Electrical computers and digital data processing systems: input/ – Input/output data processing – Input/output command process
Reexamination Certificate
1999-01-19
2002-07-02
Gaffin, Jeffrey (Department: 2182)
Electrical computers and digital data processing systems: input/
Input/output data processing
Input/output command process
C710S007000, C709S219000, C709S223000, C709S238000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06415335
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the field of Internet technology. Specifically, the present invention relates to the creation and management of custom World Wide Web sites.
DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART
The World Wide Web (the Web) represents all of the computers on the Internet that offer users access to information on the Internet via interactive documents or Web pages. These Web pages contain hypertext links that are used to connect any combination of graphics, audio, video and text, in a non-linear, non-sequential manner. Hypertext links are created using a special software language known as HyperText Mark-Up Language (HTML).
Once created, Web pages reside on the Web, on Web servers or Web sites. A Web site can contain numerous Web pages. Web client machines running Web browsers can access these Web pages at Web sites via a communications protocol known as HyperText Transport Protocol (HTTP). Web browsers are software interfaces that run on World Wide Web clients to allow access to Web sites via a simple user interface. A Web browser allows a Web client to request a particular Web page from a Web site by specifying a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). A URL is a Web address that identifies the Web page and its location on the Web. When the appropriate Web site receives the URL, the Web page corresponding to the requested URL is located, and if required, HTML output is generated. The HTML output is then sent via HTTP to the client for formatting on the client's screen.
Although Web pages and Web sites are extremely simple to create, the proliferation of Web sites on the Internet highlighted a number of problems. The scope and ability of a Web page designer to change the content of the Web page was limited by the static nature of Web pages. Once created, a Web page remained static until it was manually modified. This in turn limited the ability of Web site managers to effectively manage their Web sites.
The Common Gateway Interface (CGI) standard was developed to resolve the problem of allowing dynamic content to be included in Web pages. CGI “calls” or procedures enable applications to generate dynamically created HTML output, thus creating Web pages with dynamic content. Once created, these CGI applications do not have to be modified in order to retrieve “new” or dynamic data. Instead, when the Web page is invoked, CGI “calls” or procedures are used to dynamically retrieve the necessary data and to generate a Web page.
CGI applications also enhanced the ability of Web site administrators to manage Web sites. Administrators no longer have to constantly update static Web pages. A number of vendors have developed tools for CGI based development, to address the issue of dynamic Web page generation. Companies like Spider™ and Bluestone™, for example, have each created development tools for CGI-based Web page development. Another company, Haht Software™, has developed a Web page generation tool that uses a BASIC-like scripting language, instead of a CGI scripting language.
Tools that generate CGI applications do not, however, resolve the problem of managing numerous Web pages and requests at a Web site. For example, a single company may maintain hundreds of Web pages at their Web site. Current Web server architecture also does not allow the Web server to efficiently manage the Web page and process Web client requests. Managing these hundreds of Web pages in a coherent manner and processing all requests for access to the Web pages is thus a difficult task. Existing development tools are limited in their capabilities to facilitate dynamic Web page generation, and do not address the issue of managing Web requests or Web sites.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for creating and managing custom Web sites. Specifically, the present invention claims a method and apparatus for managing dynamic web page generation requests.
In one embodiment, the present invention claims a computer-implemented method for managing a dynamic Web page generation request to a Web server, the computer-implemented method comprising the steps of routing the request from the Web server to a page server, the page server receiving the request and releasing the Web server to process other requests, processing the request, the processing being performed by the page server concurrently with the Web server, as the Web server processes the other requests, and dynamically generating a Web page in response to the request, the Web page including data dynamically retrieved from one or more data sources. Other embodiments also include connection caches to the one or more data sources, page caches for each page server, and custom HTML extension templates for configuring the Web page.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the accompanying drawings and from the detailed description.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4866706 (1989-09-01), Christophersen et al.
patent: 5341499 (1994-08-01), Doragh
patent: 5392400 (1995-02-01), Berkowitz et al.
patent: 5404522 (1995-04-01), Carmon et al.
patent: 5404523 (1995-04-01), DellaFera et al.
patent: 5404527 (1995-04-01), Irwin et al.
patent: 5452460 (1995-09-01), Distelberg et al.
patent: 5532838 (1996-07-01), Barbari
patent: 5701463 (1997-12-01), Malcolm
patent: 5751956 (1998-05-01), Kirsch
patent: 5752246 (1998-05-01), Rogers et al.
patent: 5754772 (1998-05-01), Leaf
patent: 5761673 (1998-06-01), Bookman et al.
patent: 5774660 (1998-06-01), Brendel et al.
patent: 5774668 (1998-06-01), Choquier et al.
Hoffner, ‘Inter-operability and distributed application platform design’, Web URL:http://www.ansa.co.uk/, 1995, pp. 342-356.*
Mourad et al, ‘Scalable Web Server Architectures’, IEEE, Jun. 1997, pp. 12-16.*
Dias et al, ‘A Scalable and Highly Available Web Server’, IEEE, 1996, pp. 85-92.*
‘Single System Image and Load Balancing for Network Access to a Loosely Coupled Complex’, IBM TDB, vol. 34, Feb. 1992, pp. 464-467.*
Dias, Daniel M., et al.; A Scalable and Highly Available Web Server; IBM Research Division; T.J. Watson Research Center; 7 pages.
Andresen, Daniel, Et Al.; Scalability Issues for High Performance Digital Libraries on the World Wide Web; Department of Computer Science; University of California at Santa Barbara; 10 pages.
Andresen, Daniel, Et Al.; SWEB: Towards a Scalable World Wide Web Server on Multicomputers; Department of Computer Science; University of California at Santa Barbara; 7 pages.
Holmedahl, Vegard; Et Al.; Cooperative Caching of Dynamic Content on a Distributed Web Server; Department of Computer Science; University of California at Santa Barbara; 8 pages.
Overson, Nicole; NeXT Ships WebObjects—On Time—As Promised; Deja.com: NeXT Ships WebObjects—On Time—As Promishttp://X28..deja.com/=dnc/ST_m=ps...EXT=927585438. 1744765032&hitnum=33.
International Search Report; 7 pages; dated Aug. 21, 1997.
Birman, Kenneth P. and van Renesse, Robbert; Software for Reliable Networks; Scientific American; May 1996; pp. 64-69.
“Beyond the Web: Excavating the Real World Via Mosaic”; Goldberg et al.; Second International WWW Conference; Oct. 17, 1994.
Howell Ronald L.
Levine Andrew B.
Lowery Keith
Baker & Botts L.L.P.
epicRealm Operating Inc.
Gaffin Jeffrey
Perveen Rehana
LandOfFree
System and method for managing dynamic web page generation... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with System and method for managing dynamic web page generation..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and System and method for managing dynamic web page generation... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2865143