Method and apparatus for accelerating navigation of hypertext pages using compound requests

• US 6,119,155 A
• Filed: 02/19/1998
• Issued: 09/12/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 12/11/1995
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Unwired Planet LLC (JP Morgan Chase & Co)
• Original Assignee: Phone.com Incorporated
• Inventors: Rossmann, Alain S., Laursen, Andrew L., Martin, Jr., Bruce K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Maung, Zarni
• Assistant Examiner(s): WINDER, PATRICE L
• Application Number:
  US09/025,961
• Time in Patent Office: 936 Days
• Field of Search: 379/93.12, 379/93.17, 379/93.24, 348/552, 709/200, 709/217, 709/219, 709/229, 709/245, 709/246, 709/203, 709/304, 707/500, 707/513
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/94 Hypermedia Hyperlinking G06F40/134
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9558 Details of hyperlinks; Management of linked annotations
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0237 using prediction or retrieval techniques
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/2871 Implementation details of single intermediate entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/303 Terminal profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/565 Conversion or adaptation of application format or content adding application control or application functional data H04L67/561
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72403 with means for local support of applications that increase the functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72445 for supporting Internet browser applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72469 for operating the device by selecting functions from two or more displayed items, e.g. menus or icons
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2207/18 wireless networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/123 where the packet-switched network is an Internet Protocol Multimedia System-type network
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/1235 where one of the core networks is a wireless network
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/128 Details of addressing, directories or routing tables
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements

Abstract

Under the limited bandwidth of the current wireless data network and with the low memory in mobile devices in use today, the process of going through a number of intermediate pages to get to a desired page increases the latency of the information deliver and intensifies the network traffic. A method for accelerating the navigation of hypertext pages based on a compound request is disclosed. After a compound request is entered and activated, the compound request is parsed into an antecedent request followed by a final request wherein the antecedent request comprises a plurality of intermediate requests. All the intermediate requests are processed individually and sequentially as if they were entered individually and cards corresponding to the intermediate requests are fetched sequentially. A final card containing desired information by the final request is fetched based on the card corresponding to the last intermediate request and thereby displayed.

Claims

1. A method for accelerating navigation of hierarchical layers of accessible information hosted in a server device through a two-way communication device over a data network, the method comprising:

displaying a menu on a client device, said menu comprising a plurality of items, each item having an address identifier;

receiving a compound request entered by a user of the two-way communication device to display desired information;

parsing said compound request to obtain an antecedent request and a final request;

processing the antecedent request and the final request to obtain a final address identifier; and

displaying desired information identified by said final address identifier.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the antecedent request comprises at least one intermediate request including a first intermediate request.

3. The method as recited in claim 2 wherein the first intermediate request corresponds to one of the items in the menu.

4. The method as recited in claim 2 wherein the compound request comprises a sequence of numerals, a first numeral in the numeral sequence representing the first intermediate request, subsequent numerals representing one of the intermediate requests respectively and a final numeral in the numeral sequence representing the final request.

5. The method as recited in claim 2 wherein the menu has no more than 9 items.

6. The method as recited in claim 2 wherein the antecedent request and the final request processing comprises:

fetching intermediate cards according to the intermediate requests; and

fetching, based on the intermediate cards, a final card according to the final request.

7. The method as recited in claim 6 wherein displaying a menu comprises displaying a first card, said method further comprising:

displaying said intermediate cards after fetching said intermediate cards.

8. The method as recited in claim 6 wherein displaying a menu comprises displaying a first card, said method further comprising:

displaying a final card after processing said compound request.

9. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising:

fetching a deck of cards from said server device into said client device by data network, said deck of cards comprising a first card corresponding to said menu.

10. The method as recited in claim 9 further comprising:

data network to the server device;

receiving a final deck having a final card corresponding to said final request;

and displaying the final card on the client device.

11. A communication apparatus for navigating hierarchical layers of accessible information hosted in a server device, said apparatus coupled to said service device through a two-way data network, the apparatus comprising:

a display screen, said display screen for displaying a menu comprising a plurality of items, each item having an address identifier;

an input system, said input system for allowing user input of a compound request, said compound request to display desired information, said compound request comprising an antecedent request and a final request; and

a compound request processing system, said compound request processing system processing said antecedent request and a final request to obtain a final address identifier, said final address identifier corresponding to desired display information.

12. The communication apparatus as recited in claim 11 wherein the antecedent request comprises at least one intermediate request including a first intermediate request.

13. The communication apparatus as recited in claim 12 wherein the first intermediate request corresponds to one of the items in the menu.

14. The communication apparatus as recited in claim 12 wherein the compound request comprises a sequence of numerals, a first numeral in the numeral sequence representing the first intermediate request, subsequent numerals representing one of the intermediate requests respectively and a final numeral in the numeral sequence representing the final request.

15. The communication apparatus as recited in claim 14 wherein the menu has no more than 9 items.

16. The communication apparatus as recited in claim 11 wherein said compound request processing system fetches intermediate cards according to the intermediate requests and fetches a final card based upon the final request.

17. The communication apparatus as recited in claim 16 wherein said compound request processing system displays said intermediate cards after fetching said intermediate cards.

18. The communication apparatus as recited in claim 16 wherein said compound request processing system displays a final card after processing said compound request.

19. The communication apparatus as recited in claim 16 further comprising:

an information fetching device, said information fetching device fetching a deck of cards from said server device into said client device by the two-way data network, said deck of cards comprising a first card corresponding to said menu.