Patent Application
20080052382
The novel features believed characteristic of the invention are set forth in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, as well as a preferred mode of use, further objectives and advantages thereof, will best be understood by reference to the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
With reference now to the figures and in particular with reference to
Computer 100 may be any suitable computer, such as an IBM® eServer™ computer or IntelliStation® computers, which are products of International Business Machines Corporation, located in Armonk, N.Y. Although the depicted representation shows a personal computer, other embodiments may be implemented in other types of data processing systems. For example, other embodiments may be implemented in a network computer. Computer 100 also preferably includes a graphical user interface (GUI) that may be implemented by means of systems software residing in computer readable media in operation within computer 100.
Next,
In the depicted example, data processing system 200 employs a hub architecture including a north bridge and memory controller hub (MCH) 202 and a south bridge and input/output (I/O) controller hub (ICH) 204. Processor 206, main memory 208, and graphics processor 210 are coupled to north bridge and memory controller hub 202. Graphics processor 210 may be coupled to the MCH through an accelerated graphics port (AGP), for example.
In the depicted example, local area network (LAN) adapter 212 is coupled to south bridge and I/O controller hub 204, audio adapter 216, keyboard and mouse adapter 220, modem 222, read only memory (ROM) 224, universal serial bus (USB) ports, and other communications ports 232. PCI/PCIe devices 234 are coupled to south bridge and I/O controller hub 204 through bus 238. Hard disk drive (HDD) 226 and CD-ROM drive 230 are coupled to south bridge and I/O controller hub 204 through bus 240.
PCI/PCIe devices may include, for example, Ethernet adapters, add-in cards, and PC cards for notebook computers. PCI uses a card bus controller, while PCIe does not. ROM 224 may be, for example, a flash binary input/output system (BIOS). Hard disk drive 226 and CD-ROM drive 230 may use, for example, an integrated drive electronics (IDE) or serial advanced technology attachment (SATA) interface. A super I/O (SIO) device 236 may be coupled to south bridge and I/O controller hub 204.
An operating system runs on processor 206. This operating system coordinates and controls various components within data processing system 200 in
Instructions for the operating system, the object-oriented programming system, and applications or programs are located on storage devices, such as hard disk drive 226. These instructions and may be loaded into main memory 208 for execution by processor 206. The processes of the illustrative embodiments may be performed by processor 206 using computer implemented instructions, which may be located in a memory. An example of a memory is main memory 208, read only memory 224, or in one or more peripheral devices.
The hardware shown in
The systems and components shown in
Other components shown in
The depicted examples in
The illustrative embodiments provide a computer implemented method, apparatus, and computer usable program product for managing browser windows. A determination is made as to whether a selected uniform resource locator is present for a window associated with a browser. This window displays content for a uniform resource locator. If the uniform resource locator for the window matches the selected uniform resource locator, the window is closed if a selected period of time associated with the uniform resource locator has elapsed. In this manner, personal confidential information that may be displayed in the window may be secured by closing the window after some period of time passes. As a result, other parties are unable to view the information.
Turning next to
In this example, browser 300 includes a user interface 302, which is a graphical user interface (GUI) that allows the user to interface or communicate with browser 300. This interface provides for selection of various functions through menus 304 and allows for navigation through navigation 306. For example, menu 304 may allow a user to perform various functions, such as saving a file, opening a new window, displaying a history, and entering a uniform resource locator. Navigation 306 allows for a user to navigate various pages and to select web sites for viewing. For example, navigation 306 may allow a user to see a previous page or a subsequent page relative to the present page. Preferences such as those illustrated in
Communications 310 is the mechanism with which browser 300 receives documents and other resources from a network such as the Internet. Further, communications 310 is used to send or upload documents and resources onto a network. In the depicted example, communication 310 uses HTTP. Other protocols may be used depending on the implementation. Documents that are received by browser 300 are processed by language interpretation 312, which includes an HTML unit 314 and a JavaScript unit 316. Language interpretation 312 will process a document for presentation on graphical display 318. In particular, HTML statements are processed by HTML unit 314 for presentation while JavaScript statements are processed by JavaScript unit 316.
Graphical display 318 includes layout unit 320, rendering unit 322, and window management 324. These units are involved in presenting web pages to a user based on results from language interpretation 312.
Browser 300 is presented as an example of a browser program in which illustrative embodiment may be embodied. Browser 300 is not meant to imply architectural limitations to the present invention. A browser may be any application that is used to search for and display content on a distributed data processing system. Browser 300 may be implemented using known browser applications, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer. Microsoft Internet Explorer is available from Microsoft Corporation.
Browser 300 also includes plug-in 326. The window management features provided to close windows after some selected period of time may be implemented in plug-in 326. Alternatively, these processes may be implemented within browser 300, itself. For example, the processes may be implemented in window management 324. Parameters and configuration information such as whether the features is enabled or disabled, the maximum idle time, and a designation of a set of one or more uniform resource locators may be stored in a data structure, such as configuration file 328. The designation of this information may be made thought graphical user interface 302 in these illustrative examples.
