Data processing: database and file management or data structures – Database design – Data structure types
Reexamination Certificate
1997-08-11
2001-10-09
Alam, Hosain T. (Department: 2172)
Data processing: database and file management or data structures
Database design
Data structure types
C707S793000, C707S793000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06301590
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the field of Internet technology. Specifically, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for formatting and displaying data from the Internet.
DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART
The World Wide Web (the Web) has experienced dramatic growth in recent years. The Web represents all of the computers on the Internet that offer users access to information on the Internet via interactive documents or Web pages. These Web pages contain hypertext links that are used to connect any combination of graphics, audio, video and text, in a no-linear, non-sequential manner. Hypertext links are created using a special software language known as HyperText Mark-Up Language (HTML).
Once created, Web pages reside on the Web, on Web servers or Web sites. A Web site can contain numerous Web pages. Web client machines running Web browsers can access these Web pages at Web sites via a communications protocol known as HyperText Transport Protocol (HTTP). Web browsers are software interfaces that run on Web clients to allow access to Web sites via a simple user interface. A Web browser allows a Web client to request a particular Web page from a Web site by specifying a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). A URL is a Web address that identifies the Web page and its location on the Web. When the appropriate Web site receives the URL, the Web page corresponding to the requested URL is located, and if required, HTML output is generated. The HTML output is then sent via HTTP to the client for formatting on the client's screen.
One reason for the dramatic growth of the Web is the evolution of Web architecture and tools. These advances have enabled users to more fully exploit the Web's capabilities, thus attracting more product vendors and corporations to the Web in the hopes of expanding their customer base.
FIGS. 1A-1B
illustrate an overview of the evolution of Web architecture in recent years.
As illustrated in
FIG. 1A
, in early Web architecture, Web browser
100
is coupled to Web server
105
and data repository
110
via the Internet. This architecture provided basic file distribution services, where reports and documents were saved as HTML files on the Web server. The data repositories were originally part of the machine on which Web server
105
resided. As time evolved, data repositories
110
were decoupled from Web server
105
and were able to reside on separate machines. In either scenario, users running Web browser
100
would access HTML files by clicking on the appropriate URL on a Web page. These HTML files were traditionally static documents that did not allow the users to make changes. Instead, static HTML files only allowed users to view, save or print the documents. Static HTML documents are still accessible on the Web today.
FIG. 1B
illustrates the next generation of Web architecture. Specifically, as illustrated, in this next generation architecture, a user using Web browser
100
may still access static HTML documents from Web server
105
and data repository
110
. In this scenario, however, scripts
115
are used to support dynamic HTML publishing, i.e. HTML documents are created “on the fly” in response to user requests. Scripts
115
include Common Gateway Interface (CGI) scripts, Netscape Server Application Interface (NSAPI) scripts and Microsoft's Internet Server API (ISAPI) scripts. Each of these is described in further detail below.
CGI scripts provided the early means for dynamic Web page generation. CGI programs or scripts that run on Web servers are typically written in an interpretative language like Perl or shell scripts. These languages are popular because they are easy to debug and manage. CGI can, however, also call existing programs written in a compiled language such as C or C++. The downside to CGI scripts is that CGI scripts spawn operating system processes instead of threads. These scripts therefore tend to use system resources inefficiently and are likely to significantly slow down the machine on which the scripts are running.
As a result of the problems with using CGI scripts, native Web server interfaces such as Netscape's NSAPI and Microsoft's ISAPI have caught on with many developers. Scripts written in NSAPI or ISAPI run as threads within a server operating system, thus providing better performance and scalabilty in large multi-user environments. A disadvantage of using these native Web server APIs, however, is that an application written to NSAPI is not compatible with ISAPI and vice versa. As such, the use of NSAPI and ISAPI scripts dictate the Web server that has to be utilized to enable the scripts. As proprietary APIs, these APIs are also limited in their ability to provide developers with a robust application development environment.
Within the traditional Web environments illustrated in
FIGS. 1A and 1B
, Web browser
100
and Web server
105
do not maintain a persistent connection. Each time a request is made from Web browser
100
, a temporary connection is established between Web browser
100
and Web server
105
. This process has to be repeated for every request from Web browser
100
because after each request is satisfied, the connection between Web browser
100
and Web server
105
is dropped. Thus, for example, when a user moves from one Web page on Web server
105
to another Web page, the connection is dropped and reestablished between the first Web page and the second.
This “stateless” connection between Web browser
100
and Web server
105
results in numerous problems for applications running on the Web. For example, in a traditional client-server environment, the client machine may maintain a persistent connection to the server machine for as long as the client machine remains logged on to the server via a particular application. As such, a user is able to retrieve and manipulate data over a client-server connection in an extremely flexible manner. Client-server tools, such as decision support tools, have therefore been able to evolved into robust utilities that users' may utilize to perform complex data analysis.
In contrast, given the stateless connection that exists between Web browser
100
and Web server
105
, when a user moves between Web pages, the information pertaining to the previous Web page is lost. There is therefore no persistent information that can be easily maintained between Web pages, thus rendering most decision support tools non-functional in the Web environment. Although theoretically possible for developers to create CGI, NSAPI or ISAPI scripts to perform the same functions as a decision support tool in a client-server environment, the practical reality of creating and maintaining these scripts renders this a non-viable solution. The developer creating the scripts would be forced to script the entire connection, retention of data, and the manipulation of data by the users. This would prove to be a monumental task and may only allow users limited functionality, i.e. that which can be scripted.
Thus, although Web architecture has evolved tremendously over the past few years, the use of the Web is still limited to end users who do not require extremely sophisticated utilities on the Web. There are currently severe limitations on the Web for users who require robust analytical tools such as decision support tools. These users continue to use a client-server environment to fulfill their needs.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention discloses a method and apparatus for formatting and displaying data on the Web. Specifically, a request is received on an application server from a Web client, a connection is established to a data repository via the application server, the data is retrieved from the data repository, formatted on the application server in a predetermined reporting format, and displayed on a display device coupled to the Web client.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the accompanying drawings and from the detailed description.
REFERENCES:
patent:
Chu Jia-Bao
Lai David C.
Siow Tow-Ming
Alam Hosain T.
Blakely & Sokoloff, Taylor & Zafman
Kindred Alford W.
Viador
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