For the purposes of this specification the term"inter-computer communication"refers to communication between a number of data processing entities. While the current invention is achievable in software the invention itself is not software and relates to overcoming technical limitations available in exiting data processing systems.

In many data processing systems, it is common to transfer data between a number of disparate and often geographically remote data sources to a local or target computer system. These sources or servers frequently use different hardware and software platforms to the local or client computer requesting the transfer. The data may be transferred for storage or processed to obtain particular information. Such transfers have become extremely common, particularly with the emergence of both Internet and Intranet applications.

While a great deal of effort has been put into designing and developing imaginative and attractive web sites to attract the greatest number of data transfer requests, little has been done to ensure that these requests provide the most up to date information possible. For example, European Patent Application number EP 0851 367 A1 (International Business Machines Corporation). This apparatus and method describes an efficient generation of high quality, hard copies of World Wide Web pages integrating graphics and text according to user specified formatting requirements it does not address the problems of user interaction with stored pages which may change their content. Thus, while the user can easily select, order and format the requisite pages the owner of the page providing the information cannot readily alter page content.

As the skill and expertise required to create and amend information sources or Web pages is not always present"in house"this task is often sub-contracted to specialist developers.

The resulting design therefore is usually exactly what is commercially required at a given time. This is perfectly acceptable for sites where content is unlikely to change or at least where content changes are infrequent. Problems arise however when the page content is subject to frequent change. One possible example of a site of this type might be a site, which seeks to supply real time news information on a given topic. Specialist page developers are unwilling to undertake maintenance of such sites as the update frequencies can place excessive demands on their work scheduling. The alternative is for the site owner to recruit additional staff with the necessary skills, obviously this is not a commercially viable solution for smaller enterprises.

Another problem associated with frequently updated sites occurs at the host site. Web site hosting server owners are reluctant to provide continuous access to site content as this poses an unacceptable security risk. The risk for the Internet Service Provider (ISP) is because'virtual hosting'means that a single site shares the server with many other sites. A person or persons with malicious intent could having gained access modify site content on a number of sites. The ISP's therefore prefer to strictly control change access to data stored.

There is therefore a need for an inter-computer communications apparatus, which will provide communications between disparate data sources and which will overcome the aforementioned problems.

Accordingly there is provided a method and apparatus for controlling communication between a local processing device and a remote server, the apparatus being connected between the server computer system and the local or client computer, the apparatus comprising a Parallel Server (PServer) for process sing requests received from the local computer and for returning request results to the local computer; means for parsing the request and extracting a file location;

a database containing files associated with requests; and means for converting files in the database to editable text and on receipt of an update command means for generating code from the editable text and saving the text in the database for remote access but the local computer.

Preferably, the result code is re-indexed and saved to the database in the original location replacing the original database content.

Ideally the means for generating code performs the step of analyzing and identifying the characteristics of the information and converting these by each characteristic into appropriate code pages.

In one arrangement the means for generating code also incorporates means for converting raw information into Extensible Markup Language (XML).

According to one aspect of the invention there is provided a method for accessing information on the apparatus by performing the steps of :- submitting a request to an Internet Service Provider ISP host to access page content; retrieving the page and isolating an information frame; and extracting an apparatus address location from the frame and retrieving a code file from the apparatus associated with the request.

In one arrangement, the apparatus can be accessed remotely, thus, editing may be effected anytime and anywhere. Known web editing tools are installed file and drive specific whereas the apparatus can be accessed from remote locations to alter content. Security concerns of ISP's are allayed as the content is not hosted by the ISP or is hosted in a different environment and therefore the provision of editing facilities does not present a security risk. As the apparatus automatically generates the code, no specialist editing skills

are required. In this way the invention allows companies or individuals to publish information in a modifiable manner. The apparatus ensures that processing occurs locally on the apparatus regardless of physical location and not on the local computer.

The invention will be more clearly understood from the following description of an embodiment thereof, given by way of example only.

For the purposes of this description, specific system architectures, processors, memory devices, timing and performance details have been omitted in order not to unnecessarily obscure the present invention. Thus the constituent components of the invention have been described in terms of functionality, as many ways of achieving said functionality would be readily apparent to those skilled in the art.

An inter-computer communications apparatus in accordance with the invention is connected between a server computer system and a local or client computer and provides communication using Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. (TCP/IP). The apparatus connects to the local system using a Parallel Server (PServer) which processes HyperText Transport Protocol (HTTP) requests received from the local computer. HTTP is the protocol that is used to format these requests from the local system transmitted to the server using TCP/IP and uses the same HTTP protocol to return the results of that request to the local system or client again using TCP/IP.

When the apparatus receives an authorised user access request through the PServer across the web the apparatus retrieves a database interface web page. The interface page is adapted for bi-directional data communication with a database on the apparatus. The request from the local system is parsed and a file location is extracted for the page requested. The database is then queried with the file location and the file retrieved.

The retrieved text is converted from Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) to editable text using a Parallel editing tool (PTool). The PTool is then used to edit the page content and is adapted to combine text, web links, and images in the page content. When editing is completed by the PTool an update command is received from the user and the PTool generates HTML code or web code from the raw information. This HTML code is then re-

indexed and saved to the database in the original location replacing the original database content for the page. In addition to overwriting the database content the PTool analyses and identifies the characteristics of the information and converts these by each characteristic into appropriate web compatible HTML pages. Ptools also incorporates means for converting raw information into Extensible Markup Language (XML).

The above process describes the method of updating information by an operator or information source owner. When an information user submits a request to the ISP host to access page content the page, which is accessed, is split into two sections. This ISP hosted page contains two frames. One frame containing a static element such as a company logo or other text that is unlikely to change and the other frame being retrieved from the apparatus using the PServer.

This means that the web address shown in the browser is actually being viewed seamlessly from the apparatus. The information that appears is taken from the database and is shown in HTML to the viewer.

As the apparatus can be accessed remotely editing may be effected anytime and anywhere.

Traditional web editing tools are installed at the desktop PC and are generally file and drive specific.

It is anticipated that the apparatus may be adapted to facilitate Wireless Applications Protocol (WAP) or other programming language converters such as CGI/Perl and Java. In particular, the apparatus is highly suited to use in relaying data from the'World Wi9de Web to mobile telephony clients technology and applications. The tools effect update automatically of mobile (currently WAP) sites through pTools database XML programming. Also, it will be understood that the invention allows for automatic recognition of device seeking is encorporated. Therefore the pTools server recognises WAP or WEB browser automatically and thus individuals do not need to understand the wap. company. com verses www. company. com suffix.

The invention is not limited to the embodiments hereinbefore described but may be varied in both construction and detail within the scope of the appended claims.