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Claims  |
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The invention claimed is:
1. A host node in an Internet or wide area communications network that can
communicate packets with one or more remotely accessible server nodes via
a backbone network, said host node comprising:
an I/O port coupled to said host node which transmits, via said backbone
network, request packets to specific ones of said remotely accessible
server nodes containing a plurality of requests for information, and which
receives in response to each request of said request packets, via said
backbone network, from said respective specific ones of said remotely
accessible server nodes, response packets containing said requested
information, entries describing other topics of information that can be
retrieved from said specific server nodes and entries describing other
server nodes,
a processor coupled to said I/O port for receiving said entries and for
generating a hierarchically organized table including said entries, said
hierarchically organized table including said entries received in response
to each of said requests describing remotely accessible server nodes and
said entries received in response to each of said requests describing
topics of information that can be retrieved from said remotely accessible
server nodes,
a memory coupled to said processor for storing said hierarchically
organized table generated by said processor, and
a display monitor coupled to a said memory for selectively displaying said
requested information received in response to a most recently issued
request or said hierarchically organized table stored in said memory
including each of said entries received in response to each of said
requests hierarchically organized so as to indicate a hierarchical
organization of said entries as provided for retrieval at said remotely
accessible server nodes, said hierarchical organization of said displayed
table of entries being independent of a specific order of issuance of said
requests or receipt of requested information in response to said requests.
2. The host node of claim 1 wherein information retrieved from packets
transmitted from one of said remotely accessible nodes includes
information that is displayable on said display monitor, said displayable
information including one or more displayable and selectable topics, said
retrieved information also including instructions associated with each of
said selectable topics, wherein in response to selecting one of said
selectable topics, said I/O port, in accordance with said instructions
corresponding to said selected topic, transmits a request packet
containing a request to retrieve said information of said selected topic
to one of said remotely accessible server nodes,
wherein said display monitor displays a first table entry describing said
retrieved information as a table entry of a first level of said hierarchy,
and said display monitor displays a list of table entries, as a second
level of said hierarchy lower than said first level of said hierarchy,
immediately below said first table entry, said list of table entries
including a separate table entry for each of said selectable topics
contained in said retrieved information.
3. The host node of claim 1 further comprising:
a manual input device, for selectively scrolling through said hierarchical
table of entries displayed on said display monitor, and for selecting one
of said entries,
wherein said display monitor, said manual input device and said
communications port cooperate so as to transmit at least one packet
requesting information to a remotely accessible server node corresponding
to said selected entry.
4. The host node of claim 1 wherein said display monitor displays, in an
area of said screen a selectable icon for stopping packet communication
with the remotely accessible server node with which said communications
port currently communicates.
5. The host node of claim 1 wherein said entries of said table are
selectably reorganize-able so as to modify said hierarchical organization
of said table.
6. The host node of claim 1 wherein said display monitor displays at least
one icon corresponding to an additional hierarchically organized table,
wherein, in response to selecting said at least one icon said display
monitor displays a portion of said entries of said additional
hierarchically organized table corresponding to said selected icon in an
area of said display screen.
7. The host node of claim 1 wherein at least one of said entries indexes
information retrieved from one of said remotely accessible server nodes
corresponding to said entry.
8. The host node of claim 1 wherein said display monitor displays a portion
of entries of said table in a first area of a screen of said display
monitor, said particular portion of entries being scroll-able, and wherein
said display monitor displays, in a second different area of said screen,
one or more tab images, each associated with one of said entries, that can
be selected regardless of whether or not said entries associated with said
tab images are also displayed on said first area of said screen.
9. The host node of claim 1 wherein in response to selecting one of said
entries, said display monitor displays information retrieved from a server
node, or information pertaining to a topic, described by one of said
entries.
10. The host node of claim 1 further comprising:
a processor which pattern matches retrieved information to a list of
patterns of a filter template provided for each of said organizations of
information and which organizes said retrieved information into each
organization having a filter template that contains a pattern with which
said retrieved information matches.
