Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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SERVING SIGNALS
The present invention relates to serving signals to browsing clients,
wherein said signals represent commands executable by said browsing
clients for generating structured pages of human viewable data.
According to an aspect of the present invention there is provided a
method of serving output signals from a serving device to a plurality of
browsing client devices connected via a network to the serving device. The
output signals represent commands executable by the browsing client
devices for displaying pages of human viewable data, the method
comprising the steps of:
receiving a request from a browsing device in the form of a URL
(uniform resource locator) that identifies human viewable data, said URL
including a check sum;
determining the validity of said check sum within said received URL;
and
serving output signals to the requesting browsing client device, such
that:
(a) when a URL is received that identifies said human viewable data
and includes a valid check sum, first signals are processed which represent
human viewable data; second signals are processed which represent
formatting data that specifies locations on a page of said human viewable
data when displayed; and said first signals and said second signals are
processed to produce first output signals that are served to the requesting
browsing client device; and
(b) when a URL is received that identifies said human viewable data and
includes an invalid check sum, second output signals (that are different
from said first output signals) are served to the requesting browsing client
device.
The invention will now be described by way of example only with
reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:
Figure 1 is a diagrammatic representation of part of the international
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data distribution network known as the Internet, having a plurality of service
providers and a plurality of service users; implemented using a plurality of
network topologies.
Figure 2 shows an example of a typical service provider network of the
type shown in Figure 1; including a local area network and a serving host;
Figure 3 details the serving host identified in Figure 2, including a
processing unit and a random access memory for storing instructions
executable by said processing unit;
Figure 4 represents a processing environment specified by the
processing unit and its associated instructions created by the processing unit
and its associated memory shown in Figure 3, including a hypertext transport
protocol daemon and on-line processing procedures in accordance with the
present invention;
Figure 5 illustrates the operation of the hypertext transport protocol
daemon identified in Figure 4 in response to receiving an input URL request
and including an identification of initialisation procedures and procedures
for
performing on-line processing;
Figure 6 shows requesting user devices, including a processing device
and a visual display unit;
Figure 7 illustrates a typical display shown on the visual display unit
identified in Figure 6, in response to instructions being supplied to the user
from a server;
Figure 8 shows an example of instructions in the form supplied to the
browser, in order to generate the display shown in Figure 7;
Figure 9 details the initialisation procedures identified in Figure 5;
Figure 10 details the on-line procedures identified in Figure 5,
including an indication of procedures for generating HTML pages;
Figure 11 illustrates the relationship between serving components
when configured to supply HTML pages to a requesting device;
Figure 12 details procedures for generating HTML pages identified in
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Figure 10, inciuding a step for executing a function string;
Figure 13 details procedures for executing a function string, including
a function execute step; and
Figure 14 details function execution steps used to generate lines of
output commands of the type identified in Figure 8.
A diagrammatic representation of part of the Internet is shown in
Figure 1. An international data communication network is provided,
represented diagrammatically by region 101. Access to this network is
provided over data channels 102, that are in tum connected to service nodes
103. Service nodes 103 allow users to gain access to the Internet with
varying levels of transmission bandwidth.
In the example, a local area network 105 is provided with a high
bandwidth link 104 to an Internet service provider 103. The network 105
includes servers, that supply data to the Intemet in response to requests
made by users. Presently, users are given access to the Internet over
channels providing traffic capacities from 14.4K.bits per second (telephone
dial up) to 100 M bits per second and beyond, when implemented using
optical techniques.
A low bandwidth user 106 communicates with a service provider 103
via co-operating modems 107, 108 connected via a transmission cable 109.
Many users of this type may access information from a server, such as server
105.
Network 105 is detailed in Figure 2. The network comprises a fibre
distributed data interface (FDDI) backbone ring 201 having four routers 202,
203, 204 and 205 connected thereto. Router 202 is a token ring router which
routes data between a token ring network 206 and the FDDI backbone 201.
In the example shown in Figure 2, a first host processing system 207 and
second host processing system 208 are connected to the token ring 206,
thereby facilitating communication between said hosts 207 and 208, along
with communication between said hosts and the backbone ring 201, via
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token ring router 202.
A host processing system 209, and a host processing system 210
communicate via an ethernet network 211. The ethernet network 211 also
allows communication between hosts 209 and 210 and the backbone ring
201 via ethernet router 203.
The backbone ring also communicates with an asynchronous transfer
mode (ATM) network, including a first ATM host 212 and a second ATM host
213. Information for distribution to the Internet is generated by "serving
operations" executed by host 212. This host communicates with the
backbone ring 201 via the ATM router 205, which in tum facilitates
communication to the Intemet itself via lnternet router 204 and an Internet
line driver 215. This facilitates the transfer of data to an Intemet service
provider, as shown in Figure 1.
The present embodiment is directed towards providing HTML encoded
data, in accordance with the HTML recommendations implemented over the
Internet as a service known as "World Wide Web". However, the invention as
a whole has broader application, particularly when it is necessary to process
human viewable data in combination with signals representing a selected
display structure, such that commands are executable by remote browsing
clients.
