United States Patent [19]
`Williams
`
`[54] NON-REDUNDANT BROWSING OF A
`SEQUENCING OF WEB PAGES
`
`[75] Inventor: Marvin L. Williams, Hickory Creek,
`Tex.
`
`[73] Assignee: Avaya Technology Corp., Miami
`Lakes, Fla.
`
`[21] Appl. No.: 09/079,484
`[22]
`Filed:
`May 15, 1998
`
`[51] Int. Cl.7 ........................... .. G06F 15/16; G06F 17/30
`[52] US. Cl. ........................ .. 709/229; 709/203; 709/217;
`709/227; 709/228; 701/1; 701/500; 345/344;
`345/357
`[58] Field of Search .......................... .. 709/200, 202—203,
`709/217—219, 227—229, 231—233; 707/101—102,
`500—501, 512—514, 1, 5; 345/340, 344,
`353, 356—357
`
`[56]
`
`References Cited
`
`U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
`
`8/1988 Winter et a1. ............................. .. 707/1
`4,768,144
`1/1996 Vitter et a1.
`707/101
`5,485,609
`5,586,245 12/1996 Sugai et a1.
`345/344
`
`5,715,445
`
`2/1998 Wolfe . . . . . . . . . . . .
`
`. . . . . . .. 707/5
`
`709/217
`3/1998 Barrett et a1.
`5,727,129
`..... .. 707/3
`5/1998 Reiter et a1. ..
`5,752,243
`345/344
`6/1998 Ishimine
`5,764,227
`709/233
`5,826,031 10/1998 Nielsen
`5,937,163
`8/1999 Lee et a1. .............................. .. 709/218
`
`OTHER PUBLICATIONS
`
`A. Salahshour & M. L. Williams, Bidirectional Session
`Context Guidance Mechanism, IBM Technical Disclosure
`Bulletin, vol. 37, No. 02B, Feb. 1994, pp. 675—676.
`
`US006151630A
`[11] Patent Number:
`[45] Date of Patent:
`
`6,151,630
`Nov. 21, 2000
`
`Primary Examiner—Ahmad F. Matar
`Assistant Examiner—Bharat Barot
`Attorney, Agent, or Firm—David Volejnicek
`
`[57]
`
`ABSTRACT
`
`A method, an apparatus, and a computer-readable pro
`grammed medium that facilitate browsing through an
`ordered sequence (108, 109) of World Wide Web pages
`(107) by automatically skipping over, or bypassing, previ
`ously vieWed pages Whenever the user requests a “Next
`Page” or a “Previous Page”. A page oWner creates a
`sequence by de?ning for each page in the sequence a page
`record (200) that speci?es the page’s URL (205), its sequen
`tial index value (210), an unvieWed ?ag (220), and option
`ally page-descriptive information (230). Upon starting a
`session With a Web server (102), each user is given a copy
`of all page records. Each time a user requests access to any
`page by specifying its URL, the unvieWed ?ag of the user’s
`copy of that pages record is set to a vieWed state. Each time
`a user requests access to any page by specifying a “Next
`Page” or a “Previous Page”, the user’s copy of the page
`records is used to ?nd the ?rst subsequent page or the ?rst
`previous page, respectively, in the sequence to the page that
`is presently vieWed by the user, Whose unvieWed ?ag is in
`the unvieWed state, the state of the ?ag is changed to the
`vieWed state, and the user is given access to this yet
`unvieWed page. At the end of each session, the page record
`copies that correspond to the session are deleted.
`
`19 Claims, 9 Drawing Sheets
`
`M
`SERVER
`
`1 1 1
`
`100
`f
`_ 1
`E E 113
`1111:
`
`(110
`EP r-www-?
`
`101
`
`I130
`
`103
`I
`
`1116
`108
`
`_
`
`MEMORY
`
`550 ENCE
`
`1
`
`PAGE -.
`-
`107;
`
`I
`
`1
`
`_
`
`109
`-
`SEQ ENCE
`
`1
`
`'
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`I
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`1
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`PAGE
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`1
`
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`
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`200,
`
`W
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`
`107 _
`PAGE
`
`107 ‘
`PAGE
`
`_
`
`:
`
`l
`
`f 102
`,104
`
`r118
`
`Maggi”
`
`,120
`UNVIEWED
`COUNTER
`1119
`MAXIMUM
`PAGES
`I121
`
`COUNTER
`1|
`
`I" _ _ "‘ " " J
`
`J,117
`
`: I114
`:
`] [,115
`ALLOCATED
`CONTROL
`PROGRAMS <--->
`(0053-8)
`MEMORY
`
`CONTROL
`PR RAM
`06
`8
`
`001
`
`ServiceNow, Inc.'s
`Exhibit No. 1006
`
`

