System and methods for updating client-side displays of pages

• US 8,380,821 B2
• Filed: 12/22/2011
• Issued: 02/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/24/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Green, Nigel
• Primary Examiner(s): Feild, Lynn
• Assistant Examiner(s): LEE, BRYAN Y
• Application Number:
  US13/335,721
• Publication Number:
  US 20120096129A1
• Time in Patent Office: 425 Days
• Field of Search: 709/219
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/972 Access to data in other repository systems, e.g. legacy data or dynamic Web page generation

Abstract

A page update handler enables a browser to update the display of a page with data received from a server. For example, a page may initially be displayed with a visual display object that serves as a placeholder for data being retrieved by the server; once the server retrieves the data and sends it to the browser, the page update hander may populate the display object with the data. As another example, the server may predictively retrieve data in anticipation of a user performing a particular action on a page, and may send this data to the browser in a hidden format; if the user subsequently performs the action, the page update handler may update the displayed page with the predictively retrieved data.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, by a server system, a page request from a user computing device;

in response to the page request, requesting data from a service, and determining whether to serve a deferred rendering version of the requested page;

when a determination is made not to serve a deferred rendering version of the page, waiting for the service to return the data, and then transmitting to the user computing device a version of the page that includes a viewable representation of the returned data; and

when a determination is made to serve a deferred rendering version of the page, serving the deferred rending version by a process that comprises;

before the service returns the data, transmitting, from the server system to the user computing device, an initial portion of the page, said initial portion including viewable content and including a placeholder for said data;

after the service returns the requested data, transmitting, from the server system to the user computing device, a second portion of the page, said second portion including said data; and

transmitting, to the user computing device, a page update handler that is configured to update a display of the page on the user computing device with a viewable representation of said data as obtained from the second portion of the page.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the page update handler is transmitted to the user computing device as part of the first initial portion of the page.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the determination of whether to serve a deferred rendering version of the requested page is based at least partly on a load level of the service.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the page update handler comprises JavaScript code.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the placeholder comprises a viewable display object, and the update handler is configured to obtain the data, as encoded in a hidden format, from the second portion of the page and to populate the viewable display object with the viewable representation of the data.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the data comprises order status data associated with an order placed by a user.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the data comprises shipment tracking data.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the determination of whether to serve a deferred rendering version of the requested page is based at least partly on an actual delay encountered in retrieving the data from the service.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the determination of whether to serve a deferred rendering version of the requested page is based at least partly on an average response time of the service.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein requesting the data from the service comprises requesting the data in response to a prediction that a user will perform a particular action on the page.

11. A server system comprising one or more physical servers, said server system programmed with executable program code to perform a process that comprises:

requesting data from a service in response to a page request from a user computing device;

determining whether to serve a deferred rendering version of the requested page in response to the page request;

when a determination is made not to serve a deferred rendering version of the page, waiting for the service to return the data, and transmitting to the user computing device a version of the page that includes a viewable representation of the returned data; and

when a determination is made to serve a deferred rendering version of the page, serving the deferred rending version by a method that comprises;

before the service returns the data, transmitting to the user computing device an initial portion of the page, said initial portion including viewable content and including a placeholder for said data;

after the service returns the requested data, transmitting to the user computing device a second portion of the page, said second portion including said data; and

causing a page update handler to be executed on the user computing device, said page update handler configured to obtain the data from the second portion of the page and to update a display of the page on the user computing device with a viewable representation of said data.

12. The server system of claim 11, wherein the process comprises transmitting the page update handler to the user computing device as part of the initial portion of the page.

13. The server system of claim 11, wherein the process comprises transmitting the page update handler to the user computing device as a library file prior to the server system receiving said page request.

14. The server system of claim 11, wherein the determination of whether to serve a deferred rendering version of the requested page is based at least partly on a load level of the service.

15. The server system of claim 11, wherein the determination of whether to serve a deferred rendering version of the requested page is based at least partly on an average response time of the service.

16. The server system of claim 11, wherein the process comprises requesting the data from the service in response to a prediction that a user will perform a particular action on the page.

17. The server system of claim 11, wherein the update handler is configured to update the display of the page with the viewable representation of said data in response to user selection of a display element on the page.