Apparatus and method for providing server state and attribute management for voice enabled web applications

• US 6,711,618 B1
• Filed: 12/15/1999
• Issued: 03/23/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 09/03/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Danner, Ryan Alan, Martin, Steven J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Maung, Zarni
• Application Number:
  US09/461,191
• Time in Patent Office: 1,560 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/228, 709/227, 709/223, 709/250, 707/9, 714/4
• US Class Current: 709/228
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/30 Distributed recognition, e.g. in client-server systems, for mobile phones or network applications
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/228 of application context
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/142 Managing session states for stateless protocols; Signalling session states; State transitions; Keeping-state mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/561 Adding application-functional data or data for application control, e.g. adding metadata
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/564 Enhancement of application control based on intercepted application data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/253 where a visual mode is used instead of a voice mode
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/4509 Unified messaging with single point of access to voicemail and other mail or messaging systems unified messaging in packet switching networks H04L51/56
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4938 comprising a voice browser which renders and interprets, e.g. VoiceXML
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/53 Centralised arrangements for recording incoming messages , i.e. mailbox systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/533 Voice mail systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/12 for working between exchanges having different types of switching equipment, e.g. power-driven and step by step or decimal and non-decimal
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99939 Privileged access

Abstract

A unified web-based voice messaging system provides voice application control between a web browser and an application server via an hypertext transport protocol (HTTP) connection on an Internet Protocol (IP) network. The application server generates and maintains a server-side data record, also referred to as a “brownie”, that includes application state information and user attribute information for an identified user session with the web browser. The application server, in response to receiving a new web page request from the browser, initiates a web application instance to begin a transient application session with the browser. The brownie also includes a session identifier that uniquely identifies session with the user of the application session. The application server stores the brownie in a memory resident within the server side of the network, and sends to the browser the session identifier and the corresponding web page requested by the web browser.

Claims

1. A method in a server configured for executing web applications, the method comprising:

receiving a first hypertext markup language (HTML) request, via a hypertext transport (HTTP) connection, for a first HTML page for a user;

generating the first HTML page in response to the first HTML request by executing a first web application instance according to a first application state;

storing a data record that specifies the first application state and a corresponding session identifier;

sending the first HTML page and the session identifier to the user via the HTTP connection;

receiving via the HTTP connection a second HTML request for a second HTML page; and

generating the second HTML page by selectively executing a second web application instance based on the first application state, based on reception of the corresponding session identifier in the second HTML request;

wherein;

the step of generating the first HTML page includes inserting a first XML-based voice web application parameter and terminating the first web application instance upon sending the first HTML page;

the step of generating the second HTML page includes (1) initiating the second web application instance, following termination of the first web application instance in response to the selection thereof based on identifying the first application state specified in the data record and (2) inserting a second XML-based voice web application parameter, the first and second HTML pages representing respective application states of a web-enabled voice messaging session with the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the storing step includes storing user attribute information that specifies attributes about the user in the data record.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of generating the second HTML page includes executing the second web application instance based on the user attribute information stored in the corresponding data record.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the storing step includes storing in the user attribute information subscriber profile information that specifies profile and preference settings for the corresponding user.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising deleting the data record after a prescribed interval.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the storing step further includes storing the data record as an extensible markup language (XML) document.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the storing step further includes storing the XML document in a nonvolatile memory locally within the server.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising forwarding the XML document from the nonvolatile memory to a second server requesting the XML document.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the storing step further includes storing the XML document in a nonvolatile memory of a second server in communication with the server, the steps of generating the first and second HTML pages each comprising registering with the second server for corresponding access to the XML document.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the storing step includes:

registering the first web application instance with a registry and in response creating a registry entry; and

storing state attributes, generated during execution of the first web application instance and describing the first application state, into the registry entry.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of sending the first HTML page and the session identifier includes adding a tag within the first HTML page that includes a uniform resource locator (URL) that specifies the session identifier.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of generating the second HTML page includes detecting the session identifier within the URL supplied by the second HTML request.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of sending the first HTML page and the session identifier includes sending a cookie that includes the session identifier.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of generating the second HTML page includes detecting the session identifier within a cookie supplied with the second HTML request.

