Patent Application
20090094268
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to website components, more specifically, to backend components of websites.
2. Description of the Known Technology
Websites found on either a local network or on a distributed network, such as the Internet, generally include the following three components: data, a front end component having a user interface, and an intermediary software component for linking the front end component to the data. As a user interacts with the user interface of the front end component, the intermediary software component will request data relating to the user's interaction with the user interface. This requested data will then be provided to the user via the front end.
The data is generally aggregated from a variety of different sources including static databases as well as dynamic data feeds. Even for the simplest websites, the developers of the website have to maintain the data used to power the website. This maintenance of the data adds significant effort and complexity at every stage of the development of websites. Furthermore, this nearly identical work of maintaining the data for each website development project is disposed of at the end of each website development project.
Adding even more complexity to website development is the fact that as data is collected and maintained, new functionalities may be possible based on newly collected data. In order to take advantage of these new functionalities, website developers would need to modify the intermediary software component.
In overcoming the drawbacks of the prior art, a website component, more specifically, a backend component of a website and method for making and using the same is described. The backend component includes an embedded transactional database and an adapter object. The embedded transactional database contains data, while the adapter object includes a plurality of application programming interfaces (“APIs”) configured to provide interaction with the data contained within the embedded transactional database.
By having an adapter object in communication with an already assembled embedded transactional database, all that needs to be created is the front end component that will interact with the APIs of the adapter object. As stated in the background section, even for the simplest websites, website developers would have to maintain the data used to power the website. This maintenance of the data would add significant effort and complexity to every stage of the development of the website. By creating a simplified backend component containing the embedded transactional database and an adapter object, third party website developers can simply design the front end component to interact with the APIs of the adapter object and avoid expending resources to further develop and maintain the data used to power the website.
Further objects, features and advantages of this invention will become readily apparent to persons skilled in the art after a review of the following description, with reference to the drawings and claims that are appended to and form a part of this specification.
Referring to
The client computer 16 may be a general purpose personal computer, but may be any networked electronic device. Generally, the client computer 16 includes processing unit 18 in communication with a display device 20 and one or more input devices. The processing unit 18 generally includes a processor connected to a memory unit containing instructions and one or more storage devices. The display device 20 includes a display area 26. The input devices may be in the form of an analog input device such as a mouse 24 or a keyboard 22.
The display area 26 of the display device 20 is capable of displaying a website 28. Information for displaying the website 28 and conveying any information to a user of the client computer 16 originates from the web server 14. The information from the web server 14 is transmitted to the client computer 16 via the distributed network 12.
Referring to
Referring to
With special attention to
Once the data is fetched, the data is placed into a neutral format, as shown in step 46. Essentially, by converting the data to a neutral format, algorithms can be more easily implemented to retrieve data previously fetched. By placing the data in a standardized, neutral format, simple algorithms can be designed to maintain the embedded transactional database 32 and retrieve any requested data.
In step 48, any duplicative data is removed, so as to remove unnecessary data, thereby keeping the embedded transactional database 32 as small as possible. Finally, in step 50, the remaining data is stored within the embedded transactional database 32. The method 42 may be executed only once or may be executed on a periodic basis. For example, the method 42 may execute during off-peak hours of low activity. By executing the method 42 during off-peak hours, more computational resources may be available so that data can be more quickly assembled and stored within the embedded transactional database 32.
Referring back to
The APIs are generally representational state transfer (“REST”) components. REST is a style of software architecture for distributed hypermedia systems such as the World Wide Web. As it is well known to those skilled in the art, REST refers to a collection of network architecture principles that outline how resources are defined and addressed.
To be more specific, REST is an approach for getting information content from a Web site by reading a designated Web page that contains an XML file that describes and includes the desired content. For example, REST could be used by a website developer to make syndicated content available. Periodically, the developer would prepare and activate a Web page that included content and XML statements that described the content. Subscribers would need only to know the Uniform Resource Locator for the page where the XML file was located, read it with a Web browser, interpret the content data using the XML information, and reformat and use it appropriately.
Referring to
By creating a backend component 30 with an adapter object 34 in communication with an already assembled embedded transactional database 32, all that needs to be created is the front end component 54 having the user interface 56. As stated in the background section, even for the simplest websites, website developers would have to maintain the data used to power the website. This maintenance of the data would add significant effort and complexity to every stage of the development of the website. By creating a simplified backend component 30 containing both the embedded transactional database and an adapter object 34 with APIs 52 that could be easily accessed by a front end 54, third parties can simply design the front end component and the user interface and avoid the trouble of spending significant amounts of time and effort developing and maintaining the data used to power the website.
Referring to
In an effort to make it as easy as possible for third parties to develop front end components, the adapter object of
As a person skilled in the art will readily appreciate, the above description is meant as an illustration of implementation of the principles this invention. This description is not intended to limit the scope or application of this invention in that the invention is susceptible to modification, variation and change, without departing from the spirit of this invention, as defined in the following claims.
