Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • G06Q50/00—Information and communication technology [ICT] specially adapted for implementation of business processes of specific business sectors, e.g. utilities or tourism
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
  • G06F16/00—Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
  • G06F16/90—Details of database functions independent of the retrieved data types
  • G06F16/95—Retrieval from the web
  • G06F16/957—Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
  • G06F15/00—Digital computers in general; Data processing equipment in general
  • G06F15/16—Combinations of two or more digital computers each having at least an arithmetic unit, a program unit and a register, e.g. for a simultaneous processing of several programs
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L67/00—Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications
  • H04L67/50—Network services
  • H04L67/56—Provisioning of proxy services
  • H04L67/561—Adding application-functional data or data for application control, e.g. adding metadata
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L67/00—Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications
  • H04L67/50—Network services
  • H04L67/56—Provisioning of proxy services
  • H04L67/564—Enhancement of application control based on intercepted application data
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L67/00—Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications
  • H04L67/50—Network services
  • H04L67/56—Provisioning of proxy services
  • H04L67/565—Conversion or adaptation of application format or content
  • H04L67/5651—Reducing the amount or size of exchanged application data
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
  • H04W4/00—Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
  • H04W4/12—Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L69/00—Network arrangements, protocols or services independent of the application payload and not provided for in the other groups of this subclass
  • H04L69/30—Definitions, standards or architectural aspects of layered protocol stacks
  • H04L69/32—Architecture of open systems interconnection [OSI] 7-layer type protocol stacks, e.g. the interfaces between the data link level and the physical level
  • H04L69/322—Intralayer communication protocols among peer entities or protocol data unit [PDU] definitions
  • H04L69/329—Intralayer communication protocols among peer entities or protocol data unit [PDU] definitions in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a method and a system for transferring cookie information between a client and a server.
• the invention relates to an end-user or client having access to a small amount of memory and also to a system where the client communicates with the server over a channel having a limited bandwidth.
• a cookie is a mechanism developed by the Netscape Corporation to make up for the stateless nature of the hyper text transfer protocol (HTTP) protocol.
• HTTP hyper text transfer protocol
• Cookies solve this problem.
• a cookie is a small piece of information, often no more than a short session identifier, that the HTTP server sends to the browser when the browser connects for the first time.
• a cookie comprises a short instruction followed by a data field of up to 4 kbyte. Thereafter, the browser returns a copy of the cookie to the server each time it connects to the server, which issued the cookie.
• the server uses the cookie to remember the user and to maintain the illusion of a session that spans multiple pages.
• cookies are not part of the standard HTTP specification, only some browsers support them, such as "Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 and higher, and Netscape Navigator 2.0 and higher.
• the server and/or its CGI scripts must also know about cookies in order to take advantage of them. Cookies cannot be used to steal information about a computer system, i.e. they cannot enter a computer system and return with information from it. They can only be used to store information that is provided at some point. Thus, for example, if one fills out a form giving a preferred colour, a server can turn this information into a cookie and send it to the browser used. The next time the browser contacts the site, the browser will return the cookie, allowing the server to alter background colour of its pages to suit the preferences of the user.
• the information contained in the cookies can of course be intercepted when transferred on the internet. This may not pose such a big problem when the information is transferred on a wireline network or when the information is of a harmless nature, such as colour preferences.
• the information contained in the cookies is confidential and also it sometimes may have to be transmitted over a wireless network, for example when the end user is using a mobile terminal, such as a lap top computer or any other computer communicating via modem over a wireless network.
• a mobile terminal such as a lap top computer or any other computer communicating via modem over a wireless network.
• the confidential information can be eavesdropped fairly easy, since the information is, at least partly, transmitted over an air interface, where it can be intercepted by a number of different equipment.
• This object and others are obtained by locating a proxy server between an end-user and a remote server, which can intercept and store cookies transmitted from a remote server to the user terminal .
• a remote HTTP server or the like when contacted by a user terminal and the remote server transmits a cookie to the user terminal, the cookie is intercepted and stored in the proxy server.
• Information regarding the remote server e.g. its URL and an identification identifying the user terminal or the user is stored together with the cookie.
• the proxy server matches the requested URL and the identification information and in this manner finds the stored cookie.
• the cookie is then added to the request message so that the remote server is accessed with a copy of the cookie as desired.
• the cookies do not need to be stored in the user terminal, which may have a small memory and which therefore is not suited for storing cookies. Furthermore, when the user terminal is a mobile terminal the cookie is not transmitted over an air-interface, thereby reducing the amount of data transmitted over the air interface significantly.
• - Fig. 1 is a general view of a transmission system comprising a mobile user terminal.
• Fig. 2 is a flow chart illustrating the steps carried out in a proxy server when receiving a URL request from a user terminal.
