Adaptive DNS pre-fetching

• US 8,645,501 B2
• Filed: 05/05/2011
• Issued: 02/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/05/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm Innovation Center Incorporated (Qualcomm, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm Innovation Center Incorporated (Qualcomm, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ghosh, Donna, Bapst, Mark, Lott, Christopher G., Attar, Rashid A., Cherian, George, He, Linhai, Garg, Dinesh K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chan, Wing F
• Assistant Examiner(s): Thieu, Benjamin M.
• Application Number:
  US13/101,520
• Publication Number:
  US 20120284372A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,006 Days
• Field of Search: 709/227, 709/245, 709/224, 709217-219, 709/203
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9574 of access to content, e.g. by caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4511 using domain name system [DNS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/58 Caching of addresses or names

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for obtaining web content are disclosed. The method includes identifying resources identified by domain name references that a user may request, obtaining a status of at least one operating condition that affects operations of the communication device, fetching, in advance of the user requesting the content, network addresses of the resources so as to resolve the domain name references, and adapting a level of the fetching based upon the at least one operating condition. The network addresses of the resources are cached so as to generate cached network addresses, and if the user requests the content, the cached network addresses are utilized to access the resources associated with the content.

Claims

1. A method for obtaining web content on a communication device, the method comprising:

identifying resources associated with content that a user may request, the resources residing on at least one remote server, the locations of the resources being identified by domain name references;

obtaining a status of at least one operating condition that affects operations of the communication device, the at least one operating condition including a reverse link data rate;

assigning a priority to prefetching network addresses of the resources relative to other reverse link traffic operations;

fetching, in advance of the user requesting the content, the network addresses of the resources to resolve the domain name references;

adapting the priority of the prefetching relative to the other reverse link traffic operations based upon changes to the reverse link data rate and an estimate of a utilization, by traffic other than the network addresses of the resources that are fetched in advance, of an available data rate of the reverse link;

caching the network addresses of the resources to generate cached network addresses; and

utilizing, if the user requests the content, the cached network addresses to access the resources associated with the content.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining a status of at least one operating condition includes obtaining information about an availability of power to the communication device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying resources associated with content that the user may request includes:

accessing a history of webpages previously visited by the user to identify at least one frequently visited webpage;

requesting a main page of the at least one frequently visited webpage; and

parsing the main page to identify resources associated with the main page.

4. A mobile device, the mobile device comprising:

an application that enables a user to request web content, the web content including resources residing on at least one remote server, the locations of the resources being identified by domain name references;

a domain name system (DNS) prefetch manager that requests, before the user requests the web content, network addresses of the resources that are identified by the domain name references;

a transmitter configured to transmit the requests for the network addresses to a remote server that initiates a translation of the domain name references to the network addresses;

a receiver to receive the network addresses via a reverse communication link; and

an adaptive DNS module that is configured to;

receive an indication of an available data rate of the reverse communication link;

receive an estimate of a utilization of the available data rate by reverse link traffic operations other than the network addresses of the resources that are fetched in advance;

prioritize, relative to the other reverse link traffic operations, the requests for the network addresses of the resources based upon the available data rate and the utilization of the available data rate by the other reverse link operations; and

control the DNS prefetch manager so the DNS prefetch manager alters a level of the requests for the network addresses based upon the prioritization.

5. The mobile device of claim 4, including:

a power management component that provides an indication of a level of power that is available to the mobile device;

wherein the adaptive DNS module is configured to control the DNS prefetch manager based upon the level of power that is available to the mobile device so that the DNS prefetch manager requests fewer network addresses of the resources before the user requests the web content.

6. The mobile device of claim 5, wherein the adaptive DNS module is configured to control the DNS prefetch manager so that the DNS prefetch manager ceases to request, when the level of power that is available drops below a threshold, network addresses of the resources before the user requests the web content.

7. A mobile device comprising:

means for identifying resources associated with content that a user may request, the resources residing on at least one remote server, the locations of the resources being identified by domain name references;

means for obtaining a status of at least one operating condition that affects operations of the communication device, the at least one operating condition including a reverse link data rate;

means for assigning a priority to prefetching network addresses of the resources relative to other reverse link traffic operations;

means for fetching, in advance of the user requesting the content, the network addresses of the resources to resolve the domain name references;

means for adapting the priority of the prefetching relative to the other reverse link traffic operations based upon changes to the reverse link data rate and an estimate of a utilization, by traffic other than the network addresses of the resources that are fetched in advance, of an available data rate of the reverse link;

means for caching the network addresses of the resources to generate cached network addresses; and

means for utilizing, if the user requests the content, the cached network addresses to access the resources associated with the content.

8. The mobile device of claim 7, wherein obtaining a status of at least one operating condition includes obtaining information about an availability of power to the mobile device.

9. A non-transitory, tangible computer readable storage medium, encoded with processor readable instructions to perform a method for obtaining web content on a mobile device, the method comprising:

identifying resources associated with content that a user may request, the resources residing on at least one remote server, the locations of the resources being identified by domain name references;

obtaining a status of at least one operating condition that affects operations of the communication device, the at least one operating condition including a reverse link data rate;

assigning a priority to prefetching network addresses of the resources relative to other reverse link traffic operations;

fetching, in advance of the user requesting the content, the network addresses of the resources to resolve the domain name references;

adapting the priority of the prefetching relative to the other reverse link traffic operations based upon changes to the reverse link data rate and an estimate of a utilization, by traffic other than the network addresses of the resources that are fetched in advance, of an available data rate of the reverse link;

caching the network addresses of the resources to generate cached network addresses; and

utilizing, if the user requests the content, the cached network addresses to access the resources associated with the content.

10. The non-transitory, tangible computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein obtaining a status of at least one operating condition includes obtaining information about an availability of power to the mobile device.