Predictive branching and caching method and apparatus for applications

• US 7,548,982 B2
• Filed: 10/31/2002
• Issued: 06/16/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Kerr, John, Gu, Jun
• Primary Examiner(s): Winder; Patrice
• Assistant Examiner(s): NGUYEN, MINH CHAU
• Application Number:
  US10/285,231
• Publication Number:
  US 20040098486A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,420 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/218, 709/228, 709/224
• US Class Current: 709/228
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9574 of access to content, e.g. by caching

Abstract

A method and system of identifying usage patterns for web pages in a website, includes receiving a website map identifying one or more web pages in the website, tracking the web pages accessed by a user during a session, determining a branch of one or more web pages accessible by the user and corresponding to the website map, and updating a database that associates the branch with the user and indicates usage of the branch and the web pages by the user.

Claims

1. A method of predicting the selection of web pages in a website, comprising:

organizing a sitemap of the website that ranks the web pages in the website available in one or more different locales according to a historical usage pattern for a user and to predict a selected locale from the one or more different locales and the corresponding language and other locale preferences for the user in accordance with the historical usage pattern;

loading a predicted branch of the web pages from the one or more different locales into a cache selected according to the ranking of the web pages and their inclusion within the selected locale as predicted;

receiving a request for a web page from the website and associated with the selected locale for the user; and

providing the requested web page from the website when the request for the web page is at least one of the cached web pages in the predicted branch and associated with the selected locale predicted from the one or more different locales available in the website.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein loading the predicted branch further comprises:

determining a metric for each of the one or more branches in the sitemap using the ranking of the web pages and the selected locale;

comparing the metrics associated with each of the one or more branches in combination with the selected locale; and

selecting the predicted branch based on the comparison of the metrics associated with each of the one or more branches and the selected locale.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein a metric is computed by summing the weighted values of the web pages associated with a branch.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein organizing the sitemap further comprises:

retrieving a usage pattern associated with a user from a usage pattern database; and

associating values with individual web pages in the sitemap according to the usage pattern for the user and the selected locale.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

swapping the predicted branch in the cache with the branch containing the requested web page when the requested web page was not in the predicted branch of the website; and

retrieving the requested web page from the branch containing the requested web page swapped into the cache.

6. A system for improved access to web pages in an application, comprising:

a web access profile database indicating a frequency that a user selects web pages in the application and a prediction of a selected locale for the user in accordance with the frequency wherein the selected locale has a corresponding language and other locale preferences; and

a web server having a sitemap of the web pages associated with the application identifying branches of web pages in the sitemap available in one or more different locales and ranked according to the selected locale combined with the web access profile database information wherein the ranking determines the branch of web pages the web server loads into cache.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein at least one entry in the web access profile database is the selected locale predicted for the user and another entry is a compilation of the usage patterns from other entries in the web access profile database representing the access pattern of web pages for a typical user of the application.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein the compilation is a weighted average of the frequencies users access the web pages in the application provided the selected locale.

9. The system of claim 6 further comprising:

a client requesting web pages over a network from the web server associated with the application.

10. The system of claim 6 wherein the web server is integrated into the application.

11. The system of claim 6 wherein a branch is determined by

gathering web pages together corresponding to an operation on the website.

12. The system of claim 6 wherein determining a branch, further comprises:

combining web pages together from the selected locale having at least one web page previously accessed by a user in a sequence.

13. A method of identifying usage patterns for web pages in a website, comprising:

receiving a website map identifying the organization of one or more web pages in the website and available in one or more different locales;

tracking one or more web pages accessed by a user during a session and the underlying branch of the one or more web pages to predict a selected locale from the one or more different locales and the corresponding language and other locale preferences to load into the website;

determining a branch of one or more web pages in the selected locale from the one or more different locales in the website accessible by a user and organized according to the website map; and

updating a database that associates the branch and the selected locale in the corresponding language and other locale preferences with the user of the website and indicates usage of the locale specific branch and the one or more web pages accessed by the user.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising determining one or more possible branches of one or more web pages in the selected locale accessible by the user corresponding to the site map.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein the website map is organized into a directed graph.

16. The method of claim 13 wherein the receiving is performed within an application that processes web pages and communicates results with a server.

17. The method of claim 13 wherein the receiving is performed on a server that processes the web pages and communicates with an application.

18. The method of claim 13 wherein the tracking comprises:

identifying a user when the web pages are accessed; and

gathering at least one or more of the following set of characteristics;

a frequency each page is accessed by the user, a sequence of web pages processed by the user, the selected locale associated with the one or more web pages and the user and identifying paths between web pages accessed by the user.

19. The method of claim 13 wherein the step of determining a branch, further comprises:

gathering web pages together from the selected locale corresponding to an operation on the website.

20. The method of claim 13 wherein the step of determining a branch, further comprises:

combining web pages together from the selected locale and previously accessed by a user in a sequence.

21. An apparatus for accessing web pages, comprising:

a processor that executes instructions to access the web pages;

a memory having an application that receives requests for one or more web pages available in one or more different locales, a profiler component that tracks user access to one or more web pages to predict a selected locale from the one or more different locales and the corresponding language and other locale preferences to load into the website and stores the information in a web access profile database, and a predictive branch component that selects a branch having one or more web pages in the selected locale according to the web access profile database and loads the web pages into cache.

22. The apparatus of claim 21 further comprising:

a network communication pod that transmits the web pages in response to the requests.

23. The apparatus of claim 21 further comprising:

a presentation device driver that presents the requested one or more web pages on a presentation device.

24. A computer program product, tangibly stored on a computer readable medium, comprising instructions operable to cause a programmable processor to:

receive a website map for a website identifying the organization of one or more web pages in the website available in one or more different locales;

determine a branch of one or more web pages in the website accessible by a user and organized according to the website map and a selected locale for the user, further comprising instructions that,

track one or more web pages and the underlying branch to predict the selected locale from the one or more different locales and the corresponding language and other preferences to load into the website, accessed by a user during a session; and

update a database that associates one or more branches in the selected locale in the corresponding language and other locale preferences with the user of the website and indicates usage of the locale specific one or more branches in the selected locale and the one or more web pages accessed by the user.

25. A computer program product, tangibly stored on a computer readable medium, comprising instructions operable to cause a programmable processor to:

organize a sitemap of web pages in a website that ranks the web pages in the website available in one or more different locales according to a historical usage pattern for a user and to predict a selected locale from the one or more different locales and the corresponding language and other locale preferences for the user in accordance with the historical usage pattern;

load a predicted branch of the web pages from the one or more different locales into a cache selected according to the ranking of the web pages and the selected locale as predicted for the user;

receive a request for a web page from the website; and

provide the requested web page from the website when the request for the web page is at least one of the cached web pages in the predicted branch and the selected locale predicted from the one or more different locales available in the website for the user.

26. An apparatus for identifying usage patterns for web pages in a website, comprising

means for receiving a website map identifying the organization of one or more web pages in the website available in one or more different locales;

means for tracking one or more web pages accessed by a user during a session and the underlying branch of the one or more web pages to predict a selected locale from the one or more different locales and the corresponding language and other locale preferences to load into the website;

means for determining a branch of one or more web pages in the selected locale from the one or more different locales in the website accessible by a user and organized according to the website map; and

means for updating a database that associates the branch and the selected locale in the corresponding language and other locale preferences with the user of the website and indicates usage of the locale specific branch and the one or more web pages accessed by the user.