the emitted content to operating system capabilities on the client.

37. The computer program product according to claim 35, wherein the rendering uses windowing features of an operating system on the client for the rendering.

38. The computer program product according to claim 35, wherein:

a plurality of the content emitters are executing on the client to emit the content for native rendering;

the rendering renders the content emitted by at least two of the plurality of content emitters that are executing on the client; and

the rendering displays the content emitted by each of the at least two content emitters in distinct frames of a window.

39. The computer program product according to claim 35, wherein:

a plurality of the content emitters are executing on the client to emit the content for native rendering;

the rendering renders the content emitted by at least two of the plurality of content emitters that are executing on the client; and

the rendering independently displays the content emitted by each of the at least two content emitters in a separate window.

40. The computer program product according to claim 32, wherein the executive notifies the content emitters whether to emit content for the native rendering or for delivery in the aggregated stream.

41. The computer program product according to claim 32, wherein:

a plurality of the content emitters are executing on the client to emit the content for native rendering; and

the executive operates as a client-side portal for collecting content received from each of the plurality of content emitters for rendering, using a native operating system of the client, into separate child windows of a parent frame.

42. The computer program product according to claim 32, wherein:

a plurality of the content emitters are executing on the client to emit the content for native rendering; and

the executive operates as a client-side portal for collecting content received from each of the plurality of content emitters and rendering, using a native operating system of the client, the content collected from each of the plurality of content emitters in separate windows on a display device of the client.

43. The computer program product according to claim 32, wherein:

each of the content emitters generates a window identifier in the content it emits for native rendering; and

the executive uses the generated window identifier, upon receiving content emitted by any of the content emitters for native rendering, for locating a window uniquely associated with that content emitter and directing the received content to the located window.

44. A computer program product for native content rendering, the computer program product embodied on at least one computer-readable storage media and comprising computer-readable instructions for:

requesting, from at least one locally-executing content emitter, content for native rendering on a client using windowing support of an operating system of the client, wherein the at least one locally-executing content emitter is also capable of rendering content for aggregation and delivery to the client in an aggregated stream;

receiving the requested content; and

rendering the received content from each of the at least one locally-executing content emitter into distinct windows at the client using local controls provided by the windowing support of the operating system.