Serving station 212, as shown in Figure 1, serves files, processed in
accordance with the established hypertext mark-up language (HTML) to
browsing clients via the Internet. A browsing client makes a request for the
information to be supplied and this request is identified by a serving
station,
such as station 212, which responds to said request by returning the
information via the Intemet connection to the browsing client device. Once a
request has been received, first signals are processed by the serving station
which represent the human viewable data. Second signals are received
which represent a selected display structure. These two signals are
processed in order to produce an HTML output. However, this processing
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step only takes place after the client request has been received such that the
first signals and the second signals are processed to produce output signals
in the form of client executable instructions which are then served as output
signals suitable for execution by the requesting browser. In this way, many
5 pages of HTML encoded data may be produced automatically without
requiring manual effort for each individual page. Furthermore, pages may be
tailored for specific user requirements and, in some circumstances, it may be
possible to adjust the extent to which this customisation takes place in
response to the clients own history of use, such that topics of interest are
identified automatically and this identification is used in order to direct
information of interest to the calling client.
The hardware of serving network 105 is shown in Figure 2. A request
from a browsing client would be received from the Internet provider via data
link 104, thereby allowing the Internet router to direct the packet of
information
onto the backbone network 201. This packet would include an address so as
to identify the processing environment arranged to serve the requested
information.
ATM host 212 is detailed in Figure 3. A central processing unit 301
provides a general purpose multi-tasking processing environment, possibly
running under the UNIXTM operating system. The processing unit includes
internal buses to facilitate communication with a mass storage device, such
as a hard disk drive 302, and a random access memory 303.
Communication with external devices is facilitated through an
input/output (I/O) interface 304 which is in turn connected to typical user
peripherals such as a keyboard, a monitor and a mouse etc. In addition, the
I/O device 304 is connected to ATM router 205 via a network control circuit
305.
A routine is executed continually by the processing unit 301 to identify
requests made to a particular I/O port established by the I/O circuit 304.
Thus,
a packet received by the backbone 201 includes an address that
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enables the network control interface 305 such that said controller may direct
the packet to the I/O interface 304. Thus, the packet identified by the
network
controller 305 will be supplied to a particular port of the I/O device 304.
The
processing unit 301 will identify the fact that data has been supplied to the
relevant port and establish a connection, effectively placing the system into
an active mode. Once placed in its active mode, the packet of data passes
through the I/O device 304 to become a packet of information which is then
held under the control of the operating system of the processing unit 301.
In response to receiving this information, the processing unit 301 is
arranged to perform the steps identified above, that is, it is arranged to
process first and second signals to produce output signals in the form of
client executable instructions. After this processing has taken place, the
resulting output signal is retumed for transmission to the Internet via line
driver 215, lnternet router 204, ATM router 205, network controller 305 and
the I/O device 304.
The processing environment provided by the processing unit 301 is
illustrated in Figure 4. An HTTP daemon 401 is executed by the processing
environment 402 in order to detect requests received by the input/output
device 304. In response to detected requests, the processing environment
402 is arranged to supply predetermined HTML files 403 to the I/O device
304. In addition, it is also possible for the HTTP daemon 401 to identify
common gateway interface binary programs (CGI.BIN programs) which are
executable instructions within the processing environment 402 and results in
identified files being supplied to the I/O device 304. The CGI.BIN files are
capable of operating in response to variables, including information
identifying the type of browser, the host name of the system and details of
the client requesting information etc. Facilities of this type are available
within
existing HTTP servers. However, in addition, it is possible for the daemon to
respond to requests where the output HTML file will be produced "on the fly"
in response to instructions identified as "on-line processing". When
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requested, the on-line processing will receive human viewable data from a
database 406 in combination with file structures from a file structure source
407. Thereafter, in response to instructions from the on-line processing
system 405, the processing environment 402 will process human viewable
data in combination with file structure data to produce HTML output files for
the I/O device 304.
The HTTP daemon procedures identified at 401 in Figure 4 are
detailed in Figure 5. Initialisation procedures are implemented at step 501 on
start up, whereafter the appropriate port is interrogated at step 503 after
waiting for a predetermined period at step 502. The procedures shown in
Figure 5 are executed within a multi-tasking environment, therefore the wait
period at step 502 refers to a single task and other tasks will execute
without
being affected. At step 504 a question is asked as to whether a user request,
in the form of an uniform resource location (URL) is waiting at the
interrogated port. If the question asked at step 504 is answered in the
negative, control is returned to step 502 and the process repeated. Thus, as
previously stated, the system operates within a multi-tasking environment,
such as that provided by the UNIX operating system. Thus, while the
particular tasks shown in Figure 5 repeatedly loop until a URL is received,
the
system is arranged to perform other tasks.
If the question asked at step 504 is answered in the affirmative, to the
effect that a URL has been detected, the URL is processed at step 505,
whereafter validation procedures are executed at step 506. Validation
procedures firstly determine whether the URL satisfies an acceptable
structure and thereafter, security provisions may be executed in order to
establish whether the server is permitted to serve the requesting client.
