PREEMPTIVE FRAMEWORK FOR ACCESSING SHORT URLS

• US 20140122567A1
• Filed: 10/30/2012
• Published: 05/01/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2012
• Status: Active Application

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Suryavanshi, Vijay
• Application Number:
  US13/663,627
• Publication Number:
  US 20140122567A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9558 Details of hyperlinks; Management of linked annotations
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9566 URL specific, e.g. using aliases, detecting broken or misspelled links

Abstract

The disclosure is directed to obtaining metadata related to a target of a short uniform resource locator (URL). An embodiment transmits the short URL to a server, receives a response from the server, wherein the response includes a pointer to an actual URL, requests metadata related to the actual URL from the server, and receives the metadata for the actual URL from the server. An embodiment confirms a target of a short URL. The embodiment receives the short URL, obtains metadata related to an actual URL based on the short URL, extracts a host website from the metadata, determines whether the actual URL points to the host website, and sends a notification of a result of the determination.

Claims

1. A method for obtaining metadata related to a target of a short uniform resource locator (URL), comprising:

transmitting the short URL to a server;

receiving a response from the server, wherein the response includes a pointer to an actual URL;

requesting metadata related to the actual URL from the server; and

receiving the metadata for the actual URL from the server.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitting the short URL comprises transmitting a hypertext transport protocol (HTTP) message containing the short URL.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the HTTP message is an HTTP HEAD message.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the server is a URL shortening server.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the short URL is a shortened version of the actual URL.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the response is an HTTP response header.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the HTTP response header is part of an HTTP 301 message.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the requesting the metadata comprises transmitting an HTTP message containing the pointer to the actual URL.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the HTTP message is an HTTP HEAD message.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving the metadata comprises receiving an HTTP message containing the metadata.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the HTTP message is an HTTP 200 message.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the metadata includes at least one of:

the actual URL;

a type of content located at the actual URL;

a size of the content located at the actual URL;

or

a host of the content located at the actual URL.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

requesting content located at the actual URL from a content server hosting the content; and

receiving the content from the content server.

14. A method for confirming a target of a short uniform resource locator (URL), comprising:

receiving the short URL;

obtaining metadata related to an actual URL based on the short URL;

extracting a host website from the metadata;

determining whether the actual URL points to the host website; and

sending a notification of a result of the determining.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the short URL is received from a mobile device, and wherein the sending comprises sending the notification to the mobile device.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the receiving comprises receiving the short URL at a mobile device, and wherein the sending comprises displaying the notification on a user interface of the mobile device.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the obtaining comprises:

transmitting the short URL to a server;

receiving a response from the server, wherein the response includes a pointer to the actual URL;

requesting the metadata related to the actual URL from the server; and

receiving the metadata for the actual URL from the server.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the metadata is extracted from a hypertext transport protocol (HTTP) response header.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the short URL is a shortened version of the actual URL.

20. An apparatus for obtaining metadata related to a target of a short uniform resource locator (URL), comprising:

logic configured to transmit the short URL to a server;

logic configured to receive a response from the server, wherein the response includes a pointer to an actual URL;

logic configured to request metadata related to the actual URL from the server; and

logic configured to receive the metadata for the actual URL from the server.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the logic configured to transmit the short URL comprises logic configured to transmit a hypertext transport protocol (HTTP) message containing the short URL.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the HTTP message is an HTTP HEAD message.

23. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the server is a URL shortening server.

24. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the short URL is a shortened version of the actual URL.

25. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the response is an HTTP response header.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the HTTP response header is part of an HTTP 301 message.

27. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the logic configured to request the metadata comprises logic configured to transmit an HTTP message containing the pointer to the actual URL.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the HTTP message is an HTTP HEAD message.

29. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the logic configured to receive the metadata comprises logic configured to receive an HTTP message containing the metadata.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the HTTP message is an HTTP 200 message.

31. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the metadata includes at least one of:

the actual URL;

a type of content located at the actual URL;

a size of the content located at the actual URL;

or

a host of the content located at the actual URL.

32. The apparatus of claim 20, further comprising:

logic configured to request content located at the actual URL from a content server hosting the content; and

logic configured to receive the content from the content server.

33. An apparatus for confirming a target of a short uniform resource locator (URL), comprising:

logic configured to receive the short URL;

logic configured to obtain metadata related to an actual URL based on the short URL;

logic configured to extract a host website from the metadata;

logic configured to determine whether the actual URL points to the host website; and

logic configured to send a notification of a result of the determining.

34. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein the short URL is received from a mobile device, and wherein the logic configured to send comprises logic configured to send the notification to the mobile device.

35. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein the logic configured to receive comprises logic configured to receive the short URL at a mobile device, and wherein the logic configured to send comprises logic configured to display the notification on a user interface of the mobile device.

36. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein the logic configured to obtain comprises:

logic configured to transmit the short URL to a server;

logic configured to receive a response from the server, wherein the response includes a pointer to the actual URL;

logic configured to request metadata related to the actual URL from the server; and

logic configured to receive the metadata for the actual URL from the server.

37. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein the metadata is extracted from a hypertext transport protocol (HTTP) response header.

38. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein the short URL is a shortened version of the actual URL.

39. An apparatus for obtaining metadata related to a target of a short uniform resource locator (URL), comprising:

means for transmitting the short URL to a server;

means for receiving a response from the server, wherein the response includes a pointer to an actual URL;

means for requesting metadata related to the actual URL from the server; and

means for receiving the metadata for the actual URL from the server.

40. An apparatus for confirming a target of a short uniform resource locator (URL), comprising:

means for receiving the short URL;

means for obtaining metadata related to an actual URL based on the short URL;

means for extracting a host website from the metadata;

means for determining whether the actual URL points to the host website; and

means for sending a notification of a result of the determining.

41. A non-transitory computer-readable medium for obtaining metadata related to a target of a short uniform resource locator (URL), comprising:

at least one instruction to transmit the short URL to a server;

at least one instruction to receive a response from the server, wherein the response includes a pointer to an actual URL;

at least one instruction to request metadata related to the actual URL from the server; and

at least one instruction to receive the metadata for the actual URL from the server.

42. A non-transitory computer-readable medium for confirming a target of a short uniform resource locator (URL), comprising:

at least one instruction to receive the short URL;

at least one instruction to obtain metadata related to an actual URL based on the short URL;

at least one instruction to extract a host website from the metadata;

at least one instruction to determine whether the actual URL points to the host website; and

at least one instruction to send a notification of a result of the determining.