Emulation of control resources for use with converted content pages

• US 10,042,521 B1
• Filed: 05/22/2014
• Issued: 08/07/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/22/2014
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Joshi, Nikhil Dinkar, Nair, Aakarsh, Nanda, Kamlesh, Pallemulle, Sajeeva Lakmal Bandara, Vaswani, Ameet Nirmal
• Primary Examiner(s): SHIAU, SHEN C
• Application Number:
  US14/285,317
• Time in Patent Office: 1,538 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04803 Split screen, i.e. subdividing the display area or the window area into separate subareas
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04804 Transparency, e.g. transparent or translucent windows
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04886 by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72445 for supporting Internet browser applications

Abstract

A user device that presents a static non-interactive graphical representation of a content page received from an intermediary system may emulate controls or interactive elements included in the content page based on control metadata received from the intermediary system. The emulated controls enable the user device to restore the interactivity that is lost by generating the graphical representation of the content page. Further, the emulated controls may be included as part of an overlay layer positioned above the graphical representation of the content page. Information or control metadata for each control included in the content page may be provided to the user device with the graphical representation of the content page. The user device may use the control metadata to identify types of controls to emulate and where to position the emulated control with respect to the graphical representation of the content page.

Claims

1. A method of providing access to a content page that includes one or more controls, the method comprising:

receiving an identifier of a content page from a user device;

retrieving the content page corresponding to the identifier from a host system;

generating a first graphical representation of a first portion of the content page;

determining first information associated with a first control included in the first portion of the content page, wherein the first information comprises information usable to emulate the first control at the user device thereby enabling the user device to restore interactivity with the first portion of the content page that is lost by converting the first portion of the content page into the first graphical representation of the content page;

prior to determination of second information associated with a second control included in a second portion of the content page, providing the first information and the first graphical representation of the first portion of the content page to the user device for emulation by the user device;

determining the second information associated with the second control included in the second portion of the content page, wherein the second information comprises information usable to emulate the second control at the user device; and

subsequent to the emulation of the first control by the user device based on the first information, providing the second information to the user device such that the emulation of the second control by the user device based on the second information occurs while an emulated control corresponding to the first control is positioned over the first graphical representation by the user device,

wherein the method is performed by an intermediary system comprising computer hardware.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first information comprises a control type and a location of the first control within the content page.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first graphical representation of the first portion of the content page comprises a non-interactive image of the content page.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from the user device, an identifier of the first control and user input representing an interaction with the emulated control corresponding to the first control;

retrieving a modified content page corresponding to the user input from the host system;

generating a graphical representation of the modified content page; and

providing the graphical representation of the modified content page to the user device.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising transmitting the user input to the host system.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein generating the graphical representation of the modified content page comprises generating an updated graphical representation of at least a portion of the content page.

7. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

determining third information associated with a third control included in the modified content page; and

providing the third information to the user device.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing the first graphical representation of the content page and the first information in a cache;

determining whether the user device has ceased presenting the first graphical representation of the content page and the emulated control corresponding to the first control on a display of the user device; and

in response to determining that the user device has ceased presenting the first graphical representation of the content page and the emulated control corresponding to the first control on the display, waiting for a period of time and clearing the cache of the first graphical representation of the content page and the first information after the period of time has elapsed.

9. A method of emulating content controls for a content page, the method comprising:

providing an identifier of a content page to an intermediary system comprising computer hardware; and

responsive to providing the identifier of the content page;

receiving a first graphical representation of a first portion of the content page;

receiving first information for a first control included in the first portion of the content page, wherein the first graphical representation and the first information are provided by the intermediary system based on the content page retrieved by the intermediary system;

generating a first emulated control based on the first information, wherein the first emulated control emulates the first control included in the first portion of the content page as retrieved by the intermediary system;

positioning the first emulated control over a corresponding image of the first control in the first graphical representation of the first portion of the content page;

causing the first graphical representation of the first portion of the content page and the first emulated control to be presented to a user;

subsequent to the presentation of the first graphical representation and the first emulated control to the user, receiving second information for a second control included in a second portion of the content page; and

generating a second emulated control based on the second information after the first graphical representation and the first emulated control are presented to the user, wherein the second information is provided by the intermediary system based on the content page retrieved by the intermediary system,

wherein at least the generation of the first emulated control and the positioning of the first emulated control are performed by a user device.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first information comprises a control type and a location of the first control in the content page.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein positioning the first emulated control comprises positioning the first emulated control based on the first information.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving input representing an interaction with the first emulated control;

providing the input and an identifier of the first control to the intermediary system, wherein the first control corresponds to the first emulated control;

receiving an updated graphical representation of at least a portion of the content page; and

replacing at least a portion of the first graphical representation presented to the user with the updated graphical representation.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving input representing an interaction with the first emulated control; and

causing a modified form of the first emulated control to be presented to the user in response to the input without communicating with the intermediary system.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the intermediary system comprises a proxy server.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the first control, the second control, the emulated first control, and the emulated second control each comprise at least one of the following:

a checkbox, a radio button, a drop-down, a text box, a button, a spinner, a list box, a combo box, a tooltip, a slider, and a scroll bar.

16. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

including the first emulated control in a first overlay layer, wherein the positioning the first emulated control over the corresponding image of the first control comprises positioning the first overlay layer over the first graphical representation of the content page such that the first emulated control is over the corresponding image of the first control.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

receiving updated information for the first control;

generating an updated first emulated control based on the updated information; and

including the updated first emulated control in a new overlay layer, wherein the new overlay layer replaces the first overlay layer.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

generating a second overlay layer that includes the second emulated control; and

positioning the second overlay layer over the first overlay layer such that the second emulated control is over a corresponding image of the second control in a second graphical representation of the second portion of the content page.

19. A system for emulating content controls for a content page, the system comprising:

a user computing device comprising computer hardware, the user computing device configured to receive a graphical representation of a content page and to;

receive first information for a first control included in a first portion of the content page;

generate a first emulated control based on the first information;

position the first emulated control based on the first information over a first graphical representation of the first portion of the content page;

cause the first emulated control to be presented on a display of the user computing device with the first graphical representation of the first portion of the content page;

receive second information for a second control included in a second portion of the content page; and

generate a second emulated control based on the second information after the first graphical representation and the first emulated control are presented on the display of the user computing device.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the first information comprises at least a control type and a location of the first control within the content page.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the first emulated control is transparent to a user.

22. The system of claim 19, wherein the user computing device is further configured to:

capture input received with respect to the first emulated control; and

provide the input and identification information for the first control to an intermediary system, wherein the user computing device is further configured to;

receive an updated graphical representation of at least a portion of the content page; and

replace at least a portion of the first graphical representation of the content page with the updated graphical representation.

23. The system of claim 19, wherein the user computing device is further configured to:

capture input received with respect to the first emulated control; and

modify a presentation of the first emulated control on the display in response to the input.

24. The system of claim 19, wherein the user computing device is further configured to:

receive the first graphical representation of the content page;

cause the first graphical representation of the content page to be presented on the display;

receive an updated graphical representation of at least a portion of the content page responsive to an input received with respect to the first emulated control; and

cause the updated graphical representation to be presented on the display in place of at least a portion of the first graphical representation of the content page.