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Persistant client state in a hypertext transfer protocol based client-server systemRelated Patent Categories: Electrical Computers And Digital Processing Systems: Multicomputer Data Transferring, Remote Data Accessing, Using Interconnected NetworksPersistant client state in a hypertext transfer protocol based client-server system description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20070192435, Persistant client state in a hypertext transfer protocol based client-server system. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/272,896 filed Oct. 17, 2002, which is a reissue of U.S. Pat. No. 6,134,592 granted Oct. 17, 2000 (U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/918,977 filed Aug. 27, 1997) which is a divisional of U.S. Pat. No. 5,774,670 granted Jun. 30, 1998 (U.S. patent application, Ser. No. 08/540,342 filed Oct. 6, 1995), each of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by this reference thereto. FIELD OF INVENTION [0002] This invention relates to communication in a client-server computer systems. Specifically, the invention relates to client-server computer systems in which a server can send state information to a client and the client stores the state information for later retransmissions back to the server. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0003] An important use of computers is the transfer of information over a network. Currently, the largest computer network in existence is the InterNet. The InterNet is a worldwide interconnection of computer networks that communicate using a common protocol. Millions of computers, from low end personal computers to high-end super computers are coupled to the InterNet. [0004] The InterNet grew out of work funded in the 1960s by the U.S. Defense Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency. For a long time, InterNet was used by researchers in universities and national laboratories to share information. As the existence of the InterNet became more widely known, many users outside of the academic/research community (e.g., employees of large corporations) started to use InterNet to carry electronic mail. [0005] In 1989, a new type of information system known as the World-Wide-Web ("the Web") was introduced to the InterNet. Early development of the Web took place at CERN, the European Particle Physics Laboratory. The Web is a wide-area hypermedia information retrieval system aimed to give wide access to a large universe of documents. At that time, the Web was known to and used by the academic/research community only. There was no easily available tool which allows a technically untrained person to access the Web. [0006] In 1993, researchers at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) released a Web browser called "Mosiac" that implemented a graphical user interface (GUI). Mosiac's graphical user interface was simple to learn yet powerful. The Mosiac browser allows a user to retrieve documents from the World-Wide-Web using simple point-and-click commands. Because the user does not have to be technically trained and the browser is pleasant to use, it has the potential of opening up the InterNet to the masses. [0007] The architecture of the Web follows a conventional client-server model. The terms "client" and "server" are used to refer to a computer's general role as a requester of data (the client) or provider of data (the server). Under the Web environment, Web browsers reside in clients and Web documents reside in servers. Web clients and Web servers communicate using a protocol called "HyperText Transfer Protocol" (HTTP). A browser opens a connection to a server and initiates a request for a document. The server delivers the requested document, typically in the form of a text document coded in a standard Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) format, and when the connection is closed in the above interaction, the server serves a passive role, i.e., it accepts commands from the client and cannot request the client to perform any action. [0008] The communication model under the conventional Web environment provides a very limited level of interaction between clients and servers. In many systems, increasing the level of interaction between components in the systems often makes the systems more robust, but increasing the interaction increases the complexity of the interaction and typically slows the rate of the interaction. Thus, the conventional Web environment provides less complex, faster interactions because of the Web's level of interaction between clients and servers. [0009] In the conventional Web environment, clients do not retain information of a session after the session is closed. In many systems, the ability to retain information after the systems become inactive is crucial to the functioning of the systems. Thus, it is desirable to allow clients to have this ability. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0010] The present invention involves a client-server system on a network in which a server can send state information to a client and the client stores the state information. The stored state information can later be sent back to the server at appropriate times. In this manner, the state of a client can be maintained in the client-server system where no state inherently exists in such a system. [0011] One embodiment of the present invention is a network system for communicating documents containing information such as text and one or more images. The system comprises a first computer (i.e., a server) capable of sending such documents over a network such as the InterNet. The system also has a second computer (i.e., a client) which can request these documents or files from the server. After the requested documents are received, the client can display the documents. In accordance with the present invention, the server can send state information to the client when a document is sent. The client then stores the state information, which is typically in the form of a state object. In a subsequent request for documents to the server, the client can send the stored state information to the server. [0012] In an embodiment of the invention, the server uses a hypertext transfer protocol ("http") to communicate over the network with clients; such clients also communicate with the server using the hypertext transfer protocol. This server and these clients are referred to as an http server and http clients respectively. The server typically will include a server processor and a memory and a computer readable medium, such as a magnetic ("hard disk") or optical mass storage device, and the computer readable medium of the server contains computer program instructions for transmitting the file from the server system to the client system and for transmitting the state object to the client system. The client typically will include a client processor and a memory and a computer readable medium, such as a magnetic or optical mass storage device, and the computer readable medium of the client contains computer program instructions for receiving the state object, which specifies the state information, from the server and for storing the state object at the client. The state object, in a typical embodiment, will include a name attribute, such as a domain attribute. [0013] One of the applications of the present invention is an on-line shopping system. A customer can browse information delivered by a merchant server using a browser running on a client. The customer can also select products to be placed in a virtual shopping basket. The server then sends state information related to the selected products to the browser on the client for storage. When the customer wants to purchase the products in the virtual shopping basket, the browser sends the corresponding state information to a specified check-out Web page for processing. [0014] Another application of the present invention is an "on-line" information service, such as a newspaper's Web server which includes articles or other information from the newspaper's subscription services. In one example, a newspaper or publishing company may have several different publications, each requiring a separate subscription fee which may differ among the different publications. A user of the information service may browse the different publications by making http requests, from the client's/user's computer system, to the publisher's Web server which responds with the requested publication and state information specifying the user's identification, and other subscription information (e.g., user registration and billing information) which allows the user to view the contents of the publication; this information is typically provided by the user at least once in a conventional log-on process. Thereafter, this information is included in the state information which is exchanged between the client and the server in the process of the invention. Accordingly, when the user, during the browsing process, desires to view another publication (e.g., from the same or different publisher) this state information will be transmitted back to the Web server to provide the necessary subscription information (thereby entitling the user to view the publication) without requiring the user to re-enter the necessary subscription information. In this manner, a user may browse from publication to publication on the Web server or a different Web server in the domain without having to re-enter, when seeking a new publication, the necessary subscription information. [0015] These and other features of the present invention will be disclosed in the following description of the invention together with the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0016] The objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment of the invention with references to the following drawings. [0017] FIG. 1A is a pictorial diagram of a computer network used in the present invention. [0018] FIG. 1B shows a computer network containing a client system and a server system. [0019] FIG. 2 illustrates the retrieval of remote text and images and their integration in a document. Continue reading about Persistant client state in a hypertext transfer protocol based client-server system... 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