Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput – Remote data accessing – Accessing a remote server
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-31
2002-01-01
Vu, Viet D. (Department: 2154)
Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput
Remote data accessing
Accessing a remote server
C709S223000, C709S241000, C709S241000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06336137
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to client-server systems and methods for transferring data via a network between a server and one or more clients that are spatially distributed (i.e., situated at different locations), and where at least one local client computer provides a user interface to interact with at least one remote server computer which implements data processing in response to the local client computer.
BACKGROUND
The Internet World Wide Web (WWW) architecture provides a very flexible, powerful, and potentially extensible programming model. As shown in
FIG. 1
, denominated “Prior Art”, applications and content are presented in standard data formats, and are browsed by applications known as web browsers. The web browser,
11
, is a thin client, networked application, i.e., it sends requests,
21
, for named data objects to a web or network server,
13
, and the web or network server,
13
, responds with the data encoded,
31
, using the standard formats.
The WWW standards specify many of the mechanisms necessary to build a general-purpose application environment, including:
1. Standard naming model—All servers and content on the WWW are named with an Internet-standard Uniform Resource Locator (URL).
2. Content typing—All content on the WWW is given a specific type thereby allowing web browsers to correctly process the content based on its type.
3. Standard content formats—Heretofore; all web browsers have supported a set of standard content formats. These include the HyperText Markup Language (HTML), the JavaScript scripting language, and a large number of other formats.
4. Standard Protocols—Standard networking protocols allow any web browser to communicate with any web server. The most commonly used protocol on the WWW is the HyperText Transport Protocol (HTTP).
This infrastructure allows users to easily reach a large number of third-party applications and content services. It also allows application developers to easily create applications and content services for a large community of clients. However, the success of the WWW and the underlying ATM and TCP/IP protocols has spurred new applications and rapid growth, limited only by the constraints of the underlying programming tools and page delivery languages. This has required optimizations, extensions, and “work arounds.” This is especially so in the wireless or handheld environment.
The wireless or handheld environment presents challenges. The devices are physically small; they have low processor power, low memory capacity, small displays, narrow bandwidths, frequently with embedded communications software, and frequently with touch pads in addition to or instead of keypads. The Wireless Application Protocol (“WAP”) has been developed for these portable devices.
The Wireless Application Protocol (“WAP”) programming model is similar to the WWW programming model. Optimizations and extensions have been made in order to match the characteristics of the wireless environment. WAP content and applications are specified in a set of well-known content formats based on the familiar WWW content formats. Content is transported using a set of standard communication protocols based on the WWW communication protocols. A micro browser in the wireless terminal co-ordinates the user interface and is analogous to a standard web browser.
The WAP protocol defines a set of standard components that enable communication between mobile terminals and network servers, including:
1. Standard naming model—WWW-standard URLs is used to identify WAP content on origin servers. WWW-standard URLs are used to identify local resources in a device, e.g. call control functions.
2. Content typing—All WAP content is given a specific type consistent with WWW typing. This allows WAP user agents to correctly process the content based on its type.
3. Standard content formats—WAP content formats are based on WWW technology and include display markup, calendar information, electronic business card objects, images and scripting language.
4. Standard communication protocols—WAP communication protocols enable the communication of browser requests from the mobile terminal to the network web server.
An example WAP-compliant network is shown in
FIG. 2
, denominated “Prior Art.” In the example, the WAP client,
12
, communicates with a web server,
14
, through a WAP gateway,
15
.
The WAP gateway,
15
, translates WAP requests,
22
, to WWW requests,
23
, thereby allowing the WAP client,
12
, to submit requests,
22
, to the web server,
14
. The gateway,
15
, also encodes the responses,
33
, from the web server,
14
, into the compact binary format,
32
, understood by the client,
12
.
If the web server,
14
, provides WAP content (e.g., WML), the WAP gateway,
15
, retrieves it directly from the web server,
14
. However, if the web server,
14
, provides WWW content (such as HTML), a filter is used to translate the WWW content,
33
, into WAP content,
32
. For example, the HTML filter would translate HTML into WML.
The Wireless Telephony Application (WTA) server is an example origin or gateway server that responds to requests from the WAP client directly. The WTA server is used to provide WAP access to features of the wireless network provider's telecommunications infrastructure.
The WAP architecture provides a scaleable and extensible environment for application development for mobile communication devices. This is achieved through a layered design of the entire protocol stack where each of the layers of the architecture is accessible by the layers above, as well as by other services and applications. The WAP layered architecture enables other services and applications to utilize the features of the WAP stack through a set of well-defined interfaces. External applications may access the session, transaction, security and transport layers directly.
WAP browsers understand the wireless mark-up language or WML as specified by the Wireless Application Protocol. WML is used to create the user interface that is rendered on the browser. WML is an extension of the extensible mark-up language or XML (the successor to HTML) and was developed specifically for wireless devices.
The views generated by the web engine travel through a web server and a WAP gateway server to reach the wireless network and the browser enabled wireless device. The WAP gateway server translates the data from the Internet protocol (HTTP) to the WAP protocol and binary encrypts (through the Wireless Secure Transaction Layer specification) and compresses the data.
The screens are generated on demand when a user requests the information from their wireless device.
An end user accesses the server over the wireless network by entering a URL into the WAP browser. In addition, the wireless handset must be configured to dial into a modem bank and a remote access server (RAS) inside the enterprise's firewall. From the RAS, the user connects over a LAN to the WAP Gateway Server and then to the web server. The protocol is again HTTP inside the firewall and security is not a perceived issue since the transfer from the WAP protocol to the Internet protocol occurs inside the firewall.
Alternatively, the end user may access the WAP server at a mobile carrier, and the mobile server/WAP server communicate in HTTP over an internet, an intranet, or a LAN, with a Web Server.
The WAP standard specifies two essential elements of wireless communication: an end-to-end application protocol and an application environment based on a browser. The application protocol is a layered communication protocol that is embedded in each WAP-enabled user agent.
The network side includes a server component implementing the other end of the protocol that is capable of communicating with any WAP device. Often the server component takes the role of a gateway routing the requests from the user agent to an application server. The gateway can be physically located in a telecom network or a computer network, building a bridge between the wireless network and the computer network.
The WAP application consists of a
Cram Robert
Lee King-Hwa
Mukundan Anil
Cooley & Godward LLP
Siebel Systems Inc.
Vu Viet D.
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