Method And System For Concurrent Web Based Multitasking Support
Patent No. US11336754 (titled "Method And System For Concurrent Web Based Multitasking Support") was filed by Stt Webos Inc on Oct 25, 2017.
What is this patent about?
’754 is related to the field of web-based control management systems, specifically addressing the problem of web browser blocking when a user submits a long-running task. Traditionally, a web browser would become unresponsive until a submitted task, such as a large file transfer, completed. This patent aims to improve the efficiency of resource utilization by enabling concurrent web-based multitasking.
The underlying idea behind ’754 is to allow a web server to respond to new user tasks even while a previous task is still running. This is achieved by storing information about each task in a user space task list and processing tasks in the background. The key insight is to decouple the task submission and processing, preventing the browser from being blocked by long-running operations.
The claims of ’754 focus on a method, device, and computer-readable medium that prevent the blocking of a web browser. The core functionality involves identifying a first task submitted by a user, storing its information in a user space task list with lock protection , processing the task in the background, and responding to a second task before the first task is complete. The system also handles tasks submitted from remote web browsers.
In practice, when a user submits a task through a web browser, the web server creates a new thread to handle the request. This thread acquires a lock, allocates a slot in the user space task list, stores the task's information, and then passes the task to a control management thread for background processing. The lock is then released, allowing other threads to handle subsequent tasks concurrently. Once the background task completes, its information is removed from the task list.
This approach differs from traditional web systems where the browser waits for each task to complete before allowing new submissions. By using a distributed lock and a user space task list, the system can manage multiple concurrent tasks without blocking the browser. This allows users to continue interacting with the web interface and submitting new tasks even while long-running operations are in progress, significantly improving the user experience and overall system efficiency.
How does this patent fit in bigger picture?
Technical landscape at the time
In the early 2000s when ’754 was filed, at a time when web-based systems commonly relied on a single thread per browser window. This meant that when a user submitted a task, the browser had to wait for the task to complete before allowing the user to submit another task from the same browser. When hardware or software constraints made implementing true multi-threading in web browsers non-trivial, this limitation could lead to a perceived "hanging" or "blocking" of the browser window, especially when dealing with long-running tasks such as large file transfers.
Novelty and Inventive Step
The examiner allowed the claims because the prior art neither teaches nor suggests all the features recited in claims 1, 10, and 19. While many elements of the applicant's disclosure were known in the prior art, the non-blocking web browser environment illustrated in Fig. 1 was not taught or suggested. The examiner highlighted the servicing of requests from both local and remote users on a locally executing web server, where requests are processed and responded to via the local web server's communication with remote servers, as a particularly relevant feature not found in the prior art.
Claims
This patent contains 19 claims, with independent claims numbered 1, 10, and 19. The independent claims focus on a method, a device, and a non-transitory computer-readable medium, respectively, for preventing the blocking of a web browser by managing and processing tasks in the background. The dependent claims generally elaborate on and provide specific details or limitations to the elements and steps recited in the independent claims.
Key Claim Terms New
Definitions of key terms used in the patent claims.
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Date
Description
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US11336754
- Application Number
- US15793054
- Filing Date
- Oct 25, 2017
- Status
- Expired
- Expiry Date
- Dec 18, 2022
- External Links
- Slate, USPTO, Google Patents