11. An Internet or wide area communications network comprising:
a plurality of nodes, including a local host node and a plurality of
remotely accessible server nodes, and
a backbone network, interconnecting said plurality of nodes for receiving a
packet originating from one of said nodes and transmitting said packet to
another one of said nodes which terminates said packet,
said host node comprising:
an I/O port coupled to said host node which transmits, via said backbone
network, request packets to specific ones of said remotely accessible
server nodes containing a plurality of requests for information, and which
receives in response to each request of said request packets, via said
backbone network, from said respective specific ones of said remotely
accessible server nodes, response packets containing said requested
information, entries describing other topics of information that can be
retrieved from said specific server nodes and entries describing other
server nodes,
a processor coupled to said I/O port for receiving said entries and for
generating a hierarchically organized table including said entries, said
hierarchically organized table including said entries received in response
to each of said requests describing remotely accessible server nodes and
said entries received in response to each of said requests describing
topics of information that can be retrieved from said remotely accessible
server nodes,
a memory coupled to said processor for storing said hierarchically
organized tale generated b said processor, and
a display monitor coupled to a said memory for selectively displaying said
requested information received in response to a most recently issued
request or said hierarchically organized table stored in said memory
including each of said entries received in response to each of said
requests hierarchically organized so as to indicate a hierarchical
organization of said entries as provided for retrieval at said remotely
accessible server nodes, said hierarchical organization of said displayed
table of entries being independent of a specific order of issuance of said
requests or receipt of requested information in response to said requests.
12. In an Internet or wide are a communications network comprising a
plurality of server nodes and a host node that can communicate packets
with one or more of said remotely accessible server nodes via a backbone
network, said host node comprising:
transmitting, from an I/O port coupled to said host node, via said backbone
network, request packets to specific ones of said remotely accessible
server nodes containing a plurality of requests for information,
receiving at said I/O port of said host node in response to each request of
said request packets, via said backbone network, from said respective
specific ones of said remotely accessible server nodes, response packets
containing said requested information, entries describing other topics of
information that can be retrieved from said specific server nodes and
entries describing other server nodes,
receiving said entries and generating a hierarchically organized table
including said entries by a processor that is coupled to said I/O port,
said hierarchically organized table including said entries received in
response to each of said requests describing remotely accessible server
nodes and said entries received in response to each of said requests
describing topics of information that can be retrieved from said remotely
accessible server nodes,
storing said hierarchically organized table generated by said processor in
a memory that is coupled to said processor, and
selectively displaying on a display monitor, coupled to said memory, of
said host node said requested information received in response to a most
recently issued request or said hierarchically organized table stored in
said memory including each of said entries received in response to each of
said requests hierarchically organized so as to indicate a hierarchical
organization of said entries as provided for retrieval at said remotely
accessible server nodes, said hierarchical organization of said displayed
table of entries being independent of a specific order of issuance of said
requests or receipt of requested information in response to said requests. |
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Claims |
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Description |
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COPYRIGHT NOTICE
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which
is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection
to the facsimile reproduction by any one of the patent document or patent
disclosure as it appears in the United States Patent and Trademark Office
file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to communications networks, such as wide area
networks. The communications network includes nodes that are
interconnected to a backbone network. Communications is achieved by
transmitting a bitstream that is organized into packets between the nodes
via the backbone network. The invention particularly pertains to enhancing
the graphical user interface of a node which communicates packets so as to
facilitate the organization of information retrieved from other nodes via
packet communication.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
FIG. 1 shows a conventional communications network 1. Illustratively, the
communications network 1 is the Internet, although the present invention
is applicable to other networks. As shown, the communications network
includes a wide are network (WAN) W. The WAN W may be formed by the
Internet backbone. As shown, connected to the WAN W are multiple
subnetworks a, b, c and d. These subnetworks may be stand alone computers,
local area networks (LANs) or campus/enterprise networks. (A
campus/enterprise networks is a collection of independent LANs at the same
geographic campus, or enterprise location, that are commonly connected by
a local backbone network.)