`

`US. Patent
`
`Nov. 21, 2000
`
`Sheet170f9
`
`6,151,630
`
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`Exhibit No. 1006
`
`002
`
`ServiceNow, Inc.'s
`Exhibit No. 1006
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`

`

`U.S. Patent
`
`Nov. 21,2000
`
`Sheet 2 of9
`
`6,151,630
`
`PAGE RECORD 200‘
`
`URL
`
`SHIJEDEQ'Q'AL
`VALUE
`
`UNVIEWED
`FLAG
`
`PAGE
`DESCRIPTION
`
`205)
`
`210’
`
`220J
`
`230)
`
`FIG. 2
`
`003
`
`ServiceNow, Inc.'s
`Exhibit No. 1006
`
`

`

`U.S. Patent
`
`Nov. 21,2000
`
`Sheet 3 of9
`
`6,151,630
`
`FIG. 3
`
`300
`
`(STA-g5
`
`;305
`SET MAX. PAGES=O
`I
`,310
`SELEGT PAGE FOR
`SEQUENTIAL INDEXING
`I,
`1512
`GREATE PAGE RECORD
`I
`{315
`ASSIGN SEQUENTIAL
`INDEX VALUE
`,320
`I
`ASSOCIATE URL To
`SEQUENTIAL INDEX
`
`f 330
`REPORT UNSUCCESSFUL
`LINK ASSOCIATION
`
`T
`
`IS URL
`ASSOCIATION
`
`MARK PAGE
`AS UNVIEWED
`I
`,540
`INCREMENT
`MAX. PAGES
`
`;360
`SET UNVIEWED
`COUNTER=MAX. PAGES
`
`REPORT ERROR
`IN SEQUENCING
`
`004
`
`ServiceNow, Inc.'s
`Exhibit No. 1006
`
`

`

`U.S. Patent
`
`Nov. 21,2000
`
`Sheet 4 of9
`
`6,151,630
`
`FIG. 4
`
`400
`
`I410
`
`REQUEST
`MEMORY ALLOCATION
`FOR USER
`
`42
`IS MEMORY O
`ALLOCATION
`SUCCESSFUL
`?
`YES
`
`I460
`INITIALIZE MEMORY FOR
`ASSOCIATED VARIABLES
`
`470
`
`‘440
`
`REPORT
`MEMORY ERROR
`
`005
`
`ServiceNow, Inc.'s
`Exhibit No. 1006
`
`

`

`U.S. Patent
`
`Nov. 21, 2000
`
`Sheet 5 0f 9
`
`6,151,630
`
`FIG. 5
`
`500
`
`510
`
`DOES
`PAGE HAVE
`SEQUENTIAL
`INDEX?
`
`IS
`PAGE MARKED AS
`VIEWED?
`
`YES
`
`I520
`MARK PAGE AS VIEWED
`
`1
`DECREMENT
`UNVIEWED COUNTER
`
`,530
`
`540
`
`006
`
`ServiceNow, Inc.'s
`Exhibit No. 1006
`
`

`

`U.S. Patent
`
`Nov. 21,2000
`
`Sheet 6 of9
`
`6,151,630
`
`335
`
`@905
`
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`
`ServiceNow, Inc.'s
`Exhibit No. 1006
`
`

`

`U.S. Patent
`
`Nov. 21,2000
`
`Sheet 7 of9
`
`6,151,630
`
`£%
`
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`
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`
`ServiceNow, Inc.'s
`Exhibit No. 1006
`
`