Assuming a valid URL has been supplied to the server, a question is asked
at step 507 as to whether the client has requested a predefined HTML file. If
the question is answered in the affirmative, the requested file is supplied to
the requesting client at step 508 and control is then returned to step 502.
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Alternatively, if the question asked at step 507 is answered in the negative,
control is directed to step 509.
At step 509 a question is asked as to whether the on-line processing
procedures have been requested. If this question is answered in the
affirmative, the requested file is prepared on-line and supplied to the
browser
at step 510. Alternatively, if the question asked at step 509 is answered in
the negative, control is directed to step 511.
At step 511 a question is asked as to whether an instruction has been
supplied to the effect that CGl.BIN are to be executed. If this question is
answered in the affirmative, control is directed to step 512, resulting in the
execution of the identified CGI.BIN instructions. Alternatively, if the
question
asked at step 511 is answered in the negative, all possibilities will have
been
considered and an error message is returned at step 514.
Referring to Figure 1, server network 105 has been described with
reference to Figures 2 and 3 and the operations executed within said server
212 could be described with reference to Figures 4 and 5. Information from
the server 212 is supplied to requesting clients over the Internet and files
are
served to browsers in response to requests made by browsers. As previously
stated, a browsing client 106 issues requests, in the form of URLs via a
modem 107. A browsing station 106 is detailed in Figure 6 connected to a
modem 107, which is in turn connected to the Internet via communication
cable 109. The browsing client hardware consists of a programmable device
such as an IBM personal computer configured to operate as a browser in
response to instructions installed from local permanent storage medium,
usually a hard disk drive. The system includes a keyboard 601 and a visual
display unit 602. An operator issues commands via the keyboard 601 or the
mouse 603, causing the browser to issue a URL to the server. The browsing
instructions executed by the terminal shown in Figure 6 are configured in a
form to be compatible with the serving instructions generated by the server
212. Thus, particular instructions would be installed on the server 105 and in
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order for users to gain access to these instructions it would be necessary to
install an appropriate browser for execution on the user's terminal. Thus, in
response to a user issuing commands via the keyboard 601 or mouse 603,
the browser converts these instructions into a URL which is in turn processed
by the remote server. This in turn results in HTML instructions being supplied
to the browser from the network such that the browser effectively executes
these instructions in order to generate a displayable video signal. The video
signal is supplied to the monitor 602, resulting in the human viewable
information being displayed on the monitor in a form derived from the HTML
instructions supplied to the browser as executed by the browser itself.
Monitor 602 is detailed in Figure 7, showing a typical application of the
system. In this example, on-line generation of HTML instructions are being
used to present a home "shopping on-line" catalogue to users, so that said
users may inspect available products and place orders for said products.
Thus, the interactive environment ensures that users are kept up to date with
available products and prices while at the same time allowing orders to be
placed within a common facility.
The page shown in Figure 7 represents an initial contents page for a
service identifying itself as a "Home Shopper", (this is a fictitious
publication
made for the purposes of this description and any similarities to existing
publications is not intended). The contents page allows a user to quickly
select areas of interest in a structured way. Thus, from the initial page,
selections may be made for sports goods, electrical goods, computer goods,
children's games and toys etc., gardening products or clothing. The user's
terminal (shown in Figure 6) includes a mouse 603 and operation of this
mouse results in a cursor being moved over the viewed image. The image
includes a graphical icon for each of the available categories. Thus, an icon
701 in the form of a tennis racquet identifies a region arranged to effect a
cail
to the products relating to sports. Thus, the mouse may be manually
adjusted so as to position the cursor over this icon. Thereafter, a mouse
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button may be operated resulting in execution of a hyperlink to another HTML
page. Thus, the identification of the sports icon by the user will
automatically
result in a new URL being generated which is in tum supplied to the server
via the network, resulting in a second page being supplied to the requesting
5 user. Similarly, a graphical icon 702 of an electrical drili is provided for
the
electrical selection. Placing the cursor over this icon and operating a mouse
button will result in a new page being supplied from the server containing
electricat goods. This page may take the form of a second level contents
page allowing further selections to be made. Thus, the next page may
10 identify particular types of electrical goods, electrical DIY goods, white
goods
or hi-fi goods etc. Similarly, a button may be selected at this second level
resulting in new icons and products being displayed. Thus, electricai DIY
goods may again be sub-divided down into drills, sanding machines, electric
screwdrivers etc.
A third icon 703 shows a graphical image of a computer and, similarly,
selecting this icon will result in a second level contents page being supplied
identifying types of computer equipment. A fourth icon 704 shows a
silhouette of children at play and operation of a mouse button with the cursor
placed over this icon will result in a call being made to the server and a new
page being generated identifying children's games and toys.
A fifth icon 705 shows a pair of sacks and represents gardening
supplies and products, while a sixth icon 706 shows a smartly dressed young
lady as a means of identifying a reference to clothing. Thus, in a similar
way,
icon 705 or icon 706 may be selected, resulting in a call being made to the
server for an appropriate page to be supplied to the browsing client.
