Data processing: database and file management or data structures – Database design – Data structure types
Reexamination Certificate
1997-12-17
2001-06-26
Black, Thomas (Department: 2171)
Data processing: database and file management or data structures
Database design
Data structure types
C707S793000, C707S793000, C707S793000, C707S793000, C707S793000, C707S793000, C707S793000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06253204
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention is directed to information systems and, more particularly, to the indication of broken and healed hypertext links in a network, such as the World Wide Web.
2. Description of Related Art
Large information networks, such as the World Wide Web are well-known in the art. Documents stored in such an information system contain hypertext links to related information.
3. The Problems
Navigating information systems such as the World Wide Web by using links can be a frustrating experience because many of these weblinks are “broken”, that is, they do not connect the user to the intended destination page. Instead, users receive an error message, such as “file not found.” Such errors create a suboptimal user experience when using these information systems.
Solving this problem is not easy. It is a time consuming and tedious job for the authors or maintainers of web pages to continually verify that all of the links in all of their documents are working.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The problems of the prior art are overcome by providing methods, apparatus, systems and computer program products for monitoring “file not found” error messages. When a user receives such an error message, it captures the URL and link information for the broken link and it generates a message to the website maintaining the document, that the link is not working. The display of such a broken link is modified at least at the client side of a client server interaction. Preferably, at the server's side, the code for the web page that has the broken link is retrieved and modified so that the broken link has a new visual appearance. Typically, this is modified by changing the mark-up language utilized for the page, such as HTML. The new visual appearance could take various forms. In this way, anyone who visits a web page after the system generates the replacement web page will see that the link was broken. The unique visual indication of a broken link will disappear whenever someone, typically a website owner or maintainer who has just fixed the problem clicks on the once-broken link and the destination page arrives successfully. Once this occurs, the visual and marker associated with the broken link is removed by generating a new page with the link displayed in the normal manner. Alternatively, a link once broken but currently functioning (a healed link) could be displayed in a manner designed to indicate to a user that the link has been healed.
The foregoing and other features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
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The Internet, “SiteSweeper helps clean up Web management” by Kim S. Nash; ComputerWorld, pp. 1-2, Oct. 7, 1996.
Fogg BJ
Glass Bob
Nielsen Jakob
Black Thomas
McDermott & Will & Emery
Mizrahi Diane
Sun Microsystems Inc.
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