`

`U.S. Patent
`
`Nov. 21, 2000
`
`Sheet 8 0f 9
`
`6,151,630
`
`FIG. 7
`
`700
`( START )
`
`NVIEWED
`READ U
`COUNTER VALUE
`
`READ SEQUENTIAL
`SET PAGE RECORDS
`
`,730
`
`,
`SET
`MAX. PAGES
`VIEWED =
`~ UNVIEWED COUNTER
`
`T
`
`{740
`NUMBER
`REPORT
`OF VIEWED PAGES
`
`REPORT
`NUMBER
`OF UNVIEWED PAGES
`
`REPORT DESCRIPTIONS
`AND STATUS OF
`SEQUENTIAL PAGES
`
`‘
`770
`( STOP )
`
`009
`
`ServiceNow, Inc.'s
`Exhibit No. 1006
`
`

`

`U.S. Patent
`
`Nov. 21, 2000
`
`Sheet 9 0f 9
`
`6,151,630
`
`FIG. 8
`
`800
`
`[810
`REQUEST MEMORY
`DEALLOCATION FOR
`ASSOCIATED VARIABLES
`
`820
`
`IS
`DEALLOCATION
`SUCCESSFUL
`I?
`
`REPORT
`UNSUCCESSFUL
`DEALLOCATION
`
`010
`
`ServiceNow, Inc.'s
`Exhibit No. 1006
`
`