• Fig. 1 a general view of a communication network is shown.
• the network comprises a user terminal 52 having a web browser 54.
• the user terminal 52 also comprises a wireless modem 58, by means of which the user terminal 52 can connect to a radio base station 60.
• the radio base station 60 is connected to a remote proxy server 66, which preferably is located at a central location of the transmission system, for example the Home Location Register (HLR) if the system is a GSM-system.
• the proxy server 66 comprises or is connected to a memory 72 for storing information regarding cookies, which is transmitted via the proxy server 66.
• the proxy server 66 is connected to the World Wide Web (WWW) or the Internet 68 to which a number of remote servers 70 are connected.
• WWW World Wide Web
• the proxy server 66 can also be located at other locations in the system or distributed over the system. For example, if the transmission system is a GSM-system the cookie information can be stored at the Visiting Location Register (VLR) or even co- located with the radio base station.
• VLR Visite Location Register
• the proxy server 66 is located together with the HLR and the VLR and possibly also some of the radio base stations are provided with cache servers for caching cookie information. Similar arrangements can of course be made for other cellular radio systems.
• a cookie may be transmitted back towards the user terminal 52.
• a cookie is a small piece of information, often no more than a short session identifier, that the HTTP server sends to the browser and may consist of up to 4 kbyte of information.
• the cookie is intercepted by the proxy server 66, which stores the cookie together with information regarding the URL that has issued the cookie and an identification identifying the user terminal 52.
• the cookie will then not have to be transmitted over the wireless network, which usually has a very small bandwidth, typically 4.8 kbit/s, which will reduce the transmission time. Also, there will be no need for storing the cookie in the user terminal 52, which may be a hand-held computer such as the MC-16 manufactured by the company Ericsson, or a smart-phone, which may have a very limited memory.
• the proxy server 66 will identify the user terminal 52, and check which site or URL (Uniform Resource Locator) the user is accessing. If the site has been accessed previously the proxy server will be able to match the identity with the URL and thereby find the cookie associated with that particular URL.
• site or URL Uniform Resource Locator
• the proxy server 66 then adds the cookie to the request from the user terminal 52 to the server 70.
• the remote server 70 will then receive a connection request together with a cookie as if the cookie had been returned from the browser itself. In this manner data traffic over the wireless, low bit-rate part of the access path is reduced and the memory requirement on the user terminal 52 can be reduced.
• Fig. 2 a flow chart of the actions performed in the remote proxy servers when a connection request is received from the user terminal towards a remote server 70 connected to the internet is shown.
• a block 201 the request from the user terminal 52 is received.
• the URL which the user terminal wants to access is read from the request.
• the identification of the user terminal or user is determined.
• the results of the actions performed in the blocks 203 and 205 are then used in a block 207 to determine if the URL previously has been requested or visited by that particular user terminal. Thus, in the block 207 it is checked if there is a cookie stored in the memory 72, which cookie is associated with that particular URL and that particular identification.
• the cookie is added to the request in a block 209 and the request is then forwarded towards the remote server under which the requested URL is located. If, on the other hand, there is no match in the block 207, i.e. that particular URL is accessed for the first time by that particular user, the request is directly forwarded towards the server 70 in the block 211.
• the cookies do not need to be stored in the user terminal, which in many cases have a small memory and which therefore is not suited for storing cookies. Furthermore, when the user terminal is a. mobile terminal, the cookie is not transmitted over an air- interface, thereby reducing the amount of data transmitted significantly. Also, the scattered of interception of data is reduced by the method and system as described herein.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
• Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
• Signal Processing (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
• Computer Hardware Design (AREA)
• General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Databases & Information Systems (AREA)
• General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Marketing (AREA)
• Library & Information Science (AREA)
• Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Economics (AREA)
• Data Mining & Analysis (AREA)
• Human Resources & Organizations (AREA)
• Software Systems (AREA)
• Primary Health Care (AREA)
• Strategic Management (AREA)
• Tourism & Hospitality (AREA)
• General Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
• Information Transfer Between Computers (AREA)
• Mobile Radio Communication Systems (AREA)
• Computer And Data Communications (AREA)
• Data Exchanges In Wide-Area Networks (AREA)

Priority Applications (7)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=20411681

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (11)

Cited By (114)

Families Citing this family (2)

Citations (1)

• 1998
  • 1998-06-12 SE SE9802098A patent/SE512672C2/sv unknown
• 1999
  • 1999-06-01 MY MYPI99002162A patent/MY124068A/en unknown
  • 1999-06-08 KR KR1020007014121A patent/KR20010071463A/ko not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 1999-06-08 CN CNB998073113A patent/CN1135489C/zh not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1999-06-08 WO PCT/SE1999/000992 patent/WO1999064967A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 1999-06-08 EE EEP200000711A patent/EE03983B1/xx not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 1999-06-08 JP JP2000553901A patent/JP2002517861A/ja active Pending
  • 1999-06-08 EP EP99931671A patent/EP1086434A1/en not_active Withdrawn
  • 1999-06-08 AU AU48114/99A patent/AU758578B2/en not_active Ceased
  • 1999-06-08 BR BR9911164-0A patent/BR9911164A/pt not_active IP Right Cessation
• 2002
  • 2002-01-23 HK HK02100521.6A patent/HK1039192B/zh not_active IP Right Cessation

Patent Citations (1)

Non-Patent Citations (3)

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