Predictive HTTP authentication mode negotiation

An electronic computing system comprising:

• a processing unit;
• and
• a data storage system, the data storage system storing instructions that, when executed by the processing unit, cause the electronic computing system to:
• receive a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) response, the HTTP response being sent by a server system, the HTTP response being received by the electronic computing system via an electronic communication network, the HTTP response containing an HTTP authentication mode preference header, the HTTP authentication mode preference header indicating a preferred HTTP authentication mode;
• in response to identifying the preferred HTTP authentication mode, use the preferred HTTP authentication mode in an HTTP request, the HTTP request requesting a resource, the resource being provided by the server system, the HTTP request being sent via the electronic communication network, the HTTP request being sent to the server system;
• and
• in response to using the preferred HTTP authentication mode in the HTTP request, receive a second HTTP response, wherein the second HTTP response contains as second authentication mode preference header comprising a Persistent-Auth field, wherein the Persistent-Auth field indicates whether subsequent requests will require an authorization header.

A computer-readable data storage medium not consisting of a propagated data signal, the computer-readable data storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processing unit of a server system, cause the server system to:

• receive a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) request, the HTTP request being received via an electronic communication network, the HTTP request being sent by a client system, the HTTP request requesting a resource, the resource being provided by the server system;
• in response to receiving the HTTP request, determine whether HTTP authentication is required to access the resource;
• in response to determining that HTTP authentication is not required to access the resource, retrieve the resource;
• in response to determining that HTTP authentication is not required to access the resource, send a first HTTP response, the first HTTP response containing the resource, the first HTTP response being sent via the electronic communication network, the first HTTP response being sent to the client system;
• in response to determining that HTTP authentication is required to access the resource, identify a required HTTP authentication mode, the required HTTP authentication mode being an HTTP authentication mode required to access the resource;
• in response to identifying the required HTTP authentication mode, determine whether the required HTTP authentication mode is connection-based HTTP authentication;
• send a second HTTP response, the server system sending the second HTTP response when the second HTTP authentication mode is connection-based HTTP authentication, the second HTTP response being responsive to the HTTP request, the second HTTP response containing a first HTTP authentication mode preference header, the first HTTP authentication mode preference header indicating that a preferred HTTP authentication mode is connection-based HTTP authentication, the second HTTP response being sent via the electronic communication network, the second HTTP response being sent to the client system;
• in response to identifying the required HTTP authentication mode, determine whether the required HTTP authentication mode is request-based HTTP authentication;
• and
• send a third HTTP response, the server system sending the third HTTP response when the required HTTP authentication mode is request-based HTTP authentication, the third HTTP response being responsive to the HTTP request, the third HTTP response containing a second HTTP authentication mode preference header, the second HTTP authentication preference header indicating that the preferred HTTP authentication mode is request-based HTTP authentication, the third HTTP response being sent via the electronic communication network, the third HTTP response being sent to the client system.