System and method for improved information retrieval

• US 8,131,665 B1
• Filed: 12/16/2008
• Issued: 03/06/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/02/1994
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Wolfe, Mark A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Al-Hashemi, Sana
• Application Number:
  US12/335,862
• Time in Patent Office: 1,176 Days
• Field of Search: 707 5- 10, 707/602, 707/761
• US Class Current: 707/602
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/217 Database tuning G06F16/2282 takes precedence; database performance monitoring G06F11/3409
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access

Abstract

An improved information retrieval system. In response to detecting that the user has interacted with a display element in a first web page within a web browser window, retrieving information from a second web page before the user requests that the second web page be displayed within the web browser window. Other enhanced information retrieval techniques.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising a storage medium having computer program instructions encoded on it, where the computer program instructions are executable on a client computer operated by a user and connected to a network, and where the computer program instructions configure the client computer to carry out operations comprising:

(a) displaying a first web page in a web browser window on a display screen associated with the client computer, where the first web page has been retrieved over the network from a web server at the direction of the user, where the first web page includes a link to a second web page, and where the second web page has contents that include other links that the user can interact with when the contents are displayed;

(b) monitoring input, including monitoring input from a pointing device associated with the client computer for a selection action performed on the link to the second web page, and including monitoring input for an alternative selection action performed on the link to the second web page,

where the alternative selection action includes use of the pointing device by the user, but is interpreted differently by the client computer than the selection action;

(c) detecting that the user has performed the alternative selection action on the link to the second web page; and

(d) in response to detecting that the user has performed the alternative selection action on the link to the second web page, retrieving information from the second web page over the network to the client computer,

where the operation of retrieving information from the second web page is carried out without yet displaying the contents of the second web page.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, where the operation of retrieving information from the second web page includes the operation of retrieving the entire second web page over the network from a web server that is located at a remote location relative to the client computer.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, where the computer program instructions further configure the client computer to carry out operations comprising:

detecting that the user has performed the alternative selection action on a link to a third web page, where the link to the third web page is displayed within the first web page; and

in response to detecting that the user has performed the alternative selection action on the link to the third web page, retrieving information from the third web page over the network to the client computer,

where the operation of retrieving information from the third web page is carried out without yet displaying the contents of the third web page.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, where the computer program instructions further configure the client computer to carry out operations comprising:

displaying a third web page in the web browser window at the direction of the user by retrieving the third web page over the network and replacing the first web page in the web browser window,

where the operation of displaying the third web page is carried out without yet displaying the contents of the second web page, but where the operation of displaying the third web page is carried out while making the information from the second web page available in local memory for the purpose of later displaying the contents of the second web page.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, where the operation of retrieving information from the second web page includes separately retrieving a plurality of images that are part of the second web page for the purpose of enabling a later operation of making the plurality of images visible in the web browser window within the second web page by accessing the plurality of images from local storage at the client computer.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, where the operation of retrieving information from the second web page is performed for the purpose of enabling the contents of the second web page to later be quickly displayed in the web browser window without any noticeable delay caused by either access to local disk storage or further access to the network.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, where the alternative selection action performed on the link to the second web page is:

passing a pointing device cursor over the link to the second web page, selecting an option from a menu that appears upon interacting with the link to the second web page, or selecting the link to the second web page with a user action that includes use of a keyboard.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, where the computer program instructions further configure the client computer to carry out operations comprising:

enabling the user to continuously interact with the first web page in a viewing area within the web browser window upon detecting that the user has performed the alternative selection action on the link to the second web page, and while the operation of retrieving information from the second web page is performed;

storing the information from the second web page in local memory; and

later releasing local memory in which the information from the second web page is stored, where the operation of releasing local memory is carried out automatically after further browsing operations, but without having displayed the contents of the second web page in the web browser window.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, where the first web page is displayed in response to a search query entered by the user at the client computer, and where the web server from which the first web page is retrieved is associated with a search engine on the network.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, where the computer program instructions further configure the client computer to carry out operations comprising:

upon detecting that the user has performed the alternative selection action on the link to the second web page, providing a visual indication that the operation of retrieving information from the second web page is proceeding;

while the first web page is displayed in the web browser window, detecting that the user has requested that the second web page be displayed, where the user performs the request by selecting the visual indication; and

upon detecting the user'"'"'s request, displaying the contents of the second web page in the web browser window by accessing the retrieved information from the second web page so that the second web page is displayed more quickly than if the entire second web page were to be retrieved over the network after the user requests the second web page.

15. The apparatus of claim 1, where the computer program instructions further configure the client computer to carry out operations comprising:

after detecting that the user has performed the alternative selection action on the link to the second web page, displaying a visual indicator that allows the user to determine when sufficient information from the second web page has been retrieved over the network so that the second web page will be quickly made visible, upon request and without any noticeable delay caused by access to the network, in the web browser window;

while the first web page is displayed in the web browser window, detecting that the user has requested that the second web page be displayed, where the user performs the request by selecting the visual indicator; and

upon detecting the user'"'"'s request, displaying the contents of the second web page in the web browser window by using at least some of the retrieved information from the second web page.

