Server-Side Tracking Reduces Web Redirect Latency
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users accessing resources on the internet often face multiple redirects before reaching the destination server, which can lead to errors, increased latency, and inefficient use of mobile data due to the need for the client device to contact multiple intermediary servers, especially on unreliable wireless networks.
Innovation Solution
A method where servers detect interaction with a digital component, identify the destination server, and redirect the client device directly to it without going through intermediary servers, while pinging these servers with interaction data to ensure reliable communication and reduce the number of redirects, thereby minimizing latency and data usage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the client device follows the traditional redirect path through multiple intermediary servers, then all servers in the redirect chain can receive interaction data, but the latency increases and reliability decreases due to multiple hops over potentially unreliable wireless networks
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a server-side intermediary (the tracking server) that mediates between the client device and the redirect chain. Instead of the client device directly following redirects through multiple intermediary servers, the tracking server intercepts the request, extracts interaction data, pings intermediary servers with this data, and then redirects the client directly to the destination server. This mediator approach resolves the contradiction by centralizing the interaction data collection function, eliminating unnecessary client-side hops through unreliable wireless networks to intermediary servers, thus reducing latency while maintaining reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the redirect process into two independent paths: (1) a fast redirect path for the client device that goes directly from the tracking server to the destination server, and (2) a separate data collection path where the tracking server pings intermediary servers with interaction data. This segmentation allows the client device to bypass unreliable wireless hops to intermediary servers, reducing latency, while still ensuring all servers receive interaction data through the server-side ping mechanism, thus improving reliability.
2Reliability
If the client device contacts multiple intermediary servers through wireless network, then interaction data can be collected by all servers, but mobile data usage increases and reliability decreases due to wireless network unreliability
Solution Approach 1:
The tracking server acts as an intermediary that consolidates interaction data collection. Instead of the client device contacting multiple intermediary servers over the wireless network (which consumes mobile data and reduces reliability), the tracking server extracts interaction data from the client request once, then pings intermediary servers with this data over potentially more reliable server-side connections. This mediator approach reduces mobile data usage while improving reliability by eliminating redundant wireless communications from the client device.
Solution Approach 2:
The tracking server creates a copy of the interaction data and distributes it to multiple intermediary servers through ping requests. Instead of the client device repeatedly transmitting interaction data to multiple servers over the wireless network, the tracking server extracts the interaction data once from the client request and then copies it to all necessary servers. This copying mechanism significantly reduces mobile data usage while ensuring all servers receive the interaction data, thus improving reliability.
3Loss of time
If the server redirects the client device directly to the destination server, then latency is reduced and reliability is improved, but intermediary servers may not receive interaction data
Solution Approach 1:
The tracking server serves as an intermediary that handles both the fast redirect function and the interaction data distribution function. When the client device interacts with a digital component, the tracking server intercepts the request, extracts interaction data, and then pings intermediary servers with this data before redirecting the client directly to the destination server. This mediator approach ensures that latency is reduced through direct redirection while intermediary servers still receive interaction data through the server-side ping mechanism, thus resolving the contradiction between speed and information delivery.
Solution Approach 2:
The tracking server performs preliminary action by extracting interaction data from the client request and pinging intermediary servers with this data before the client device is redirected to the destination server. This preliminary data collection and distribution ensures that all necessary servers receive interaction data in advance, eliminating the need for the client device to subsequently contact intermediary servers. This approach reduces latency while preventing loss of interaction data.
4Adaptability or versatility
If multiple intermediary servers are involved in the redirect chain, then comprehensive tracking can be achieved, but device complexity and network overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
The tracking server acts as a central intermediary that manages interaction data distribution to multiple intermediary servers. Instead of the client device directly navigating a complex redirect chain through multiple intermediary servers, the tracking server intercepts the request, extracts interaction data, and systematically pings all necessary intermediary servers with this data. This mediator approach maintains comprehensive tracking capability while simplifying the client device's role to a single redirect, thus reducing the perceived complexity for the client device while preserving the versatility of multi-server tracking.
Solution Approach 2:
The tracking server performs multiple functions: it acts as the initial redirect server, extracts interaction data, pings multiple intermediary servers with this data, and then redirects the client to the destination server. This multi-functional intermediary consolidates what would otherwise be a complex multi-step process involving the client device and multiple servers into a single server performing multiple operations. This universality maintains comprehensive tracking capability while reducing the complexity of the redirect chain from the client device's perspective.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, systems, and computer readable medium for reducing redirects of a client device are disclosed. A method for directing a user to a destination page includes detecting, by one or more servers, interaction with a digital component at a client device, identifying, by the one or more servers, a different server to which the one or more servers are to redirect the client device and a destination page being requested through the interaction with the digital component, redirecting, by the one or more servers, the client device to a destination page without redirecting the client device to the different server, and pinging, by the one or more servers, the different server with a request that includes interaction data corresponding to the interaction with the digital component.