Method and system for delivering data from a server object to a client object using a non-proprietary data transfer protocol

Abstract

The present invention is method and system capable of delivering video across the Internet using the hypertext transfer protocol. Client objects periodically request to view a uniform resource locator that is aliased to a servlet. For each request, the servlet retrieves and delivers a video image to the requesting client object. The invention can simultaneously deliver images to a variety of client objects, regardless of whether they are requesting the images at the same rate.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . In a computerized system, a method for serving, to a client, video data objects from a plurality of video data objects, the method comprising: 
 providing a uniform resource locator that is aliased to a servlet so that when the uniform resource locator is accessed, the servlet is invoked;    receiving, from the client, a first call to the uniform resource locator;    upon receipt of the first call, invoking the servlet to select a first video data object from the plurality of video data objects;    returning the selected first video data object to the client;    receiving, from the client, a second call to the uniform resource locator;    upon receipt of the second call, invoking the servlet to select a second video data object from the plurality of video data objects, the second video data object being ordered after the first video data object of the plurality of data objects; and    returning the selected second video data object to the client.    
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the video data objects are of a format capable of being delivered using the hypertext transfer protocol.  
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 retrieving the first video data object from a data source;    storing the retrieved first video data object in a random access memory;    retrieving the second video data object from the data source;    storing the retrieved second video data object in the random access memory; and    after storing the first and the second video data objects in the random access memory, receiving the first call from the client.    
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising: 
 allowing the client to select a rate at which the client calls the uniform resource locator.    
     
     
         5 . A computer system for serving data objects to a client object, the computer system comprising: 
 a server object that is accessible as a location indicator using a non-proprietary communications protocol, the server object being configured to create a grouping of data objects by retrieving a plurality of data objects from a data source at a rate that is independent of a rate at which the client object requests the plurality data objects, and the server object being further configured to sequentially deliver, to the client object, each of the plurality of data objects that comprise the grouping of data objects.    
     
     
         6 . The computer system of  claim 5  wherein the data objects are graphical images and the data source is a file comprised of a plurality of the graphical images.  
     
     
         7 . The computer system of  claim 5  wherein the data source is a video camera.  
     
     
         8 . The computer system of  claim 7  wherein each of the data objects is a graphical image.  
     
     
         9 . The computer system of  claim 5  wherein the non-proprietary communications protocol is a hypertext transfer protocol and wherein the location indicator of the server object is a uniform resource locator.  
     
     
         10 . The computer system of  claim 5  wherein the data objects represent facsimile pages.  
     
     
         11 . The computer system of  claim 5  wherein the server object is a JAVA servlet that is aliased a uniform resource locator.  
     
     
         12 . The computer system of  claim 5  wherein the client object is a JAVA applet.  
     
     
         13 . The computer system of  claim 5  wherein the client object is a web browser configured to access the server object by accepting the server object's location indicator as a uniform resource locator.  
     
     
         14 . A computer-readable medium containing instructions for delivering images to a client object, the computer-readable medium comprising: 
 instructions which, when invoked, receive a call that the client object makes in an attempt to retrieve an image, the reception being accomplished by having a server process aliased to an location indicator of the image;    after intercepting the call, instructions which, when invoked, select an image from a plurality of images; and    instructions which, when invoked, transmit the selected image to the client object using a non-proprietary communications protocol.    
     
     
         15 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 14  wherein the images are sequentially retrieved and stored in a memory of a computer system at a rate that is independent of a rate at which the client object requests the images.  
     
     
         16 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 14  wherein the images are blocks of video data that are sequentially stored in a random access memory of a computer system.  
     
     
         17 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 16  wherein the blocks of video data are retrieved from a port of the computer system that is configured for use with a video camera.  
     
     
         18 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 16  wherein the blocks of video data are retrieved from a video file.  
     
     
         19 . In a computer system, a method for delivering video data from a client object to a server object, the method comprising: 
 sending, from the client object to the server object, a request to view a video image from a series of video images; and    upon receipt of the request, launching a background image collection thread that retrieves the series of video images from a video source, and further launching a process image request thread that interfaces with the background image collection thread to deliver the series of video images to the client object.    
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19  wherein the client object's request is made by accessing a resource locator that is aliased to a servlet, the method further comprising: 
 when the resource locator is accessed, launching the servlet to select, from the series of video images, a video image that the client has not yet viewed; and  
 returning the selected video image to the applet.  
 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 20  wherein the client object sends a plurality of requests to the server object, each request asking to view a current video image from among the series of video images, wherein the background image collection thread retrieves each video image from the series of video images at a rate that is independent of a rate at which the client object sends its requests, and wherein the process image request thread responds the client object's requests by retrieving the current video image from the background image collection thread.  
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 20  wherein the servlet stores the series of video images in a random access memory.  
     
     
         23 . A computerized system for serving data objects to a client, the system comprising: 
 means for providing a location indicator that is aliased to a servlet so that when the location indicator is accessed, the servlet is invoked;    means for receiving, from the client, a call to the location indicator;    upon receipt of the call, means for invoking the servlet to select a data object; and    means for returning the selected data object to the client.    
     
     
         24 . The system of  claim 23  wherein the servlet selects the data object with the aid of a first processing thread and a second processing thread, the first processing thread collecting data objects from a data source, and the second processing thread interfacing with the first processing thread to determine the data object that is needed to be delivered to the client.  
     
     
         25 . The system of  claim 24  wherein the second processing thread also interfaces with the client by providing the means for receiving, from the client, the call to the location indicator.  
     
     
         26 . The system of  claim 23  wherein the data objects are of a format capable of being delivered using the hypertext transfer protocol.  
     
     
         27 . The system of  claim 23 , further comprising: 
 means for receiving, from the client, a second call to the location indicator;    upon receipt of the second call, means for invoking the servlet to select a second data object, the second data object being ordered after the first data object from among a plurality of data objects; and    means for returning the selected second video data object to the client.