`

`1
`NON-REDUNDANT BROWSING OF A
`SEQUENCING OF WEB PAGES
`
`TECHNICAL FIELD
`
`This invention pertains to data-retrieval systems in
`general, and to the World Wide Web in particular.
`
`BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
`
`State-of-the-art Web browsers allow a user to dynamically
`link to (view) other Web pages from a presently-viewed
`page by selecting and activating (clicking on) hypertext tags
`of those other pages which are embedded in the presently
`viewed page. The creator of these pages often allows a user
`to link to any individual page via a plurality of different
`paths. For example, tags embedded in a “home page” may
`allow a user to directly link to “page 1”, “page 2”, and “page
`3”, while a tag embedded in “page 1” may allow the user to
`link to “page 2” and a tag embedded in “page 2” may allow
`the user to link to “page 3”. In other words, the pages in this
`example may be viewed either randomly or sequentially. For
`sequential viewing, a “Next Page” tag is often employed, as
`opposed to a tag that explicitly and uniquely speci?es a
`particular page.
`A disadvantage of using the “Next Page” tag becomes
`apparent when the user has already linked to (viewed) one
`or more of the sequential pages in a non-sequential
`manner—for example, if the user has already linked directly
`to “page 2” from the “home page”, but now clicks on the
`“Next Page” tag in “page 1”. The disadvantage is that
`clicking on the “Next Page” tag will link the user to a page
`which he or she has already viewed (“page 2”), whereas
`what the user really desires is to be linked to the next page
`that he or she has not yet viewed (“page 3”).
`Existing systems usually will highlight a tag linking to a
`page that has already been viewed by the user in order to
`indicate to the user that he or she has already viewed that
`page. But this indication is purely informational and does
`not prevent redundancy of page viewing from occurring.
`Existing systems do not allow the user to skip a “next page”
`dynamically, based upon whether or not the user has already
`viewed that page.
`
`SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
`
`This invention is directed to solving these and other
`problems and disadvantages of the prior art.
`Generally according to the invention, there is provided a
`method, an apparatus, and a computer-readable programmed
`medium that facilitate browsing through an ordered
`sequence of a plurality of pages of information in a manner
`that automatically bypasses, skips over, previously-viewed
`(accessed) pages in the sequence. Speci?cally, in response to
`receipt from a user of a request for a “next page” in the
`sequence while the user is accessing some individual page in
`the sequence, the user is given access to a ?rst page
`subsequent in the ordered sequence to the individual page
`that has not yet been accessed by the user. Preferably, the
`invention is applied to both the forward and the reverse
`directions of browsing the sequence. Namely, in response to
`receipt from a user of a request for a “previous page” in the
`ordered sequence while the user is accessing some indi
`vidual page in the sequence, the user is given access to a ?rst
`page preceding the individual page in the sequence that has
`not yet been accessed by the user.
`Advantageously, the invention does not interfere with or
`change the conventional way of accessing particular pages
`
`10
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`2
`by uniquely identifying them (e.g., by specifying their URL
`or other address in the access request). Thus, in response to
`receipt from a user of a request for a page in the sequence
`that uniquely identi?es the requested page, the user is given
`access to the identi?ed page regardless of whether or not the
`user has already accessed the identi?ed page. Optionally,
`instead of, or in addition to, being used to skip previously
`accessed pages in a sequence, the invention may be used to
`achieve the complementary effect of allowing the user to
`access only previously-accessed pages in the sequence. This
`allows the user to more-easily ?nd information which the
`user knows that he or she has seen before.
`These and other advantages and features of the invention
`will become more apparent from the following detailed
`description of an illustrative embodiment of the invention
`considered together with the drawing.
`
`BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
`
`FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an illustrative data-retrieval
`system that includes an illustrative embodiment of the
`invention;
`FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a page record of a server of
`the system of FIG. 1;
`FIG. 3 is a ?owchart of a page-sequence de?nition
`process of the server of the system of FIG. 1;
`FIG. 4 is a ?owchart of a session-establishment process of
`the server of the system of FIG. 1;
`FIG. 5 is a ?owchart of a page-viewing process of the
`server of the system of FIG. 1;
`FIGS. 6A and 6B are a ?owchart of a “Next Page”
`activation process of the server of the system of FIG. 1;
`FIG. 7 is a ?owchart of a status-reporting process of the
`server of the system of FIG. 1; and
`FIG. 8 is a ?owchart of a session-termination process of
`the server of the system of FIG. 1.
`
`DETAILED DESCRIPTION
`FIG. 1 shows a simpli?ed block diagram of the World
`Wide Web. It comprises end-user terminals, represented by
`terminal 100, each executing a World Wide Web browser
`110, such as a Microsoft® Internet Explorer or a Netscape®
`Navigator, and interconnected by a communications
`network, represented by the Internet 101, with World Wide
`Web servers, represented by server 102. Auser uses terminal
`100 and browser 110 to request and obtain pages 107 of
`information from server 102, which are then displayed to the
`user on a display 111 of terminal 100. Also displayed on
`display 111 by browser 110 along with each page 107 are a
`“Next Page” virtual button 112 and a “Previous Page”
`virtual button 113. Server 102 is a stored-program
`controlled apparatus that includes communications ports
`130 for interfacing server 102 to Internet 101, a processor
`103, and a memory 104 that stores control programs 114 for
`execution by processor 103 and data (pages 107 of
`information) for access by users. Memory 104 may com
`prise any number and types of storage units, both on-line and
`off-line. As described so far, the World Wide Web of FIG. 1
`is conventional. For purposes of this invention, the World
`Wide Web may be replaced by any electronic data-retrieval
`system, and the pages may be replaced by any addressable
`data entities. Moreover, the server and the browser may even
`be co-located on the same computer.
`According to the invention, included among data 116 and
`programs 114 stored in memory 104 of server 102 are page
`records 200 and control programs 115 which implement the
`invention in the World Wide Web of FIG. 1.
`
`011
`
`ServiceNow, Inc.'s
`Exhibit No. 1006
`
`

