Retrieving content from website through sandbox

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9256733-B2
Application number	US-201213458126-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 27, 2012
Priority date	Apr 27, 2012
Publication date	Feb 9, 2016
Grant date	Feb 9, 2016

Abstract

A client system interacts with a sandbox environment to host a web browser control within the sandbox. A webpage URL, a URL to a script file to be injected into the webpage, a name of the script method to be invoked, and the event to look for to trigger the script method sent to the sandbox environment from the client. The sandbox environment downloads the script file from the cloud using the script URL and loads a rendering engine with the specified webpage URL. The specified script file is subsequently injected into the loaded webpage at the sandbox environment. After the specified event is fired, the sandbox environment triggers the specified script method and stores the results within a results array, accessible to the client system.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method executed on a computing device for retrieving content from a website through a sandbox, the method comprising:
detecting a request for the content from a client, wherein the request includes a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) for a webpage, a URL for a script, a name of a script method to be executed, and a client defined trigger event;
loading the webpage associated with the request within the sandbox;
retrieving the script from a cloud source;
injecting the script into the loaded webpage to extract the content within the sandbox;
executing the script method in response to detecting the client defined trigger event; and
loading results of the script execution into a results array for client access.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
isolating the loaded webpage within the sandbox.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
isolating execution of the script method and extraction of the content within the sandbox.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the extracted content includes at least one from a set of: an image, an icon, a textual content, and a graphic content.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the textual content includes one or more of a title, a header, and a body text.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
triggering a mechanism to inject the script into the loaded webpage within the sandbox according to a system defined event.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the mechanism to inject the script includes screening the loaded webpage and the extracted content for malware.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
triggering a mechanism to transmit the content to the client outside of the sandbox.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
loading the content into the results array according to instructions in the script; and
customizing the array according to specifications of the client.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
employing one of hypertext transmission protocol (HTTP) and secure http (HTTPS) for communicating with the client.

11. A computing device for retrieving content from a website through a sandbox, the computing device comprising:
a memory configured to store instructions; and
a processor coupled to the memory, the processor executing an sandbox hosting application in conjunction with the instructions stored in the memory, wherein the sandbox hosting application is configured to:
detect a request for the content from a client, wherein the request includes a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) for a webpage, a URL for a script, a name of a script method to be executed, and a client defined trigger event;
load the webpage associated with the request within the sandbox;
retrieve the script from a cloud source;
inject the script into the loaded webpage to extract the content within the sandbox;
execute the script method in response to detecting the client defined trigger event; and
load results of the script execution into a results array for client access.

12. The computing device of claim 11 , wherein the sandbox hosting application is further configured to:
retrieve the script from the cloud source through an interface that enables updating of the script.

13. The computing device of claim 11 , wherein the sandbox hosting application is further configured to:
render the webpage with a hypertext markup language (HTML) rendering engine within the sandbox.

14. The computing device of claim 11 , wherein the sandbox hosting application is further configured to:
execute a component of the script matching a specified event subsequent to detecting the trigger event on the loaded webpage.

15. The computing device of claim 14 , wherein the sandbox hosting application is further configured to:
provide the extracted content to the client for display in conjunction with one of a feed and a preview, wherein the extracted content is representative of the webpage.

16. The computer-readable memory device with instructions stored thereon for retrieving content from a website through a sandbox, the instructions comprising:
detecting a request for the content from a client, wherein the request includes a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) for a webpage, a URL for a script, a name of a script method to be executed, and a client defined trigger event;
loading the webpage associated with the request within the sandbox;
retrieving the script from a cloud source;
injecting the script into the loaded webpage to extract the content within the sandbox;
executing the script method in response to detecting the client defined trigger event;
isolating the loaded webpage, execution of the script, and extraction of the content within the sandbox from the client; and
loading results of the script execution into a results array for client access.

17. The computer-readable memory device of claim 16 , wherein the instructions further comprise:
updating extraction logic within the sandbox without affecting the client.

18. The computer-readable memory device of claim 16 , wherein the extracted content is a thumbnail of the webpage.

19. The computer-readable memory device of claim 16 , wherein the results of the script execution are stored in the results array as a string.

Assignees

• Rajabi Zeyad
• Hopper Taylor
• Zheng Oliver
• Wood Matthew
• Conlan Patrick
• Gavrila Robert
• Broberg Eric
• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Rajabi Zeyad
• Hopper Taylor
• Zheng Oliver
• Wood Matthew
• Conlan Patrick
• Gavrila Robert
• Broberg Eric

Classifications

• G06F21/51 Primary

  at application loading time, e.g. accepting, rejecting, starting or inhibiting executable software based on integrity or source reliability · CPC title

• G06F21/54 Primary

  by adding security routines or objects to programs · CPC title

• G06F21/53 Primary

  by executing in a restricted environment, e.g. sandbox or secure virtual machine · CPC title

• G06F2221/2119

  Authenticating web pages, e.g. with suspicious links · CPC title

• G06F16/9566

  URL specific, e.g. using aliases, detecting broken or misspelled links · CPC title