Patent Publication Number: US-7720938-B2

Title: Timely update of information displayed within a portal

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Technical Field 
   The present invention relates to data processing and, in particular, to update of information displayed in Web documents. Still more particularly, the present invention provides a method, apparatus, and program for timely update of information displayed within a portal. 
   2. Description of Related Art 
   The use of Web related applications has become more and more prevalent in society, both in business and in everyday personal tasks. For example, many personal Web users begin a Web session with a “portal” page. A portal is a Web “supersite” that provides a variety of services including, for example, Web searching, news, white and yellow pages directories, electronic mail, discussion groups, online shopping, and links to other sites. Although the term was initially used to refer to general purpose sites, the term “portal” may also be used to refer to other sites that offer a plurality of services, particularly those providing dynamic content. 
   A portal server is a network server that deploys portal services to a public Web site or internal intranet. A portal server may also refer to an application that is used to develop, deliver, and maintain portal services through a Web page. A portal server typically includes a variety of tools and functions, including user authentication, identity management, a search facility, and content aggregation capabilities. 
   User personalization may also be a feature, which lets people customize their own Web pages. User personalization may be effectuated using “portlets.” A portlet is a small window or function that may be used by a portal server to build a portal page. Portlet technology allows a portal page to be customized more quickly either internally by the development team or by the end user. Portlet technology may come as an adjunct to a portal server or as optional interfaces to enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications. The degree of customization also varies. As a typical example, a user may customize a portal page to include a search engine portlet, a stock price portlet, a weather portlet, and a sports scores portlet. However, more application specific examples may also exist. For example, a portal page may provide monitoring services for network resources, where each portlet presents a particular monitor. 
   When a user requests a portal page through a browser, the portal server dynamically generates the portal page using the various portlets that make up the page. The portal page may include time dependent content, such as stock quote information, weather information, or resource monitoring information. Therefore, a portal page typically includes a function, such as a JavaScript function, for example, that periodically sends a refresh request for the page. However, this function sends refresh requests whether update information is available for the page or not. This results in many unwarranted refresh operations, which creates additional network traffic and causes the portal server to repeatedly recreate the same portal page unnecessarily. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   The present invention recognizes the disadvantages of the prior art and provides a mechanism for timely update of information displayed within a Web page. A function is added to a Web page that communicates with a refresh control helper. The Web page is associated with a session identifier. When information updates occur, information presented in the Web page may change. If an information update that affects the Web page occur, an update notification is associated with the session identifier. Periodically, the function in the Web page sends a session identifier to the refresh control helper. The refresh control helper calls a refresh controller and passes the session identifier. The refresh controller checks a data store to determine if update notifications associated with the session identifier have been received. If no update is available for the session identifier, the refresh controller informs the refresh control helper that no new data is available for the Web page. If updates are available for the page, the refresh controller informs the refresh control helper that new data is available and removes any update notifications for the session identifier from the data store. The refresh control helper then informs the function in the Web page that new data is available and the function requests a page reload. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The novel features believed characteristic of the invention are set forth in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, as well as a preferred mode of use, further objectives and advantages thereof, will best be understood by reference to the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
       FIG. 1  depicts a pictorial representation of a network of data processing systems in which the present invention may be implemented; 
       FIG. 2  is a block diagram of a data processing system that may be implemented as a server in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
       FIG. 3  is a block diagram of a data processing system in which the present invention may be implemented; 
       FIG. 4  is a block diagram illustrating a portal server communicating with a client browser in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; and 
       FIG. 5  is a flowchart illustrating the operation of a portal server environment in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
   The present invention provides a method, apparatus and computer program product for application design based on diagram specialization. The data processing device may be a stand-alone computing device or may be a distributed data processing system in which multiple computing devices are utilized to perform various aspects of the present invention. Therefore, the following  FIGS. 1-3  are provided as exemplary diagrams of data processing environments in which the present invention may be implemented. It should be appreciated that  FIGS. 1-3  are only exemplary and are not intended to assert or imply any limitation with regard to the environments in which the present invention may be implemented. Many modifications to the depicted environments may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. 
   With reference now to the figures,  FIG. 1  depicts a pictorial representation of a network of data processing systems in which the present invention may be implemented. Network data processing system  100  is a network of computers in which the present invention may be implemented. Network data processing system  100  contains a network  102 , which is the medium used to provide communications links between various devices and computers connected together within network data processing system  100 . Network  102  may include connections, such as wire, wireless communication links, or fiber optic cables. 