The communications network 1 includes multiple nodes, including router
nodes or routers, hosts nodes or hosts and server nodes or servers. As
shown, the WAN W includes multiple interconnected routers r1, r2, r3, r4,
r5, r6, etc. (Illustratively, the router nodes r1-r6 of the WAN W are
organized into separate backbone networks and access points as per the
Internet backbone model. For sake of brevity, the specifics of the
organization of the WAN W are omitted without loss of generality.) The
connections may include any combination of wires, coaxial cables, optical
fibers, packet and circuit switches, etc. The subnetwork a includes the
host h1 connected to the router r1 of the WAN W. The subnetwork b includes
the server s1, connected to the router r2 of the WAN W. The subnetwork c
includes a router r7, connected to the router r5 of the WAN W, and
multiple servers s2, s3 and s4 connected to the router r7 in a LAN
configuration. Illustratively, the LAN is an Ethernet LAN, although the
LAN could also be a token ring LAN, ATM LAN, etc. The subnetwork d
includes a router r8, connected to the router r6 of the WAN W, and a
server s5 and hosts h2 and h3 connected to the router r8 in a LAN
configuration.
FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of a conventional host, router or server node
10. As shown, the node 10 may include a CPU or processor 11, a memory 12
(i.e., combination of main memory, disk memory, cache memory, etc.) and
one or more I/O ports 13-1, 13-2, . . . , 13-N. Also shown are optional
devices that are typically present in host nodes including: a graphics
controller 14, a display monitor 15 and a manual input device 16. Their
purpose is discussed in greater detail below. The devices 11, 12,13-1, . .
. , 13-N, 14 and 16 may be interconnected by a bus 17 which transfers data
and instructions between the various devices connected thereto. Each I/O
port 13-1, . . . , 13-N may be connected by unshielded twisted pairs of
wires, coaxial cables, optical fibers, switches, satellite transponders,
etc., to one or more I/O ports of another node 10. The I/O ports 13-1, . .
. , 13-N are for transmitting and receiving communicated data in the form
of a bitstream that is organized into one or more packets (or cells). An
exemplary packet 40 is shown in FIG. 3 having a header 42, which contains
information for transferring the packet to its destination, and a payload
44 which carries communicated data or a communicated message to be
conveyed to the destination. Packets received via the I/O ports 13-1, . .
. , 13-N may be temporarily buffered in the memory 12. The processor 11
may process the packets, for instance, to determine to which node the
packets should be transmitted (as discussed below). Under control of the
processor 11, the packets are transmitted according to an order specified
by the processor 11.
A host or server which originates, i.e., initially generates, a packet is
called a source node, source host or source server and a host or server
which terminates, i.e., ultimately receives, a packet is called a
destination node, destination host or destination server. Communications
is achieved by transferring a packet via a sequence of nodes including the
source node, zero or more intermediary nodes (typically router nodes) and
the destination node. This sequence is called a path. The packet is
transmitted between each sequential pair of nodes on the path in a bucket
brigade fashion. For instance, a packet may be communicated from the
source node h1 to the router node r1, to the router node r3, to the router
node r5, to the router node r7 and to the server s2.
According to the Internet Protocol (IP), each node of the (Internet)
communications network 1 is provided with a unique address. In the above
packet transfer, the (processor 11 of the) source node h1 generates a
packet 40 and writes in the payload 44 a message to be conveyed to the
destination node s2. The (processor 11 of the) source node h1 writes its
IP address in a source address field of the packet header 42 and the IP
address of the destination node s2 in a destination address of the field
of the packet header 42. The host node h1 then transmits the packet to the
router r1. (The processor 11 of the source node h1 transfers the packet to
an I/O port 13-1 which transmits the packet.) The router r1 receives the
packet (i.e., via one of its I/O ports 13-1.) The (processor 11 of the)
router r1 uses at least one routing table stored thereat (in it memory 12)
to determine the next node (i.e., the node r3) on the path to the
destination node s2. The following Table 1 is an example of a routing
table at the router r1:
TABLE 1
______________________________________
Destination Address
Next Node
______________________________________
`h1` "h1"
... ...
