Adaptive URL Shortening with Meaningful Path Components

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Solution Overview

Problem

Conventional URL shortening services fail to provide shortened links that convey useful information about the original link's content, leading to increased risks of users linking to unintended and malicious content, and the process of obtaining shortened URLs is cumbersome and not integrated into messaging services.

Innovation Solution

Adaptive URL shortening that generates shortened links incorporating meaningful information such as domain, path components, content text, or ratings, integrated with user interfaces for web browsing, allowing users to select from candidates that balance information inclusion with message length constraints, and enabling selection of sharing services within the interface.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Length of moving object

If conventional URL shortening services replace the domain name and path with random text, then the URL length is reduced, but useful information about the original link is lost

Engineering Contradiction:

ImproveURL lengthVSAvoidinformation about original link

Core Design Contradiction:

Length of moving objectVSLoss of information

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts meaningful components (domain name, path segments, content text, ratings) from the original URL and content, and incorporates them into the shortened URL path. This allows the shortened URL to retain useful information while still being significantly shorter than the original URL.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent applies different quality levels to different parts of the shortened URL. The domain portion uses the shortening service's domain, while the path portion incorporates meaningful information from the original URL and content. This creates a hybrid structure that balances brevity with information retention.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

2Ease of operation

If conventional URL shortening services use random shortened URLs, then the URL is short and easy to type, but users cannot determine the content or location without clicking

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveease of typing URLVSAvoidability to determine content without clicking

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of operationVSDifficulty of detecting and measuring

Solution Approach 1:

The patent embeds meaningful information directly into the URL path structure, making the content identifiable through its textual composition rather than visual appearance. The path includes domain names, path segments, and ratings that provide information about the destination.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #32Color changes

3Extent of automation

If users manually obtain and copy shortened URLs from external services, then shortened URLs can be generated, but the process is cumbersome and not integrated into messaging services

Engineering Contradiction:

ImproveURL shortening generationVSAvoidconvenience of URL sharing process

Core Design Contradiction:

Extent of automationVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The patent combines the URL shortening functionality directly within the messaging service interface. The shortening service, user interface, and messaging functionality are merged into a single integrated system, eliminating the need to switch between applications or manually copy-paste URLs.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #5Merging (Combining)

Solution Approach 2:

The messaging service automatically provides URL shortening capabilities to its users without requiring them to use external services. The system offers shortened URL candidates directly within the composition interface, allowing users to select and use them immediately.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

4Ease of manufacture

If users are forced to manually type and request shortened URLs, then shortened URLs can be obtained, but the process becomes time-consuming and complex

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveprocess of obtaining shortened URLVSAvoidtime to obtain shortened URL

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of manufactureVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The system pre-generates multiple shortened URL candidates with different information content before the user needs to share the link. These candidates are prepared in advance and presented to the user for selection, eliminating the need for manual typing or iterative requests.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system provides feedback to the user by displaying multiple shortened URL candidates with different levels of information inclusion. This allows the user to see the trade-offs between URL length and information content and make an informed selection.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

Data Source

PatentUS8281232B2Integrated adaptive URL-shortening functionality

Publication Date: 2012.10.02 R2 SOLUTIONS LLC

AI summary

To provide a shortened version of a link that conveys useful information about the link's associated content, embodiments of the invention generate a shortened version of the link that comprises meaningful information about the original link. For example, in some embodiments such information includes portions of the link itself, such as domain and/or path components of the link's address text, content to which the link points, such as the text of a web page or other document referenced by the link's address text, or a rating of the content to which the link points. Thus, rather than generating an essentially random link, embodiments of the invention adaptively generate the shortened link to take into account the information about the link. Consequently, a user viewing the adaptively-generated shortened link can determine useful information about the content to which the shortened link leads based on the text of the shortened link itself.