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Amazon Patents Customized 404 Pages
theodp writes "Among the patents awarded to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on Tuesday was one for his invention of Error Processing Methods for Providing Responsive Content to a User When a Page Load Error Occurs, which covers displaying alternate web pages in response to HTTP 404 page-not-found errors. So is this the technology that causes Amazon's Home Page to be displayed when Bezos' MIA Patent Reform Page can't be found?"
They were going to sue everyone on the planet, but they couldn't find their websites.
And by the way, what constitutes "customized" when its open source software?
404'd!
cat /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf |grep -B 5 404
/missing.html
# Customizable error responses come in three flavors:
# 1) plain text 2) local redirects 3) external redirects
#
# Some examples:
#ErrorDocument 500 "The server made a boo boo."
#ErrorDocument 404
#ErrorDocument 404 "/cgi-bin/missing_handler.pl"
Customizable error responses come in three flavors:
# 1) plain text 2) local redirects 3) external redirects
Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana.
So just because something has been around for a decade and a half or more means nothing to the patent system? PArdon me while I file a patent for "an aggregated news site updated several times a day via a user submission and ranking system for the calculation of page popularity". Or maybe "system for allowing user feedback to be displayed along with news articles". Man... once the lawsuits settle, I'll be rich.
I mean seriously, in the last 2 weeks, we have the Minerva Industries patent on smartphones, and now this.. Who the hell is working in the patent office.....
I am sure we can find some prior art.. the most annoying being angelfire and geocities from way back when.
I came, I conquered, I coredumped
The patent is not about the server serving custom
error pages (which is your post), but about a client
side process that communicates with a separate error server
to generate the appropriate response. So I would guess it
is a intended to be a plugin for a browser.
But then this is slashdot, why bother to read the article.
Atlas stands on the earth and carries the celestial sphere on his shoulders.
plinko (and everyone who uses it)will be in trouble... http://www.plinko.net/404/
While we are at patents i am going to apply for one for "using a flat horizontal surface for placing items on display, storing items or utilizing the surface for serving food or other demonstrations"
my science department has come up with a clever name for this invention called a table... you may have heard of it, if you have one please pay me dues now.
I guess I can't use that directive in apache anymore.
It's not a patent on 404 handlers. It's a patent on a client-side component that detects errors including, but not limited to 404s, then relays the error to an external server and receives an alternate URL or resource to serve the user. Blame the patent office for being idiots if you want, but this time *you* are the idiot.
If anyone else has read the patent, they'll realise that it's a CLIENT-SIDE component that's involved.
Most (all?) 'automatic redirect' systems I've seen are server based - the server runs a script which says 'That page couldn't be found, did you mean any of these...'
I can't imagine who'd put this on the client with client-server communication going on. It sounds like a vastly over-engineered and 'Enterprisey' solution to me. It DOES have the advantage that it can look back in the browser history, but I'm not sure I see how that could benefit the user (the component COULD tell the server what's in the history though, so it could benefit Amazon!)
that fines companies for failing to do their due diligence in checking prior arts when applying for a new patent. The fine should be large enough to deter the complete abuse of the patent system.
Can amazon really patent something that a prior invention already thought to implement? What I mean is, almost all web servers (apache, iis to name two big ones) allow for custom error messages. And amazon.com requires a web server to run.
To me, this is like placing a patent on "using the emergency flashing lights on my car to signal for help." Someone already thought of this use of my emergency flashing lights, and that's why the lights were implemented. But no one thought to patent the actual process of using the lights to flag down a passing police car.
I'm probably way off on this, so can someone tell me why I'm wrong?
This is a prime example of why the United States patent system is broken. People can patent vague ideas such as custom error messages. I've seen custom 404 error pages for a long time.
Much as I'm loath to hold it up as an example of anything ever, Internet Explorer has been using client-based action to generate a friendly "This page cannot be displayed" page in place of 404 errors for years and years.
Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
Who approves of such patents? Soon someone'll patent "Piece of paper used as currency", and no one will notice.
The problem is though that who's really at fault at the end of the day, Amazon for trying to apply for the Patent or the Patent office for allowing it?
It's like the loophole I found when I was in Game a few months ago:
"£9.99 please"
"But it says it's half price"
"No, it's only half price when bought with something else"
"Oh... so if I buy two of these then I get them both for less than the price of just one of them?"