`

`3
`An illustrative page record 200 is shown in FIG. 2. One
`record 200 exists for each page 107 that is included in a
`sequence 108 or 109 With other pages 107 (as opposed to
`being a stand-along page 107 that is not a part of any
`sequence of pages). Record 200 includes a Universal
`Resource Locator (URL) ?eld 205 Which stores an identi?er
`(e.g., the URL or some other address) of the corresponding
`page 107. Record 200 also includes a sequential index value
`?eld 210 Which stores the sequential index value of the
`corresponding page 107 in a sequence 108 or 109 of pages.
`The sequential index value indicates the position of the page
`in the sequence 108 or 109 of pages relative to the positions
`of the other pages 107 in that sequence. While it is suf?cient
`that the sequential index values be ordinal (i.e., monotoni
`cally increasing or decreasing) in the sequence, for ease of
`illustration this discussion assumes that the index values are
`truly sequential, i.e., the difference betWeen the index values
`of any tWo pages 107 in the sequence is one. Record 200
`further includes an unvieWed ?ag ?eld 220 Whose state
`indicates Whether or not the corresponding page 107 has
`been accessed (vieWed) by the user during the present
`session. Optionally, record 200 also includes a page descrip
`tion ?eld 230, Which can contain any supplemental infor
`mation that the oWner of page 107 Wishes to associate
`thereWith.
`FIG. 3 shoWs the de?nition process Which the author of
`pages 107 uses to de?ne a sequence 108 or 109 of pages 107
`and records 200 of pages 107 in the sequence. Upon
`invoking execution of a de?nition program from control
`programs 115, at step 300, processor 103 sets a variable
`MAXiPAGES 118 or 119 to Zero, at step 305. When the
`author selects and identi?es to processor 103 a page 107
`(initially the page 107 that is to be the ?rst page in sequence
`108 or 109) for sequential indexing, at step 310, processor
`103 creates a page record 200 for that page 107, at step 312,
`and assigns a sequential index value—illustratively the
`present value of the MAXiPAGES variable 118 or 119—to
`that page 107 by storing the sequential index value in ?eld
`210 of record 200 of that page 107, at step 315. Processor
`103 also associates the URL of that page 107 With the
`sequential index value by storing the URL in ?eld 205 of
`record 200 of that page 107, at step 320. Processor 103 then
`checks Whether the URL association Was successful, e.g.,
`that a page actually exists at the location speci?ed in the
`URL and that it is accessible, at step 325. If the processor
`103 ?nds that the URL association Was not successful, it
`reports that fact to the author, at step 330, and returns to step
`310 et seq. to aWait the author’s next page selection. If
`processor 103 ?nds at step 325 that the URL association Was
`successful, it marks the subject page 107 as unvieWed by
`setting ?ag ?eld 220 of record 200 of that page 107 to the
`unvieWed state, at step 335. Processor 103 then increments
`the value of the MAXiPAGES variable 108 or 109, at step
`340, and checks Whether there are more pages 107 to be
`included in the sequence 108 or 109, at step 345.
`Illustratively, processor 103 makes this determination by
`asking the author. If there are more pages 107 to be
`sequenced, processor 103 returns to steps 310 et seq. to
`aWait the author’s next page selection. If there are no more
`pages 107 to be sequenced, processor examines the values of
`sequential index value ?eld 210 of records 200 of all of the
`pages 107 that have been placed in the sequence 108 or 109,
`at step 350, to determine if these values are sequential, at
`step 355. If they are not sequential, processor 103 reports a
`sequencing error to the author, at step 365, and ends execu
`tion of the de?nition program, at step 370. If the values are
`sequential, processor 103 sets the value of an
`
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`4
`UNVIEWEDiCOUNTER variable 120 or 121 to the
`present value of the MAXiPAGES variable 118 or 119, at
`step 360, and then ends execution of the de?nition program,
`at step 370. The value of both the MAXiPAGES variable
`118 or 119 and the UNVIEWEDiCOUNTER variable 120
`or 121 are saved in non-volatile memory 104 (e.g., disk
`memory) in correspondence With the just-created sequence
`108 or 109 of pages 107.
`FIG. 4 shoWs a session-establishment process Which is
`performed each time that a user begins a session With server
`102. When a user ?rst accesses server 102 (i.e., server 102
`receives a request for a page 107 from a neW user), processor
`103 begins execution of a session-establishment program
`from control programs 115, at step 400. Processor 103
`effects allocation of memory space 117 in memory 104 for
`use by the user, in a conventional manner, at step 410, and