The icons 701 to 706 are high definition graphical images and are
stored as. GIF files, although other types of graphical format may be
employed. The information used to construct the page is derived from a
database and all of the information within the database may be modified,
possibly in response to changes in availability and price etc. using
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conventional database techniques. Previously, all HTML pages were
constructed and stored as such, thereby making them available when
requests were issued by clients. Such an arrangement is similar to that
identified at step 508 in Figure 5, where a predetermined file is supplied to
a
requesting user. In some situations such an approach provides a perfectly
adequate solution. For example, technical papers and reference books tend
not to change once they have been published and thereafter reference may
be made to these documents for a considerable period of time. However,
shopping catalogues tend to change at least seasonally and retailers would
clearly prefer to make special deals available to customers as and when they
themselves can make arrangements with their suppliers. Ciearly, an inabiiity
to respond to market changes in this way would place the on-line retailer at a
disadvantage when compared to traditional retailing activities. In other
situations the shelf-life of data may be even lower. Thus, magazines are
monthly or weekly, while most newspapers are only valid for the particular
day of issue. Reducing the time scale still further, is common practice for
newspapers to change during production, as new news items are received
and developments take place. Thus, it is advantageous for editors to be in a
position to make updates to the distributed news as and when changes
occur. Clearly, when news items are broadcast using conventional radio
techniques, the news bulletins are continually updated, thereby placing
traditional news publications at a comparative disadvantage.
In the present embodiment the viewable data is retained on a
database and signals are read from the database, representing said data, for
processing in combination with second signals representing the way in which
the information is to be formatted on the viewed page. In a possible
configuration, HTML code could be held as a template with gaps therein for
the actual viewable data, such that, in response to a request being made, the
viewable data could be identified and interlaced with the formatting HTML
instructions. However, in the preferred embodiment, a plurality of executable
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functions are provided at the server such that, in response to a particular
request being made, a string of functions are executed resulting in calls
being
made to appropriate databases in order to obtain viewable information. This
viewable information is then processed so as to combine it with HTML tags,
to produce output signals for transmission to browsing clients.
HTML instructions for generating the viewable image displayed on
monitor 602 are detailed in Figure 8. Line 1 includes the viewable text (home
shopper) and this has been embedded within tags to identify this word as
being at the head of the document and as being a title for the whole page. At
line 2 the tag identifies the start of the body of the document and within the
body of the document a sub-heading "Contents Page" is displayed
surrounded by formatting tags HI. Line 3 consists of an HTML instruction to
create a horizontal line 700. The instructions from line 5 onwards create the
icons 701 to 706, along with the hyperlinks associated with said icons
required in order to allow subsequent pages to be requested by a user.
Each icon is described by two lines, thus icon 701 is defined by lines 5
and 6, icon 702 is defined by lines 7 and 8, icon 703 is defined by lines 10
and 11, icon 704 is defined by lines 12 and 13, icon 705 is defined by lines
15 and 16 and icon 706 is defined by lines 17 and 18. The viewable image is
effectively constructed on a line-by-line basis, therefore the instructions
effectively originate from left to right, and then from top to bottom. After
the
sports icon, the word "sports", the electrical icon and the wording
"electrical"
have been processed, it is necessary to create a new line and paragraph
breaks of this type are generated by the p tag, as present at lines 9, 14 and
20. As previously stated, each selectable icon is generated from two lines,
the first of which, for example line 5, defines the hyperlink to another page,
by
means of a URL to the server. The URL defined at line 5 would be
recognised as a request for an on-line processing by the server. Subsequent
parameters increment from 1000, to 1001, to 1002, to 1003, to 1004 and to
1005, so as to uniquely identify the requested page.
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The second line for each entry, for example line 6, specifies the
location of the graphical icon, thus the sports icon has been stored in a file
identified as "sport.gif', while the electrical icon, defined at line 8, has
been
stored as "elec.gif', the computer equipment icon has been stored as
"comp.gif", the children icon has been stored as "child.gif", the gardening
icon
has been stored as "gard.gif' and the clothing icon has been stored as
"clth.gif'. The subsequent coding specifies the location of the icon within
the
page so as to complete the overall formatting requirements.
From a user's point of view, the image displayed on monitor 602
appears like a high-quality high-definition video image, so as to ensure that
a
user is not alienated by the system. However, from a transmission point of
view, the image displayed on monitor 602 is generated by the instructions
shown in Figure 8. This requires a sophisticated level of processing to be
performed by the transmitting server and by the receiving browser but the
level of bandwidth required in order to perform the transmission of
information is substantially reduced. The transmitted output signal consists
of eight data bits for each of the ASCII characters represented in Figure 8.
Although the bandwidth requirement for transmitting an HTML file of
the type shown in Figure 8 is significantly reduced, when compared to video
transmissions, it can be appreciated that the manual generation of a file of
the type shown in Figure 8 would be extremely time consuming, resulting in
economic difficulties for anyone wishing to use the technology for
distributing
information having a short shelf-life, having relatively low value or having
both
a short life and a low value. In accordance with the present system, it is
possible for the information to be derived from conventional databases and
for the HTML instructions to be generated on-the-fly, as requests are made
by browsing clients. Thus, the generation of instructions of the type shown in
Figure 8 becomes an automated technical process performed in response to
strings of code generated functions stored at the server.