(Realising the problem) "...yeah... yeah you would actually"
"OK, I'll be back in a minute"
Summation 2
What about "system for encouraging the enraged debate between persons on the superiority of certain electronic devices and corporations disguised as a news aggregate system for the technology inclined"
that's where the money is
A system that embeds a CAPTCHA in an obscure place in TFA, then requires users to enter it on the comment pages before commenting to ensure they actually RTFA...
I think B3TA have long had the best example of this:
http://www.b3ta.com/any_page_that_doesn't_existWhy not? They've tried patenting just about anything else, and succeeded....
You are missing the point. This is an abuse of the patent system, and this is the reason there is no rational reason for the existence of software patents. They are in effect, censorship.
And yes. I know it's client side bla bla, but still :) If you just redirect all your 404 pages to Amazon, at say www.amazon.com/thispagedoesnotexistyoubastards I wonder how that'd work out :)
Considering almost everyone uses the 'back' option anyway after hitting a 404...
Coz eternity my friend, is a long *ing time.
... which is using a well known malware/phishing technique.
It is a client component (read adware/malware) that intercepts 404 messages, calls home to find out where to redirect the user, then redirects.
i.e. if you type in "slahdsot.org" it will search a database of misspellings and redirect you to "slashdot.org".
or.. in the case of malware.. if you type in "myinternetbank.com" it could redirect you to "myphishingsite.com".
I'd be surprised if there isn't prior art among the less ethical Internet inventions out there.
Well, given the number of patents Amazon has and wants for nonsense garbage like this, it would take a cavity of that magnitude! duh-dun chhhhhh!
*runs away*
Appended to the end of comments you post. 120 chars.
i suppose this means even more resource draining and slow loading web pages. odd... software developers want to increase their server load with server resident applications, and web developers want to offload their server load onto the visitor.
So why would Amazon be patenting a client-side component?
(not to mention that they would be total tards for actually implementing it, given how much pain IE causes by intercepting 404 already)
An Australian man has been issued with an innovation patent for the wheel after setting out to test the workability of a new national patent system.
:-)
John Keogh was issued the innovation patent for a "circular transportation facilitation device" under a patent system introduced in May 2001.
(read the rest...)
- Jesper
My security clearance is so high I have to kill myself if I remember I have it...
Error 404: Please pay Amazon 2 cents to see what caused the error.
Take Nobody's Word For It.
Internet Explorer by default processes 404 errors and displays a self-generated page suggesting to visit the homepage of the website you tried to reach. That's client-side processing.
To Terminate, or not to Terminate, that's the question - SCSIROB
Modding parent Troll? A bit literal, perhaps?
Bezos has stated in the past that he is patenting software methods as a defensive measure. "We're not saying we have bad patents," Amazon.com spokesman Bill Curry said. "We feel very good about our patents... [Bezos] makes the point very emphatically in the letter that we cannot unilaterally disarm in a world where there are big ugly players who aren't disarming."
It's like road rage. When people are cutting you off and breaking all the rules, you have to tailgate and cut them off as a defensive measure (sometimes, at least). Nice guys finish last. The entire system is broken and the Patent Office really needs more legislative direction because it has strayed from its original mission.
I think software and business methods should not be patentable in the same way that physical inventions are. Also, I question the concept of selling patents. We end up with these litigious patent holding companies that have no technical abilities of their own, only a lot of lawyers.
A few years ago I looked into making and marketing a telephony device that would be an incremental but useful improvement over existing equipment, and discovered that so many methods related to telephony and voicemail are patented that practically speaking there was no way to make a device without infringing. "A method for playing back a telephoned message by pressing a button"--give me a freaking break. No wonder the U.S. has slipped behind in technical innovation, when much of the incentive for incremental product improvement has been removed by the threat of instant litigation. Thank goodness the Asians still believe in incremental improvement.
I'm OK with Amazon patenting stupid obvious things, as long as they don't enforce those patents, which I believe they have done very little of, and as long as Jeff Bezos continues to crusade for patent reform. Just my 2c!
it's = "it is"; its = possessive. E.g., it's flapping its wings.
A client component runs on a user computer in conjunction with a web browser and detects errors, such as but not limited to "404: page not found" errors, in which a requested web page or other object cannot be displayed. In response to detecting the error, the client component notifies an error processing server, which uses the URL of the failed request to identify an alternate object to display.
