Claims:We Claim:
1. A process for dynamically checking availability of hyperlinks on a web page comprising the steps of:
a. hyperlinks to other web pages;
b. single ping transaction including file structures for all hyperlinks to other web pages;
c. an availability status of all said hyperlinks to other web pages in a single request using said single ping transaction comprising,
d. a single ping transaction having an address to a common server
e. sending said first single ping transaction to a common server
f. receiving a return ping transaction having each of said file structures and a status code
g. availability status of hyperlinks to the other web pages
h. creating a ping table containing address to common server
i. storing status codes pointing availability status for each of said file structures of the hyperlinks ping table,
2. The process of claim 1 wherein said process steps continue for all hyperlinks found on said first web page
3. The process of claim 1 further containing a time delay for a predetermined amount of time
4. The process of claim 3 wherein time delay has exceeded predetermined threshold further containing the step of resending said ping transaction to said common server.
5. The process of claim 1 wherein said visual availability indicator comprises a display selected from the group consisting of color indicators, sounds, graphical displays, tables, highlighting, a change of text, underlining and brackets.
6. The process of claim 1 wherein a plurality of differing current availability status for hyperlinks to the other web pages.
7. The process of claim 6 wherein the variety of differing visual availability indicators pointing hyperlinks to other web pages that are available
8. The process of claim 1 wherein the step of continually updating said ping table with said status codes indicating said current availability status for each of said hyperlinks comprises:
a. hyperlinks to the other web pages
b. searching and locating newer versions of said hyperlinks to the other web pages;
c. replacing hyperlinks to the other web pages
d. identifying newer versions of hyperlinks to the currently found hyperlinks to the other web pages by renumbering
9. The process of claim 8 further including dynamically maintaining hotlink search for a predetermined number of web pages away from given first web page.
10. The process of claim 8 wherein at least one of newer versions of hyperlinks to other web pages containing a redirected web page.
, Description:Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to web-browsers, and more particularly, to a web browser that automatically checks availability/scope of hot links on a displayed web page.
Background of the Invention
In the course of accessing information by means of a web browser from a network, such as the Internet or a company or office intra-net, a user often finds a web page at a particular URL (Uniform Resource Locator) address that contains information the user would like to access. The web page typically contains several links to a variety of other web pages on its serving equipment or on the serving equipment that presents these other web pages.
Often, a user desires to visit certain ones of these other web pages. In so doing, the user currently must manually move the cursor over and click on the desired link or URL displayed on the viewed web page. However, when a user clicks on these links, the user cannot pre-determine the success rate at which the web browser will be able to retrieve and visually display these desired web pages to the user. After the user has manually clicked on the link to the desired web page, the web browser then tries to retrieve the desired linked web page and visually display this desired web page to the user. In the prior art, the retrieved results of this request by the user would include the user being presented with the desired web page, a “page not found message” from the proxy server, or a long delay or wait period that indicates the web browser is not successfully retrieving the content which resides on the web server that the link refers to and that is to produce the desired web page.
Other known processes and systems for determining the success rate at which a user will be able to link to a desired web page include those that use search requests, such as, searching content on web pages, validating stored bookmarks, and usage of historical data access through a proxy server. However, these processes and systems for determining the success rate at which a user may link to a desired web page are tedious, time consuming, inefficient or are still being dependent on manual input of the user for process initiation.
Accordingly, there is need in the art for a process and system that enables a user to quickly and easily visually pre-determine the success rate at which the user will be able to link to and view a desired web page.
Bearing in mind the problems and deficiencies of the prior art, it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a process and system that enables a user to quickly and easily visually pre-determine the user will be able to link to and view a desired web page
Object of the Invention
The object of present invention to provide a process and system that enables a user to quickly and easily visually pre-determine the success rate at which the user will be able to successfully link to and view a desired web page
Another object of the present invention to provide a process and system that enables a user to visually pre-determine the scope status of all hot links on a currently viewed web page.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a process and system that enables a user to visually pre-determine the availability status of all hot links that should exist on a server complex
Summary of the Invention
The process includes accessing a first web page having hyperlinks to other web pages, determining an availability status of the hyperlinks to other web pages using a ping transaction and visually indicating the availability status of the hyperlinks to the other web pages on the first web page.
The step of determining the availability status of hyperlinks to other web pages using the ping transaction includes constructing at least a first ping transaction containing an address to a common server and an individual file structure for each of a plurality of the hyperlinks to the other web pages accessible by the common server. The first ping transaction is then sent to the common server to determine the availability status for each of the file structures of the hyperlinks. Subsequently, a return ping transaction is received containing each of the file structures and a status code indicating the availability status of each of the file structures of the hyperlinks. This process may continue for all hyperlinks found on the first web page by determining if each of the hyperlinks exist within at least one of a plurality of ping transactions.
