Pre-fetching information in anticipation of a user request

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9898507-B2
Application number	US-201414276447-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 13, 2014
Priority date	Nov 7, 2005
Publication date	Feb 20, 2018
Grant date	Feb 20, 2018

Abstract

A system may pre-fetch search result information in anticipation of a user request for the search result information. The system may receive a user search query and request initial search results from a server based on the search query. The system may receive the initial search results from the server and render the initial search results for display to the user. In anticipation of a user request for additional search results, the system may request additional search results from the server. The additional search results may then be pre-fetched for potential display to the user in response to a user request to render the additional search results.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
transmitting, to a search engine by a client device, a first request for an initial listing of search results of an initial search based on a search query;
receiving, by the client device and from the search engine, the initial listing of search results;
providing, by the client device, search results of the initial listing for display in an initial search results page;
determining, by the client device, that a predefined event associated with the displayed search results has occurred in response to user interaction with the displayed search results;
in response to determining that the predefined event associated with the displayed search results has occurred, anticipating, by the client device, a user request for an additional listing of search results that includes search results that are not already stored on the client device prior to an actual user request for an additional listing of search results that are not already stored on the client device and automatically transmitting, by the client device, a second request for the additional listing of search results while the results of the initial search are being displayed;
in response to automatically transmitting the second request for the additional listing of search results while the results of the initial search are being displayed, receiving, by the client device, the additional listing of search results from the search engine;
in response to receiving the additional listing of search results from the search engine, storing, by the client device, the additional listing of search results without displaying the additional listing of search results;
receiving, by the client device, after the storing by the client device of the additional listing of search results, the user request for the additional listing of search results through the initial search results page that is displaying only the initial listing after the additional listing of search results has already been received; and
in response to receiving the user request for the additional listing of search results,
(i) providing, by the client device, search results of the stored additional listing of search results for display in an additional search results page that is different from the initial search results page, and
(ii) asynchronously transmitting by the client device a further request for further search results that are not already stored on and not requested by the user, including in the further request a request for one or more additional search result pages beyond a search results page most recently requested by a user of the client device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining that a predefined event associated with respect to the displayed search results has occurred, comprises detecting scroll bar movement on a rendered initial search results page that includes the initial listing of search results.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining that a predefined event associated with respect to the displayed search results has occurred, comprises detecting a mouseover detection on a rendered initial search results page that includes the initial listing of search results.

4. The method of claim 1 , where the predefined event comprises a JavaScript event.

5. A system comprising:
one or more computers and one or more storage devices storing instructions that are operable, when executed by the one or more computers, to cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:
transmitting, to a search engine by a client device, a first request for an initial listing of search results of an initial search based on a search query;
receiving, by the client device and from the search engine, the initial listing of search results;
providing, by the client device, search results of the initial listing for display in an initial search results page;
determining, by the client device, that a predefined event associated with the displayed search results has occurred in response to user interaction with the displayed search results;
in response to determining that the predefined event associated with the displayed search results has occurred, anticipating, by the client device, a user request for an additional listing of search results that includes search results that are not already stored on the client device prior to an actual user request for an additional listing of search results that are not already stored on the client device and automatically transmitting, by the client device, a second request for the additional listing of search results while the results of the initial search are being displayed;
in response to automatically transmitting the second request for the additional listing of search results while the results of the initial search are being displayed, receiving, by the client device, the additional listing of search results from the search engine;
in response to receiving the additional listing of search results from the search engine, storing, by the client device, the additional listing of search results without displaying the additional listing of search results;
receiving, by the client device, after the storing by the client device of the additional listing of search results, the user request for the additional listing of search results through the initial search results page that is displaying only the initial listing after the additional listing of search results has already been received; and
in response to receiving the user request for the additional listing of search results,
(i) providing, by the client device, search results of the stored additional listing of search results for display in an additional search results page that is different from the initial search results page, and
(ii) asynchronously transmitting by the client device a further request for further search results that are not already stored on and not requested by the user, including in the further request a request for one or more additional search result pages beyond a search results page most recently requested by a user of the client device.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein determining that a predefined event associated with respect to the displayed search results has occurred, comprises detecting scroll bar movement on a rendered initial search results page that includes the initial listing of search results.

7. The system of claim 5 , wherein determining that a predefined event associated with respect to the displayed search results has occurred, comprises detecting a mouseover detection on a rendered initial search results page that includes the initial listing of search results.

8. The system of claim 5 , where the predefined event comprises a JavaScript event.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing software comprising instructions executable by one or more computers which, upon such execution, cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:
transmitting, to a search engine by a client device, a first request for an initial listing of search results of an initial search based on a search query;
receiving, by the client device and from the search engine, the initial listing of search results;
providing, by the client device, search results of the initial listing for display in an initial search results page;
determining, by the client device, that a predefined event associated with the displayed search results has occurred in response to a user interaction with the displayed search results;
in response to determining that the predefined event associated with respect to the displayed search results has occurred, anticipating a user request for an additional listing of search results that includes search r

Assignees

• Google Inc
• Google Llc

Inventors

• Bedrax Weiss Tania
• Chang Bay Wei

Classifications

• G06F17/30902

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F17/30864

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F17/30477 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F16/951 Primary

  Indexing; Web crawling techniques · CPC title

• G06F16/9574

  of access to content, e.g. by caching · CPC title