Data processing: database and file management or data structures – Database design – Data structure types
Reexamination Certificate
2000-09-28
2004-02-10
Metjahic, Safet (Department: 2171)
Data processing: database and file management or data structures
Database design
Data structure types
C709S241000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06691113
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to data storage in computers and more specifically to providing persistent storage for client computer software programs in a client/server computer environment.
Providing persistent storage for client computer software programs is particularly important for computer systems using the World Wide Web (“WWW”) or “Web”. The Web is the total set of interlinked hypertext documents residing on HyperText Transfer Protocol (“HTTP”) servers all around the world. These servers form the Internet, a worldwide collection of computers, networks and gateways that use the TCP/IP suite of protocols to communicate with one another. Documents on the World Wide Web, called pages or Web pages, can be written in Hypertext Markup Language (“HTML”). These documents are identified by Uniform Resource Locators (“URLs”) that specify the particular machine and pathname by which a document can be accessed. Codes, called tags, embedded in an HTML document associate particular words and images in the document with other URLs such that a user can link to another document, stored on any server on the network, by the press of a key or the click of a pointing device (e.g., mouse). These files may contain text (in a variety of fonts and styles), graphics images, movie files, and sounds, as well as Java™ applets, ActiveX® controls, or other small embedded software programs that execute when the user activates them by activating a link. These tags, used in association with text, create structured text. The World Wide Web was developed by Timothy Berners-Lee in 1989 for the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN).
Content on the World Wide Web is created and controlled using various computer programming languages. Computer programming languages are used to define a sequence of data and instructions that can ultimately be processed and executed by a computer. The instructions can be translated, from the source code expressed using the programming language to the machine code that the computer works more directly with, by means of another program, such as a compiler or interpreter. Examples of languages for Web content creation and delivery are: HTML; the Java™ computer programming language; and the Curl™ computer programming language. The Curl computer programming language is developed by Curl Corporation, Cambridge, Mass.
HTML is an application of the Standard Generalized Markup Language (“SGML”) and uses tags to mark content elements, such as text and graphics, in a document to indicate how Web browsers should display this content to the user and how the content should respond to user actions, such as activation of a link by means of a key press or mouse click. HTML is defined, in various versions, by the Internet Engineering Task Force (“IETF”) and by the World Wide Web Consortium (“W3C”).
Java is an object-oriented programming language, developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc. Similar to C++, Java is smaller, more portable, and easier to use than C++ because it is more robust and it manages memory on its own. Java was also designed to be secure and platform-neutral. Java programs are compiled into bytecodes, which are similar to machine code and are not specific to any platform, making it a useful language for programming Web applications, since users access the Web from many types of computers. Currently, the most widespread use of Java is in programming small applications, or applets, for the World Wide Web.
The Curl computer programming language is designed to present a single, coherent linguistic basis for the expression of Web content at levels ranging from simple formatted (structured) text to complex object-oriented programs. The Curl computer programming language is intended to be a gentle slope system, accessible to content creators at all skill levels ranging from novice content developers to experienced computer programmers. More information on the Curl computer programming language can be found in the paper entitled “
Curl: A Gentle Slope Language For The Web
” by M. Hostetter, D. Kranz, C. Seed, C. Terman and S. Ward of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Laboratory for Computer Science.
The Curl computer programming language presents an object-oriented system that comprises both a static (compile-time) mode and a dynamic (run-time) mode. At compile-time, an object's structure, or class definition (i.e., data and methods) is described. At run-time an instance of an object, based upon its class definition, can be created. The run-time object can then act upon, and be acted upon by, other objects created in the run-time system.
Most Web programming languages, provide a limited mechanism for storing client persistent data. Some prior art systems that provide storage for client computer software programs include: server-side storage systems, the Windows registry system and Microsoft Client Storage library. Server-side storage systems simply utilize data storage mechanism available on the server (e.g., relational database management systems) to provide data storage to client computer software programs. The client computer software program is required to interact with the server in order to read or write data.
The Windows registry is a central hierarchical database that Windows operating systems use to store information necessary to configure the system for one or more users, applications, and hardware devices. The Registry contains information that the Windows operating system references during operation, such as profiles for each user, the applications installed on the computer and the types of documents each can create, property sheet settings for folders and application icons, what hardware exists on the system, and which ports are being used. Web applets do not have direct access to read and write values in the Windows registry.
Web applications (applets) can store information on client computers using a mechanism know as “cookies”. On the World Wide Web a cookie is a block of data that a Web server stores on a client system when a user visits a Web site. When the user returns to the same Web site, the browser sends a copy of the cookie back to the server. Cookies are used to identify users, to instruct the server to send a customized version of the requested Web page, to submit account information for the user, and for other administrative purposes. The original purpose of cookies was to allow server-side programs to have the ability to save state on client machines. Cookie information is passed between the client-side (Web browser) and the server-side (Web server) in the HTTP request/response headers. Cookies store information by including a SET-COOKIE header as part of a Web page returned to a client computer software program (e.g., Web browser). SET-COOKIE takes a series of parameters that allow information about the cookie to be customized. Data can be stored by use of the NAME=VALUE parameter. In a minimal configuration, NAME=VALUE is the only required parameter of the SET-COOKIE header. VALUE is a string of characters (excluding semi-colon, comma and white space) that contains the data that the Web server wants to store on the client computer. NAME=VALUE is the only required parameter, however, other parameters may be included with the SET-COOKIE header. An EXPIRES=DATE parameter is used inform the server when the data in the cookie is no longer valid. Once the expiration date has been reached, the cookie will no longer be stored or given out. Additionally, the user can use this date to determine which cookies to delete from their computer. If no EXPIRES=DATE is set then the cookie will expire at the end of the user's session. A DOMAIN=DOMAIN_NAME parameter is used to store the valid domain to which this cookie will be returned. When a request for a Web page is made its URL is compared to the DOMAIN of cookies stored on the client computer. If a match is found, that cookie is sent along with the request for the Web page to that URL. Matching need not be
Harrison Benjamin R.
Kranz David A.
Mazer Murray S.
Michaylov Spiro
Soeder Carl A.
Curl Corporation
Hamilton Brook Smith & Reynolds P.C.
Metjahic Safet
Nguyen Cam Linh
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