15. A computer readable medium having stored thereon sequences of instructions for executing web applications by a server, the sequences of instructions including instructions for performing the steps of:

receiving a first hypertext markup language (HTML) request, via a hypertext transport (HTTP) connection, for a first HTML page for a user;

generating the first HTML page in response to the first HTML request by executing a first web application instance according to a first application state;

storing a data record that specifies the first application state and a corresponding session identifier;

sending the first HTML page and the session identifier to the user via the HTTP connection;

receiving via the HTTP connection a second HTML request for a second HTML page; and

generating the second HTML page by selectively executing a second web application instance based on the first application state, based on reception of the corresponding session identifier in the second HTML request, wherein;

the step of generating the first HTML page includes inserting a first XML-based voice web application parameter and terminating the first web application instance upon sending the first HTML page;

the step of generating the second HTML page includes (1) initiating the second web application instance, following termination of the first web application instance, in response to the selection thereof based on identifying the first application state specified in the data record, and (2) inserting a second XML-based voice web application parameter, the first and second HTML pages representing respective application states of a web-enabled voice messaging session with the user.

16. The medium of claim 15, wherein the storing step includes storing user attribute information that specifies attributes about the user in the data record.

17. The medium of claim 16, wherein the step of generating the second HTML page includes executing the second web application instance based on the user attribute information stored in the corresponding data record.

18. The medium of claim 17, wherein the storing step includes storing in the user attribute information subscriber profile information that specifies profile and preference settings for the corresponding user.

19. The medium of claim 16, further comprising instructions for performing the step of deleting the data record after a prescribed interval.

20. The medium of claim 16, wherein the storing step further includes storing the data record as an extensible markup language (XML) document.

21. The medium of claim 20, wherein the storing step further includes storing the XML document in a nonvolatile memory locally within the server.

22. The medium of claim 21, further comprising instructions for performing the step of forwarding the XML document from the nonvolatile memory to a second server requesting the XML document.

23. The medium of claim 20, wherein the storing step further includes storing the XML document in a nonvolatile memory of a second server in communication with the server, the steps of generating the first and second HTML pages each comprising registering with the second server for corresponding access to the XML document.

24. The medium of claim 15, wherein the storing step includes:

registering the first web application instance with a registry and in response creating a registry entry; and

storing state attributes, generated during execution of the first web application instance and describing the first application state, into the registry entry.

25. The medium of claim 15, wherein the step of sending the first HTML page and the session identifier includes adding a tag within the first HTML page that includes a uniform resource locator (URL) that specifies the session identifier.

26. The medium of claim 25, wherein the step of generating the second HTML page includes detecting the session identifier within the URL supplied by the second HTML request.

27. The medium of claim 15, wherein the step of sending the first HTML page and the session identifier includes sending a cookie that includes the session identifier.

28. The medium of claim 27, wherein the step of generating the second HTML page includes detecting the session identifier within a cookie supplied with the second HTML request.

29. A processor-based system configured for executing web applications, the device comprising:

a hypertext transport protocol (HTTP) interface configured receiving first and second hypertext markup language requests for first and second HTML pages for a user, respectively, and sending the first and second HTML pages and a session identifier to the user via an HTTP connection; and

an application server configured for executing first and second web application instances for generation of the first and second HTML pages in response to the first and second HTML requests, respectively, the application server storing a data record that specifies a session state with the user upon completion of the first web application instance, the application server accessing the data record in response to detecting the session identifier in the second HTML request, and executing the second web application instance based on the accessed data record wherein;

the application server is configured for terminating the first web application instance upon the sending of the first HTML page,

the application server configured for initiating the second web application instance, following termination of the first web application instance, in response to the selection thereof based on identifying the session state specified in the data record,

the application server configured for inserting first and second XML-based voice web application parameters into the first and second HTML pages during execution of the first and second web application instances, respectively, the first and second HTML pages representing respective application states of a web-enabled voice messaging session with the user.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the HTTP interface includes a web server connected to an Internet Protocol (IP) network.

31. The system of claim 29, further including a local memory for storing the data record for a prescribed time interval.

32. The system of claim 29, further comprising a shared registry for storing the data record, the shared registry configured for supplying the data record to authorized servers.

33. The system of claim 29, wherein the application server is configured for storing within the data record user attribute information that specifies attributes about the user, the application server executing the second web application instance based on the user attribute information in the corresponding accessed data record.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the application server stores the data record as an extensible markup language (XML) document.

35. The system of claim 29, wherein the application server adds to the first HTML page a tag that includes a uniform resource locator (URL) that specifies the session identifier, the application server accessing the data record in response to detecting the URL specifying the session identifier in the second HTML request.

36. The device of claim 29, wherein the application server sends with the first HTML page a cookie that includes the session identifier, the application server accessing the data record in response to detecting the cookie having the session identifier with the second HTML request.