16. The apparatus of claim 1, where the computer program instructions further configure the client computer to carry out operations comprising:

while the first web page is displayed in the web browser window, detecting that the user has requested that the second web page be displayed, where the user performs the request by selecting a display element that is different from the link to the second web page; and

upon detecting the user'"'"'s request, quickly displaying the contents of the second web page in the web browser without any noticeable delay caused by either access to local disk storage or further access to the network.

17. The apparatus of claim 1, where the first web page is displayed in response to a search query entered by the user at the client computer, where the second web page is a search document satisfying the search query, and where the computer program instructions further configure the client computer to carry out operations comprising:

while the first web page is displayed in the web browser window, detecting that the user has requested that the second web page be displayed, where the user performs the request using only the keyboard; and

upon detecting the user'"'"'s request, quickly displaying the contents of the second web page in the web browser window without any noticeable delay caused by either access to local disk storage or further access to the network.

32. The apparatus of claim 8, where the computer program instructions further configure the client computer to carry out operations comprising:

while the third web page is displayed in the web browser window, detecting as input from the user a request for the second web page to be displayed; and

upon detecting the input, displaying the contents of the second web page in the web browser window so quickly that the operation appears to have been performed without accessing either local disk storage or the network.

33. The apparatus of claim 13, where the second web page has been ranked high by the search engine based on its relevance to the search query.

42. The apparatus of claim 32, where the first web page is displayed in response to a search query entered by the user at the client computer, where the second web page is a search document satisfying the search query, and where the input from the user that serves as the request for the second web page to be displayed includes only keyboard input, and where the third web page does not include a link to the second web page.

2. A method of transferring information over a network, the method comprising the acts of:

identifying a plurality of search documents that are relevant to a search query entered by a user operating a client computer that is connected to the network, where the search documents are identified from among a large number of documents that are stored on the network;

ranking at least some of the search documents based on the relevance of each search document to the search query, where a first search document is the search document ranked highest based on the relevance to the search query; and

causing the client computer to preload over the network to the client computer information from the first search document, where the information is preloaded before the user requests that the first search document be displayed, and is preloaded for the purpose of later displaying the first search document at the client computer.

18. The method of claim 2, where the first search document is preloaded over the network as a result of the user choosing the first search document for preloading, but where the first search document is preloaded over the network without yet displaying the first search document at the client computer in a manner that enables the user to interact with links within the first search document.

19. The method of claim 2, where the first search document is preloaded over the network automatically.

3. A system comprising a network and a client computer connected to the network, where the system is configured to carry out operations comprising:

identifying a plurality of search documents that are relevant to a search query entered by a user operating the client computer, where the search documents are identified from among a large number of documents that are stored on the network;

ranking at least some of the search documents based on the relevance of each search document to the search query, where a first search document is one of the search documents ranked high based on the relevance to the search query;

preloading over the network to the client computer information from the first search document, where the information is preloaded before the user requests that the first search document be displayed, and is preloaded for the purpose of later displaying the first search document at the client computer at the user'"'"'s request;

storing the information from the first search document at the client computer; and

when the user requests the first search document, displaying the first search document at the client computer by using at least some of the information stored at the client computer to display the first search document more quickly than if the entire first search document were to be retrieved over the network after the user requests the first search document.

20. The system of claim 3, where the first search document is preloaded over the network as a result of the user choosing the first search document for preloading.

21. The system of claim 3, where the first search document is preloaded over the network automatically.

4. A system for transferring information over a network, where the system is configured to carry out operations comprising:

identifying a plurality of search documents that are relevant to a search query entered by a user operating a client computer that is connected to the network, where the search documents are identified from among a large number of documents that are stored on the network;

ranking at least some of the search documents based on the relevance of each search document to the search query, where a first search document is one of the search documents that is ranked high based on its relevance to the search query; and

causing the client computer to preload information over the network to the client computer in anticipation of the user requesting that the first search document be displayed,

where the information is preloaded after the operation of identifying the plurality of search documents, but before the user requests that the first search document be displayed at the client computer, and

where the information is preloaded in order to reduce the amount of time it takes to display the first search document at the client computer after the user requests that the first search document be displayed.

22. The system of claim 4, further configured to carry out operations comprising:

causing the client computer to preload additional information over the network from a remote location to the client computer in anticipation of the user requesting that a second search document be displayed, where the second search document is another one of the search documents that is ranked high based on its relevance to the search query,

where the information and the additional information are both preloaded simultaneously in the background while the client computer remains responsive to the user'"'"'s input, and

where the information and the additional information are both preloaded after the operation of identifying the plurality of search documents, but before the user requests that either the first search document or the second search document be displayed at the client computer.

