Abstract:
Computer systems, methods and software for responding to remote clients with content selected based on when the request is made. The method may include selecting one or more interface components based on the time of day and/or date of the request, and returning a response including the selected interface components. The method may include adjusting the time for a time zone for the remote client and/or user. Interface components may be fully embedded in the response, or may be references to external components. Interface components may include data relating to a user task associated with the date and/or time of day, formatting information for displaying the task data to the user of the remote client, instructions for user interaction with the task data, etc.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/831,196 filed Jul. 6, 2010 entitled METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR PROVIDING TIME AND DATE SPECIFIC SOFTWARE USER INTERFACES, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/317,973 filed on Mar. 26, 2010 entitled METHOD FOR PROVIDING TIME AND DATE SPECIFIC COMPUTER INTERFACES; both applications are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    The present invention generally relates to the computer systems, methods, and software for responding to remote client requests. More specifically, embodiments of the present invention pertain to responding to remote clients with content selected based on when the request is made. 
         [0003]    Typical Web systems employ HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) as a communication protocol used between a Web browser and a Web server (i.e., HTTP server). In HTTP, communication is initiated by the Web browser. Namely, one HTTP communication is comprised of an HTTP request issued by the Web browser and an HTTP response returned by the Web server in response to the HTTP request. 
         [0004]    Referring now to  FIG. 1 , a response  100  from a web server typically includes a response header  101  and a body  102 . The header  101  may include cookies  110 , such as a session id  111  which the Web browser can return to associate future requests with a single session. The body  102  typically comprises an HTML “page”  120  that includes both data and formatting information for display to a user of the Web browser. Many conventional Web applications divide a display area into interface components (e.g., portlets, sidebars, banners, etc.), where each component is associated with a particular task or type of data and given a portion of the Web browser display area. 
         [0005]      FIG. 2  shows an exemplary web page display area  240  with a banner area  241 , and sidebar area  242 , and a main body area  243 . Sidebar area  242  is further divided into areas  245 ,  246 , and  247 . These interface components may be incorporated within the body of a response within HTML sections such as &lt;div&gt; tags  141 ,  142 , and  143  of  FIG. 1 ) or may be references to external data (e.g., data to be retrieved by further HTTP requests) with HTML sections such as &lt;iframe&gt; tags  145 ,  146 , and  147 . An HTML page may also include interface components such as cascading style sheets (CSS) (e.g., &lt;style&gt; tag  132 ) and JavaScript code (e.g., &lt;script&gt; tag  131 ) to further define and/or customize the layout, formatting, behavior, and other attributes of the HTML page. 
         [0006]    The user of a Web browser typically communicates with the Web server via a series of HTTP requests and responses. Each response typically provides links or other interface affordances (e.g., forms, JavaScript actions, etc.) to retrieve data and/or to perform tasks. Typically, a web page is built from the same set of interface components every time the user accesses a given Web page or application, unless new features or added or the user manually changes one or more of the interface components. For example, in a portal application the user may have configured a sports section, a financial news section, and a stock price section. When the user visits the portal Web application, the interface components are selected from the sections selected by the user. The same interface components are selected displayed every time the user visits the “home” page of the Web application. Thus, the user interface for a Web application generally remains the same, independent of the time of day, day of the week, day of the year, etc. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0007]    It would be beneficial to the user if the Web server were to change the user interface dynamically depending on the time at which the Web server is accessed in order to give the user quicker, easier, or automatic access to items, pages, data, or screens they need, without them having to explicitly select or request them. The embodiments described herein include methods and systems for responding to remote clients in a time and/or date sensitive manner. An embodiment of a method may include steps of receiving a request from a remote client, determining a time of day and/or a date for the request, selecting one or more interface components based on the time of day and/or date, and returning a response to the client including the selected interface components. In some embodiments, the method includes determining a time zone for the remote client and/or user and selecting one or more of the interface components based on the time adjusted for the time zone. 
         [0008]    Interface components may be fully embedded in the response, or may be references to external components. The interface components may include, for example, style and/or formatting information (e.g., cascading style sheet [CSS] data), executable code (e.g., scripts, browser add-ons and extensions, Java applets, ActiveX controls, etc.), structured and/or formatted data, etc. Thus, one or more of the selected interface components may include data relating to a user task, where the task is particularly associated with a date and/or time of day. The interface components may further comprise instructions and/or formatting information for displaying the task data to the user of the remote client. Other interface components may include instructions and/or information (e.g., scripts, html forms, hyperlinks, etc.) for user interaction with the task data. 
         [0009]    In an exemplary embodiment, the method may include determining a current time period (e.g., the current business day), determining a time of previous access by the remote client and/or the remote user, and selecting one or more of the interface components based on whether said time of previous access is within said current time period (e.g., to display tasks scheduled for the beginning of the business day). 
         [0010]    In some embodiments, the method includes determining a time of previous access by the remote client and/or user and selecting one or more of the interface components based on a duration of a period between the time of previous access and the time of day for the request. In other embodiments, the method includes creating and/or accessing session data corresponding to the request and setting a session duration for the session data based on the time of day (e.g., to provide a longer login session during normal business hours and/or on business days). 