The invention provides a system for dynamically checking availability of hyperlinks on a web page and a program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for a process of dynamically checking availability of hyperlinks on a web page. Both the system and the program storage device perform the steps including accessing a first web page having hyperlinks to other web pages, determining an availability status of the hyperlinks using a ping transaction and visually indicating the availability status of the other web pages on the first web page. Indicating the availability status of the other web pages on the first web page, the system and program storage device perform the steps including creating a ping table containing the address to the common server and each of the individual file structures for each of the hyperlinks. The status codes indicating the availability statuses are stored in the ping table, which is continually updated with current availability statuses for each of the hyperlinks. The system and program storage device then perform the steps of dynamically refreshing the first web page with these updated availability statuses.
Brief Description of the Drawings
FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a network on which the present invention operates.

Detailed Description of the Invention
The present invention solves the problems in the art by avoiding the time consuming, tedious and inefficient tasks of determining web page availability status by allowing a user to easily determine whether a desired web page is available by merely viewing the URL address of such web page on a currently viewed web page. Preferably, the availability status of the web page is viewed by a mouse-over of the URL address, whereby a visual indicator signifies to the user the availability status of such web page. The invention advantageously avoids the need for the user to manually click on a link to a desired web page to determine its availability status, as well as avoids having to search for content relating to a search request on a given web page. It enables the user to quickly and easily pre-determine the success rate at which a web browser will be able to retrieve and visually display a desired web page by rapidly checking only for the availability status of a desired web page using a “lightweight protocol.”
The invention relates to a web browser that automatically and dynamically checks availability of hot links on a displayed web page whereby the web page is automatically updated with the availability status of such hot links and re-direction information before and during the display of the web page. The invention provides a lightweight protocol implemented between web page serving systems such as, for example, sent and returned ping transactions. The lightweight protocol enables a first web server to send a short request to present a web page, preferably via a sent ping, to a second web page serving system therein asking the second web page serving system if the web page is available. In accordance with the invention, the web page serving system then responds, preferably via a return ping, “yes” if the web page is found or available, or “no” if the web page is not found or unavailable. If the web page is not found or unavailable, a predetermined time out occurs, and once expired, the lightweight protocol rechecks the availability status of such web page by resending the short request to present the web page to the second web page serving system to determine its availability status. Once the web page is found, a status indicator is recorded in a ping table. The ping table containing such recorded data continuously refreshes the viewed web page to visually indicate the availability status of each URL on the page, as well as determines which links are not found, or are unavailable, and continues searching for those unfound links.
The instant invention may operate on a network as illustrated in FIG. 1. As shown, the network may include a client computer 35, a server 25 and networking communications lines 15, 20. The server 25 manages a database 30 of web pages containing file structures of such web pages, whereby a variety of other known “intermediary” servers (not shown) may also exist between the client computer and the server for purposes such as gateways and proxy servers. The client computer 35 includes a web-browser 5 and a ping table 10. As shown, the web-browser 5 communicates with server 25 via a sent ping 15. Alternatively, the invention may be performed from web server to web server, i.e., sending the sent ping 15 from one server to another server. The sending server/web-browser may simultaneously send out multiple pings, one for each link that is in the web page to be retrieved.
The instant sent ping 15 includes the protocol identifier indicating that the message is a http ping protocol, the address of the sending client or server, the name of the web server to be reached and the file structure that points to the desired web page. Unlike conventional pings which only communicate with the server, the instant sent ping 15 communicates with the server 25 and the database 30 containing file structures to validate the existence of each of the file structures of a URL for a desired web page, therein determining if such web page exists within such database. In so doing, the destination web server recognizes the http ping command and attempts to locate the web page sent as part of this transaction within the database 30. The web server 25 gathers this information and sends it back to the client computer 35 via the return ping 20. The return ping 20 contains the same information as the sent ping, i.e., the URL address and/or IP name of the web server and the file structure, in addition to the status code(s) of each desired web page indicating the pages' availability status, i.e., indicating whether the page is found/available or not found/unavailable. The status code is next to the file structure for each web page. The originating server/client 35 reads this information and stores it in the structured ping table 10, therein updating the ping table 10 with the IP address of the web server, the requested file structure and indicator for found or not found. The availability status of each of the hotlinks on a viewed web page are then visually indicated to the user via the information store in the ping table while the invention continually search for those pages not found within the ping table. While the user is viewing the web page, the invention updates the ping table and refreshes the web page with the contents of the updated ping table.