`checks Whether the allocation succeeded, at step 420. If
`memory 117 allocation failed, processor 103 reports that
`fact, at step 440, and then ends execution of the session
`establishment process, at step 470. If memory 117 allocation
`succeeded, processor 103 initialiZes the allocated memory
`117 for variables associated With this session, at step 460.
`Inter alia, this involves making and loading a copy of
`records 200 of all pages 107 and values of UNVIEWEDi
`COUNTER and MAXiPAGES variables 118—121 of all
`sequences 108—109 that are stored in server 102 into allo
`cated memory 117. This copy and not the originals Will be
`used by processor 103 to service the user’s page-access
`requests. Optionally, processor 103 may also place the
`corresponding pages 107 in a cache memory. Processor 103
`then ends execution of the session-establishment program, at
`step 470.
`FIG. 5 shoWs a page-vieWing process Which is performed
`each time that a user requests a page 107 by specifying its
`URL. Receipt of such a request at server 102 invokes
`execution of a page-vieWing program from control programs
`115 by processor 103, at step 500. Processor 103 checks
`Whether a record 200 that corresponds to the received URL
`exists, and if so, if it has a value in sequential index value
`?eld 210, at step 510. If record 200 does not exist or index
`value ?eld 210 is empty, execution of the page-vieWing
`program ends, at step 540, and server 102 proceeds to
`process the request in a conventional manner. If a record 200
`corresponding to the received URL exists and has a value in
`sequential index value ?eld 210, processor 103 checks
`unvieWed ?ag ?eld 220 of the copy of that record in the
`user’s allocated memory 117 to determine if that page 107
`is marked as having already been vieWed by this user, at step
`515. If it is marked as vieWed, processor proceeds to step
`540. If it is not marked as vieWed, processor 103 sets the
`value of ?eld 220 of the copy of that record 200 in the user’s
`allocated memory 117 to indicate that the corresponding
`page 107 is being vieWed by this user, at step 520, and also
`decrements the value of the page’s corresponding copy—if
`any—of UNVIEWEDiCOUNTER variable 120 or 121 in
`the user’s allocated memory, at step 530. Processor 103 then
`proceeds to step 540. In either case, the user is given access
`to the requested page 107 regardless of Whether or not the
`user has already vieWed that page.
`FIGS. 6A and 6B shoW a “Next Page” activation process
`Which is performed each time that an existing user requests
`a page 107 by pressing either “Next Page” virtual button 112
`or “Previous Page” virtual button 113. Receipt of such a
`request at server 102 invokes execution of the “Next
`UnvieWed Page” activation program from control programs
`115 by processor 103, at step 600. Processor 103 ?rst checks
`in the contents of the user’s allocated memory 117 Whether
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`the copy of any UNVIEWEDiCOUNTER variable 120 or
`121 that corresponds to the presently-vieWed page 107 (i.e.,
`the page 107 accessed by the user before receipt of the “Next
`UnvieWed Page” or “Previous UnvieWed Page” request) has
`a value greater than Zero, at step 605. If not, processor 103
`reports to the user that there are no unvieWed pages left, at
`step 610, and ends execution of the “Next UnvieWed Page”
`activation program, at step 695. If any such corresponding
`non-Zero UNVIEWEDiCOUNTER is variable 120 or 121
`is found at step 605, processor 103 sets the value of
`SCANiCOUNT variable to the value of sequential index
`value ?eld 210 of the presently-vieWed page 107, at step
`615. Processor 103 then reads the value of a SCANiFLAG
`variable Which indicates Whether the “Next Page” button
`112 or the “Previous Page” button 113 Was pressed, at step
`620, and determines Whether a forWard or a backWard scan
`Within the presently-scanned sequence 108 or 109 is being
`requested, at step 625.
`If the request is for a forWard scan, processor 103 incre
`ments the value of the SCANiCOUNT variable, at step
`660, and then checks Whether this value exceeds the value
`of the user’s copy of the MAXiPAGES variable 118 or 119
`that corresponds to this sequence 108 or 109, at step 670. If
`the SCANiCOUNT value exceeds the value of the MAXi
`PAGES variable 118 or 119, processor 103 sets the value of
`SCANiCOUNT to Zero, thereby Wrapping around from the
`end to the beginning of the sequence 108 or 109, at step 665,
`and returns to step 660. If the SCANiCOUNT value does
`not exceed the value of the MAXiPAGES variable 118 or
`119, processor 103 checks Whether the user’s copy of record
`200 Whose sequential index value 210 equals the SCANi
`COUNT value indicates in its ?eld 220 that this page 107
`has not been vieWed by the user, at step 675. If this page 107
`has been vieWed, processor 103 returns to step 660. If this
