Dynamic multiplexing of hyperlinks and bookmarks

Details Dynamic multiplexing of hyperlinks and bookmarks Dynamic multiplexing of hyperlinks and bookmarks

1997-09-16

2001-01-30

Maung, Zarni (Department: 2756)

Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput

Distributed data processing

Client/server

C709S206000, C709S223000, C709S224000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06182113

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to data communications systems and networks and, in particular, to interactions between client computers and world wide web (WWW) servers that provide web pages.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
It is known that those types of web pages that are periodically updated in the world wide web, such as news pages, weather pages, traffic reports, etc., can be updated at different times of the day. For example, a weather report on web page A at a first server may be updated at 3 p.m., while a weather report on web page B at a second server may be updated at 6 p.m. In another example stock quotes may be updated at 10:28 a.m. at one site and at 10:34 a.m. at another site. This implies that at a given time of day certain Hyperlinks are more up to date and, thus, more useful than other Hyperlinks. In like manner the location of, and the bandwidth (e.g., bits/sec) of, the user's connection may also change the relative usefulness of Hyperlinks. It can be thus realized that the relative usefulness of a user's Bookmarks can also vary with the time of day (TOD), user's location (L), and user's link bandwidth (LBW).
A given Hyperlink will include a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) that is a specification of the location of a link (a synonym for Hyperlink). In general, a URL specifies the protocol (http:// for a web page), site name, path and file name to a resource.
Bookmarks are well known to those that access the Internet, as they are provided by web browsers as a shortcut route to user-selected web pages. In general, a user can specify that a certain web page be placed in the Bookmarks file. When this occurs the web browser stores the network address of the web page in association with a descriptive text string. If the user subsequently clicks on a certain Bookmark, the web page associated with the stored network address is automatically accessed.
One problem present in existing web browsers is that Bookmarks and Hyperlinks are static, and thus ignore the effects of time of day, location and link bandwidth. This triad of user information (TOD, L, LBW) can be referred to for the purposes of this invention as a User Information Triad (UUT).
At the web server end of the connection, and in accordance with one known technique, the contents of a web page can be modified in accordance with a manually entered zip code.
It is also known that a user may write a special program to recreate his Bookmarks folder based on time, location, and link bandwidth. However, it is unrealistic in most cases to require users of the WWW to write a program to update their Bookmarks. As such, a need exists for simple, unified and consistent way to program Bookmarks.
Current web browsers allow some reconfiguration to match the user's link bandwidth. This is currently limited to turning off images and using text-based web pages. However, this existing capability is not configurable on a per web page basis, and thus is less useful than it appears.
Other solutions, such as one known as WebExpress™, send differential data to the browser. This is useful in some cases, e.g., a form accepting a stock symbol can be cached and only the varying stock symbol need be exchanged.
At present, no direct solutions that are known to the inventor adapt Hyperlinks and Bookmarks based on the user's location. For example, if a user is in California and the local time is 8 p.m., he may wish to download a driver for a graphics card from a web server in New York, where the local time is 11 p.m. and the network loading is presumably lower.
The recent development of the Dynamic Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), while a significant improvement over HTML 3.2, does not address the above issues. Reference in this regard may be had to the following documents: “HTML 3.2 Reference Specification, W
3
C Recommendations”, D. Raggett, Jan. 14, 1997; and “Dynamic HTML: The Next Generation of User Interface Design Using HTML”, Microsoft Corporation, February 1997.
OBJECTS AND ADVANTAGES OF THE INVENTION
It is an object and advantage of this invention to simplify navigation of the world wide web based on one or more of the current time, the location of the user, and the available bandwidth.
It is a further object and advantage of this invention to provide a method and apparatus for dynamically reconfiguring Hyperlinks and Bookmarks.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The foregoing and other problems are overcome and the objects of the invention are realized by methods and apparatus in accordance with embodiments of this invention.
In one aspect this invention teaches apparatus and a method for operating a data processing system that is coupled to a data communications network. The method includes a first step of storing a plurality of Bookmarks, individual ones of which refer to one of a plurality of data communications network sites, wherein each of the plurality of data network communications network sites provides a similar type of information. A second step of the method designates one of the plurality of Bookmarks as a currently active Bookmark based on at least one criterion. In one embodiment the step of designating is executed in response to a user selecting a multiplexed Bookmark that comprises the plurality of Bookmarks, while in another embodiment the step of designating is executed periodically during the operation of the data processing system. In a presently preferred embodiment of this invention the individual ones of the data communications network sites are each comprised a World Wide Web Server.
The at least one criterion can be a time of day, a location of the data processing system, or a bandwidth of a data communications link between the data processing system and the data communications network.
The step of designating includes an initial step of operating an n-dimensional scheduler for specifying individual ones of the Bookmarks in association with the at least one criterion.
In another aspect this invention teaches apparatus and a method for operating a World Wide Web (WWW) Server of a type that maintains WWW pages, at least some of which contain at least one Hyperlink. A first step of the method receives a request for a particular Hyperlink, and a second step formats a response to the request for the particular Hyperlink in accordance with at least one criterion that is associated with a requestor of the Hyperlink. In this case the at least one criterion can be a time of day at a location of the requestor, a location of the requestor, or a bandwidth of a data communications link between the requestor and the data communications network.
The step of receiving a request also includes a step of receiving information that is descriptive of the at least one criterion. In one embodiment a HTTP Request format is modified to include information that is descriptive of at least one of a time of day at the requestor, a location of the requestor, or a bandwidth of a data communications link between the requestor and the data communications network. In another embodiment the network address of the requestor is received with the request and is used to derive at least one of the location or time of day of the requestor. In either embodiment, the step of formatting the response to the request for the particular Hyperlink formats the response in accordance with the received information.


REFERENCES:
patent: 5813007 (1998-09-01), Nielsen
patent: 5862325 (1999-01-01), Reed et al.
patent: 5907322 (1999-05-01), Kelly et al.
patent: 5917491 (1999-06-01), Bauersfeld
“HTML 3.2 Reference Specification”, W3C Recommendation, Dave Raggett, Jan. 14, 1997.
“World Wide Web Consortium Publishes Public Draft of HTML 4.0”, Press Release Jul. 15, 1997.
“Dynamic HTML: The Next Generation of User Interface Design Using HTML”, Microsoft Corporation, Feb. 1997.

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