Updating the display of a page with data

• US 9,582,599 B2
• Filed: 12/22/2011
• Issued: 02/28/2017
• 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): AMIN, MUSTAFA A
• Application Number:
  US13/335,788
• Publication Number:
  US 20120110435A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,895 Days
• Field of Search: 715/234
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 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. As another 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.

Claims

1. A method of generating web pages, comprising:

by a server, receiving a page request from a web browser, and responding to the page request by (1) detecting a delay condition in which retrieval by the server, from a service, of service data for generating a requested web page is delayed, and (2) in response to detecting the delay condition, generating, and transmitting to the web browser, a deferred rendering version of the web page, the deferred rendering version including a placeholder for the service data;

by the server, transmitting a page update handler to the web browser, said page update handler being executable by the web browser and including functionality for updating the deferred rendering version of the web page; and

by the server, retrieving the service data from the service, generating an update that includes the retrieved service data in a hidden format, and transmitting the update to the web browser;

wherein the deferred rendering version of the web page, as displayed by the web browser prior to the web browser receiving the update, includes a rendered portion that does not include a representation of the service data, and wherein the web browser is responsive to the update by executing the page update handler which updates the rendered portion of the web page with a representation of the service data at a page location corresponding to the placeholder, wherein the page update handler selects a display format with which to integrate the service data into the web page based at least partly on a quantity of the service data, wherein the update to the rendered portion is made at least partly by adding markup language coding to the deferred rendering version of the web page.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the delay condition is a condition in which an average response time of the service exceeds a threshold.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the delay condition is a condition in which a request to the service for the service data has been pending for a threshold amount of time.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the page update handler selects the display format with which to integrate the service data into the web page based additionally on a size of a browser window in which the web page is displayed.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the delay condition comprises applying decision logic that checks for a plurality of conditions that can each delay retrieval of the service data from the service.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the delay condition comprises determining a load level of the service.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the server transmits the page update handler to the web browser as part of the deferred rendering version of the web page.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the server transmits the page update handler to the web browser as a library file, separately from the deferred rendering version of the web page.

9. A server system comprising one or more physical servers, said server system programmed with executable program code to respond to a request from a user device for a content page by a process that comprises:

transmitting a request to a service for service data for generating the content page;

detecting a delay or predicted delay in retrieval by the server of the service data from the service;

in response to detecting the delay or predicted delay, generating, and transmitting to the user device, a deferred rendering version of the content page, said deferred rendering version omitting the service data and being configured to be updated on the user device with a visual representation of the service data;

transmitting a page update handler to the user device; and

subsequently, generating, and transmitting to the user device, an update that includes the service data, said update including a command that causes a browser running on the user device to execute the page update handler, wherein the page update handler, when executed by the browser, adds the visual representation of the service data to the deferred rendering version of the content page as rendered on the user device, wherein the page update handler is configured to select a display format with which to integrate the service data into the deferred rendering version of the content page based at least partly on a quantity of the service data.

10. The server system of claim 9, wherein the deferred rendering version of the content page includes a placeholder for the service data.

11. The server system of claim 9, wherein detecting the delay or predicted delay comprises determining an average response time of the service.

12. The server system of claim 9, wherein detecting the delay or predicted delay comprises determining a load level of the service.

13. The server system of claim 9, wherein detecting the delay or predicted delay comprises determining that the request for the service data has been pending for a threshold amount of time.

14. The server system of claim 9, wherein the page update handler comprises Javascript code that, when executed by the browser running on the user device, adds Hypertext Markup Language coding to the deferred rendering version of the content page.

15. The server system of claim 9, wherein the server transmits the page update handler to the user device as part of the deferred rendering version of the content page.

16. The server system of claim 9, wherein the server transmits the page update handler to the user device as a library file.

17. A server system comprising one or more physical servers, said server system programmed with executable program code to respond to a page request from a user device for a content page by a process that comprises:

transmitting a request to a service for service data for generating the content page;

determining whether to send to the user device a deferred rendering version of the content page in which the service data is omitted, wherein determining whether to send the deferred rendering version comprises determining at least one of the following;

(1) an average response time of the service, (2) a current load level of the service, (3) an amount of time the request for the service data has been pending;

in response to a determination to send the deferred rendering version of the content page, generating, and sending to the user device, the deferred rendering version;

transmitting a page update handler to the user device; and

subsequently, generating, and transmitting to the user device, an update that includes the service data, said update including a command that causes a browser running on the user device to execute the page update handler, wherein the page update handler, when executed by the browser, adds a visual representation of the service data to the deferred rendering version of the content page as rendered on the user device, wherein the page update handler is configured to select a display format with which to integrate the service data into the deferred rendering version of the content page based at least partly on a quantity of the service data.

18. The server system of claim 17, wherein determining whether to send to the user device a deferred rendering version of the content page comprises determining an average response time of the service.

19. The server system of claim 17, wherein determining whether to send to the user device a deferred rendering version of the content page comprises determining a current load level of the service.

20. The server system of claim 17, wherein determining whether to send to the user device a deferred rendering version of the content page comprises determining an amount of time the request for the service data has been pending.

21. The server system of claim 17, wherein determining whether to send to the user device a deferred rendering version of the content page further comprises determining a current load level of the server system.

22. The server system of claim 17, wherein the page update handler is configured to select, based on the quantity of the service data, a number of rows to add to the deferred rendering version of the content page to display the service data.