`page 107 has not been vieWed, processor 103 proceeds to
`step 650.
`Returning to step 625, if it is there determined that the
`request is for a backWard scan, processor 103 decrements the
`value of the SCANiCOUNT variable, at step 630, and then
`checks Whether this variable’s value is less than Zero, at step
`635. If so, processor 103 sets the value of SCANiCOUNT
`to an incremented value of the user’s copy of the MAXi
`PAGES variable 118 or 119 that corresponds to this
`sequence 108 or 109, at step 640, thereby Wrapping around
`from the beginning to the end of the sequence 108 or 109,
`and returns to step 630. If the SCANiCOUNT value is not
`less than Zero, processor 103 checks Whether the user’s copy
`of record 200 Whose sequential index value 210 equals the
`SCANiCOUNT value indicates in its ?eld 220 that this
`page 107 has not been vieWed by the user, at step 645. If this
`page 107 has been vieWed, processor 103 returns to step 630.
`If this page 107 has not been vieWed, processor 103 pro
`ceeds to step 650.
`At step 650, processor 103 reads the address of page 107
`from the URL ?eld 205 of its record 200, at step 650, and
`checks Whether the hypertext link Was successful, e.g.,
`Whether it is able to retrieve a page-server acknoWledgment
`or a cache acknoWledgment, at step 680. If the hypertext link
`Was not successful, processor 103 reports it to the user, at
`step 655, and proceeds to step 695. If the hypertext link Was
`successful, processor 103 marks the subject page 107 as
`vieWed, by setting ?ag 220 of the user’s copy of its record
`200 to the vieWed state, at step 685. Processor 103 then
`decrements the user’s copy of the corresponding
`UNVIEWEDiCOUNTER variable 120 or 121, at step 690,
`and proceeds to step 695. After execution of the “Next
`UnvieWed Page” activation program ends, at step 695,
`serving the user’s request continues in the conventional
`manner.
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`FIG. 7 shoWs a status-reporting process Which is per
`formed Whenever the user requests status from server 102.
`Receipt of the status request at server 102 invokes execution
`of the status-reporting program from control programs 115
`by processor 103, at step 700. Processor 103 reads from the
`user’s allocated memory 117 the value of UNVIEWEDi
`COUNTER variable 120 or 121 Which corresponds to
`Whatever page sequence 108 or 109 is presently being
`accessed by the user, at step 710. Processor 103 also
`examines the unvieWed ?ag ?eld 220 of copies of records
`200 in the user’s allocated memory 117 of all pages 107 in
`the page sequence 108 or 109 being accessed by the user, to
`determine hoW many are marked as unvieWed by the user, at
`step 720. Processor 103 then uses this number and the value
`of the MAXiPAGES variable 118 or 119 corresponding to
`the subject page sequence 108 or 109 to determine the
`number of vieWed pages 107 in the sequence 108 or 109, at
`step 730. Processor 103 then reports to the user the number
`of vieWed pages 107, at step 740, the number of unvieWed
`pages 107, at step 750, plus any information gleaned from
`page description ?eld 230 of records 200 of pages 107 in this
`sequence 108 or 109, at step 760. Execution of the status
`reporting program then ends, at step 770.
`FIG. 8 shoWs a session-termination process Which is
`performed each time that a user ends a session With server
`102. When a user terminates the session, e.g., logs off or
`exits the broWser, processor 103 begins execution of a
`session-termination program from control programs 115, at
`step 800. Processor 103 effects deallocation of memory 117
`from the user, in a conventional manner, at step 810, and
`checks Whether the deallocation succeeded, at step 820. If
`memory 117 deallocation failed, processor 103 reports that
`fact, at step 830. If memory 117 deallocation succeeded, or
`folloWing step 830, processor ends execution of the session
`termination process, at step 840.
`Of course, various changes and modi?cations to the
`illustrative embodiment described above Will be apparent to
`those skilled in the art. For example, the pages need not be
`textual, but may be graphical, video, and/or audio in nature.
`Also, the sequence-traversal functions may be executed
`locally on terminal 100 instead of on server 102, or they may
`be executed from cache memory. Furthermore, the same
`principles may be applied to accessing of a sequence of page
`segments, or to accessing of previously-vieWed (as opposed
`to previously unvieWed) pages. Such changes and modi?
`cations can be made Without departing from the spirit and
`the scope of the invention and Without diminishing its
`attendant advantages. It is therefore intended that such
`changes and modi?cations be covered by the folloWing
`claims.
`What is claimed is:
`1. A method of broWsing through an ordered sequence of
