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System and method for preventing timeout of a clientRelated Patent Categories: Electrical Computers And Digital Processing Systems: Multicomputer Data Transferring, Distributed Data Processing, Client/serverSystem and method for preventing timeout of a client description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20080052351, System and method for preventing timeout of a client. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION [0001] This is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/126,484, filed Apr. 19, 2002, entitled "System and Method for Preventing Timeout of a Client", which is herein incorporated by reference. This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. .sctn.120 of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/126,484, filed Apr. 19, 2002. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] 1. Technical Field of the Invention [0003] This invention relates to preventing timeout. More particularly, it relates to preventing timeout of a browser in a client/server system. [0004] 2. Background Art [0005] Java Servlets are used in conjunction with web browsers. The web browser acts as the client. The servlet resides on the server side. When an event occurs on a web page, such as clicking on a "submit" button, user-entered data on the page, such as information to make an on-line purchase of goods, may be sent to the servlet for processing. The servlet then receives that data and takes appropriate actions, such as verifying the credit card number and checking inventory to make sure the purchase can be fulfilled. [0006] If the servlet takes a lengthy period of time to process that data, the web browser may time-out and show an error message to the effect that the page being requested can not be obtained or that communication was lost with the web server. The servlet will eventually finish processing the user's data, but because of the timeout, the web page that the servlet returns to the browser after the data has been processed will go undisplayed. [0007] Even if the data is able to be processed within the time-out period enforced by the browser, the processing may still be lengthy. Without a monitoring system that uses words and/or a pictorial to indicate the progress of the data processing to the user, the user would only see an hourglass while the mouse is hovering over the browser. This has been a source of frustration for users encountering this phenomenon. [0008] It is an object of the invention to provide a system and method for avoiding premature timeout of a browser while awaiting completion of an application. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0009] A system and method for preventing timeout by initializing an application for execution; initializing a client state with a refresh attribute, the refresh attribute specifying a time interval for posting state refresh requests; responsive to the state refresh request from the client, returning to the client a refreshed application state selectively including a refresh attribute while the application is executing and not including the refresh attribute upon said application completing execution or going into an error state. [0010] Other features and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the presently preferred embodiment of the invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING [0011] FIG. 1 represents a server/client system in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the invention. [0012] FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic representation of the threads of FIG. 1. [0013] FIGS. 3A-3C are a flow chart of an exemplary embodiment of the method of the invention. [0014] FIG. 4 is class diagram illustrating thread I of FIG. 2. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS [0015] In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the invention, a system and method for monitoring task progress in a Java servlet is used to avoid premature timeout of a browser. In an exemplary embodiment, on periodic request from the browser, a bar graph representation of percentage of the task completion is returned from the servlet in a hypertext language markup, such as a JavaScript/HTML markup, on short time intervals (i.e., every 5 seconds). This bar graph can also be accompanied by text displaying any pertinent progress information. The instruction to request an updated representation of the progress is received by the browser in a meta tag from the servlet. This time interval is set to be less than the browser time-out value, so the browser will never time-out. The progress representation allows the user to see and understand how much progress has been made in completing the task, the browser does not timeout, and the user can estimate when the task will be completed. [0016] Referring to FIG. 1, server 20 and client 30 are coupled through a network 22. Server 20 has a servlet 24 running in thread I and an application task 26 running in thread II. Client 30 has a browser, in which progress bar 34 may be displayed responsive to servlet 24 indicating the state of completion of application task 26 in thread II. [0017] In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the invention, a meta tag is sent by servlet 24 in a first thread to keep a browser 32 from timing out during execution of application task 26 in a second thread. [0018] A meta tag is a piece of html markup that describes a document, and can define an interval that sets a refresh interval: after that interval, a client returns to the server to get a new copy of the page being displayed at client. This meta tag is an existing part of html, and is used by the preferred embodiment of the present invention to refresh an html page with information from a Java servlet. [0019] HTML and JavaScript at client browser displays progress bar/text at browser. Each time interval t the client goes to the server servlet 24 for an update for the progress bar 34. That progress bar is tracking the progress of an application on a separate thread II. Continue reading about System and method for preventing timeout of a client... Full patent description for System and method for preventing timeout of a client Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this System and method for preventing timeout of a client patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. 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