Method and system for providing on-line interactivity over a...

Details Method and system for providing on-line interactivity over a... Method and system for providing on-line interactivity over a...

1998-03-19

2003-03-18

Von Buhr, Maria N. (Department: 2125)

Data processing: database and file management or data structures

Database design

Data structure types

C707S793000, C707S793000, C709S241000, C709S241000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06535878

ABSTRACT:

COMPUTER PROGRAM LISTING APPENDIX
This application contains an appendix consisting of a computer program listing of more than 300 lines. The computer listing is provided on a single CD-R and is accompanied by a duplicate copy (two CD-R in total). The material contained on the CD-R is hereby incorporated herein by reference and consists of one file, titled “Appendix A,” created on Jul. 15, 2002, and comprising 318,238 bytes.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relate to server-client networks generally, and more specifically to server thread management which enables on-line access of interactive media over the Internet.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Sharing of information has long been a goal of modern civilization. Information must be represented in some form in order that it can be transferred between people. Humans are gifted with five sensory modes of perception. Visual perception has been given the lion's share of the brain. It is noted by Dr. Judith Guedalia, of the Neuro-Psychological Department of Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusaleum, Israel, that although the famous Helen Keller, who was both deaf and blind, was quoted as saying that she would prefer hearing over sight if she had to choose, this may have been based on psychological reasons, since group activity is better enabled with hearing.
Visual stimulation is perhaps the most efficient means for people to acquire information. The cliché “a picture is worth a thousand words” is well-founded. The ratio of brains cells devoted to sight versus those devoted to sound is roughly 100:1. From the days of cave carving to the printing press, visual information has been the primary medium for communication.
Recently information has taken on a digital form, which has enabled electronic transmission of information. The most notable example is the dissemination of information through the World Wide Web (referred to simply as the “Web”), which is a collection of millions of computers interconnected by electronic communication devices.
Various techniques are known for providing on-line access of interactive media over the Web.
The following U.S. Patents have been found in a U.S. Patent Search and are believed to be generally relevant to the field of the invention:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,897,867 January 1990 Foster et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,119,188 June 1992 McCalley et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,122,873 June 1992 Golin
U.S. Pat. No. 5,195,092 March 1993 Wilson et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,220,420 June 1993 Hoarty et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,236,199 August 1993 Thompson, Jr.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,251,209 October 1993 Jurkevich et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,265,248 November 1993 Moulios et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,283,819 January 1994 Glick et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,325,423 June 1994 Lewis
U.S. Pat. No. 5,351,276 September 1994 Doll, Jr. et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,363,482 November 1994 Victor et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,420,572 May 1995 Dolin, Jr. et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,420,801 May 1995 Dockter et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,438,658 August 1995 Fitzpatrick et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,487,167 January 1996 Dinallo et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,495,576 February 1996 Ritchey
U.S. Pat. No. 5,508,940 April 1996 Rossmere et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,519,435 May 1996 Anderson
U.S. Pat. No. 5,553,221 September 1996 Reimer et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,553,222 September 1996 Milne et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,557,538 September 1996 Retter et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,561,791 October 1996 Mendelson et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,564,001 October 1996 Lewis
U.S. Pat. No. 5,577,180 November 1996 Reed
U.S. Pat. No. 5,577,258 November 1996 Cruz et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,581,783 December 1996 Ohashi
Transportation of digital signals between computers is plagued by a bandwidth problem, where a limited bandwidth creates bottlenecks in the transmission of electronic signals. Fortunately, textual information can be represented efficiently electronically, and this has enabled the Web publishing industry to flourish. Unfortunately, however, image information is difficult to represent compactly in electronic form.
A server or host computer (hereinafter referred to as a “server”) is used for placing information where it is available for access by multiple users. The Web has enabled convenient publishing of information from a server to client computers (hereinafter referred to as “clients”) that are controlled by users requesting information.
When using various media such as video, audio, text and images, a user generally retrieves the media from a server connected via a network to many clients. The server downloads the media to the network and transmits it to the client computer at the user's request.
There are two basic limitations involved in such data retrieval: delay between the time that a user requests the data and the time when the server downloads it to the network, and bandwidth limitations on data throughput and rate of data transmission.
One example of such a server-client network is a network connecting Web servers and users' personal computers. Such networks are installed in order to facilitate convenient data transmission between users, and data distribution from the server to the users' computers.
Known network applications involve streaming data from a server to a client computer. “Streaming” refers to serial or parallel transmission of digital data between two computers, by transmitting sequences of bit packets. For example, installation executables on a network server stream files to a client computer performing the installation. Servers with large amounts of memory are used to archive digital movies, which are streamed to a client computer for viewing upon demand. Digital video is broadcast from cable stations to subscribers using streaming. Web browsers, such as Netscape and Microsoft Explorer, are used to stream data from a server on the Web to a client.
Web sites can contain enormous databases, such as phone directories for all of the cities in the U.S., photographs from art galleries and museums around the world, voluminous encyclopedias, and even copies of all patents ever issued by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Users of the Web can search these databases and then request the server to download specific information. This request initiates a streaming event.
Accessing information over the Web is typically done using Web browsers. A Web browser is software that resides on a client computer and communicates with servers via established protocols. Information transmitted by servers is converted to visual displays on the client computer by means of a Web browser.
Internet protocols enable client-server communication over the Web. These protocols include low level protocols, such as Transaction Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), and higher level protocols such as Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) A general reference on Internet protocols may be accessed on:
http://www.w3.org/Protocols,
or
http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/tbin/rfc/arpa-internet-protocols.html.
Another useful reference is: Hethmon, Paul S.,
Illustrated Guide to HTTP,
Manning Publications Co., Greenwich, Conn., 1997.
HTTP servers provide a way for remote clients to access data on servers. HTTP provides a method for making simple requests from a client to a server. Client requests can take the form of GET requests or POST requests in HTTP 1.0. Typically, in a GET or POST request the client specifies a file to be delivered, and through HTTP headers the server can specify what is being delivered. The most pervasive file format used on the Web is HyperText Markup Language (HTML). A reference on HTML may be accessed at:
http://204.57.196.12/reference/htmlspec2.0.
HTML files are typically relatively small, i.e. less than 100 Kbytes.
HTTP/1.0 specifies that a communication between a server and client proceeds as follows: A client's request is initiated with a header which is terminated by a double carriage return linefeed. This is followed by the body of the request which is similarly terminated by a double carriage return linefeed. The server responds with an HTTP header terminated with a carriage return linefeed and then sends the body of

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