Conserving processing resources by controlling updates to damaged tiles of a content page

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9785332-B1
Application number	US-201414561931-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Dec 5, 2014
Priority date	Dec 5, 2014
Publication date	Oct 10, 2017
Grant date	Oct 10, 2017

Abstract

A browser divides content pages into tiles for display on a user device, and updates the tiles that become “damaged” as the result of user interactions or other events. The browser may decide whether and/or when to update a damaged off-screen tile based partly or wholly on a predicted likelihood that the user will scroll to that tile or that the tile will otherwise become visible on the user device. This prediction may, for example, be based on one or more of the following: (1) the distance of the off-screen tile from the visible display area, (2) the past browsing/scrolling behaviors of the user and/or other users. The decision of whether or when to update the damaged off-screen tile may also be based on the cost (in terms of processing resources) of updating the tile, as may be estimated based on the processing resources used to initially generate the tile. In addition, the decision may be based on a measure of visual impact associated with deferring the update.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer implemented method of conserving processing resources used to render content pages, the method comprising:
as implemented by one or more computing devices configured with specific computer-executable instructions,
identifying a plurality of tiles of a content page requested by a user device;
identifying an off-screen tile among the plurality of tiles, the off-screen tile corresponding to a portion of the content page outside a visible area of the user device;
for the identified off-screen tile, calculating a probability that the off-screen tile will become visible;
calculating a measure of an amount of computing resources needed to update the off-screen tile;
selecting a timing with which to update the off-screen tile based at least partly on the probability that the tile will become visible and the measure of the amount of computing resources; and
updating the off-screen tile based on the selected timing.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the probability is calculated based at least partly on past page scrolling behaviors performed on the user device.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the probability is calculated based at least partly on past page scrolling behaviors performed by users on other user devices while accessing the content page.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein selecting the timing with which to update the off-screen tile comprises selecting an update frequency for updating the off-screen tile.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 4 , further comprising:
maintaining a graphical representation of the off-screen tile, the graphical representation being updated according to the selected update frequency; and
in response to a view manipulation command that will make the identified off-screen tile visible on the user device, causing the user device to display the graphical representation of the off-screen tile.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein calculating the measure of the amount of computing resources comprises monitoring resource usage during generation of the off-screen tile.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , wherein monitoring resource usage comprises monitoring one or more of the following: CPU cycles, GPU cycles, time, power consumption, memory usage, network bandwidth, amount of network communication.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the method is performed in its entirety by the user device.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the method is performed at least partly by an intermediary system that operates as an intermediary between the user device and a site that hosts the content page.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising reducing a resolution of the off-screen tile based at least partly on the calculated measure.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising calculating a measure of visual impact associated with deferring an update to the off-screen tile, wherein selecting the timing with which to update the off-screen tile is based further on the measure of visual impact.

12. A system, comprising:
a computing system comprising a processor coupled to a memory, the memory including specific instructions that upon execution configure the computing system to at least:
identify a plurality of tiles of a content page requested by a user device;
identify an off-screen tile of the plurality of tiles, the off-screen tile corresponding to a portion of the content page that is outside a visible area of the user device;
calculate a probability that the off-screen tile will become visible on the user device based, at least partly, on (1) page scrolling actions performed on the user device and (2) past page scrolling behaviors performed by users on other user devices while accessing the content page;
select a timing with which to update the off-screen tile based at least partly on the probability that the tile will become visible; and
update the off-screen tile according to the selected timing.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the computing system is further configured to calculate a cost of updating the off-screen tile, and to select the timing based additionally on the calculated cost.

14. A system, comprising:
a computing system comprising a processor coupled to a memory, the memory including specific instructions that upon execution configure the computing system to at least:
identify a plurality of tiles of a content page requested by a user device;
identify an off-screen tile of the plurality of tiles, the off-screen tile corresponding to a portion of the content page that is outside a visible area of the user device;
calculate a probability that the off-screen tile will become visible on the user device based, at least partly, on page scrolling actions performed on the user device;
select a timing with which to update the off-screen tile based at least partly on the probability that the tile will become visible; and
update the off-screen tile according to the selected timing;

wherein the computing system is additionally configured to calculate a measure of visual impact associated with deferring an update to the off-screen tile, and to select the timing based additionally on the measure of visual impact.

15. The system of claim 12 , wherein the computing system is configured to select the timing with which to update the off-screen tile at least partly by selecting an update frequency for updating the off-screen tile.

16. The system of claim 12 , wherein the computing system consists of the user device.

17. The system of claim 12 , wherein the computing system comprises an intermediary system that operates as an intermediary between the user device and a site that hosts the content page.

18. A non-transitory computer storage medium storing computer-executable instructions that direct a computing device to perform operations comprising:
generating a plurality of tiles that collectively represent a visual representation of a content page requested by a user device, wherein different tiles correspond to different portions of the content page;
identifying a damaged off-screen tile of the plurality of tiles, the damaged off-screen tile corresponding to a portion of the content page outside of visible area on the user device;
calculating probability that the damaged off-screen tile will become visible on the user device;
calculating a measure of visual impact associated with deferring an update to the damaged off-screen tile; and
determining a timing with which to update the damaged off-screen tile based at least partly on the calculated probability and the measure of visual impact.

19. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 18 , wherein the probability that the damaged off-screen tile will become visible is calculated based, at least partly, on user behavior information collected on the user device.

Assignees

• Amazon Tech Inc

Inventors

• Karppanen Jari Juhani

Classifications

• G06F3/04842

  Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements (G06F3/0482 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G09G2370/027

  Arrangements and methods specific for the display of internet documents · CPC title

• G09G5/346

  for systems having a bit-mapped display memory · CPC title

• G06F3/0481

  based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance · CPC title

• G06F3/0485 Primary

  Scrolling or panning · CPC title