Enhancing client-side object caching for web based applications

• US 9,576,067 B2
• Filed: 02/24/2012
• Issued: 02/21/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/05/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Beaver, Michael B., Collier, Jason A., Jagoda, Jeffrey S., Santos Deas, Marlies
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Dustin
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mesa, Joel
• Application Number:
  US13/404,195
• Publication Number:
  US 20120158831A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,824 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/201
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9574 of access to content, e.g. by caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

An object request associated with a requesting entity can be identified. The object request can comprise of an object identifier and an object type associated with an object instance which can be a renderable entity. The entity can be a widget within an application executing within a client device. An object type associated with the object request can be determined which can be decomposed into an attribute request based a selected schema. The attribute request can comprise of an object instance identifier and an attribute identifier associated with an attribute value. An attribute index associated with a client-side object cache can be queried for the attribute value. When the attribute value exists in the attribute index, an appropriate attribute value associated with the attribute can be conveyed to the entity. When the attribute value is absent from the attribute index, the attribute request can be conveyed to a request aggregator.

Claims

1. A method for enhancing client-side object caching comprising:

identifying an object request associated with a requesting entity, wherein the object request comprises of an object identifier and an object type associated with an object instance, wherein the requesting entity is a widget within an application executing within a client-side computing device, and wherein the object instance is a renderable entity of the widget;

identifying at least one existing attribute value in an attribute index relevant for at least a portion of the object request, that is commonly used by at least one another widget in the client;

conveying the at least one existing attribute value to the requesting entity from an object cache, wherein the object cache is a client-side cache contained in a non-transitory storage medium of the client-side computing device;

for at least one other attribute value not in the attribute index, conveying corresponding at least one attribute request for the at least one attribute value to a server remotely located from the object cache;

receiving a server-provided attribute value from the server for the corresponding attribute request;

caching the server-provided attribute value in the object cache; and

conveying the server-provided attribute value to the requesting entity.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising

decomposing the object request into a plurality of different attribute requests, wherein each of the different attribute requests is a request for at least one attribute value;

wherein identification comprises querying an attribute index of an object cache for the at least one attribute value cached from responses associated with requests of other widgets, and wherein the identifying of the object request, the decomposing of the object request, the querying of the attribute index, and either the conveying of the appropriate attribute value or the conveying of the attribute request to the server are actions performed by the client-side computing device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the object cache is contained in a non-transitory storage medium of a computing device, wherein the computing device conveys messages between the client-side computing device and the server, and wherein the identifying of the object request, the decomposing of the object request, the querying of the attribute index, and either the conveying of the appropriate attribute value or the conveying of the attribute request to the server are actions performed by the computing device responsive to receiving the object request from the client-side computing device.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

before decomposing the object request into a plurality of different attribute requests, checking the object cache for an object that satisfies the object request;

when no object that satisfies the object request exists in the object cache, responsively preforming the decomposing of the object request, the querying of the attribute index and either the conveying of the appropriate attribute value or the conveying of the attribute request; and

when an object that satisfies the object request exists in the object cache, responsively providing the object that satisfies the object request from the object cache and not performing the decomposing of the object request, the querying of the attribute index, the conveying of the appropriate attribute value, or the conveying of the attribute request.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

conveying a request for a Web page from the client-side computing device to the server, wherein the Web page comprises the object instance;

responsive to the request, receiving markup from the server, said markup comprising a non-renderable section comprising object identifiers with corresponding object values for objects of the Web page and attribute identifiers and corresponding attribute values for attributes of the Web page;

responsive to receiving the markup, populating the object cache with the object identifiers and corresponding object values and attribute identifiers and corresponding attribute values; and

rendering the Web page on the client-side computing device, wherein the Web page as rendered includes the object instance, and wherein each of the attribute requests for the object instance is obtained from querying the object cache utilizing information obtained from the non-renderable section of the markup.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the attribute index is a hashing data structure.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving attribute values for each of the attribute requests, wherein at least one of the attribute values is from the object cache; and

constructing an object value satisfying the object requests from the attribute values.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

conveying a checksum request associated with the object request to an object service, wherein the object service is associated with a server-side resource;

receiving an object checksum associated with the checksum request; and

comparing the object checksum with a cached object checksum of the object cache, to determine whether cached content is current.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the object conforms to a JAVASCRIPT OBJECT NOTATION (JSON).

