Web-integrated display of locally stored content objects

• US 8,370,420 B1
• Filed: 07/11/2002
• Issued: 02/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/11/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Original Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Inventors: Decasper, Dan S., Dittia, Zubin, Mundkur, Prashanth, Ghosh, Rajib
• Primary Examiner(s): Follansbee, John
• Assistant Examiner(s): Woolcock, Madhu
• Application Number:
  US10/194,623
• Time in Patent Office: 3,862 Days
• Field of Search: 709/202, 709/245, 709/246, 709/203, 709/250, 709/239, 709/217, 709/219, 715/511, 715/513, 715/749, 717/115
• US Class Current: 709/202
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9574 of access to content, e.g. by caching

Abstract

A method and apparatus for displaying locally stored content objects is disclosed. In one embodiment, the method comprises running an agent on a machine and integrating one or more locally stored objects in a page being displayed using information from the agent.

Claims

1. A method for displaying a web page using locally stored content, the method comprising:

receiving, by a browser running on a client machine, a web page to display, a first portion of the web page comprising one or more hyperlinks to one or more content objects and a set of instructions, the set of instructions comprising an instruction to load a script file by the browser, and a remainder of the web page comprising a hyperlink that includes a destination portion identifying a remote location for a content object of the one or more content objects

generating, by an agent running on the client machine, the script file containing information about one or more content objects stored on the client machine;

wherein the script file comprises information identifying a remote location of each of the one or more content objects, a location on the client machine of at least one of the one or more content objects, and a download status of each of the one or more content objects indicating whether or not the respective content object is completely downloaded to the client machine;

determining, by the agent in communication with a master controller, whether or not there is a change in the download status of one of the one or more content objects;

responsive to determining a change in the download status of one of the one or more content objects, dynamically updating the script file by the agent;

sending, by the agent, the script file to the browser responsive to the browser executing the set of instructions of the web page;

executing the script file by the browser;

wherein executing the script file loads the script file into memory of the browser;

determining, by the browser for each destination portion of the hyperlinks identifying remote locations for the one or more content objects in the web page, whether to replace the destination portion of the hyperlink with a second destination portion identifying a location on the client machine of the particular content object of the one or more content objects;

wherein the determining is based on the information loaded by the script file and based on the download status of the particular content object of the one or more content objects;

responsive to determining, based on the script file, that the particular content object is located on the client machine and is completely downloaded, the browser modifying the web page by replacing the destination portion of the hyperlink of the particular content object, identifying the remote location for the particular content object, in the web page with the second destination portion identifying the location on the client machine of the particular object;

displaying, by the browser, the modified web page upon obtaining the one or more content objects to be replaced from the locations of the client machine.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining, by the agent in communication with the master controller, changes to the one or more content objects from the location of the client machine and updating in the script the information about the one or more content objects from the location of the client machine.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising dynamically generating, by the agent, the script identifying the one or more content objects from the location of the client machine and status information about the one or more content objects from the location of the client machine.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing a check, by an agent running on the client machine, to verify whether the web page is in a valid domain.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more content objects comprise one of a web page, video file, image file, audio file, source code or executable code.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining, by the browser responsive to the set of instructions of the web page and based on the information loaded by the script, to execute a first portion of the set of instructions to obtain the one or more content objects of the web page from a location of the client machine instead of executing a second portion of the set of instructions to obtain the one or more content objects of the web page from the remote location.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising loading, by the script, in the browser a set of variables providing the information about the one or more content objects stored on the client machine.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating, by the agent, the script comprising one or more of the following:

an object name, an amount of the object in a cache, an object type, an object length, an object status, location information and provider data for at least one of the one or more content objects from the location of the client machine.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the remote location comprises one of a server, a server appliance, a client appliance or a peer client machine.

10. A system for displaying web pages using locally stored content, the system comprising:

a browser running on a client machine receiving a web page to display, a first portion of the web page comprising one or more hyperlinks to one or more content objects and a set of instructions and a remainder of the web page comprising a hyperlinks that includes a destination portion identifying a remote location for a content object of the one or more content objects, the set of instructions comprising an instruction to load a script file by the browser;

an agent running on the client machine generating the script file containing information about one or more content objects stored on the client machine;

wherein the script file comprises information identifying a remote location of each of the one or more content objects, a location on the client machine of at least one of the one or more content objects, and a download status of each of the one or more content objects indicating whether or not the respective content object is completely downloaded to the client machine;

wherein the agent in communication with a master controller determines whether or not there is a change in the download status of one of the one or more content objects and responsive to determining a change in the download status of one of the one or more content objects, dynamically updating the script file by the agent

wherein the agent sends the script file to the browser responsive to the browser executing the set of instructions of the web page;

wherein the browser executes the script file;

wherein executing the script file loads the script file into memory of the browser;

wherein the browser determines for each destination portion of the hyperlinks identifying remote locations for the one or more content objects in the web page, whether to replace the destination portion of the hyperlink with a second destination portion identifying a location on the client machine of the particular content object of the one or more content objects;

wherein the determining is based on the information loaded by the script file and based on the download status of the particular content object of the one or more content objects;

responsive to determining, based on the script file, that the particular content object is located on the client machine and is completely downloaded, the browser modifies the web page by replacing the destination portion of the hyperlink of the particular content object, identifying the remote location for the particular content object in the web page with the second destination portion identifying the location on the client machine of the particular object; and

wherein the browser displays the modified web page upon obtaining the one or more content objects to be replaced from the locations of the client machine.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the agent determines, in communication with the master controller, changes to the one or more content objects from the location of the client machine and updates the information about the one or more content objects from the location of the client machine in the script.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the agent dynamically generates the script that identifies the one or more content objects from the location of the client machine and status information about the one or more content objects from the location of the client machine.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein an agent running on the client machine performs a check to verify whether the web page is in a valid domain.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the one or more content objects comprise one of a web page, video file, image file, audio file, source code or executable code.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the browser determines, responsive to the set of instructions of the web page and based on the information loaded by the script, to execute a first portion of the set of instructions to obtain the one or more content objects of the webpage from a location of the client machine instead of executing a second portion of the set of instructions to obtain the one or more content objects of the web page from the remote location.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the information loaded by the script comprises a set of variables storing the information about the one or more content objects stored on the client machine.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein the script generated by the agent comprises one or more of the following:

an object name, an amount of the object in a cache, an object type, an object length, an object status, location information and provider data for at least one of the one or more content objects from the location of the client machine.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein the remote location comprises one of a server, a server appliance, a client appliance or a peer client machine.