Accelerating user interfaces by predicting user actions

• US 20060047804A1
• Filed: 06/30/2004
• Published: 03/02/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Buchheit, Paul, Rennie, Jeffrey Glen, Fredricksen, Eric Russell
• Granted Patent: US 7,558,822 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9574 of access to content, e.g. by caching

Abstract

A client assistant, sometimes called a browser helper, runs on a client computer. The client assistant monitors a user'"'"'s browsing activities and infers one or more next documents that are most likely to be requested by the user. The client assistant attempts to locate a fresh copy of the inferred next document within a client cache. If a fresh copy of the inferred document is not found in the client cache, the client assistant submits a document download request to a document server.

Claims

1. A method for expediting a user'"'"'s access to a document in a client-server network environment, comprising:

in a client computer, monitoring a user'"'"'s browsing activities with respect to a document having one or more associated documents;

in the client computer, prior to user selection of a portion of the document indicative of one of the associated documents, identifying a portion of the document indicative of one of the associated documents when the user'"'"'s browsing activities satisfy predefined criteria with respect to the identified portion of the document; and

in the client computer, prior to user selection of the identified portion of the document, transmitting to a server a request for a document corresponding to the identified portion of the document.

2. The method of claim 1, including, prior to the transmitting, searching a client cache for the document corresponding to the identified portion of the document, and when the result of the searching is negative, performing the transmitting.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the result of the searching of the client cache is negative when either (A) the client cache does not contain the document corresponding to the identified portion of the document, or (B) the client cache contains a version of the document corresponding to the identified portion of the document that is determined to be stale or potentially stale.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the transmitting includes, when the result of the searching of the client cache is that client cache contains a version of the document corresponding to the identified portion of the document that is stale or potentially stale, transmitting a document request that includes a content identifier associated with the version of the document in the client cache.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the content identifier is a content fingerprint.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring the user'"'"'s movements includes monitoring using a device selected from the group consisting of:

a trackball device, a touch pad, a joystick, a tablet, a glove, and an eye movement detector.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring the user'"'"'s browsing activities includes determining whether a user-controllable pointer is positioned over a portion of the document.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring the user'"'"'s browsing activities includes determining whether a user-controllable pointer is positioned over a predefined region surrounding a portion of the document.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring the user'"'"'s browsing activities includes determining whether a user-controllable pointer has hovered over a predefined region associated with a portion of the document for at least a predefined threshold amount of time.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring the user'"'"'s browsing activities includes determining whether a mouse-down action has been performed while a user-controllable pointer is positioned over a portion of the document.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring the user'"'"'s browsing activities includes determining whether a user-controllable pointer has moved for a predefined period of time and/or a predefined distance along a route whose trajectory crosses over or near a portion of the document.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the monitoring the user'"'"'s browsing activities includes sampling two or more pointer locations and fitting a curve to the two or more pointer locations;

and the predefined criteria includes determining that the curve traces a position in the identified portion of the document.

13. The method of claim 1, including

receiving a document corresponding to the identified portion of the document from the server computer;

and

prior to user selection of the identified portion of the document, caching the received document in a client cache of the client computer.

14. The method of claim 13, including responding to user selection of the identified portion of the document by accessing the received document from the client cache.

15. The method of claim 13, including responding to user selection of the identified portion of the document by rendering the received document without caching the received document in the client cache.

16. The method of claim 1, including

receiving a content difference corresponding to a difference between a fresh version of the document corresponding to the identified portion of the document and a stale version of the document in a client cache of the client computer;

and

regenerating the fresh version of the document using the received content difference, and caching the fresh version of the document in the client cache of the client computer prior to user selection of the identified portion of the document.

17. The method of claim 16, including responding to user selection of the identified portion of the document by rendering the fresh version of the document without caching it in the client cache

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified portion of the document is a hyperlink embedded in the document.

19. A client computer, comprising:

a client assistant configured to monitor a user'"'"'s browsing activities with respect to a document having one or more associated documents;

the client assistant including instructions for identifying a portion of the document indicative one of the associated documents when the user'"'"'s browsing activities satisfy predefined criteria with respect to the identified portion of the document; and

a communications interface coupled to the client assistant for transmitting to a server, prior to user selection of the identified portion of the document, a request for a document corresponding to the identified portion of the document indicative one of the associated documents.

20. The client computer of claim 19, wherein the client assistant is configured to monitor the user'"'"'s movements using a device selected from the group consisting of:

a trackball device, a touch pad, a joystick, a tablet, a glove, and an eye movement detector.

21. The client computer of claim 19, wherein the client assistant is further configured to search a client cache for the document corresponding to the identified portion of the document, and when the result of the searching is negative, to initiate the transmitting of the document request.

22. The client computer of claim 21, wherein the client assistant is configured, when the result of the searching of the client cache is that client cache contains a version of the document corresponding to the identified portion of the document that is stale or potentially stale, to including in the document request a content identifier associated with the version of the document in the client cache.

23. The client computer of claim 22, wherein the content identifier is a content fingerprint.

24. The client computer of claim 19, wherein the client assistant includes instructions for determining whether a user-controllable pointer is positioned over a portion of the document.

25. The client computer of claim 19, wherein the client assistant includes instructions for determining whether a user-controllable pointer is positioned over a predefined region surrounding a portion of the document.

26. The client computer of claim 19, wherein the client assistant includes instructions for determining whether a user-controllable pointer has hovered over a predefined region associated with a portion of the document for at least a predefined threshold amount of time.