         [0011]    In another embodiment, the method may include selecting one or more current time periods from a plurality of pre-defined time periods (e.g., “morning,” “lunchtime,” “afternoon”, “during business hours,” “holiday,” etc.) and selecting one or more of the interface components based on the current time period(s). 
         [0012]    These and other embodiments are described more fully below. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0013]      FIG. 1  is a diagram of an exemplary HTTP response; 
           [0014]      FIG. 2  is a diagram of an exemplary Web page layout; 
           [0015]      FIG. 3  is a diagram of an exemplary Web application server and client; 
           [0016]      FIG. 4  is a flowchart showing an exemplary method for customizing a response for a user&#39;s first access during a time period; 
           [0017]      FIG. 5  is a flowchart showing an exemplary method for customizing a response based on the time of a user&#39;s previous access; 
           [0018]      FIG. 6  is a flowchart showing an exemplary method for customizing a response based on the time of login; 
           [0019]      FIG. 7  is a flowchart showing an exemplary method for changing products included in a response based on the time of day; 
           [0020]      FIG. 8  is a flowchart showing an exemplary method for changing display styles in a response based on the time of day. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0021]    The systems, methods, and software of the present invention provide mechanisms for providing the user of a remote client computer with a web application experience by acting upon time-based values in order to customize, stylize, or differentiate information displayed to the user, to help them work more effectively. Embodiments of the invention may, for example, present sets of data and/or tools adapted to the user&#39;s likely needs to help them prioritize and perform tasks at an appropriate time. 
         [0022]      FIGS. 3-8  generally show exemplary methods including steps of receiving a request from a remote client, determining a time of day and/or a date for the request, selecting one or more interface components based on the time of day and/or date, and returning a response to the client including the selected interface components. It will be recognized that the methods described herein may be implemented as software instructions to be executed on one or more computer processing systems. 
         [0023]      FIG. 3  shows an exemplary web server  310  communicating over network  303  with a browser software application  302  running on a client computer system  301 . It will be recognized that web server  310  generally includes a plurality of software components, and that any of these components may be running on multiple computer processors, and that each of the exemplary components described herein may be further so subdivided. 
         [0024]    Request processor  311  may comprise an HTTP server such as the Apache HTTP server, Microsoft Internet Information Services, etc. While the embodiments herein are generally described in terms of HTTP communication protocols and HTML presentation formats, it will be recognized by those skilled in the art that the concepts are applicable to a wide variety of communication protocols and data formats. Furthermore the client software may include, in addition to web browsers, dashboard applications, sidebars, tickers, etc. In an exemplary implementation, request processor  311  receives a request and parses the request to determine how to respond. Request processor  311  may simply return a data file specified by the request, or may delegate processing to another component (e.g., to application service  314 ) based on the request. In addition, request processor  311  may communicate with identification server  312  to associate the request with a particular client system and/or user (e.g., based on login credentials provided by the user). Request processor  311  may also communicate with session service  313  to associate the request with user session data (e.g., data stored on the web server in order to maintain a session state between requests). 
         [0025]    Application service  314  may comprise a custom web application configured to process one or more types of requests from request processor, or may comprise a conventional web application server or object request broker. In exemplary embodiments, the application service  314  communicates, directly or indirectly, with a component selector  315  configured to receive a time and/or date from time source  316  and to select one or more interface components based on the time of day and/or date. 
         [0026]    Component selector  315  may select interface components based on, for example, time of day, day of week, day of month, month within the fiscal quarter, holidays, business days, day or night, typically active time for the user, or off-hours for the user based on their historical norm, number of minutes since the last login, number of minutes since the last view of a given page, screen, or record set, number of minutes since login, number of minutes until the user session will expire, number of minutes since last user session ended, any combination of the above, etc. 
         [0027]    Exemplary components that the component selector  315  may select may include landing pages, redirect URLs, or other screens to display after login success or initiation of the application, portlets or summary views to display on a “Home” page, executive dashboard views, dashboard view orders, tab orders, styles, scripts, executable code (e.g., Java Applets, ActiveX controls, Adobe Flash applications), etc. The application service  314  or other components may also adjust other aspects of the response and/or session in response to the time, such as whether previous session data or cookies are reused, session duration, etc. 
         [0028]    Referring now to  FIG. 4 , flowchart  400  shows an exemplary method for customizing a response for a user&#39;s first access during a time period. At step  401 , a user logs in to an application. For example, the user may enter a username and password, or use other login credentials, on a login page for a support case tracking web application. At step  402 , the application determines the current time. At step  403 , the application uses the current time to determine the current time period and the start time for that period. For example, a “user day” may be configured to begin at 3 A.M. each day. 
