HANDLING EXTERNAL CONTENT IN WEB APPLICATIONS

• US 20080120533A1
• Filed: 11/20/2006
• Published: 05/22/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Lazier, Ari, Whyte, Nick, Williams, Hugh
• Granted Patent: US 8,255,873 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/234
• 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 for handling third-party content in web applications, comprising:

operating a first set of software to detect a second set of content controlled by another wherein the second set of content is accessed or executed from embedded content in a web page rendered by a host application;

detecting one or more problems with the second set of content wherein the one or more problems include the second set of content no longer exists, the second set of content is unavailable, the second set of content changes, or the second set of content disrupts the host application; and

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

2. The media of claim 1, wherein operating the first set of software comprises gathering the second set of content controlled by the another associated with the embedded content in the web page;

3. The media of claim 2, wherein the another comprises an owner or a controller of the second set of content, and the another is not the owner nor the controller of the web page.

4. The media of claim 3, wherein the second set of 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 RSS feed, an XML content, and a Javascript application.

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

6. The media of claim 1, wherein the first 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 second set of content to determine if the second set of content no longer exists, if second set of content is unavailable, if the second set of content changes, or if the second set of content disrupts the host application.

8. The media of claim 7, 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.

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

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

11. The media of claim 1, wherein modifying the web page comprises modifying one or more HTML files to remove the embedded content associated with the second set of content.

12. The media of claim 11, 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 set of content, or adding the another set of content directly to the one or more HTML files.

13. The media of claim 1, wherein modifying the web page comprises changing the second set of content or replacing the second set of content.

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

15. One or more computer-readable media containing thereon computer-readable code for handling third-party content in web applications, comprising:

operating a first set of software to detect a second set of content controlled by another wherein the second set of content is accessed or executed from one or more links in a web page rendered by a host application;

detecting one or more problems with the second set of content wherein the one or more problems include the second set of content no longer exists, the second set of content is unavailable, the second set of content changes, or the second set of 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 second set of content, and an option to display another set of content.

16. The media of claim 15, 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.

17. A method for detecting a validity of third-party content in a web application using a first 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;

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; 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.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising modifying the link or the content if the last identifier and the current identifier are different.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the first set of computer software operates on one or more servers.

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