   In the depicted example, server  104  is connected to network  102  along with storage unit  106 . In addition, clients  108 ,  110 , and  112  are connected to network  102 . These clients  108 ,  110 , and  112  may be, for example, personal computers or network computers. In the depicted example, server  104  provides data, such as boot files, operating system images, and applications to clients  108 - 112 . Clients  108 ,  110 , and  112  are clients to server  104 . Network data processing system  100  may include additional servers, clients, and other devices not shown. 
   In the depicted example, network data processing system  100  is the Internet with network  102  representing a worldwide collection of networks and gateways that use the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) suite of protocols to communicate with one another. At the heart of the Internet is a backbone of high-speed data communication lines between major nodes or host computers, consisting of thousands of commercial, government, educational and other computer systems that route data and messages. Of course, network data processing system  100  also may be implemented as a number of different types of networks, such as for example, an intranet, a local area network (LAN), or a wide area network (WAN).  FIG. 1  is intended as an example, and not as an architectural limitation for the present invention. 
   Referring to  FIG. 2 , a block diagram of a data processing system that may be implemented as a server, such as server  104  in  FIG. 1 , is depicted in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Data processing system  200  may be a symmetric multiprocessor (SMP) system including a plurality of processors  202  and  204  connected to system bus  206 . Alternatively, a single processor system may be employed. Also connected to system bus  206  is memory controller/cache  208 , which provides an interface to local memory  209 . I/O bus bridge  210  is connected to system bus  206  and provides an interface to I/O bus  212 . Memory controller/cache  208  and I/O bus bridge  210  may be integrated as depicted. 
   Peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus bridge  214  connected to I/O bus  212  provides an interface to PCI local bus  216 . A number of modems may be connected to PCI local bus  216 . Typical PCI bus implementations will support four PCT expansion slots or add-in connectors. Communications links to clients  108 - 112  in  FIG. 1  may be provided through modem  218  and network adapter  220  connected to PCI local bus  216  through add-in connectors. 
   Additional PCI bus bridges  222  and  224  provide interfaces for additional PCI local buses  226  and  228 , from which additional modems or network adapters may be supported. In this manner, data processing system  200  allows connections to multiple network computers. A memory-mapped graphics adapter  230  and hard disk  232  may also be connected to I/O bus  212  as depicted, either directly or indirectly. 
   Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the hardware depicted in  FIG. 2  may vary. For example, other peripheral devices, such as optical disk drives and the like, also may be used in addition to or in place of the hardware depicted. The depicted example is not meant to imply architectural limitations with respect to the present invention. 
   The data processing system depicted in  FIG. 2  may be, for example, an IBM eServer pSeries system, a product of International Business Machines Corporation in Armonk, N.Y., running the Advanced Interactive Executive (AIX) operating system or LINUX operating system. 
   With reference now to  FIG. 3 , a block diagram of a data processing system is shown in which the present invention may be implemented. Data processing system  300  is an example of a computer, such as client  108  in  FIG. 1 , in which code or instructions implementing the processes of the present invention may be located. In the depicted example, data processing system  300  employs a hub architecture including a north bridge and memory controller hub (MCH)  308  and a south bridge and input/output (I/O) controller hub (ICH)  310 . Processor  302 , main memory  304 , and graphics processor  318  are connected to MCH  308 . Graphics processor  318  may be connected to the MCH through an accelerated graphics port (ASP), for example. 
   In the depicted example, local area network (LAN) adapter  312 , audio adapter  316 , keyboard and mouse adapter  320 , modem  322 , read only memory (ROM)  324 , hard disk drive (HDD)  326 , CD-ROM driver  330 , universal serial bus (USB) ports and other communications ports  332 , and PCI/PCIe devices  334  may be connected to ICH  310 . PCI/PCIe devices may include, for example, Ethernet adapters, add-in cards, PC cards for notebook computers, etc. PCI uses a cardbus controller, while PCIe does not. ROM  324  may be, for example, a flash binary input/output system (BIOS). Hard disk drive  326  and CD-ROM drive  330  may use, for example, an integrated drive electronics (IDE) or serial advanced technology attachment (SATA) interface. A super I/O (SIO) device  336  may be connected to ICH  310 . 
