Content indicator for accelerated detection of a changed web page

Abstract

Various embodiments are described for content indicators to accelerate detection of a changed web page or other file.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . An apparatus comprising: 
 an authoring tool to generate files;    a calculator to calculate a content indicator for one or more of the files, the page authoring tool to store each of the calculated content indicators with a corresponding file.    
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the authoring tool comprises a HTML authoring tool or program.  
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the calculator comprises a digest calculator to calculate digests for each of the files.  
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the apparatus encodes each of the content indicators within a corresponding file.  
     
     
         5 . An apparatus comprising: 
 an insertion tool comprising a calculator to calculate a content indicator for each of a plurality of files, the insertion tool to insert each of the calculated content indicators within a corresponding one of the files.    
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 5  wherein the calculator comprises a digest calculator to calculate digests for each of the files.  
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 5  wherein the apparatus encodes each of the content indicators within a corresponding file.  
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of clam  6  wherein the insertion tool comprises an insertion tool to insert each of the calculated digests within a corresponding one of the files.  
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 5  wherein the files comprise one or more of the following: 
 web pages;  
 HTML pages;  
 Graphics; and  
 Scripts.  
 
     
     
         10 . An apparatus comprising: 
 an insertion tool comprising a calculator to calculate a content indicator for each of a plurality of files, the insertion tool to obtain a path for each file and store a file path and the content indicator in a repository for each of a plurality of files.    
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 10  wherein the calculator comprises a digest calculator to calculate digests for each of a plurality of files.  
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 11  wherein the calculator comprises a digest calculator to calculate digests for each of a plurality of web pages.  
     
     
         13 . The apparatus of  claim 10  wherein the path file indicates a location or address of the file.  
     
     
         14 . A method comprising: 
 generating a file;    calculating a content indicator for the file;    storing the content indicator with the file to provide content change indication for the file when compared to another content indicator.    
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14  wherein the calculating comprises calculating a digest for the file.  
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15  wherein the storing comprises storing the digest with the file to provide content change indication for the file when compared to another digest.  
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 14  and further comprises: 
 retrieving the content indicator for the file;  
 comparing the content indicator for the file to a content indicator corresponding to a previous version of the file; and  
 determining whether the file has changed based on the comparing.  
 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 14  and further comprises: 
 retrieving the content indicator for the file;  
 comparing the content indicator for the file to a content indicator corresponding to a previous version of the file; and  
 retrieving the file if the content indicator for the file and the content indicator corresponding to a previous version of the file do not match.  
 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18  and further comprising updating an index based on the retrieved file if there was not a match.  
     
     
         20 . A method comprising: 
 obtaining a path for a file;    retrieving the file;    calculating a content indicator for the file;    storing the file path and the content indicator for the file in a repository or storage.    
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 20  wherein the calculating comprises calculating a digest for the file.  
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21  wherein the storing comprises storing the file path and the digest in a digest repository or storage.  
     
     
         23 . An apparatus comprising a readable media having instructions thereon, the instructions resulting in the following when executed: 
 generating a file;    calculating a content indicator for the file;    storing the content indicator with the file to provide content change indication for the file when compared to another content indicator.    
     
     
         24 . The apparatus of  claim 23  wherein the calculator comprises calculating a digest for the file.  
     
     
         25 . The apparatus of  claim 23  wherein the storing comprises storing the digest with the file to provide content change indication for the file when compared to another digest.  
     
     
         26 . An apparatus comprising a readable media having instructions thereon, the instructions resulting in the following when executed: 
 obtaining a path for a file;    retrieving the file;    calculating a content indicator for the file;    storing the file path and the content indicator for the file in a repository or storage.    
     
     
         27 . The apparatus of  claim 26  wherein the calculating comprises calculating a digest for the file.  
     
     
         28 . The apparatus of  claim 27  wherein the storing comprises storing the file path and the digest in a digest repository or storage.