HTML output pages are created by assembling portions of HTML
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instructions, so as to create a page suitable for generating output signals,
of
the type shown in Figure 8.
Each portion of output HTML instructions is created by executing a
particular function. This function is arranged to process data from a database
or databases in the form of viewable data. This viewable data is then
processed under the control of the selected function in order to generate a
portion of output HTML. A format function of this type may be considered as
the smallest unit of instructions for producing a portion of HTML code.
The system as a whoie includes a universal family set of all the
available functions which may be used in order to generate portions of HTML
code. As the system develops, new functions may be added to the family set
and it is expected that the HTML standard will be enhanced, thereby
requiring additional functions to be created. For any particular application,
it is
likely that not all of the possible functions will be required, therefore
functions
may be selected from the universal sets of all available functions. Selected
functions are known to both the browser and the server. The browser issues
URLs to the server that are understood by the server, resulting in the
required HTML page being transmitted back to the browser.
It is possible that a particular server may be configured to run a
plurality of applications and that said applications may require a different
sub-
set of formatting functions derived from a universal set of available
functions.
In order to accommodate this situation, an initialisation process is performed
by the on-line processing routines in order to assemble the required
formatting functions in a way which enhances on-line processing speeds.
The formatting functions are arranged to generate small portions of
HTML code, such that the universal set of formatting functions is minimised
and so that any required output page may be generated by stringing
formatting functions together. The pre-processing initialisation procedures
consist of identifying strings of formatting functions required to generate
particular lines of HTML code. Thus, a particular line of HTML code is
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produced by sequentially executing a string of formatting functions and the
pre-processing step consists of arranging such function strings such that a
particular function string, arranged to generate a HTML page, may be quickly
sought and executed during on-line operation.
5 One function string will generate a particular line of HTML code. In
most applications, not all lines will take up the same format, therefore it is
necessary to generate a plurality of function strings. These function strings
are arranged in a string list, with an indexing pointer being provided so as
to
enable a particular function string to be quickly identified from the list and
10 thereafter executed in order to generate the output HTML instructions.
Initialisation step 501 is detailed in Figure 9. At step 901 the system
is effectively activated, which may consist of applying power to the system
resulting in an automatic "boot-up" or may consist of a selection being made
to perform the particular task, in preference to a previous unrelated task.
15 At step 902 the operating system is initialised and the system
configured so as to facilitate connections to the Internet. This
initialisation
also includes all standard processes to load peripheral drivers etc., thereby
placing the system in an operational condition.
At step 903 conventional procedures are executed in order to initialise
the HTTP daemon, whereafter procedures are performed to initialise the on-
line processing procedures associated with the present embodiment.
At step 904 a question is asked as to whether another function string
is to be generated which, on the first iteration, should be answered in the
affirmative. At step 905 the functions required to create the particular
string,
drawn from the universal set of available functions, are identified and at
step
906 the string itself is assembled by listing the functions for sequential
processing with data derived from the database or databases. Thus, at step
906 a complete function string is created. At step 907 the function
string generated at step 906 is appended to the string list created for that
particular application and at step 908 an indexing reference is identified
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within the list of strings. Thus, when a particular call is made for
formatting
signals, in the form of an executable string of functions, the particular call
identifies the index reference within the list of strings, resulting in the
selected
index being selected from the list and thereafter executed in combination with
the referenced data.
Thereafter, control is retumed to step 904 thereby allowing the next
function string to be processed. Eventually, all of the function strings will
have
been created, appended to the string list and appropriately indexed, resulting
in the question asked at step 904 being answered in the negative and control
being directed to step 909. At step 909 procedures are implemented to
initialise databases, so that data may be accessed from said databases in
accordance with conventional techniques.
The on-line file preparation steps, identified in Figure 5, are detailed in
Figure 10. At step 1001 the incoming URL, previously processed by the
HTTP daemon as illustrated in Figure 5 is buffered within a data structure
defined by the on-line processing routines. The URL will include an element
identifying the data required, an element identifying the type of formatting
required, information relating to the user and a check sum, so as to reject
URLs corrupted during transmission.
At step 1002 a question is asked as to whether the check sum is valid
and if this question is answered in the negative, to the effect that the check
sum is invalid, control is directed to step 1009 resulting in an error message
being returned to the browsing client device.
Similarly, a question is asked at step 1003 as to whether the user
identification is valid. In order for this question to be answered, it is
necessary
for a call to be made to a user database which will return an indication as to
whether the user can be identified from the database. If it is found that the
user ID is not presently available from the database, routines may be called
which enable a user to be treated as a new user and open an appropriate
account while remaining on-line. Thus, for example, these routines may
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request the user to supply credit card details etc. so that an account may be
established immediately.
In addition, the analysis of the user ID at step 1003 allows additional
information to be drawn from the user database relating to that specific user.
If a user ID has become invalid, the question asked at step 1003 may be
answered in the negative, again resulting in control being directed to step
1009 and an error message being directed to the browsing client.