`s2`, `s3`, `s4` "r3"
... ...
`s5`, `h2`, `h3` "r3"
... ...
`s1` "r2"
______________________________________
In Table 1,`h1`, `h2`, `h3`, `s1`, `s2`, `s3`, `s4` and `s5` are IP
addresses of the nodes h1, h2, h3, s1, s2, s3, s4 and s5, respectively and
"h1", "r2" and "r3" are indications of the nodes h1, r2, and r3,
respectively, to which a received packet should be routed. These
indications may for instance identify the I/O port 13 or telephone
number/address to be used in transmitting the packet to the corresponding
next node. The (processor 11 of the) router r1 uses the destination
address in the destination address field of the packet header 42 as an
index to retrieve a matching routing table entry, wherein a matching
routing table entry contains, in its destination address field, the same
IP address as the packet's destination IP address. The indicator stored in
the next node field of the retrieved matching routing table entry
indicates the next node to which the received packet must be transmitted.
The (appropriate I/O port 13 of the) node r1 then transmits the packet to
the indicated next node, in this case, the node r3. The nodes r3, r5 and
r7 perform similar routing table look-ups using the destination address in
the packet header in order to determine the next node to which the packet
must be transmitted. Eventually the packet arrives at the destination node
s2.
Returning to FIG. 2, a host node may also illustratively include a graphics
controller 14, a display monitor 15 connected to the graphics controller
14, and a manual input device 16 such as a keyboard or keypad and pointer
device (e.g., mouse, joy stick, track ball, track pad, pen stylus, etc.)
Illustratively, the processor 11 and graphics controller 14 can execute
steps of suitable software so as to enhance the communications capability
of a host node. The processor 11, in conjunction with the graphics
controller 14, can execute software which provide a graphical user
interface that simplifies the communication process. R.O.C. Patent No.
250554 issued to IBM.TM. and R.O.C. Patent Nos. 237454 and 238450 issued
to Microsoft.TM. Corp. illustrate general graphical user interfaces, but
not for use in bidirectional packet communication. U.S. Pat. No. 5,347,295
teaches a pen writing operating system which organizes text and graphical
data into books with tabs. The user can advance to a particular data entry
or file by selecting an appropriate tab. U.S. Pat. No. 5,432,903 teaches a
programming aid with graphical user interface. Specifically, the display
of objects is performed using a "hierarchical" display that shows
information pertinent to objects, including the functions defined thereon.
A "dip" switch like tool bar is provided with different displayable
attributes. By selecting different switches, different display filters are
activated so as to display only certain attributes of each object at one
time. U.S. Pat. No. 5,384,911 teaches a system for converting programs
written for command line graphical user interfaces (DOS) to image oriented
user interfaces (Windows). This patent provides a graphical user
interface. U.S. Pat. No. 5,430,836 teaches a programming platform in which
a common graphical user interface programming module is provided. This
enables the user to reduce the amount of code that is generated. Lotus.TM.
Corp.'s Organizer.TM. release 2 also provides an organizer which uses an
image of a book in its graphical user interface to organize the
information.
A specific use of the communications network 1 is to communicate on the
World Wide Web (Web). The Web is used by hosts to search for information
at various remote nodes, to retrieve information from remote nodes based
on the search, or other criterion, and to display textual and graphical
information retrieved from the remotely accessed nodes.
In addition, several products have been announced which combine Web
communication with other products such as game consoles, computers, disc
players, personal digital assistants, pagers, video | | |