Turning now to
In this particular example, window 400 contains control 402, which is a checkbox. Control 402 allows a user to enable or disable this window management feature. Further, enablement or disablement of the feature may be handled using other mechanisms. A menu in the browser window or the pressing of a particular function or set of keys may enable or disable this feature.
Max idle time field 404 in window 400 indicates the period of time that elapses before a window is closed. This number may be changed by entering a new number in max idle time field 404 or by manipulating controls 406. Max idle time field 404 is used to enter the maximum idle time in these examples. The designation of a set of uniform resource locators for which window management occurs may be made in field 408. In this particular example, line 410 in field 408 indicates that some uniform resource locators are to be managed in this manner. Any uniform resource locator containing the pattern in line 410 is managed using the window management feature. In line 412, a specific uniform resource locator is entered for management using the process in the illustrative embodiments. Line 414 indicates that all uniform resource locators for windows are to be handled in this manner. As a result, when a specific window is opened and the elapsed time occurs, the browser closes the window.
In these examples, if the window is the last window, the execution of the browser terminates or exits. The information entered in window 400 may be stored in a configuration file, such as configuration file 328 in
Turning now to
The process begins by determining whether the window idle feature is on (step 500). If the window idle feature is not on, the process terminates. Otherwise, uniform resource locators are identified for processing (step 502). These uniform resource locators are ones that are entered by a user. Specific uniform resource locators may be entered. Alternatively, a pattern entered by a user may be matched for uniform resource locators, or all uniform resource locators may be processed.
Next, a window is selected for processing (step 504). A determination is then made as to whether a uniform resource locator in the identified uniform resource locators is in the uniform resource locator for selected window (step 506). A uniform resource locator is for the window if the content presented in the window is for the uniform resource locator. If the uniform resource locator is present in that window, a determination is made as to whether idle time has expired for this window (step 508). Idle time is the amount of time that has passed since activity has occurred in that window being processed. Depending on the particular implementation, this idle time could be for the last activity that has occurred in any window for the browser or for any activity on the desktop on the computer itself. If the idle time has expired, the window is closed (step 510).
Thereafter, a determination is made as to whether all of the windows have been closed (step 512). If all of the windows have been closed, the browser program is closed (step 514) with the process terminating thereafter. Step 514 is an example of an optional step that may be omitted depending on the implementation.
With reference again to step 512, if not all of the windows have been closed, a determination is made as to whether additional unprocessed windows are present (step 516). If additional unprocessed windows are present, the process returns to step 504 to select another unprocessed window. Turning back to step 508, the process also proceeds to step 516 if the idle time has not expired. The process returns to step 516 from step 506 in the same manner if the uniform resource locator is not for the window being processed.
Thus, the present invention provides a computer implemented method, apparatus, and computer usable program product for managing browser windows. A determination is made as to whether a selected uniform resource locator is present for a window associated with a browser. This window displays content for a uniform resource locator. This determination is made in response to the window being enabled for window management. If the uniform resource locator, for the window matches the selected uniform resource locator the window is closed if a selected period of time associated with the uniform resource locator has elapsed. In this manner, the different illustrative embodiments allow for increased security for confidential information that is displayed in a browser window.
The invention can take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment containing both hardware and software elements. In a preferred embodiment, the invention is implemented in software, which includes but is not limited to firmware, resident software, microcode, etc.
Furthermore, the invention can take the form of a computer program product accessible from a computer-usable or computer-readable medium providing program code for use by or in connection with a computer or any instruction execution system. For the purposes of this description, a computer-usable or computer readable medium can be any tangible apparatus that can contain, store, communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.
The medium can be an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system (or apparatus or device) or a propagation medium. Examples of a computer-readable medium include a semiconductor or solid state memory, magnetic tape, a removable computer diskette, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), a rigid magnetic disk and an optical disk. Current examples of optical disks include compact disk-read only memory (CD-ROM), compact disk-read/write (CD-R/W) and DVD.
A data processing system suitable for storing and/or executing program code will include at least one processor coupled directly or indirectly to memory elements through a system bus. The memory elements can include local memory employed during actual execution of the program code, bulk storage, and cache memories which provide temporary storage of at least some program code in order to reduce the number of times code must be retrieved from bulk storage during execution.
Input/output or I/O devices (including but not limited to keyboards, displays, pointing devices, etc.) can be coupled to the system either directly or through intervening I/O controllers.
Network adapters may also be coupled to the system to enable the data processing system to become coupled to other data processing systems or remote printers or storage devices through intervening private or public networks. Modems, cable modem and Ethernet cards are just a few of the currently available types of network adapters.
The description of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description, and is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the invention in the form disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. The embodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention, the practical application, and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the invention for various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.
