Method and system for accelerating browsing sessions

• US 8,166,198 B2
• Filed: 03/15/2007
• Issued: 04/24/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/28/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Flash Networks, Ltd. (Constellation Software Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Flahs Networks Limited
• Inventors: Kosoi, Giora, Raviv, Gil
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Quang N.
• Assistant Examiner(s): YI, DAVID
• Application Number:
  US11/686,495
• Publication Number:
  US 20070233898A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,867 Days
• Field of Search: 709/217, 709/238, 709/248
• US Class Current: 709/238
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation

Abstract

The delivery of web content over an IP based network is accelerated by utilizing an intermediate node to receive requests for ML files, analyze ML files and create multipart objects that compound two or more browser'"'"'s objects referenced by browser'"'"'s links in the original ML file. The ML file is modified by replacing browser'"'"'s links with multipart URLs that represent the multipart objects. When a subsequent user requests the page, the modified ML page is sent to the user and the multipart objects are more quickly and efficiently loaded into the user'"'"'s browser.

Claims

1. An apparatus for shaping web-page traffic between a plurality of endpoints and a plurality of servers, wherein the apparatus is installed in an intermediate node between the plurality of endpoints and the plurality of servers and wherein the communication between the endpoints and the servers is based on the Internet Protocol (IP), the apparatus comprising:

a converting table; and

a plurality of User'"'"'s Traffic Shaper Modules (UTSMs), wherein each UTSM is associated with an endpoint from the plurality of endpoints, which are currently communicating via the apparatus, and wherein each UTSM is adapted to;

receive data traffic from/to the associated endpoint;

analyze the received data for creating tracking information that is related to one or more requested ML files by (a) defining the type of data, (b) parsing a request for a new received ML file, (c) creating a list of browser'"'"'s links that are embedded within the received new ML file, and (d) storing in the cache received objects that are associated with links from the list of browser'"'"'s links;

store, in the converting table, the tracking information related to one or more requested markup language (ML) files;

modify a received ML file, targeted to an endpoint by replacing two or more browser'"'"'s links, each browser link is replaced with a link pointing to a compound object and indicating a URL which represents the compound object and the original URL of the replaced browser'"'"'s object, wherein each compound object includes two or more browser'"'"'s objects that are referenced by browser'"'"'s links in the received ML file; and

send the modified ML file to the associated endpoint,

wherein a browser'"'"'s link is a link that is used automatically by a browser, at an endpoint, during parsing of the received ML file; and

wherein a browser'"'"'s object is an object that is fetched automatically by the browser.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

an HTTP proxy capable of transferring/receiving the data traffic to/from the plurality of UTSMs; and

a cache capable of storing compound objects and/or browser'"'"'s objects.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the compound object is a multipart object (MPO).

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the MPO complies with RFC 2557.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein each of the one or more links pointing to one or more MPOs is a multipart URL (MURL) that is implemented according to an mhtml scheme.

6. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein each one of the links that points to an MPO replaces a link to an object that is included in the MPO and each replacing link includes a Multipart URL (MURL) that represents the MPO and the URL that was replaced.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the compound object comprises public objects.

8. The apparatus of claim 2, further comprising a redirector that is installed in front of the HTTP proxy or as part of the HTTP proxy.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the UTSM is operable to modify the received ML file based on stored tracking information that was created while analyzing a previously received ML file from the same URL regardless to which user requested the previous received ML file.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the tracking information is related to ML files and browser'"'"'s links and the type of information is selected from the group consisting of:

type of object, source URL, location in the cache, classification of the object as private object or public object, location in the cache of a relevant compound object and expiration date.