23. The system of claim 4, where the information is preloaded over the network from a remote location to the client computer in a background process while the user is viewing a hypertext document displayed at the client computer, and

where the client computer remains responsive to user input while the hypertext document is being displayed and during the time that the information is preloaded.

24. The system of claim 4, where the preloaded information includes information from the first search document.

25. The system of claim 4, further configured to carry out operations comprising:

receiving a request from the user to adjust the ranking of the search documents based on an alternate ordering characteristic;

ranking at least some of the search documents based on the alternate ordering characteristic, where a second search document is one of the search documents that is ranked high based on the alternate ordering characteristic; and

causing the client computer to preload a second set of information over the network to the client computer in anticipation of the user requesting that the second search document be displayed,

where the second set of information is preloaded after the operation of receiving the request to adjust the ranking, but before the user requests that the second search document be displayed at the client computer.

26. The system of claim 4, where the client computer uses the preloaded information in combination with a caching system used by the client computer, and where the client computer eventually discards the preloaded information as part of a resource management routine.

34. The system of claim 22, where the information and the additional information are both preloaded simultaneously in separate threads of execution and stored at the client computer in local memory.

35. The system of claim 23, where the preloaded information includes substantially the full text of the first search document, and where no information from the body of any of the other search documents is preloaded while the hypertext document is displayed at the client computer,

where the first search document is the search document ranked highest from among the search documents have not been displayed at the client computer following the user'"'"'s search query.

36. The system of claim 23, where the hypertext document displayed at the client computer includes an excerpt from one of the search documents, and where the excerpt includes a term from the search query.

37. The system of claim 23, where the preloaded information is a small amount of information that is only part of the information required to be retrieved over the network in order to display the first search document at the client computer, and where further information is retrieved over the network after the user requests that the first search document be displayed.

38. The system of claim 25, where the alternate ordering characteristic relates to search document type.

43. The system of claim 36, where the excerpt is from the first search document.

44. The system of claim 37, where the small amount of information includes information required in order to display a document in a hypertext system.

5. A system for providing improved access to information for a user operating a remotely-located computer, where the system is configured to carry out operations comprising:

identifying a plurality of search documents that are relevant to a search query entered by the user at the computer and communicated to the system, where the search documents are identified from among a large number of electronic documents stored on the network;

ranking at least some of the search documents based on the relevance of each search document to the search query, where the search documents include an anticipated search document, which is a document that is ranked high based on its relevance to the search query; and

causing the computer to preload information in anticipation of the user directing the computer to display the anticipated search document at the computer,

where the information is preloaded after the operation of identifying the plurality of search documents, but before the user directs the computer to display the anticipated search document, and

where the information is preloaded for the purpose of reducing delay experienced by the user after the user directs the computer to display the anticipated search document.

27. The system of claim 5, further configured to carry out operations comprising:

causing the computer to preload additional information in anticipation of the user directing the computer to display a second anticipated search document, where the second anticipated search document is another one of the search documents that is ranked high based on its relevance to the search query,

where the information and the additional information are both preloaded simultaneously in the background while the computer remains responsive to the user'"'"'s input, and

where the information and the additional information are both preloaded after the operation of identifying the plurality of search documents, but before the user directs the computer to display either the anticipated search document or the second anticipated search document.

28. The system of claim 5, where the information is preloaded in a background process while the user is viewing a hypertext document displayed at the computer, and

where the computer remains responsive to user input while the hypertext document is being displayed and during the time that the information is preloaded.

29. The system of claim 5, where the preloaded information includes information from the anticipated search document.

30. The system of claim 5, further configured to carry out operations comprising:

receiving a request from the user to adjust the ranking of the search documents based on an alternate ordering characteristic;

ranking at least some of the search documents based on the alternate ordering characteristic, where a second anticipated search document is one of the search documents that is ranked high based on the alternate ordering characteristic; and

causing the computer to preload a second set of information in anticipation of the user directing the computer to display the second anticipated search document,

where the second set of information is preloaded after the operation of receiving the request to adjust the ranking, but before the user directs the computer to display the second anticipated search document.

31. The system of claim 5, where text within the body of the anticipated search document has a higher degree of relevance to the search query than text within the body of a second search document, and where the information is chosen for preloading because of the higher degree of relevance.

39. The system of claim 28, where the preloaded information includes substantially the full text of the anticipated search document, and where no information from the body of any of the other search documents is preloaded while the hypertext document is displayed at the computer,

where the anticipated search document is the search document ranked highest from among the search documents that have not been displayed at the computer after the user'"'"'s search query, and

where the hypertext document displayed at the computer includes an excerpt from one of the search documents, and where the excerpt includes a term from the search query.

40. The system of claim 28, where the preloaded information is a small amount of information that is only part of the information required to be retrieved in order to display the anticipated search document at the computer in a hypertext system, and

where further information is retrieved after the user directs the computer to display the anticipated search document.

41. The system of claim 30, where the alternate ordering characteristic relates to the date associated with each search document.