Flow control method and apparatus for enhancing the performance of web browsers over bandwidth constrained links
First Claim
1. A flow control apparatus, comprising:
- a facility operatively coupled with a source server via a browser and a resource-constrained communications link;
a flow control mechanism configured for selectively pre-fetching page objects from said source server and for downloading page objects in an optimally parallel fashion from said source server to said browser via said communications link;
a cache operatively coupled with said browser that caches said pre-fetched page objects and caches page objects that are downloaded by said mechanism;
wherein said facility is configured for enhancing said routine browser operation by;
invoking said flow control mechanism to pre-fetch, in an optimally parallel fashion, one or more page objects that are identified as fetched according to routine browser operation, andmaking said pre-fetched page objects available to said browser by said facility before they would be if they were fetched according to routine browser operation.
9 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Flow control is applied to increasing the performance of a browser while pre-fetching Web objects while operating over bandwidth constrained links to increase the level of concurrency, thus reducing contention for limited bandwidth resources with increased levels of concurrency. Using an agent or a gateway to speed up its Internet transactions over bandwidth constrained connections to source servers. Assisting a browser in the fetching of objects in such a way that an object is ready and available locally before the browser requires it, without suffering congestion on any bandwidth constrained link. Providing seemingly instantaneous availability of objects to a browser enabling it to complete processing the object to request the next object without much wait.
-
Citations
14 Claims
-
1. A flow control apparatus, comprising:
-
a facility operatively coupled with a source server via a browser and a resource-constrained communications link; a flow control mechanism configured for selectively pre-fetching page objects from said source server and for downloading page objects in an optimally parallel fashion from said source server to said browser via said communications link; a cache operatively coupled with said browser that caches said pre-fetched page objects and caches page objects that are downloaded by said mechanism; wherein said facility is configured for enhancing said routine browser operation by; invoking said flow control mechanism to pre-fetch, in an optimally parallel fashion, one or more page objects that are identified as fetched according to routine browser operation, and making said pre-fetched page objects available to said browser by said facility before they would be if they were fetched according to routine browser operation. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
-
-
8. A flow control method for displaying pages that are comprised of a plurality of page objects, fetched over one or more communications links, said method comprising the steps of:
-
operatively coupling a facility with a source server via said browser and a resource-constrained communications link; operatively coupling a fetching mechanism with said facility; selectively pre-fetching, using said fetching mechanism, said page objects in a optimally parallel fashion from said source server to said browser via said communications link; providing a cache, operatively coupled with said browser, into which page objects are downloaded in parallel as soon as said facility is aware of them; and providing an independent flow control mechanism for controlling said parallel downloads optimally from said source server to said browser. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
-
Specification