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the decomposing step further comprising:

determining an object type for an object associated with the object request;

selecting an object schema associated with the object request based on the object type; and

determining the plurality of different attribute requests using the selected object schema.

11. A method for enhancing client-side object caching comprising:

intercepting an object request from a widget, wherein the object request comprises of an object identifier and an object type associated with an object instance, wherein the widget is within an application executing on a client-side computing device, and wherein the object instance is a renderable entity of the widget;

decomposing the object request into a plurality of different attribute requests, wherein each of the different attribute requests is a request for at least one attribute value;

for each of the different attribute requests, determining whether an appropriate attribute value for the corresponding attribute request is available from objects associated with other widgets;

when the attribute value available for the corresponding attribute request, obtaining appropriate attribute value, for the corresponding attribute request to the widget from a client-side object cache;

when the attribute value is not available for the for the corresponding attribute request, conveying the attribute request to a server remotely located from the client-side object cache;

receiving a server-provided attribute value from the server for the corresponding attribute request; and

generating the object using attribute values retrieved from at least one of index and received from the server.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

conveying the generated object to the widget.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the intercepting the object request, the decomposing of the object request, the querying of the client-side object cache, and generating the object are actions performed by the client-side computing device responsive to the object request from the client-side computing device.

14. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

responsive to the attribute value being absent from the client-side object cache, conveying the attribute request to a server remotely located from the object cache;

receiving a server-provided attribute value from the server for the corresponding attribute request;

caching the server-provided attribute value in the object cache; and

conveying the server-provided attribute value to the requesting entity.

15. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

before decomposing the object request into a plurality of different attribute requests, checking the object cache for an object that satisfies the object request;

when no object that satisfies the object request exists in the object cache, responsively preforming the decomposing of the object request, the querying of the attribute index and either the conveying of the appropriate attribute value or the conveying of the attribute request; and

when an object that satisfies the object request exists in the object cache, responsively providing the object that satisfies the object request from the object cache and not performing the decomposing of the object request, the querying of the attribute index, the conveying of the appropriate attribute value, or the conveying of the attribute request.

16. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

conveying a request for a Web page from the client-side computing device to the server, wherein the Web page comprises the object instance;

responsive to the request, receiving markup from the server, said markup comprising a non-renderable section comprising object identifiers with corresponding object values for objects of the Web page and attribute identifiers and corresponding attribute values for attributes of the Web page;

responsive to receiving the markup, populating the object cache with the object identifiers and corresponding object values and attribute identifiers and corresponding attribute values; and

rendering the Web page on the client-side computing device, wherein the Web page as rendered includes the object instance, and wherein each of the attribute requests for the object instance is obtained from querying the object cache utilizing information obtained from the non-renderable section of the markup.

17. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

conveying a checksum request associated with the object request to an object service, wherein the object service is associated with a server-side resource;

receiving an object checksum associated with the checksum request; and

comparing the object checksum with a cached object checksum of the object cache, to determine whether cached content is current.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the decomposing the object request comprising:

determining an object type for an object associated with the object request;

selecting an object schema associated with the object request based on the object type; and

determining the plurality of different attribute requests using the selected object schema.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein said client-side object cache is configured to decompose the object instance request into a plurality of different attributes requests, wherein each of the different attribute requests is a request for at least one attribute values, wherein the cache engine stores the object cache for attribute values for each of the attribute requests retrieving an appropriate value from the object cache when available.

20. A method comprising:

receiving object requests from widgets, wherein the widgets are executable components of an application executing within a client-side computing device;

identifying each object request of the object requests, wherein each object request comprises of an object identifier and an object type associated with a corresponding object instance, wherein the object instance is a renderable entity of the widget;

determining an object type for an object associated with each of the object request;

selecting a corresponding object schema associated with the corresponding object request based on the object type;

determining the plurality of different attribute requests for the corresponding object request using the selected object schema;

for each of the different attribute requests, querying an attribute index of an object cache for one or more existing attribute values that satisfy the attribute requests, that are associated with other widgets in the client;

constructing an object value satisfying the corresponding object request from the one or more attribute values that satisfy the attribute requests; and

conveying the object value for the corresponding object request.