Patent ID: 6714926
Filing Date: 2004-03-30
Classification: H04L,Y10S

Abstract:
In a web site system in which data structures used to customize web site content for users are stored within a database, a method of incorporating at least one data structure from the database into a browser cookie to reduce accesses to the database, the at least one data structure including a plurality of primitives, the primitives each comprising at least one byte, which plurality include at least one primitive of a non-character data type, the method comprising:storing, on a server of the web site, schema data which specifies a schema for encoding the at least one data structure within browser cookies; translating the at least one data structure, including the plurality of primitives, into a character string according to the schema; incorporating the character string into a browser cookie to be stored on a user computer; and subsequently, in response to the server receiving the browser cookie from the user computer, using the schema data to translate the character string back into the at least one data structure; wherein the step of translating the at least one data structure into a character string is performed by executable code according to the schema data, such that types of data structures encoded within browser cookies may be changed over time by modifying the schema, without modifying the executable code.