Electrical computers and digital processing systems: virtual mac – Task management or control – Process scheduling
Reexamination Certificate
1998-02-18
2004-11-02
Bullock, Jr., Lewis A. (Department: 2126)
Electrical computers and digital processing systems: virtual mac
Task management or control
Process scheduling
C718S108000, C709S217000, C709S203000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06813768
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to improved information processing systems. In particular, the present invention relates to multiple networks in which information processing systems are utilized. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to an improved browser method and system. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to an improved method and system for automatic task focus swapping during browser wait time.
2. Description of the Related Art
The development of computerized distributed information resources, such as the “Internet,” allows users to link with servers and networks, and thus retrieve vast amounts of electronic information heretofore unavailable in an electronic medium. Such electronic information increasingly is displacing more conventional techniques of information transmission, such as newspapers, magazines, and even television. The term “Internet” is an abbreviation for “Internetwork,” and refers commonly to a collection of computer networks that utilize the TCP/IP suite of protocols, well-known in the art of Computer networking. TCP/IP is an acronym for “Transport Control Protocol/Internet Protocol,” a software protocol developed by the Department of Defense for communication between computers.
Electronic information transferred between computer networks (e.g., the Internet) can be presented to a user in hypertext, a metaphor for presenting information in a manner in which text, images, sounds, and actions become linked together in a complex non-sequential web of associations that permit the user to “browse” through related topics, regardless of the presented order of the topics. These links are often established by both the author of a hypertext document and by the user, depending on the intent of the hypertext document. For example, traveling among hypertext links to the word “iron” in an article displayed within a graphical user interface in a computer system might lead the user to the periodic table of the chemical elements (i.e., linked by the word “iron”), or to a reference to the use of iron in weapons in Europe in the Dark Ages. The term “hypertext” is utilized to describe documents, as presented by a computer, that express the nonlinear structure of ideas, as opposed to the linear format of books, film, and speech.
Hypertext, especially in an interactive format where choices are controlled by the user, is structured around the idea of offering a working and learning environment that parallels human thinking—that is, an environment that allows the user to make associations between topics rather than moving sequentially from one topic to the next, as in an alphabetic list. Hypertext topics are linked in a manner that allows users to jump from one subject to other related subjects during a search for information.
Networked systems utilizing hypertext conventions typically follow a client/server architecture. A “client” is a member of a class or group that utilizes the services of another class or group to which it is not related. In the context of a computer network such as the Internet, a client is a process (i.e., roughly a program or task) that requests a service provided by another program. The client process utilizes the requested service without having to “know” any working details about the other program or the service itself. In networked systems, a client is usually a computer that accesses shared network resources provided by another computer (i.e., a server).
A “server” is typically a remote computer system accessible over a communications medium such as the Internet. The server scans and searches for raw (e.g., unprocessed) information sources (e.g., newswire feeds or newsgroups). Based upon such requests by the user, the server presents filtered electronic information to the user as server responses to the client process. The client process may be active in a first computer system, and the server process may be active in a second computer system, and communicate with one another over a communications medium that allows multiple clients to take advantage of the information-gathering capabilities of the server.
Client and server communicate with one another utilizing the functionality provided by a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP). The World Wide Web (WWW) or, simply, the “web,” includes all servers adhering to this protocol, which are accessible to clients via a Universal Resource Locator (URL). Internet services can be accessed by specifying Universal Resource Locators that have two basic components: a protocol to be used and an object pathname. For example, the Universal Resource Locator address, “http://www.uspto.gov” (i.e., the “home page” for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office), specifies a hypertext transfer protocol (“http”) and a pathname of the server (“www.uspto.gov”). The server name is associated with a unique numeric value (TCP/IP address). Active within the client is a first process, known as a “browser,” that establishes the connection with the server and presents information to the user. The server itself executes corresponding server software that presents information to the client in the form of HTTP responses. The HTTP responses correspond to “web pages” constructed from a Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), or other server-generated data.
A “web page” (also referred to by some designers simply as a “page”) is a data file written in a hyper-text language that may have text, graphic images, and even multimedia objects such as sound recordings or moving video clip s associated with that data file. The web page can be displayed as a viewable object within a computer system. A viewable object can contain one or more components such as spreadsheets, text, hotlinks, pictures, sound, and video objects. A web page can be constructed by loading one or more separate files into an active directory or file structure that is then displayed as a viewable object within a graphical user interface.
When a client workstation sends a request to a server for a web page, the server first transmits (at least partially) the main hypertext file associated with the web page, and then loads, either sequentially or simultaneously, the other files associated with the web page. A given file may be transmitted as several separate pieces via TCP/IP protocol. The constructed web page is then displayed as a viewable object on the workstation monitor. A webpage may be “larger” than the physical size of the monitor screen , and devices such as graphical user interface scroll bars can be utilized by the viewing software (i.e., the browser) to view different portions of the web page.
A problem associated with the transmission of hypertext files, web pages, and other server data to local network sites or client workstations is the period of time involved in waiting for this data to be transferred and displayed for utilization by the user. Browsing the web requires a great deal of waiting. The user may perform other tasks while waiting. However, it is cumbersome to switch between tasks running simultaneously within the local network site or client workstation when data is being transferred from the remote network site or server. Those skilled in the computer arts will appreciate that a user simply can swap back and forth between applications during browser wait periods, or an “edit” session may be displayed along side the browser session.
However, such methods are cumbersome on smaller displays. On a small display, if the browser is covered, the user cannot discern appropriately when data has been completely transferred to the local network site or client workstation from the remote network site (i.e, the server). Also, there is no readily available method of selecting the browser if the user is unaware that the data has been successfully transferred. If searching the web is a primary activity at the moment, the user may be distracted at the secondary activity and not realize that a particular web page is ready for display. In addition, when displayed side by side, the “fill-i
Bullock, Jr. Lewis A.
Dillon & Yudell LLP
International Business Machines - Corporation
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