US 6,807,559 B1Granted

System and method for applet management

AssigneeAttachmate Corporation

InventorSuresh Budhiraja

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Abstract

A system and method for applet management utilizes a dubuild utility to form a core distribution unit and component split distribution units to separately package various features of an application to be downloaded on an as requested basis to a browser running on a client computer from a server computer. To start the application the core distribution unit embedded in a core Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) page is first downloaded from the server computer to the client computer and cached in a designated area of storage on the client computer according to HTML tags. The core distribution unit includes core user features, a background frame, and a component manager. The core user features include a menu supported by the background frame to provide selection of additional features provided by the component split distribution units. Once a user selects a requested feature from the menu provided by other than the core distribution unit, the component manager first determines whether a component split distribution unit has already been downloaded and if not, the component split distribution unit containing the requested feature is downloaded from the server computer to the client computer. Following standard split distribution unit design, the browser caches the component split distribution unit with the core distribution unit as an update to the core distribution unit. Application files of the component split distribution unit then run along with the browser and application files of the core distribution unit to provide the requested features.

Claims44

Dependent claims

A communication system comprising:

a server computer system including a server storage;
a client computer system communicatively linked to the server computer system via a communication network, the client computer system comprising:
a client storage;
a browser program, the browser program configured to download to the client computer system markup language based pages from the server computer system over the communication network, to display information contained in the downloaded markup language based pages, to execute applets contained in the downloaded markup language based pages, and to store files contained in the downloaded markup language based pages on the client storage based upon markup language based tags found on the markup language based pages;
a core collection of compressed files being embedded in a markup language based core page, the core collection of compressed files containing core applet files configured to execute with the browser program on the client computer system to provide one or more features including a menu to select additional features, the menu to be displayed by the browser program, the core collection of compressed files further containing markup language based tags with storage details concerning the core collection of compressed files, the storage details including type of storage location in the client storage where the browser program is to store the core collection of compressed files to override default storage details of the browser program, the core collection of compressed files to be downloaded between the server computer system and the client computer system via the communication network by the browser program;
and
component collections of compressed files, each component collection of compressed files being embedded in a markup language based component page and containing component applet files configured to execute with the core collection of compressed files and with the browser program on the client computer system, each component collection of compressed files configured to provide one or more of the additional features, each component collection of compressed files containing markup language based tags with storage details concerning that component collection of compressed files, the storage details including type of storage location in the client storage where the browser program is to store the component collection of compressed files to override default storage details of the browser program, the component collection of compressed files to be downloaded between the server computer system and the client computer system via the communication network by the browser program after selection is made from the menu displayed by the browser program, at least one of the additional features for which the component collection of compressed files is configured to provide.

4 more elements

A communication system comprising:

a server computer system including a server storage;
a client computer system communicatively linked to the server computer system via a communication network, the client computer system comprising:
a client storage;
a graphical user interface, the graphical user interface configured to download files from the server computer system over the communication network, to display information contained in the downloaded files, to execute applications contained in the downloaded files, and to store the downloaded files on the client storage based upon file identification;
a core collection of compressed files containing core application files configured to execute with the graphical user interface on the client computer system to provide one or more features including a menu to select additional features, the menu to be displayed by the graphical user interface, the core collection of compressed files further containing file identification with storage details concerning the core collection of compressed files, the storage details including type of storage location in the client storage where the graphical user interface is to store the core collection of compressed files to override default storage details of the graphical user interface, the core collection of compressed files to be downloaded between the server computer system and the client computer system via the communication network by the graphical user interface;
and
component collections of compressed files containing component files configured to execute with the core collection of compressed files and with the graphical user interface on the client computer system, each component collection of compressed files configured to provide one or more of the additional features, each component collection of compressed files containing file identification with storage details concerning that component collection of compressed files, the storage details including type of storage location in the client storage where the graphical user interface is to store the component collection of compressed files to override default storage details of the graphical user interface, the component collection of compressed files to be downloaded between the server computer system and the client computer system via the communication network by the graphical user interface after selection is made from the menu displayed on the graphical user interface of at least one of the additional features for which the component collection of compressed files is configured to provide.