27. The client computer of claim 19, wherein the client assistant includes instructions for determining whether a mouse-down action has been performed while a user-controllable pointer is positioned over a portion of the document.

28. The client computer of claim 19, wherein the client assistant includes instructions for determining whether a user-controllable pointer has moved for a predefined period of time and/or a predefined distance along a route whose trajectory crosses over or near a portion of the document.

29. The client computer of claim 19, wherein the client assistant includes instructions for sampling two or more pointer locations and fitting a curve to the two or more pointer locations;

and the predefined criteria includes determining that the curve traces a position in the identified portion of the document.

30. The client computer of claim 19, wherein the client assistant includes instructions for receiving a document corresponding to the identified portion of the document from the server computer;

and

instructions for caching the received document in a client cache of the client computer prior to user selection of the -identified portion of the document.

31. The client computer of claim 30, wherein the client assistant includes instructions for responding to user selection of the identified portion of the document by accessing the received document from the client cache.

32. The client computer of claim 30, wherein the client assistant includes instructions for responding to user selection of the identified portion of the document by rendering the received document without caching the received document in the -client cache.

33. The client computer of claim 19, wherein the client assistant includes

instructions for receiving a content difference corresponding to a difference between a fresh version of the document corresponding to the identified portion of the document and a stale version of the document in a client cache of the client computer;

and

instructions for regenerating the fresh version of the document using the received content difference, and caching the fresh version of the document in the client cache of the client computer prior to user selection of the identified portion of the document.

34. The client computer of claim 33, including instructions for responding to user selection of the identified portion of the document by rendering the fresh version of the document without caching it in the client cache

35. The client computer of claim 19, wherein the identified portion of the document is a hyperlink embedded in the document.

36. A computer program product for use in conjunction with a computer system, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium and a computer program mechanism embedded therein, the computer program mechanism comprising:

a client assistant configured to monitor a user'"'"'s browsing activities with respect to a document having one or more associated documents;

the client assistant including instructions for identifying a portion of the document indicative one of the associated documents when the user'"'"'s browsing activities satisfy predefined criteria with respect to the identified portion of the document; and

a communications interface coupled to the client assistant for transmitting to a server, prior to user selection of the identified portion of the document, a request for a document corresponding to the identified portion of the document indicative one of the associated documents.

37. The computer program product of claim 36, wherein the client assistant is further configured to search a client cache for the document corresponding to the identified portion of the document, and when the result of the searching is negative, to initiate the transmitting of the document request.

38. The computer program product of claim 37, wherein the client assistant is configured, when the result of the searching of the client cache is that client cache contains a version of the document corresponding to the identified portion of the document that is stale or potentially stale, to including in the document request a content identifier associated with the version of the document in the client cache.

39. The computer program product of claim 38, wherein the content identifier is a content fingerprint.

40. The computer program product of claim 36, wherein the client assistant includes instructions for determining whether a user-controllable pointer is positioned over a portion of the document.

41. The computer program product of claim 36, wherein the client assistant includes instructions for determining whether a user-controllable pointer is positioned over a predefined region surrounding a portion of the document.

42. The computer program product of claim 36, wherein the client assistant includes instructions for determining whether a user-controllable pointer has hovered over a predefined region associated with a portion of the document for at least a predefined threshold amount of time.

43. The computer program product of claim 36, wherein the client assistant includes instructions for determining whether a mouse-down action has been performed while a user- controllable pointer is positioned over a portion of the document.

44. The computer program product of claim 36, wherein the client assistant includes instructions for determining whether a user-controllable pointer has moved for a predefined period of time and/or a predefined distance along a route whose trajectory crosses over or near a portion of the document.

45. The computer program product of claim 36, wherein the client assistant includes instructions for sampling two or more pointer locations and fitting a curve to the two or more pointer locations;

and the predefined criteria includes determining that the curve traces a position in the identified portion of the document.

46. The computer program product of claim 36, wherein the client assistant includes

instructions for receiving a document corresponding to the identified portion of the document from the server computer;

and

instructions for caching the received document in a client cache of the client computer prior to user selection of the identified portion of the document.

47. The computer program product of claim 46, wherein the client assistant includes instructions for responding to user selection of the identified portion of the document by accessing the received document from the client cache.

48. The computer program product of claim 46, wherein the client assistant includes instructions for responding to user selection of the identified portion of the document by rendering the received document without caching the received document in the client cache.

49. The computer program product of claim 36, wherein the client assistant includes

instructions for receiving a content difference corresponding to a difference between a fresh version of the document corresponding to the identified portion of the document and a stale version of the document in a client cache of the client computer;

and

instructions for regenerating the fresh version of the document using the received content difference, and caching the fresh version of the document in the client cache of the client computer prior to user selection of the identified portion of the document.

50. The computer program product of claim 49, including instructions for responding to user selection of the identified portion of the document by rendering the fresh version of the document without caching it in the client cache

51. The computer program product of claim 36, wherein the identified portion of the document is a hyperlink embedded in the document.

52. A client computer, comprising:

a means for monitoring a user'"'"'s browsing activities with respect to a document having one or more associated documents;

a means for identifying a portion of the document indicative one of the associated documents when the user'"'"'s browsing activities satisfy predefined criteria with respect to the identified portion of the document; and

a means for transmitting to a server, prior to user selection of the identified portion of the document, a request for a document corresponding to the identified portion of the document indicative one of the associated documents.