   An operating system runs on processor  302  and is used to coordinate and provide control of various components within data processing system  300  in  FIG. 3 . The operating system may be a commercially available operating system such as Windows XP, which is available from Microsoft Corporation. An object oriented programming system such as Java may run in conjunction with the operating system and provides calls to the operating system from Java programs or applications executing on data processing system  300 . “Java” is a trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc. Instructions for the operating system, the object-oriented programming system, and applications or programs are located on storage devices, such as hard disk drive  326 , and may be loaded into main memory  304  for execution by processor  302 . The processes of the present invention are performed by processor  302  using computer implemented instructions, which may be located in a memory such as, for example, main memory  304 , memory  324 , or in one or more peripheral devices  326  and  330 . 
   Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the hardware in  FIG. 3  may vary depending on the implementation. Other internal hardware or peripheral devices, such as flash memory, equivalent non-volatile memory, or optical disk drives and the like, may be used in addition to or in place of the hardware depicted in  FIG. 3 . Also, the processes of the present invention may be applied to a multiprocessor data processing system. 
   For example, data processing system  300  may be a personal digital assistant (PDA), which is configured with flash memory to provide non-volatile memory for storing operating system files and/or user-generated data. The depicted example in  FIG. 3  and above-described examples are not meant to imply architectural limitations. For example, data processing system  300  also may be a tablet computer or laptop computer in addition to taking the form of a PDA. 
   In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a mechanism for timely update of information displayed within a Web page is provided. When information updates occur, information presented in the Web page may change. The Web page may be, for example, a “portal” page. A portal is a Web “supersite” that provides a variety of services including, for example, Web searching, news, white and yellow pages directories, electronic mail, discussion groups, online shopping, and links to other sites. Although the term was initially used to refer to general purpose sites, the term “portal” may also be used to refer to other sites that offer a plurality of services, particularly those providing dynamic content. 
   A portal server is a network server that deploys portal services to a public Web site or internal intranet. A portal server may also refer to an application that is used to develop, deliver, and maintain portal services through a Web page. A portal server typically includes a variety of tools and functions, including user authentication, identity management, a search facility, and content aggregation capabilities. A portlet is a small window or function that may be used by a portal server to build a portal page. A portlet is an includable unit of function. In some cases, a user may decide what portlets appear on a page and in other cases it is the developer of the page that decides which portlets or units of function are included in the page. As a typical example, a user may customize a portal page to include a search engine portlet, a stock price portlet, a weather portlet, and a sports scores portlet. However, more application specific examples may also exist. For example, a portal page may provide monitoring services for network resources, where each portlet presents a particular monitor. 
   The Web page is associated with a session identifier. If an information update that affects the Web page occurs, an update notification is associated with the session identifier. Periodically, the function in the Web page sends a session identifier to the refresh control helper. The portal server checks a data store to determine if update notifications associated with the session identifier have been received. If no update is available for the session identifier, the Web page is not refreshed. However, if updates are available for the page, the portal server removes any update notifications for the session identifier from the data store and informs the function in the Web page that new data is available. The function then requests a page reload. 
     FIG. 4  is a block diagram illustrating a portal server communicating with a client browser in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Portal server  410  provides content to client software, such as client browser  450 . Portal server may be a Web server, such as, for example, server  104  in  FIG. 1 . Client browser  450  may be embodied on a data processing system, such as client  108  in  FIG. 1 , for example. 
   Portal server  410  includes refresh controller  412  that store state information for registered HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) sessions. Every portal page that may require timely updates will include a new control portlet, represented by control portlet  414  in portal server  410 . In operation  1 , client browser  450  requests a portal page from portal server  410 . When a request is received, control portlet  414  registers (operation  2 ) a HTTP session identifier (ID) for the request with refresh controller  412  so that page reloads can be targeted to an individual browser session. Control portlet  414  also adds function  452 , that may be a JavaScript function, to the requested page before the page is returned to client browser  450  (operation  3 ). 
   When the portal page is received at client browser  450 , the page is rendered and function  452  is executed in client browser  450 . The function may, for example, include a countdown timer. In operation  4 , when the countdown timer counts down to zero, function  452  calls refresh control helper  418  to determine if a page reload is required. Refresh control helper  418  may be a servlet that runs on portal server  410 . Function  452  passes the session ID to refresh control helper  418 . In operation  5 , refresh control helper  418  then calls refresh controller  412  and passes the session ID for the browser session corresponding to the portal page. 