....
:-)
Sounds pretty straight forward so far. But now please pay carefull attention to what has been claimed:
1. A system for handling page request errors, comprising: an error processing server; and a client component that runs on a user computing device in association with or as part of a browser program and communicates with the error processing server over a computer network; wherein the client component is responsive to detection of the unavailability of a target web page requested by the browser program by sending a request to the error processing server
Don't assume you know what it says, just read it and fill it in. Why can't the client component not be the browser itself? Worse yet: why can't it be your average 404 error page with a javascript component on it? So basically; a javascript component which does nothing more than, in response to a 404, sends some stuff out (although the browser basicly does this) like a referrer address and such. In response the server displays the page to which the client was send from the 404 error page.
Its not a matter of what you think, its what fits into the description. And quite frankly; this can describe a lot of (common) ways to handle 404 (or other) server errors.
At times like these that I'm glad not to live in the States but in Europe. What kind of an idiot would approve this? It really wouldn't surprise me if some future US president would patent the breathing of air in order to take the whole country out of the financial crisis they're in, and I'd see that being approved by a patent office too. "No, we're not taxing air. We're securing the process of inhaling clean air. And anyone who refuses to breath in this fresh clean air simply isn't a patriot. You're either with us, or you're against us"
I made 4 orders to Amazon this last Christmas and 2 of the 4 packages showed up as followed
a) without my stuff, just the invoice/packing slip with MY address
b) someone elses stuff, with their invoice/packing slip also included
So a failure rate of 50% for their shipping facilities each time affecting not only me, but the other Christmas shopper who won't be getting their stuff for Christmas.
But no, Mr. Bezos is focused on patenting the obvious
I guessed a URL on Amazon replying at a different story on slashdot, http://www.amazon.com/topsellers , it gives an ordinary 404 which is not clever of any kind.
On sites with actual smart 404 , it will grab the / part and do a site search showing relevant results or if it is plain obvious like my guess, even forward the person to right URL.
prior art
http://stephan.sugarmotor.org
Now I can be sent a Cease and Desist letter that I cannot post due to it being copy written about using a custom 404 Page. Music and video have been hunted down by the RIAA and MPAA so thats out the window. The US government say no to porn (think of the children). Hell even Ford says I cant put up pictures of my car. WTF can I put up on the internet. Guess its back to the Geocity days of Flashing kittens meowing to bad midi music!
Finally, the IF statement is patented. This was bound to happen.
if (error=404) customMessage();
Table-ized A.I.
the 405th page as we speak.
A decent usage would be in the AJAX world - your browser based AJAX script gets a 404 from a "web service" that it's consuming, so instead of having to keep a list of all the alternative sources of that information, it goes to a directory type server that provides alternatives for it.
--- Band: Joey Ultra
gotta love /. justice.
maybe I'll patent that..."the system/method....."
I can just here that guy on the Dave Chappelle show in that truck load of cigs and money saying "I'm rich, beeyotch!"
(http://www.comedycentral.com/motherload/index.jhtml?ml_video=24406)
I have been using customized errorpage since Apache 1 supported it;
.. suddenly ? .. What's the scope ? ..
A lot of these pages are still to be found on the Internet archive dating back in the 90's...
Whenever someone goes to http://myserver/username/directory it looks up in an internal database where to go to if the user or directory doesn't exist.
So, now I am doing this illegally
--- I am known for the ones who want to find me on the net. Is that a privacy risk or a privilege? One might wonder..
Well, Amazon is making clients now. Is it possible that this is related to what Amazon is doing with Kindle?
http://www.uspto.gov/sdfsd ...
"I love my job, but I hate talking to people like you" (Freddie Mercury)
Think ajax - clientside may mean javascript...
I haven't RTFA myself, but would the client not in fact be the normal Amazon servers, while the server would be the dedicated error server?
which is totally what she said
Thank you, that does make a lot of sense.
http://thewrongadvices.com/wp-content/error-404-road-not-found.jpg
Better not make any wrong turns!
http://thewrongadvices.com/wp-content/error-404-road-not-found.jpg
Type the address right the first time, or Bezos will charge your amazon account!
"Teach a man to build a fire, and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life."
You mean something like this?.
-Docvert converts MSWord to OpenDocument, clean HTML
Good point -- IE doesn't display custom 404s unless the response body is over a certain length.
