Independent Portlet Refresh via Hidden Frame Segmentation

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Solution Overview

Problem

Conventional portal servers face challenges in refreshing portlet content without interrupting the display of neighboring portlets, leading to a frustrating user experience due to the need for simultaneous aggregation of content from multiple sources.

Innovation Solution

A system and method that utilize refresh tags in portlet markup to specify different refresh intervals, allowing each portlet to be refreshed independently through separate refresh controllers linked to hidden frames, enabling asynchronous updating without disrupting the display of other portlets.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If conventional portal servers aggregate content from multiple portlet sources simultaneously, then the portal page can be rendered, but the refresh of individual portlets interrupts the display of neighboring portlets causing user frustration

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedisplay continuityVSAvoidportlet refresh capability

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The patent divides the portal page into separate refreshable regions using hidden frames, allowing each portlet or group of portlets to be refreshed independently. This segmentation enables the refresh operation to be isolated to specific segments without affecting the display continuity of other segments, resolving the contradiction between maintaining display reliability and enabling easy portlet refresh.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The patent introduces hidden frames as intermediary elements that act as buffers between the refresh operation and the visible portal content. These hidden frames allow content to be prepared and refreshed in the background, then seamlessly integrated into the visible portal page without interrupting the user's view of neighboring portlets, thus maintaining display continuity while enabling refresh capability.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Loss of information

If the entire portal page is refreshed simultaneously, then all portlet content is updated, but the user experience is degraded due to display interruptions

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecontent freshnessVSAvoiduser experience

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of informationVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the portal page into multiple independent refreshable regions, allowing different portions of content to be refreshed at different times based on their individual needs. This ensures that content freshness is maintained for each portlet without requiring a simultaneous full-page refresh, thereby avoiding user experience degradation while still achieving timely content updates.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The patent implements periodic refresh actions for different portlet regions at different intervals, allowing each segment to be updated according to its specific content requirements. This periodic segmentation approach ensures that critical content is refreshed more frequently while less critical content is updated less often, maintaining overall content freshness without causing continuous display interruptions that would harm user experience.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #19Periodic action

3Reliability

If portlets are refreshed independently, then display continuity is maintained, but the system complexity increases due to multiple refresh controllers

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedisplay continuityVSAvoidrefresh controller structure

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent uses hidden frames as intermediary structures that simplify the implementation of independent refresh control. By placing refresh controllers within hidden frames rather than directly managing multiple independent refresh operations, the system achieves display continuity while the hidden frames provide a unified structural framework that reduces the overall system complexity compared to managing entirely separate refresh mechanisms for each portlet.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Data Source

PatentUS10289745B2Independently refreshing a plurality of portlets in a portal page by using a refresh tag embedded in portlet markup in each portlet to call a refresh servlet to write a refresh controller

Publication Date: 2019.05.14 INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINE CORPORATION

AI summary

Embodiments of the present invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to portlet content refreshing and provide a novel and non-obvious method, system and apparatus for independently refreshing portlet content in a portal view. In an embodiment of the invention, a system for refreshing portlet content in a portal view can include a portal server configured to render a portal page, a portlet aggregator configured to provide portlet markup for different portlets in different refresh controllers having independently refreshable portions, and a refresh servlet coupled to the portlet aggregator that includes programming to configure the portal page with the different refresh controllers.