Method and system for providing page visibility information

• US 9,584,579 B2
• Filed: 12/01/2011
• Issued: 02/28/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Agrawal, Shishir Kumar, Komoroske, John Alexander
• Primary Examiner(s): Tank, Andrew
• Application Number:
  US13/308,757
• Publication Number:
  US 20150195156A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,916 Days
• Field of Search: 715/736, 715/738, 715/777, 715/811, 705/14.41, 705/14.73
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/75 Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display

Abstract

A method and system for providing page visibility information are provided herein. Aspects of this disclosure provide an interface by which a browser may make the visibility state of a particular page available to the page itself. The browser may track the visibility state of the page as it changes and store the state in a variable associated with the page. Code executing within the page may query this variable to determine the visibility state and take appropriate action. The browser may provide an application programming interface (API) to allow the page to request the visibility state.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for determining the visibility status of web content, the method comprising:

accessing the web content using a processor, the web content comprising executable instructions for performing at least one function;

loading the web content in a browser;

determining a default visibility state based on how the web content was accessed, the default state including at least a visible state and a prerender state, wherein the visible state is determined based on a first type of access and the prerender state is determined based on a second type of access different from the first type of access;

monitoring one or more interface features of the browser to determine changes as presented on a display device in the default visibility state, such that a current visibility state of the web content currently present within a window of the browser comprises one or more values that indicate whether the web content is visible to a user,

wherein determining the changes as presented on the display device comprises determining at least one of;

when the window has focus, when the window is minimized, when the window is partially obscured by a second window, when a browser tab is active or inactive, when the display device is powered off, and when a screen saver is active on the display device; and

providing the current visibility state of the web content to the web content such that the web content performs visibility state specific processing depending on the current visibility state, the visibility state specific processing including relaying website analytics data to a server when the web content is in the visible state, and the visibility state specific processing further including notifying the server that the web content is in the prerender state and that impressions should not be registered.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

monitoring the one or more interface features to identify a change in the current visibility state based on a change in the one or more interface features; and

sending a notification to the web content that the visibility state has changed.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the notification comprises at least one of a new visibility state and a visibility state transitional pair.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing the current visibility state in a document object model associated with the web content.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the default visibility states further include at least one of a hidden state, a cache state, and a preview state.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the current visibility state is provided to the web content in response to a request from the web content for the visibility state.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the current visibility state is provided to the web content via an application programming interface.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the default visibility state is determined to be the prerender state if the content was prerendered in response to a predicted user navigation event, and wherein the default visibility state is determined to be the visible state if the content is rendered in an active browser window that is not minimized.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the visibility state specific processing further includes waiting until the web content is in the visible state before enabling playback of an embedded video.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the visibility state specific processing further includes, in a multiple user interactive environment, marking a user'"'"'s status as unavailable if the current visibility state is not the visible state.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method comprising:

accessing web content, the web content comprising executable instructions for performing at least one function;

loading the set of network content in a browser;

determining a default visibility state based on how the web content was accessed, the default state including at least a visible state and a prerender state, wherein the visible state is determined based on a first type of access and the prerender state is determined based on a second type of access different from the first type of access;

monitoring one or more interface features of the browser to determine changes as presented on a display device in the default visibility state, such that a current visibility state of the web content currently present within a window of the browser comprises one or more values that indicate whether the web content is visible to a user,

wherein determining the changes as presented on the display device comprises determining at least one of;

when the window has focus, when the window is minimized, when the window is partially obscured by a second window, when a browser tab is active or inactive, when the display device is powered off, and when a screen saver is active on the display device; and

providing the current visibility state of the web content to the web content such that the web content performs visibility state specific processing depending on the current visibility state, the visibility state specific processing including relaying website analytics data to a server when the web content is in the visible state, and the visibility state specific processing further including notifying the server that the web content is in the prerender state and that impressions should not be registered.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises:

monitoring the one or more interface features to identify a change in the current visibility state based on a change in the one or more interface features; and

sending a notification to the network content that the current visibility state has changed.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the notification comprises at least one of a new visibility state and a visibility state transitional pair.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises storing the current visibility state in a document object model associated with the web content.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the default visibility state further includes at least one of a hidden state, a cache state, and a preview state.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the current visibility state is provided to the web content via an application programming interface.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the visibility state specific processing further includes waiting until the web content is in the visible state before enabling playback of an embedded video.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the visibility state specific processing further includes, in a multiple user interactive environment, marking a user'"'"'s status as unavailable if the current visibility state is not the visible state.

19. A processing system for determining the visibility status of a set of web content, the processing system comprising:

at least one processor configured to;

access web content using a processor, the web content comprising executable instructions for performing at least one function;

load the web content in a browser;

determine a default visibility state based on how the web content was accessed, the default state including at least a visible state and a prerender state, wherein the visible state is determined based on a first type of access and the prerender state is determined based on a second type of access different from the first type of access;

monitor one or more interface features of the browser to determine changes as presented on a display device in the default visibility state, such that a current visibility state of the web content currently present within a window of the browser comprises one or more values that indicate whether the web content is visible to a user,

wherein determining the changes as presented on the display device comprises determining at least one of;

when the window has focus, when the window is minimized, when the window is partially obscured by a second window, when a browser tab is active or inactive, when the display device is powered off, and when a screen saver is active on the display device; and

provide the current visibility state of the web content to the web content such that the web content performs visibility state specific processing depending on the current visibility state, the visibility state specific processing including relaying website analytics data to a server when the web content is in the visible state, and the visibility state specific processing further including notifying the server that the web content is in the prerender state and that impressions should not be registered.

20. The processing system of claim 19, wherein the processor is further configured to:

monitor the one or more interface features to identify a change in the current visibility state based on a change in the one or more interface features; and

send a notification to the network content that the visibility state has changed.

21. The processing system of claim 20, wherein the notification comprises at least one of a new visibility state and a visibility state transitional pair.

22. The processing system of claim 19, wherein the processor is further configured to store the current visibility state in a document object model associated with the network content.

23. The processing system of claim 19, wherein the default visibility states further include at least one of a hidden state, a cache state, and a preview state.

24. The processing system of claim 19, wherein the current visibility state is provided to the web content via an application programming interface.

25. The processing system of claim 19, wherein the visibility state specific processing further includes waiting until the web content is in the visible state before enabling playback of an embedded video.

26. The processing system of claim 19, wherein the visibility state specific processing further includes, in a multiple user interactive environment, marking a user'"'"'s status as unavailable if the current visibility state is not the visible state.