-Docvert converts MSWord to OpenDocument, clean HTML
... another example of /. oversimplifying a title (for the sake of sensationalism) which doesn't tell the whole story.
Am I missing something, for years I've been able to customize my 404 pages from cpanel (amongst others) does this not constitute prior art?
Well hell, at least Amazon is sticking to ideas from the current era. It's not like they applied for AND GOT a patent for a coordinate transformation that PREDATES THE FRICKING PATENT OFFICE!
Bemopolis
"I guess the moral of the story is, don't paint your airship with rocket fuel." -- Addison Bain
This made my day :)
The best 404 ever
The title of the article is a bit deceptive. I suspect that customized '404' pages have been around long before the patent application. (The style of the customization would depend upon the web site designers and administrators. They range from cryptic through helpful, sarcastic, sympathetic and clueless.)
Having the browser use client side data to provide information as to WHY you are getting '404' is a form of customization that is different. While old style customized '404' pages might display possible causes, a feed back driven '404' page could prove valuable by displaying possible causes with data to back it up.
The sample image they provide is the mere tip of the iceberg of applications. Not only is it used to inform the end user of what probably went wrong, it provides ways to remedy the problem. It could even be used to inform the website that something may be wrong, so the website could be self repairing.
On a commerce oriented website, the bare bones 'Smart 404' page could get the end user to the page they want automatically, if it exists. It could also redirect them to alternative websites when necessary. (Note that end user feedback and selfrepairing abilities would also be a feature valued by commercial websites.)
The biggest problem I see with this are the security issues that crop up. A whole new world of '404' hijackings will make browser security that much harder.
Maybe I should patent a 'Smart 404' security protocol using 'tell me three times' web based codes that determine when the page is compromised...
In typical slashdot fashion, I didn't read the article yet. (I have a meeting in a moment and wanted to type this out while it was on my mind.)
For several years now, I have used a custom error404 page for a client in order to handle the following scenario:
www.example.com/username01
The username01 folder does not exist, so the error404 script is called. The script checks the database to see if the user exists, and if so, renders a custom webpage for that user. I'm certain other sites do this as well.
Is this what the article was talking about? If I'm way off base, then I apologize, I'll read the article when I return to my desk.
- R
---
Rob Flynn
Pidgin
"Your browser has detected an illegal request and has attempted to alert the appropriate authorities."
Followed by some technical stuff like "Connection refused" or the like.
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
I am not sure I agree.
....."
My reading is that the client *could* be a CGI script on the web server (or even the web server itself) just as that script could also be described as a database client. The only issue is that something is sent somewhere else to handle the error. I am not at all sure that the "client" refers to the web browser here (i.e. it could be part of an N-tier app).
In short, the only thing here is that the error handling routines rather than included in the web server are daemonized. So does this mean that redirecting to a CGI script on error (which might connect to a db containing server log information to try to locate a related resource) is covered under this patent? How far is this from using custom error handlers in Apache relating to static error documents?
It also seems to me that the mere innovation of moving an error handling process outside the web server might well fail the innovation test recently set forth by the Supreme Court (in a case relating to electronics in automobiles).
Finally, I would be glad that Microsoft isn't doing this. One can imagine that the error server might at some point send a premature RST packet. In this case, one might get an error message like:
"This server has detected an illegal request and has attempted to report it to the proper Authorities. Assertion failed at mserrsrv.c line 323. Stack dump:
Ok, so MS's error messages have improved a bit in the last 10 years but....
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
This was not originally my idea, but I have seen 404 errors used in this manner since at least 2002. (you don't want to muck around with mod_rewrite in Apache, want static websites to be served blindingly fast, want automatic caching some dynamic content is already statically saved at an URL ? Easy ! Just make your error handler redirect to a dynamic page given its originating URL and create the content. If you want it cached for future usage, save it into a file at the URLs filesystem representation, if not, no problem.
Compared to the (more common) mod_rewrite approach, this approach does not require every URL to be checked against a regex on every request, and only starts up processing of the URL when no suitable static (or even dynamic) page/file is found. According to the TFA, this fits the claims of the patent.
A friend of mine has been using this technique to his great advantage to sprinkle some dynamic content into a static hierarchy of pages. And there is definitely prior art to that, too, since handing off 404 errors to a dynamic page had been done even back then.