4 more elements

A client computer system for use with a server computer system, the server computer system communicatively linked to the client computer system via a communication network, the client system comprising:

a client storage;
a graphical user interface, the graphical user interface configured to download files from the server computer system over the communication network, to display information contained in the downloaded files, to execute applications contained in the downloaded files, and to store the downloaded files on the client storage based upon file identification;
a core collection of compressed files containing core application files configured to execute with the graphical user interface on the client computer system to provide one or more features including a menu to select additional features, the menu to be displayed by the graphical user interface, the core collection of compressed files further containing file identification with storage details concerning the core collection of compressed files, the storage details including type of storage location in the client storage where the graphical user interface is to store the core collection of compressed files to override default storage details of the graphical user interface, the core collection of compressed files to be downloaded between the server computer system and the client computer system via the communication network by the graphical user interface;
and
one or more component collections of compressed files configured to execute with the core collection of compressed files and with the graphical user interface on the client computer system, each component collection of compressed files configured to provide one or more of the additional features, each component collection of compressed files containing file identification with storage details concerning that component collection of compressed files, the storage details including type of storage location in the client storage where the graphical user interface is to store the component collection of compressed files to override default storage details of the graphical user interface, the component collection of compressed files to be downloaded between the server computer system and the client computer system via the communication network by the graphical user interface after selection is made from the menu displayed on the graphical user interface of at least one of the additional features for which the component collection of compressed files is configured to provide.

2 more elements

A server computer system for use with a client computer system, the client computer system having a graphical user interface and a client storage, the client system communicatively linked to the server system via a communication network, the server system comprising:

a server storage;
a core collection of compressed files containing core application files configured to execute with the graphical user interface on the client computer system to provide one or more features including a menu to select additional features, the menu to be displayed by the graphical user interface, the core collection of compressed files further containing file identification with storage details concerning the core collection of compressed files, the storage details including type of storage location in the client storage where the graphical user interface is to store the core collection of compressed files to override default storage details of the graphical user interface, the core collection of compressed files to be downloaded between the server computer system and the client computer system via the communication network by the graphical user interface;
and
component collections of compressed files configured to execute with the core collection of compressed files and with the graphical user interface, each component collection of compressed files configured to provide one or more of the additional features, each component collection of compressed files containing file identification with storage details concerning that component collection of compressed files, the storage details including type of storage location in the client storage where the graphical user interface is to store the component collection of compressed files to override default storage details of the graphical user interface, the component collection of compressed files to be downloaded between the server computer system and the client computer system via the communication network by the graphical user interface after selection is made from the menu displayed on the graphical user interface of at least one of the additional features for which the component collection of compressed files is configured to provide.

1 more element

A computer-readable medium for storing computer-readable instructions, the instructions written to program a computer to perform a method, the method comprising:

receiving a core collection of compressed files having core application files onto a client computer;
caching onto one or more designated locations of a storage of the client computer, the core collection of compressed files according to identification associated with the core collection of compressed files;
uncompressing one or more core application files from the core collection of compressed files onto the client computer;
executing the one or more of the uncompressed core application files from the core collection of compressed files to display a menu to select one or more features;
determining whether a marker associated with a selection of one or more features from the menu exists on the storage of the client computer;
if the marker has been determined not to exist on the storage of the client computer, then receiving a component collection of compressed files having component application files onto the client computer based upon the selection of one or more features from the menu;
caching along with the core collection of compressed files onto the one or more designated locations of the storage of the client computer, the component collection of compressed files according to identification associated with the component collection of compressed files;
uncompressing one or more of the component application files from the component collection of compressed files onto the client computer;
and
executing the one or more of the uncompressed component application files from the component collection of compressed files to provide the one or more features as selected from the menu.

7 more elements

Computer files stored on a computer-readable medium, the computer files comprising:

a core collection of compressed files containing core application files configured to execute with a graphical user interface on a client computer to provide one or more features including a menu to select additional features, the menu to be displayed by the graphical user interface, the core collection of compressed files further containing file identification with storage details concerning that core collection of compressed files, the storage details including type of storage location in a client storage of the client computer where the graphical user interface is to store the core collection of compressed files to override default storage details of the graphical user interface, the core collection of compressed files configured for download between a server computer and the client computer via a communication network by the graphical user interface;
and
component collections of compressed files configured to execute with the core collection of compressed files and with the graphical user interface on the client computer system, each component collection of compressed files configured to provide one or more of the additional features, each component collection of compressed files containing file identification with storage details concerning that component collection of compressed files, the storage details including type of storage location in the client storage where the graphical user interface is to store the component collection of compressed files to override default storage details of the graphical user interface, the component collection of compressed files to be downloaded between the server computer and the client computer via the communication network by the graphical user interface after selection is made from the menu displayed on the graphical user interface of at least one of the additional features for which the component collection of compressed files is configured to provide.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 09/544,518Filed 6 Apr 2000
Granted: 19 Oct 2004
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification6 codes

G06F 9/44521
Program loading or initiating: dynamic linking or loading; Link editing at or after load time, e.g. Java class loading
H04L 67/02
Protocols: based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
H04L 67/34
Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications: involving the movement of software or configuration parameters
H04L 69/329
Intralayer communication protocols among peer entities or protocol data unit [PDU] definitions: in the application layer [OSI layer 7]