After the check sum has been validated and the user ID has been
validated, a question is asked at step 1004 as to whether the data identifier
is
valid. Identifiers for data are placed within established formats, thus if the
server is unable to identify the data being requested, an error message will
be generated at step 1009. Similarly, an identifier for the formatting
requested
is validated at step 1005, which may again result in an error message being
generated at step 1009.
After the data identifier and the format identifier have been validated at
their respective steps, the HTML page or pages are generated at step 1006
with reference to the data identifier and the format identifier. Thereafter,
with
reference to the user ID, the pages are supplied back to the requesting
browser via the network.
After pages have been supplied back to the browsing client, the
system is aware of this fact and therefore has information as to what was
actually supplied to a user at a particular time. In some systems, this
information may be considered as having no value and therefore no further
action is taken. However, in alternative systems, particularly when products
are being sold, marketing information may be considered as highly valuable,
therefore provision is made for this information (i.e. an indication of what
pages were viewed at what particular time) to be written back to the user
database at step 1008. Thus, over time, information will become available
relating to user preferences which, under some circumstances, may be used
to modify the operation of the system.
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It will be appreciated that, during normal operation of the system,
various portions of the data will be used on more than one occasion. Thus, in
accordance with conventional techniques, data read from a database may be
cached such that, on a second iteration, the data may be more readily
available, thereby making it unnecessary to make an additional call to the
user database 1000. The system may be configured such that data is held in
cache for a predetermined period, say thirty minutes. Thus, if no use is made
of the data within thirty minutes, the cache may be flushed such that, at any
time, data held in the cache represents a snapshot of users who are actually
making use of the system.
A diagrammatic representation of processing unit 301 along with its
associated RAM 303, when configured to execute the on-line processing
instructions 405 is shown in Figure 11. The hypertext transport protocol
daemon 403 is shown diagrammatically on the left of Figure 11 and is
arranged to supply URLs to an input URL buffer 1101 and to receive output
HTML data from an output HTML buffer 1102. The on-line processor 310
(processor 301 of Figure 3 arranged to execute the on-line processing
procedures 405 of Figure 4) communicates with the user database 1000 as
shown in Figure 10. In addition, the processor 301 is arranged to access
strings from a string list store 1103, to access viewable text from a text
database 1104 and to access viewable graphics from a graphics database
1105. Each of the databases and the string list store is relational, in that
an
index, known to the processor 301 relates to a particular database entry.
Thus, in response to the processor 301 pointing to an index, the related data
is returned back to the processor 301. Thus, the string list store 1103
includes a string index portion 1106 and the actual string list portion 1107.
Function strings are added to the string list portion 1107 at step 907 of
Figure
9 with their related index reference being added to portion 1106 at step 908.
The processor 301 makes a request in terms of identifying a particular index
reference, stored in portion 1106. This index is related to a particular
string
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held in portion 1107. Thus, it is possible to adjust the relationship between
indexes and strings, thereby adjusting the way in which the data is actually
formatted in response to a particular request.
Similarly, text data in a text database 1104 consists of the text data
itself in portion 1108 and related text data indexes in portion 1109. Thus,
data
is selected from database 1104 by the on-line processor 301 issuing a
particular index to portion 1109, resulting in the related data, from portion
1108, being retumed to the on-line processor 301. Thus, it is the indices that
are known to the on-line processor 301 and the relationship between indices
and their related text data may be adjusted, so as to change the actual data
that is returned in response to a particular request being made.
The graphics database 1105 is also divided into related portions,
consisting of an index portion 1110 and a data portion 1111. Thus, in
response to the on-line processor 301 identifying a particular reference
within
portion 1110, graphical data is read from portion 1111.
As previously stated, a string read from portion 1107 consists of a
string of executable functions. Thus, these functions are supplied to the on-
line processor 301 for execution on said processor. Execution of a function
read from the string list may result in HTML tags being written directly to
the
output HTML buffer 1102. Alternatively, execution of these functions may
result in a call being made to the text database 1104 or to the graphics
database 1111. In either event, the call identifies an index, in portion 1109
or
portion 1110, which in tum results in the related text data or graphics data
being supplied directly to the output HTML buffer 1102.
Thus, the input URL will identify particular types of formatting and
particular types of data. The formatting information for the URL will result
in
particular function strings being read from the string list store 1103.
Thereafter, these functions are executed, with reference to the data
identifiers, resulting in text data and graphics data being read from the
respective databases 1104 and 1105. As the functions are executed, output
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HTML is written to the output HTML buffer 1102 and after an identified set of
functions have been executed, the HTML stored in output buffer 1102 is
read, so as to supply the output HTML signals to the HTTP daemon 403.
In addition to using the user database to confirm user validity and to
5 record actions made by the user (possibly for billing purposes) the on-line
processor 301 may also make use of information read from the user
database in order to adjust the relationship between indexes (1106, 1109,
1110) and their associated function strings and data (1107, 1108, 1111).
Thus, it is possible for the processor to respond to a URL in one of three
10 ways. Firstly, in a standard mode of operation, the particular output HTML
produced in response to a particular input URL will remain constant. The user
database is merely used to check user validity and to record user usage of
the system. Thus, output data is not dependent upon user type and all users
are supplied with the same data. However, adjustments may be made to the
15 relationship within databases over time, such that updates or upgrades may
be made to take account of the circumstances.