`a plurality of pages of information, comprising:
`receiving a request from a user for a next page in the
`sequence While the user is accessing an individual page
`in the sequence; and
`in response to the request, skipping over and not giving
`the user access to previously-accessed pages subse
`quent in the sequence to the individual page and giving
`the user access to a ?rst page, subsequent in the
`sequence to the individual page, that has not yet been
`accessed by the user.
`2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
`receiving a second request from the user for a previous
`page in the sequence While the user is accessing the
`individual page; and
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`in response to the second request, giving the user access
`to a ?rst page, preceding the individual page in the
`sequence, that has not yet been accessed by the user.
`3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
`receiving a second request from the user for a page in the
`sequence Which page is uniquely identi?ed in the
`request; and
`in response to the second request, giving the user access
`to the identi?ed page regardless of Whether or not the
`user has already accessed the identi?ed page.
`4. The method of claim 2 further comprising:
`receiving a third request from the user; and
`in response to the third request, reporting to the user hoW
`many pages in the sequence have already been accessed
`by the user and hoW many pages in the sequence have
`not yet been accessed by the user.
`5. The method of claim 4 Wherein:
`at least some of the pages in the sequence have corre
`sponding stored descriptions associated thereWith, and
`the step of reporting further comprises the step of report
`ing to the user any corresponding stored descriptions
`associated With the pages in the sequence.
`6. A method of broWsing through an ordered sequence of
`a plurality of pages of information, comprising:
`in response to receiving a request from a user to access a
`neXt page in the sequence While the user is accessing an
`individual page in the sequence, determining Whether
`the user has already accessed a second page that is
`adjacent to the individual page in the sequence;
`in response to determining that the user has not yet
`accessed the second page, giving the user access to the
`second page;
`in response to determining that the user has already
`accessed the second page, forbearing from giving the
`user access to the second page and determining Whether
`the user has already accessed a third page, other than
`the individual page, that is adjacent to the second page
`in the sequence; and
`in response to determining that the user has not yet
`accessed the third page, giving the user access to the
`third page.
`7. The method of claim 6 further comprising:
`in response to determining that the user has already
`accessed the third page, giving the user access to a ?rst
`page that folloWs the third page in the sequence and that
`has not yet been accessed by the user.
`8. A method of broWsing through an ordered sequence of
`a plurality of pages of information, comprising:
`for each page in the sequence, creating a page record
`comprising and identi?er of the page, an indicator of a
`position of the page in the sequence relative to posi
`tions of other said pages in the sequence, and an
`indicator of Whether or not the page has been accessed
`and presently indicating that the page has not been
`accessed;
`in response to the user’s each request to access a particular
`page in the sequence by specifying the identi?er of the
`particular page, causing the accessed indicator of the
`record of the particular page to indicate that the par
`ticular page has been accessed, and giving the user
`access to the particular page;
`in response to the user’s each request to access a neXt page
`in the sequence While the user is accessing an indi
`vidual page in the sequence, using the position indica
`tors of the record of the individual page and of the
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`record of a ?rst page subsequent in the sequence to the
`individual page to ?nd the ?rst page;
`determining from the accessed indicator of the record of
`the ?rst page Whether the ?rst page has been accessed;
`in response to determining that the ?rst page has not been
`accessed, causing the accessed indicator of the record
`of the ?rst page to indicate that the ?rst page has been
`accessed, and giving the user access to the ?rst page;
`in response to determining that the ?rst page has been
`accessed, using the position indicators of the record of
`the ?rst page and of the record of a second page
`subsequent in the sequence to the ?rst page to ?nd the
`second page;
`determining from the accessed indicator of the record of
`the second page Whether the second page has been
`ac