Object transfer control in a communications network

Abstract

A method and an intermediate component for controlling in a communications network an object transfer from a first network component via the intermediate component to a second network component which is remote from the first network component are described. The object transfer is based on a plurality of object requests relating to objects referred to in one or more codes to be processed by the second network component or another network component. The intermediate component forms the steps of sending an object request to the first network component, receiving the requested object from the first network component, updating and/or assessing a priority of the requested object, and, in dependence of the priority of the requested object, delaying the requested object or forwarding the requested object to the second network component. An initial priority is assigned to the requested objects on the basis of an analysis of at least one of the object request and the code that refers to the requested object.

1 . A method of operating a proxy server, comprising:
 finding a reference to an object in a previous object that is to be forwarded to a client; and   upon finding the reference to the object, assigning or adjusting a priority of the object to be sent to the client.   
   
   
       2 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the previous object comprises HTML code. 
   
   
       3 . The method according to  claim 1 , comprising the step of generating a priority list that lists individual objects, which are referred to in the previous object, according to their priority. 
   
   
       4 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the priority of the object is determined depending on the following order of decreasing priority of an object type:
 a link to another page,   a frame, an inlined image,   a style sheet,   same priority for a script or an embedded object or an applet,   lower priority for a background image,   lowest priority for an object that was already sent to the client.   
   
   
       5 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the priority of the object to be sent to a client is assigned or adjusted, when a request, that is issued by a browser running on the client, relating to said object is received. 
   
   
       6 . The method according to  claim 5 , wherein the request is an HTTP request. 
   
   
       7 . The method according to  claim 6 , comprising the step of analyzing the request in an URL context. 
   
   
       8 . The method according to  claim 6 , wherein the priority is adjusted or assigned in dependence of information in the header of the HTTP request. 
   
   
       9 . The method according to  claim 5 , comprising the steps of determining whether the object has already been requested once by the browser, wherein the object gets a high priority assigned if the object has already been requested once by the browser. 
   
   
       10 . The method according to  claim 5 , wherein the object gets a high priority assigned if the object does not have a priority yet and the file extension indicates one of an HTML file, an XML file or a directory index. 
   
   
       11 . The method according to  claim 5 , wherein the priority, which is assigned or adjusted in reaction of the received request, depends on whether the request is a conditional HTTP request. 
   
   
       12 . The method according to  claim 5 , wherein the priority, which is assigned or adjusted in reaction of the received request, is lower than for most of other requested objects, if the object was requested indirectly by a script. 
   
   
       13 . The method according to  claim 5 , wherein the priority of the object to be sent to a client is assigned or adjusted, when a response corresponding to a request of the object is received, wherein said response contains the object. 
   
   
       14 . The method according to  claim 13 , wherein the response is a HTTP response. 
   
   
       15 . The method according to  claim 14 , wherein a header or a content of the HTTP response is assessed to adjust the priority. 
   
   
       16 . The method according to  claim 14 , wherein a reply code is assessed to adjust the priority, and wherein a higher priority is assigned if the assessment of the reply code indicates an error code than if the assessment of the reply code indicates a normal reply. 
   
   
       17 . The method according to  claim 14 , wherein a content type is assessed to adjust the priority, and wherein a higher priority is assigned if the assessment of the content type indicates a HTML code than if the assessment of the reply code indicates an image. 
   
   
       18 . The method according to  claim 14 , wherein a size of the object is assessed, and wherein a smaller object gets a higher priority than a larger object. 
   
   
       19 . The method according to  claim 14 , wherein a content of the object is analyzed to adjust the priority. 
   
   
       20 . The method according to  claim 19 , wherein an animated image gets a lower priority than a static image. 
   
   
       21 . The method according to  claim 14 , wherein if a reply code is a redirection specifying a new location for the requested object, said new location gets the same priority as the original object. 
   
   
       22 . The method according to  claim 14 , wherein the priority of all objects is decreased after a specified amount of time or after several HTTP requests or HTTP responses have been processed. 
   
   
       23 . Proxy server, having means adapted to perform the method according to  claim 1 . 
   
   
       24 . A computer program comprising program code portions for performing the steps of  claim 1  when the computer program is run on a computer system. 
   
   
       25 . A computer readable recording medium, which stores a computer program of  claim 24 .