11. A method for shaping web-page traffic between a plurality of endpoints and a plurality of servers, wherein the communication between the endpoints and the servers is based on Internet Protocol (IP), the method comprising the steps of:

a. receiving data traffic communicated between at least one endpoint of the plurality of endpoints and at least one server of the plurality of servers;

b. modifying a received ML file targeted to an endpoint by replacing two or more browser'"'"'s links, each browser link is replaced with a link pointing to a compound object, each replacing browser'"'"'s link pointing to a URL which represent the compound object and the original URL of the replaced browser'"'"'s object, and sending the modified ML file to the targeted endpoint, wherein the compound object including the two or more browser'"'"'s objects that are referenced by browser'"'"'s link in the received ML file;

analyzing the received data to creating tracking information that is related to one or more requested ML files by (a) defining the type of data, (b) parsing a request for a new received ML file, (c) creating a list of browser'"'"'s links that are embedded within the received new ML file, and (d) storing in the cache received objects that are associated with links from the list of browser'"'"'s links; and

storing the tracking information in a converting table.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the compound object and/or the browser'"'"'s object are stored in a cache.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of modifying the received ML file further comprises creating a compound object that is a multipart object (MPO).

14. The method of claim 11, wherein step of modifying the received ML file further comprises creating a compound object that is a multipart object (MPO) that complies with RFC 2557.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of modifying the received ML file further comprises creating a compound object that is a multipart object (MPO) wherein each one of the replacing links that points to the MPO includes a Multipart URL (MURL) that represents the MPO and the URL that was included in the replaced link.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the replacing two or more browser'"'"'s links are pointing to public objects.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of modifying the received ML file based on stored tracking information that was created while analyzing a previously received ML file from the same URL regardless of the destination of the previous received ML file.

18. The method of claim 11, further comprising the steps of:

e. creating one or more compound objects wherein each compound object includes two or more objects that are associated with links that belong to the list of browser'"'"'s links

f. storing the one or more compound objects in the cache;

g. storing in the converting table tracking information related to each one of the compound objects; and

h. updating each entry in the converting table, which is associated with an object that is embedded within a compound object, to include a replacement URL that represents the location of the stored compound object and the original URL.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the step of creating one or more compounds objects is based on a criteria selected from a group consisting of:

size of each object, expiration date, and object type.

26. The method of claim 17, wherein the step of analyzing further comprises the steps of:

f. parsing the retrieved ML file;

g. creating a list of browser'"'"'s links that are embedded within the retrieved ML file;

h. defining the number of MPO to be used and the objects that will be embedded within each MPO;

i. retrieving the browser'"'"'s object from the web-server and creating the one or more MPOs; and

j. storing the MPOs in the web-server.

20. A method for shaping web-pages traffic from a web server to a plurality of endpoints, wherein the traffic is based on Internet Protocol (IP), the method comprising:

a. retrieving a markup language (ML) file from the web server;

b. analyzing the retrieved ML file for creating tracking information by defining the type of data, parsing a request for a new received ML file, creating a list of browser'"'"'s links that are embedded within the received new ML file, and storing in the cache received objects that are associated with links from the list of browser'"'"'s links;

c. storing the tracking information in a converting table;

d. modifying a retrieved ML file by replacing two or more browser'"'"'s links, each link pointing to a URL having a browser'"'"'s object, each browser'"'"'s link is replaced with a link pointing to a compound object that is located in the web-server, wherein the compound object includes the two or more browser'"'"'s object; and

e. storing the modified ML file in the web-server.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the step of modifying a retrieved ML file comprises replacing the browser'"'"'s links with a link that points to a compound object that is a multipart object (MPO).

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the step of modifying a retrieved ML file comprises replacing the browser'"'"'s links with a link that points to a compound object that is a multipart object (MPO) and wherein the MPO complies with RFC 2557.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein the step of modifying a retrieved ML file comprises replacing the browser'"'"'s links with a link that points to a compound object that is a multipart object (MPO) and wherein each one of the replacing links that point the MPO includes a Multipart URL (MURL) that represents the MPO and the URL that was included in the replaced link.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the MURL is implemented according to mhtml scheme.

25. The method of claim 21, wherein the step of modifying a retrieved ML file comprises replacing the browser'"'"'s links with a link that points to a compound object that is a multipart object (MPO) and wherein the replaced links point a public object.