Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput – Remote data accessing – Using interconnected networks
Reexamination Certificate
1999-02-12
2003-05-06
El-Hady, Nabil (Department: 2154)
Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput
Remote data accessing
Using interconnected networks
C709S219000, C707S793000, C707S793000, C707S703000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06560639
ABSTRACT:
The present application includes an ILLUSTRATIVE FUNCTION LIST FOR SOFTWARE. The ILLUSTRATIVE FUNCTION LIST FOR SOFTWARE is provided in electronic format on duplicate copies of a CD-ROM marked “Copy 1” and “Copy 2”. The duplicate copies of the CD-ROM each contain a file entitled DNW-4725_ASCII_FORMAT.TXT created on Sep. 19, 2002 which is 254,858 bytes in size. The information on these duplicate CD-ROMs is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates, in general, to a method and system for managing a site on a computer network, and in particular, to a method and system for integrating site architecture, navigation, design, and management, for example, of a World Wide Web site on the Internet from a web server side.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In the past few years, corporations have been busy building their World Wide Web sites. While creating web pages is a relatively simple task, adding fresh content and managing a web site to ward off information obsolescence is not simple at all.
On the contrary, managing content on a busy World Wide Web site is an increasingly complex problem. As a web site grows, the likelihood of anyone being able to keep links, navigation, and functions updated is minuscule. This is not for lack of effort or resources, but rather because of the exponentially growing number of links and elements that need refreshing with every new addition. No amount of individual page redesign can make up for the basic need of a real structural fix. Unless preemptive steps are taken, maintenance will soon consume the lion's share of all site resources. Costing between $250,000 and $500,000 annually, manually managing changes to a web site will drain even the deepest pockets. The magnitude of the cost is an important consideration for corporations, particularly because monetary returns from a web site cannot always be easily measured from an accounting standpoint.
Software solutions at the high end of the market include $50,000 to $100,000 middle-ware and software packages and may require equally expensive hardware configurations. As a result, such software programs serve only the corporate elite and the high-tech industry. Examples of such software solutions include StoryServer software produced by Vignette Corporation of Austin, Tex.
Software solutions at the low end of the market are hypertext markup language (HTML) editors with server plug-ins and software packages that try to emulate server functions from a user's desktop. These solutions try to perform some management tasks, but cannot manage content. At best, they merely rearrange files on the web server from a remote desktop.
Applicants have recognized a need in the industry for an elegant, simple, powerful, and inexpensive content management tool. That is, Applicants have determined that corporations and other users need a platform-independent, server-side software package that allows users to design and manage simple web sites to complex, database-driven web sites.
Applicants have determined that it would be desirable to have a method and/or system that permits users to interface with a web management tool through, for example, an Internet browser without a client-side application, thereby eliminating the need for users to buy and master additional software. Applicants have recognized that such a system could advantageously reside, for example, at an Internet service provider to eliminate the cost of shrink-wrapping and to facilitate optional automatic on-line software upgrades.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is, therefore, a feature and advantage of the instant invention to provide an elegant, simple, powerful, and inexpensive content management tool. That is, the instant invention advantageously includes an optionally platform-independent, server-side software package that allows users to design and manage simple web sites to complex, database-driven web sites. To this extent, it is a feature and advantage of the present invention to be employable from small web sites to the most complex database-driven corporate web sites featuring asset management, forums, chat rooms, virtual shopping carts, calculators, statistics reports, etc.
It is another feature and advantage of the instant invention to provide a method and/or system that permits users to interface with a web management tool through, for example, an Internet browser or other tool, thereby eliminating the need for users to buy and master additional software. By extension, it is a feature and advantage of the present invention to eliminate the need for a proprietary client-side application interface, thereby promoting platform independence. Further, it is a feature and advantage of the instant invention to be a server-side application usable with any major platform and with any server software.
It is further a feature and advantage of the instant invention to provide a system that can advantageously reside at, for example, an Internet service provider to eliminate the cost of shrink-wrapping and to facilitate optional automatic on-line software upgrades. Additionally, it is a feature and advantage of the instant invention to provide a method and/or system that allows a user to create and review changes to a web page directly on the World Wide Web and/or in real-time. A real-time change, within the scope of this invention, includes simultaneous, substantially simultaneous, contemporaneous, and/or substantially contemporaneous changes.
More specifically, the instant invention provides a web management system. The system includes a file system caching all web pages in a web site. The web pages so cached may be at least partially static. The system also includes a web server communicating with the file system.
The web site management system may optionally include a database having a directory structure associating each page or web page of a site or web site with attributes thereof. The system may optionally include a server-side front end daemon communicatable with the web server and the database. The server-side front end or other part of the system may identify the attributes of any user-changed page or web page and/or store the attributes of any user-changed page or web page in the database.
The web management system may further include a server-side back end daemon communicatable with the database and the file system. The back end daemon may parse the attributes to generate at least partially static web pages and may store the generated web pages in the file system.
The front end daemon may include at least one of the following components. An optional user manager may create a hierarchy of group access and/or user access to the pages or web pages and/or available editing options for the web pages. An asset manager may find, upload and/or organize one or more assets, each including a binary file. An optional page manager may create new web pages, modify existing web pages with available web page attributes, and/or tie the Web pages to web site architecture and navigation. An optional sub-directory navigation manager may display the web pages in a collapsible, indented, or tabular directory.
The front end daemon may include an optional forum manager that may create, attach, and/or manage at least one interactive posting environment. An optional help manager may create, modify, attach, and/or manage at least one local help link to a command or field name. An optional utilities manager may include one or more management utilities. An optional knowledge base manager may address user problems.
The front end daemon may include an optional preferences manager that may define site-wide configuration defaults, and/or apply a desired object to the entire web site. An optional object manager may create or modify a definition of an object and/or an instance of the object. An optional code table manager may create one or more code tables, in the database, each having at least one entry. The code table manager may be used to create and/or delete an entry. The above-mentioned directory structure may include one o
Brown Albert C.
Dan Noah
3565 Acquisition Corporation
El-Hady Nabil
Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear LLP
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