Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput – Computer-to-computer protocol implementing – Computer-to-computer data transfer regulating
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-14
2004-05-25
Coulter, Kenneth R. (Department: 2141)
Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput
Computer-to-computer protocol implementing
Computer-to-computer data transfer regulating
C709S246000, C709S230000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06742043
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
FIG. 1
(Prior Art) is a diagram of a system
1
, known as the WebTV Network, that provides multiple WebTV clients
2
-
4
access to the Internet
5
via a WebTV server
6
. WebTV clients
2
-
4
are WebTV set-top box Internet Terminals available from WebTV Networks Inc., of Mountain View, Calif. WebTV server
6
functions as a “proxy server” on behalf of clients
2
-
4
for purposes of accessing the Internet. Details of this WebTV Network including the proxy server are set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 5,918,013, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,935,207.
In one operational example, client
2
attempts to access web content (for example, an HTML document) located on a remote server
7
of the Internet. Client
2
issues a request identifying the desired HTML document to WebTV server
6
. If the requested HTML document is stored in a proxy cache
8
on the WebTV server, then WebTV server
6
responds to client
2
by sending the requested HTML document as stored in its proxy cache
8
back to client
2
. A browser on client
2
then renders the HTML document such that the document is displayed on the display of client
2
. In this sense, WebTV server
6
is a proxy server.
If, on the other hand, the requested HTML document is not present in proxy cache
8
, then WebTV server
6
issues a request for the HTML document to remote server
7
. Remote server
7
responds by sending the HTML document back to WebTV server
6
. WebTV server
6
in turn sends the HTML document to the client
2
that initially made the request. The browser on client
2
then renders the HTML document such that it is displayed on the display of client
2
. If the HTML document is a document that is likely to be accessed frequently by clients
2
-
4
, then WebTV server
6
may store a copy
9
of the HTML document in proxy cache
8
.
WebTV server
6
also serves to reformat web content. In one example, client
2
attempts to access image data from remote server
7
. The image data is, however, in an image format inappropriate for client
2
. The requested image data on remote server
7
is, for example, inappropriate in the sense that it is in a format that client
2
cannot decipher and display. Were client
2
to attempt to display this image data, client
2
would fail or would not be able to display the image.
Alternatively, the image data is inappropriate in the sense that the image data is of higher resolution than is necessary. Client
2
may, for example, use a television screen as a display device. An ordinary television generally has a lower pixel resolution than do many computer monitors. Because much of the image data on the Internet is for display on computer monitors, many images on the Internet have relatively high resolution image data which need not be transferred to the low resolution displays of clients
2
-
4
.
If such inappropriate or unnecessary image data from remote server
7
were merely passed through WebTV server
6
in the same format, then client
2
would receive the inappropriate or unnecessary image data. If client
2
could not decipher the format, then client
2
may fail or not be able to display the image. If there were a large amount of high resolution image data that client
2
cannot display, then the communication of the image data to client
2
may take an unnecessarily large amount of time.
WebTV server
6
therefore includes software
10
called a “transcoder” that reformats the image data from the inappropriate format into an appropriate format. Client
2
first issues to WebTV server
6
a request for the image data on remote server
7
. Assuming that the image data is not cached in proxy cache
8
, WebTV server
6
issues a request for the image data to remote server
7
. Remote server
7
responds by sending the image data in the inappropriate format to WebTV server
6
. Transcoder software
10
reformats the image data into the appropriate format that client
2
can decipher. WebTV server
6
then sends the reformatted image data to client
2
. Client
2
can therefore access image data from the Internet even though that image data as it is available on remote server
7
on the Internet is not in a format that client
2
can decipher and display.
Not only does WebTV server
6
reformat image data, but WebTV server
6
also reformats (i.e., “rewrites”) the HTML of HTML documents. Consider a situation in which the requested web content on remote server
7
is an HTML document that contains a “bug” or a “quirk”. A bug may cause a browser of a client to fail. A quirk may cause a browser of a client to exhibit undesirable or unexpected features, even though the browser may not crash. WebTV server
6
therefore includes software
11
called an “HTML rewriter” that rewrites offending parts of the HTML to eliminate such bugs and quirks.
In an operational example, client
2
issues to WebTV server
6
a request for a desired HTML document. Assuming that the desired HTML document is not cached in proxy cache
8
, WebTV server
6
issues a request for the desired HTML document from remote server
7
. Remote server
7
responds by sending the HTML document with the bug or quirk back to the WebTV server
6
. Rather than sending the HTML document with the bug or quirk back to clients
2
-
4
, HTML rewriter software
11
reformats (rewrites) the HTML to eliminate the bug or quirk. The WebTV server
6
then sends the reformatted HTML document without the bug or quirk back to client
2
so that the browser on client
2
can render the HTML document without incident.
HTML rewriter software
11
also functions to reduce or eliminate a dead time (“perceived latency”) sometimes experienced by a user of client
2
. The browser in client
2
can start to render a web page involving an image if the browser has size information for the image. If the browser has size information for the image, then the browser can begin to lay out the background page leaving a blank of the appropriate size for the image data yet to arrive. If the browser does not have such size information, then client
2
experiences a dead time (“perceived latency”) from the time the request of the web page is made until the image data for the image is actually received on the client and the browser begins to render the page. To avoid this perceived latency at the client, WebTV server
6
stores size information relating to the image in cache
8
. When client
2
requests a web page involving an image, WebTV server
6
retrieves the size information from its cache, rewrites the HTML of the web page to include the size information, and then relays the HTML on to client
2
. The browser in client
2
can therefore begin to render the web page using the size information for any images on the web page when it receives the HTML for the background page. The browser does not have to wait until it deciphers the HTML of the background page, identifies the image tag, issues a request for the image data identified by the image tag, and receives the actual image data with the size information. The size information is received along with the original HTML. The result of the rewriting of the HTML therefore results in a reduction in “perceived latency” at client
2
.
The code of WebTV server
6
presently commercially employed is a monolithic piece of code that typically supports clients of a single type (i.e. WebTV Internet Terminals running particular software). It is inflexible and difficult to adapt and modify. For example, it is difficult to adapt the code to reformat content one way for requesting clients of a first type but to reformat content a second way for requesting clients of a second type. Such a modification would generally require recompiling much or all of the WebTV server code. It would require an intimate knowledge of the inner workings of the WebTV server code. WebTV server
6
is therefore not considered to be well suited for operation, maintenance and customization by an independent operator (an operator other than WebTV that is not intimately familiar with the inner workings of the monolithic code). A Web
Logue Jay D.
Moussa Sarah C.
Coulter Kenneth R.
Webtv Networks, Inc.
Workman Nydegger
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