Thus, for an in-home shopping situation, the availability of goods and
changes in prices may be reflected in database relationships. Similarly, in on-
line joumals and newspapers, the data relationship may be adjusted in
20 response to editorial control, usually driven by news events. Thus, in a
news
environment, it is not necessary for editors to create new HTML documents if
they wish to supply new documents in this format to users. All the formatting
required to produce a page in a particular form is provided within the
formatting functions. Thus, in order to update a news item, an editor is
merely
required to update information contained in the database (usually database
1104) in accordance with conventional database techniques.
As stated above, it is possible for the processor to respond to the URL
in one of three possible ways. In a second enhanced mode of operation, it is
possible for the user to identify information to the system as a means of
expressing user preferences. Thus, in a home shopping environment for
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example, it is possible for a user to specify the particular goods of
interest.
Thus, for example, one user may only use the on-line shopping facility when
shopping for gardening supplies. The user may relay this information to the
system, such that the system will concentrate on gardening products. Thus,
on initiating the system, the first URL will result in a reference to
gardening
supplies, thereby avoiding the first screen shown in Figure 7, where the
client
has little interest. The client will still be able to access all of the
available
functions. For example, the second screen, containing predominantly
gardening products, would include a link for "other areas" and on executing
this button the user would be effectively supplied with the higher level page,
thereby allowing his selections to branch out into the other areas of the on-
line catalogue. In a more sophisticated system, the user may only be
interested in electrical equipment and sports equipment, such that a first
screen would display the sports icon followed by particular types of sport, in
combination with the electrical icon followed by particular electrical
products.
Thus, it is possible for the user to specify preferences such that the system
becomes more tailor-made and specific to that particular user.
Such an approach may also be used in news publications. For
example, some users may be interested predominantly in financial news
while others may be interested in sports news. Thus, with this information
programmed into the user database, the order in which pages are supplied to
a user may be adjusted in accordance with preferences specified by the user.
It will also be possible for users to specify whether the material is being
read
by children or by adults and for appropriate page selections to be made.
Pages designed for children could be written using limited vocabularies and
include a higher concentration of hyperlinks, allowing children to rapidly
access related information. In many situations, some pages would be
appropriate for both types of users and editors would have control as to what
is made available at what levels. Similarly, higher charges could be made for
particular types of information and, given information derived from the user
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database, low priced pages or high priced pages could be supplied as
appropriate.
In a third mode of operation, identified as a recursive mode of
operation, it is not necessary for a user to identify their own preferences in
order for adjustments to be made to the actual nature of pages returned to
users. The system records a history of usage and thereafter analyses this
information in order to determine the relationship between selections made
by a browser and the actual data returned back to the customer. Thus, after a
number of uses, it may become apparent that a user is only interested in
clothing and has shown very little interest in other products available from
the
catalogue. On detecting this interest, it will be possible for the system to
present the clothing page as the first page sent to the user on initiation.
Moving on from this, it may be possible to identify particular types of
clothing
that are of interest to a user. Thus, for example, a user may be only
interested in designer labels and having identified this information, it would
be
possible for the system to give a higher priority to special offers available
in
this area. Thus, information may be supplied to the system to the effect that
a
new limited edition has been produced which may be of particular interest to
a minority of users of the system. A region may be provided within an initial
page to provide special information or advertisements. A particular type of
information or advertisement supplied to this region will depend upon
customer history. Thus, if information has been supplied to the effect that a
limited edition has become available, the system will automatically know
which users are interested in obtaining items of this type. Thus, when this
particular sub-set of users log on to the system, the relevant information
will
be supplied back to them automatically. Similarly, an advertisement for a
designer jacket, for example, will not be sent to a user who has previously
only shown an interest in computer equipment.
The system will be capable of identifying situations in which particular
products have been browsed for significant periods of time by users. The
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system could be programmed to identify this fact and make an appropriate
modification when the user next logs on to the system. For example, having
detected that a particular user has shown an interest in a particular product,
it
may be assumed that a customer is interested in buying this product but, as
yet, has not made a final decision. The system may use this information in an
attempt to persuade the client to make the purchase. Thus, the system may
be programmed to offer discounts to clients such that, on the next use of the
system, an advertisement appears to the effect that the product of interest
has been reduced by a certain amount. Thus, it is possible that users would
perceive this as an offer being made to all clients, with the fact that they
have
a particular interest in that product being seen as a coincidence. Clearly
this
is not a coincidence and each user would be offered something which the
system had detected as being to their liking.
It can be appreciated that the possibilities are endless. This is all
provided by the fact that the actual HTML pages supplied back to users are
generated "on-the-fly" by indexing locations within databases. The
relationship between an index and an item may be adjusted so that the same
instructions may be used to access different data with on-going changes.
Similarly, the system may identify the particular user concerned and, in
response to this information, select an index which differs from the normal
index selected. Alternatively, a particular index identified by a user may be
treated by the system as a "wild card", with an actual selection of an index
being made in response to information stored about the particular user.