         [0029]    At step  405 , the application determines whether the user has previously logged or otherwise accessed the application after the start of the current period. If the user has previously logged in during the current period, then the application may return a default application home page including a default set of components at step  410 . The browser or other client application then displays the default page at step  411 . If, however, the user has not logged in to the system since the start of the current period, then the application may proceed to step  420  to return a set of components customized for a “first of the day” page. For example, in a support case tracking web application the “first of the day” page may include one or more components to show support cases and tasks scheduled for the day, cases that have not been updated in the last 72 hours, cases that have been opened since their last “first of the day” login, etc. 
         [0030]    Referring now to  FIG. 5 , flowchart  500  shows an exemplary method for customizing a response based on the time of a user&#39;s previous access. At step  500 , a user of a remote client logs out of the web application. At step  502 , in processing the log-out request, the web application stores a time of the logout and at step  503  saves an interface state. 
         [0031]    At step  510 , the user logs in again. At step  511 , the application determines the amount of time elapsed since the last login. At step  512 , the application determines whether the time elapsed is greater than some threshold (e.g., one hour). If the time elapsed is not greater than the threshold, then the application loads the saved interface state at step  520  and returns a page in the saved state at step  521 . For example, the page with saved state may include persisted values for a current page, search history, navigation tree state, etc. Otherwise, at step  530  the application may return a default home page (e.g., with no search history, a fully closed set of folders in the navigation tree, etc.). 
         [0032]    Referring now to  FIG. 6 , flowchart  600  shows an exemplary method for customizing a response based on the time of login. At step  601  a user selects the application site (e.g., from a bookmark/favorites list, from a portal application, etc.) and at step  602  the client browser requests the appropriate page. At step  603  the application determines whether there is any session state associated with the request (e.g., from a session cookie or other parameter included in the request) and at step  604  determines whether the session is valid. If there is no valid session, then at step  610  the application returns a login page. In step  611  the client browser displays the login page. At step  612  the user enters login credentials, and at step  613  the client browser sends a login request to the application. At step  614  the application determines whether the login credentials are valid. If not, the login page is returned again at step  610 . 
         [0033]    If the login is valid, then the application proceeds to step  620  to determine the current time. At step  621 , the application determines the session duration based on the current time. For example, if the current time is within the window of normal business hours Monday-Friday for the company (or user, if per-user values are available), the session may be granted with a duration of eight hours. If the current time is outside of normal business hours, then a different duration may be granted. For example, between 6 am and 8 pm on a normal workday, a four hour session may be granted. Or, a one hour session may be granted. Note that, in this example and all other examples, the duration of a session and the time period to which the duration applies can be defined in a variety of ways. In some implementations, the duration and time period are defined to maximize hardware resources. In other implementations, the duration and time periods are based on business needs, client agreement, or some other factor/combination of factors. 
         [0034]    Referring now to  FIG. 7 , flowchart  700  shows an exemplary method for changing products included in a response based on the time of day. At steps  701  and  702  the user selects the site and the browser sends a request to the application. At step  710 , the application determines an internet protocol (IP) address of the client system. At step  711  the application determines a time zone for the user based on the IP address (e.g., using a GeoIP database) and at step  712  determines the user&#39;s local time by adjusting for the time zone. At step  713  the application determines the current time period, e.g. “daytime”, for the user of the remote client. At step  720 , the application returns a page based on the current time period. For example, if it is “daytime” at step  720  the application may return a page including business use or other “daytime” products on the page. Otherwise, at step  730  the application may return a page including other information for home use or “nighttime” products on the page. 
         [0035]    Referring now to  FIG. 8 , flowchart  800  shows an exemplary method for changing display styles in a response based on the time of day. An exemplary web application may generally be styled with primarily black text on a white background, with blue trim. Throughout the day, the remote client may request application pages at step  801 , either in response to user activity or in response to scripts or other application logic executed on the client. The application processes the request at step  802 , and at least part of the processing may include steps  803 - 818  to modify the display of the site in response to the time of day. Thus at step  803  the application determines the current time. In steps  810 ,  812 ,  814 , and  816  the application may compare the current time to one or more predefined time periods (e.g., deadline approaching, morning, lunchtime, end of day) and adjust style components appropriately at steps  811 ,  813 ,  815 ,  817 , and  818 . 
         [0036]    Thus, as the day progresses the default blue trim may change appearance slightly, becoming lighter during the mornings and through the afternoon, and progressively darker through late afternoon through evening, and very dark blue at night. For a business application or corporate intranet site, for example, the application may unobtrusively give workers an update on the relative time of day. While a digital clock included with most operating systems provides a specific time of day, the coloring could provide timing subtle cues to the user. For example, a schedule component may fade to gray during lunch break for a worker, fade to red if an action hasn&#39;t been taken in a given amount of time, fade to black as the dedicated call center hour&#39;s end of day approaches, etc. 
         [0037]    Thus, the present invention provides methods, software, and computer systems for changing the user interface of a web application dynamically depending on the time at which the Web server is accessed in order to give the user quicker, easier, or automatic access to items, pages, data, or screens they need, without the user having to explicitly select or request these particular components. 
         [0038]    It should be understood that the foregoing description is merely an example of the invention and that modifications and may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention. The scope of the invention, therefore, should be determined with respect to the appended claims, including the full scope of equivalents thereof.