   Back end process  416  determines whether new data is available for a particular HTTP session identifier. This determination may be made using various techniques within the scope of the present invention. Back end process  416  may identify which content corresponds to which portlets and determine whether new information is available for a given portlet. For example, some portal pages may include a particular monitor portlet. Thus, in this example, any HTTP session associated with a portal page with that monitor portlet would be affected by changes in status information for a particular network resource, for instance. However, other mechanisms for determining whether updates are available for a particular HTTP session may be used, depending upon the implementation, within the scope of the present invention. 
   When new data is available for a given HTTP session ID, an update notification event may be generated by back end process  416  and communicated to refresh controller  412 , such as, for example, through a Java method call. Refresh controller  412  may then store the update notification events in data store  420 . When refresh control helper  418  makes a call to refresh controller  412  in operation  5 , refresh controller  412  then checks data store  420  to determine if any update notification events are associated with the session ID. In operation  6 , refresh controller  412  informs refresh control helper  418  whether updates are available for the HTTP session ID. Refresh controller  412  also removes notifications for that session ID, if any, from data store  420 . 
   Refresh control helper servlet  418  then informs function  452  whether new data is available in operation  7 . If new data is available, function  452  requests a page reload from portal server  410  (operation  8 ) and the process restarts at operation  2 . If new data is not available, function  452  restarts the countdown timer and the process restarts at operation  4  when the countdown timer expires. 
   Thus, the portal server of the present invention allows a back end process running on the portal server to provide notification events that cause a refresh for a particular browser session. The present invention allows timely updated data to be displayed on a user&#39;s browser, eliminating page reloads that are unnecessary when no data updates exist. This, in turn, reduces server load and frees network bandwidth by only reloading a page when new data is available. At the same time, the present invention provides updated data to the end user without any interaction from the user. 
     FIG. 5  is a flowchart illustrating the operation of a portal server environment in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The process begins and the client browser requests a portal page that includes a control portlet (block  502 ). Then, the control portlet registers the browser session identifier with a refresh controller (block  504 ). The control portlet constructs a function to be added to the portal page (block  506 ) and adds the function to the portal page (block  508 ). 
   Next, the portal server sends the portal page to the browser (block  510 ). The browser receives and renders the portal page (block  512 ) and the function in the portal page starts a countdown timer (block  514 ). A determination is made as to whether an exit condition exists (block  516 ). An exit condition may exist, for example without limitation, when the browser is closed or when a new page is loaded in the browser, thus ending the session. If an exit condition exists, the process ends. If an exit condition does not exist in block  516 , a determination is made as to whether the countdown timer is down to zero (block  518 ). If the countdown timer is not expired, the process returns to block  516  to determine whether an exit condition exists. 
   If the countdown timer is down to zero in block  518 , the function passes the session ID to a refresh control helper in the portal server (block  520 ). The refresh control helper then calls the refresh controller and passes the session ID to the refresh controller (block  522 ). The refresh controller then checks a data store for update notifications associated with the session ID (block  524 ) and a determination is made as to whether an update exists for the session ID (block  526 ). 
   If an update does not exist for the session ID, the refresh controller informs the refresh control helper that no new data is available (block  528 ) and the refresh control helper informs the function that no new data is available (block  530 ). Then, the process returns to block  514  and the function in the portal page restarts the countdown timer. 
   If an update exists for the session ID in block  526 , the refresh controller informs the refresh control helper that new data is available (block  532 ) and removes any update notifications for the session ID from the data store (block  534 ). The refresh control helper then informs the function in the portal page that new data is available (block  536 ). In response to new data being available, the function in the portal page requests a page reload (block  538 ) and the process returns to block  502  and the function re-request the page from the server. 
   It is important to note that while the present invention has been described in the context of a fully functioning data processing system, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the processes of the present invention are capable of being distributed in the form of a computer readable medium of instructions and a variety of forms and that the present invention applies equally regardless of the particular type of signal bearing media actually used to carry out the distribution. Examples of computer readable media include recordable-type media, such as a floppy disk, a hard disk drive, a RAM, CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs, and transmission-type media, such as digital and analog communications links, wired or wireless communications links using transmission forms, such as, for example, radio frequency and light wave transmissions. The computer readable media may take the form of coded formats that are decoded for actual use in a particular data processing system. 
   The description of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description, and is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the invention in the form disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. The embodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention, the practical application, and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the invention for various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.