Operations performed by processor 301, as illustrated in Figure 11,
are detailed in Figure 12. At step 1201 a data string index is identified
enabling the processor 301 to make a call to an appropriate database. At
step 1202 a call to the database is made, by issuing the string indexed to the
appropriate database, resulting in the data string itself being returned from
the database to the processor 301. Thus, as shown in Figure 11, the read
operation performed at step 1202 would result in an index command being
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issued from the processor 301 to the indexed portion 1109 of database 1104,
whereafter the appropriate data, from portion 1108, is returned back to the
processor 301.
At step 1203 a function string index is identified, from the formatting
information present in the URL and at step 1204 the indexed function string is
read from the string list store 1103.
At step 1205 the function string read from the string list store 1103 is
executed, resulting in HTML code being written to the output HTML buffer
1102, whereafter, at step 1206, a question is asked as to whether another
function string has been identified. If this question is answered in the
affirmative, control is returned to step 1201 and the procedures identified
above are repeated. Eventually, the question asked at step 1206 will be
answered in the negative, resulting in the completion of procedures within
step 1006.
Step 1205, for the execution of a string function, is expanded in Figure
13. A string of functions has been read from the string list store and this
string
of functions is executed, sequentially function by function, at step 1205.
At step 1301 the next function, i.e. the first function on the first
iteration, is read from the function string. At step 1302 this particular
function
is executed, resulting in a unit of HTML code being written to the output
HTML buffer 1102 at step 1303. At step 1304 a question is asked as to
whether a function includes a further functional step and if answered in the
affirmative, control is returned to step 1302 for the next function step to be
executed. Thus, a functional step may be considered as the smallest portion
of a function that results in a write to the HTML buffer.
After all the executable steps of the function have been completed, the
question asked at step 1304 will be answered in the negative, resulting in a
question being asked at step 1305 as to whether another function is present
in the string. If another function is present in the string, the question
asked at
step 1305 will be answered in the affirmative, thereby retuming control to
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step 1301. Thus, steps 1301, 1302, 1303 and 1304 are repeated in order to
execute the next executable function within the string read from the string
list
store.
Eventually, all of the functions making up the string will have been
5 executed, resulting in the question asked at step 1305 being answered in the
negative so as to complete procedures within step 1205.
The functions executed over steps 1302 to 1304 will have been
created so as to generate the particular HTML code required. An example of
a function is shown in Figure 14 and it should be appreciated that similar
10 techniques are employed in order to generate all of the available types of
HTML code. The function shown in Figure 14, that may be considered as
being executed at step 1303 of Figure 13, is used to generate the first line
of
the example HTML code shown in Figure 8.
A first functional step, shown as step 1401, writes the tags
15 "<HEAD><TITLE>" as the start of line 1. These tags are written to the
output
HTML buffer at step 1303 and thereafter the question asked at step 1304
would be answered in the affirmative, resulting in the next functional step
being executed at step 1302. In the example shown in Figure 14, this would
consist of the execution of step 1402, consisting of a write to the output
20 HTML buffer of the viewable data "Home Shopper". This particular portion of
the code is derived by making a call to the text database. Thus, the write
instruction consists of a database index. Database 1104 is identified, along
with index position 001. Thus, it is known that at index position 001 in the
text database 1104 the title of the first page has been stored. Thus, as part
of
25 an editing procedure it may be decided that the title should be changed to
"Shopping at Home" for example. When a change of this type is required, it is
only necessary for an editor to make a change to the database entry stored
at index position 001 in database 1104. This can be achieved using
conventional database techniques, without any specialist knowledge required
of the HTML language used to transmit the information over the Internet.
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The operation of the system is unaffected by this change of title and the
procedure shown at step 1402 will execute as required, irrespective of the
nature of the actual title text contained within the database.
Thus, at step 1402 database 1104 is identified, an address to that
database is made in the form of identifying index 001 and text is returned to
the processor 301. This text is then supplied to the next location of the
output
HTML buffer 1102 at step 1303 and control is directed to step 1304, where
the question is again asked as to whether another functional step is present.
Again, this question will be answered in the affirmative, resulting in control
being returned to step 1302 so that the next functional step may be executed.
As shown in Figure 14, the next executable step consists of step 1403 which
will result in "</TITLE></HEAD>" being written to the output HTML buffer
1102 at step 1303. Again, the question will be asked at step 1304 as to
whether another functional step is present and on this occasion the question
will be answered in the negative, resulting in control being directed to step
1305.
Thus, it can be seen that a particular function has resulted in three
writing operations to the output HTML buffer in the form of a tag, viewable
text obtained from a database, followed by another HTML tag. This process
is repeated for each of the functions contained within the function string
until
the full page of HTML code has been generated and written to the HTML
buffer 1102. Signals from the HTML buffer 1102 are then supplied to the
HTTPD 403 which in turn supplies the signals to the browsing client via the
Internet.
The databases for storing text and graphics are of conventional types,
having mechanisms for requests to be made for information to be supplied. In
particular, requests to databases are made using the structured query
language (SQL) and data is obtained from the databases by generating an
SQL enquiry.
