Method and apparatus for display of information prefetching and cache status having variable visual indication based on a period of time since prefetching

• US 6,182,133 B1
• Filed: 02/06/1998
• Issued: 01/30/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 02/06/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Horvitz, Eric
• Primary Examiner(s): BURGESS, GLENTON B
• Assistant Examiner(s): BURGESS, GLENTON B
• Application Number:
  US09/019,641
• Time in Patent Office: 1,089 Days
• Field of Search: 709/219, 709/203, 709/228, 709/201, 709/229, 707/8
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9574 of access to content, e.g. by caching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99938 Concurrency, e.g. lock management in shared database

Abstract

A technique, specifically apparatus and accompanying methods for use therein, that, through continual computation, harnesses available computer resources during periods of low processing activity and low network activity, such as idle time, for prefetching, e.g., web pages, or pre-selected portions thereof, into local cache of a client computer. As the browser prefetches and stores each web page (or component thereof) in its local cache, the browser provides a suitable and preferably visual indication, through its graphical user interface, to a user that this item has been fetched and stored. Consequently, the user can quickly and visually perceive that a particular item (i.e., a “fresh” page or portion) has just been prefetched and which (s)he can now quickly access from local cache. As such additional items are cached, the browser can change the color of the displayed hotlink associated with each of the items then stored in cache so as, through color coding, to reflect their relative latency (“aging”) in cache.

Claims

1. In a computer system that, in response to user interaction with the system, requests items of information, as desired by a user, from a source accessible by the system, a method of obtaining the items of information comprising the steps of:

accessing, in response to a request from the user, a first item of information from the source and rendering the first item so accessed to the user;

determining a second item of information in response to a predefined aspect of the first item and a predefined user model; and

while the first item is being so rendered;

prefetching the second item from the source and storing the second item so obtained in a memory, for subsequent access, in the event of a request for said access from the user;

providing an indication to the user that the second item has been prefetched, wherein the indication comprises changing a formatting attribute of a displayed link associated with the second item, or providing, through a graphical user interface, a corresponding predefined visual perceptible feature, visual attribute or visual cue; and

changing the indication to reflect a period of time during which the second item remains stored in the memory for subsequent access.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of purging the second item from memory in the event the user does not access the second item within a predefined interval of time occurring after the second item was prefetched and stored.

3. A computer readable medium having computer executable instructions stored therein for performing the steps of claim 1.

4. Apparatus for a client computer system that, in response to user interaction with the system, requests items of information, as desired by a user, from a source accessible by the system, wherein the client computer comprises:

a processor;

a memory having computer executable instructions stored therein;

wherein, in response to the stored instructions, the processor;

accesses, in response to a request from the user, a first item of information from the source and rendering the first item so accessed to the user;

determines a second item of information in response to a predefined aspect of the first item and a predefined user model; and

while the first item is being so rendered;

prefetches the second item from the source and storing the second item so obtained in the memory, for subsequent access, in the event of a request for said access from the user;

provides an indication to the user that the second item has been prefetched, wherein the indication comprises changing a formatting attribute of a displayed link associated with the second item, or providing, through a graphical user interface, a corresponding predefined visual perceptible feature, visual attribute or visual cue; and

changes the indication to reflect a period of time during which the second item remains stored in the memory for subsequent access.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein the processor, in response to the stored instructions, purges the second item from memory in the event the user does not access the second item within a predefined interval of time occurring after the second item was prefetched and stored.