US 11,736,556 B1
Systems and methods for using a browser to carry out robotic process automation (RPA)
Razvan Marinovici, Bucharest (RO); and Ion Miron, Bucharest (RO)
Assigned to UiPath Inc., New York, NY (US)
Filed by UiPath Inc., New York, NY (US)
Filed on Mar. 31, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/657,536.
Application 17/657,536 is a continuation of application No. 17/657,532, filed on Mar. 31, 2022.
Int. Cl. H04L 67/025 (2022.01); H04L 67/141 (2022.01)
CPC H04L 67/025 (2013.01) [H04L 67/141 (2013.01)] 19 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method comprising employing at least one hardware processor of a computer system to execute a web browser application, a robotic process automation (RPA) driver, and a bridge module, wherein:
the bridge module comprises a first part and a second part, the first part executing within the web browser application as a browser extension, the second part executing outside of the web browser application, and
the bridge module is configured to set up a communication channel between the web browser application and the RPA driver, wherein setting up the communication channel comprises registering the second part as a local messaging host of the browser extension;
the web browser application is configured to:
receive a specification of a RPA workflow from a remote server computer, the RPA workflow comprising a sequence of RPA activities for interacting with a target user interface (UI) of an RPA target application executing outside of the web browser application, on the computer system,
select an RPA activity for execution from the RPA workflow, the RPA activity comprising mimicking an action of a user on a target element of the target UI, and
in response to selecting the RPA activity, selectively transmit a set of target identification data characterizing the target element via the communication channel; and
the RPA driver executes outside of the web browser application and is configured to:
receive the set of target identification data via the communication channel,
in response, identify the target element within the target UI according to the target identification data, and
carry out the RPA activity.