Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput – Distributed data processing – Client/server
Reexamination Certificate
1999-07-26
2003-02-11
Meky, Moustafa M. (Department: 2758)
Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput
Distributed data processing
Client/server
C709S217000, C709S226000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06519626
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electronic communications. Specifically, the present invention relates to a system and method for converting a file system path into a uniform resource locator (URL).
2. The Prior State of the Art
The Internet is a world-wide network of computer systems and networks which allows a computer user to obtain a wide variety of information on demand. Specifically, to obtain desired information, a computer user first employs Internet browser software to select a uniform resource locator (URL) that identifies a potential source of the desired information. A URL is an address used to identify a resource on the Internet.
An example of a URL is as follows:
“http://www.domain.com:123/subdirectory/sub/file”
The “http://” portion of the URL is called a “protocol prefix” because it designates the protocol used in communicating the request to the server system, and in communicating back the appropriate response. The protocol prefix “http://” is common as it indicates a widely used Internet protocol called HyperText Transport Protocol (HTTP). Other protocol prefixes might include “ftp://” (File Transfer Protocol), “https://” (HyperText Transport Protocol Secure) and so forth.
The “www.domain.com” portion of the URL is called a “domain name.” The domain name is a unique Internet alphanumeric address that identifies the virtual location of Internet resources related to a particular organization. For example, URLs containing the domain name “www.companyXYZ.com” might include resources related to a company fictionally named Company XYZ.
The domain name is a “virtual” location because the domain name does not necessarily correspond to any physical location. Indeed, resources that are within a common domain name may be physically stored in different memory devices, or even in entirely different servers. However, the location of the domain name is “virtual” in that the location of all the resources appears from the end-user's viewpoint to be in a common location. The servers on the Internet resolve the details of the actual physical location of the resource and make it appear to the user as though all of the resources are neatly organized under the domain name.
The “:123” portion of the URL is called the “port number.” Typically, the port number is not included in a URL since a default port number (i.e., 80 for HTTP) is correctly assumed in the URL. Thus, the port number is only included in the URL in the somewhat unusual event that the port number is different than the default port number.
The “/subdirectory/sub/” portion of the URL indicates the subdirectory structure of the domain name in which the desired information resides. Although having a subdirectory structure is not mandatory in a URL, the subdirectory structure of the URL allows resources categorized under the domain name to be more finely organized just as directory structures are used to organize files in a file system. The subdirectory structure “subdirectory/sub” has multiple subdirectory levels. However, a URL might also include only one subdirectory level as in the following example URL:
“http://www.domain.com:123/subdirectory/file”
Sometimes, the subdirectory structure of the URL is related to the subdirectory structure of the file system in which the corresponding resource physically resides. For example, the URL directory “http://www.domain.com/subdirectory/” may correspond to the file system path “c:\subdirectory\” while the URL directory “http://www.domain.com/subdirectory1/” may correspond to the file system path “c:\subdirectory1\”. However, often the subdirectory structure of the URL does not match the file system directory structure at all. For example, the URL directory “http://www.domain.com/subdirectory/” may correspond to resources located in the file system path “c:\main\hypo\thetical\example\” while a very similar URL directory “http:/www.domain.com/subdirectory1/” may correspond to resources located in the file system path “d:\very\different\file\system\path\”. In the latter case, the subdirectory structures of the URL are known as “virtual directories” since they do not represent any physical directory structure in the file system path, but are only seen as being directories from the end-user's viewpoint.
The “file” portion of the URL identifies the name of the file that holds the actual information requested by the user. This file may typically include the extension such as “.html” which indicates that the file is written in HyperText Mark-up Language. However, numerous other file types and extensions are also transferred over the Internet.
After typing in the appropriate URL corresponding to a desired resource, the user causes a request that includes the URL to be transmitted over the Internet. For example, the user might press the “enter” key after typing the URL thereby causing the Internet browser to generate and transmit the request. The URL contained within the request is used to route the request to a destination server that can access the desired resource. The URL is also used to inform the destination server of the file system path of the desired resource according to a predetermined routine such as a mapping technique. The destination server typically retrieves the file and transmits the file back to the end-user in the response to the request.
As described above, in generating a response to an HTTP request, the URL is converted into a file system path. However, there are no prior art methods for converting the file system path into a URL.
SUMMARY AND OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the converting of a file system path to a Uniform Resource Locator. This conversion may occur in response to a command called “PROPFIND” that is included in an extension of HyperText Transport Protocol called HTTP-DAV. For example, a “PROPFIND” command related to “http://www.domain.com:123/subdirectory/” might return, among other things, all of the URLs categorized under “http://www.domain.com:123/subdirectory/” such as, for example, the following:
http://www.domain.com:123/subdirectory/file
1
http://www.domain.com:123/subdirectory/file
2
http://www.domain.com:123/subdirectory/subsubdirectory
1
/file
3
http://www.domain.com:123/subdirectory/subsubdirectory
1
/file
4
http://www.domain.com:123/subdirectory/subsubdirectory
2
/file
5
http://www.domain.com:123/subdirectory/subsubdirectory
2
/file
6
Each file system path does not necessarily correspond to a URL according to any predictable rule. For example, the files corresponding to URLs “http://www.domain.com:123/subdirectory/subsubdirectory
2
/file
5
” and “http://www.domain.com:123/subdirectory/subsubdirectory
2
/file
6
” may reside on entirely different server systems even though they have a similar URL structure. Thus, in order to determine whether the files are contained within the URL subdirectory “http://www.domain.com:123/subdirectory/”, the server system might actually convert the file system path for each candidate file system path into its corresponding URL.
After receiving a file system path, an apparatus such as a conversion module converts the file system path into a URL. The following information is first obtained related to the resource located in the inputted file system path: the protocol prefix, domain name, the port number if different than default, and the URL subdirectory structure. This information may be obtained, for example, by reference to a persistent database accessible by the conversion module. Also, the information may be obtained using a URL that is provided to the conversion module for conversion into a file system path.
Once this preliminary information is obtained, the building of the URL commences. For illustration purposes, the file system path “c:\directory\sub\file” is converted into an example URL “http://www.domain.com:123/subdirectory/sub/file”. The building of the uniform resource locator begins by assigning, in this exampl
Deen Brian J.
Soderberg Joel M.
Van Van C.
Meky Moustafa M.
Microsoft Corporation
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