Client-Side URL Shortener Using Visual Token Indicators
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional URL shortening services result in lengthy and opaque shortened URLs, which are difficult to read and do not provide clear information about the link's content or destination, especially in microblogging platforms where character count is a premium.
Innovation Solution
A client-side URL shortening system that uses special symbols or graphics images as token indicators to create shortened URLs, allowing users to embed links into text messages, emails, or social media posts, while providing additional information about the link's content or destination, and can be implemented on both client and server sides.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Length of moving object
If conventional URL shortening services are used, then the character count is reduced, but the shortened URL becomes opaque and difficult to read
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies visual differentiation by assigning distinct graphical icons to different URL types (e.g., shopping bags for e-commerce, envelopes for email, stars for favorites). These visual markers make shortened URLs immediately recognizable and readable, resolving the opacity problem while maintaining short character count.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intermediary graphical icon that stands between the user and the actual URL. The icon serves as a visual mediator that conveys the URL's purpose without requiring the user to read or remember the full URL string, thus maintaining both brevity and readability.
2Length of moving object
If conventional URL shortening services are used, then the character count is reduced, but the link's content information is lost
Solution Approach 1:
Different graphical icons encode different types of link content (shopping bags for e-commerce, envelopes for email, stars for favorites). This visual encoding preserves the semantic information of the link's purpose within the shortened URL, preventing information loss while maintaining character count reduction.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent adds a visual dimension (graphical icons) to the shortened URL system. By encoding information in the visual domain rather than relying solely on text, the system preserves link content information without increasing the textual character count, effectively using another dimension to carry information.
3Ease of operation
If special symbols and graphics images are used as token indicators, then user recognition is improved, but device compatibility may be reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses simplified graphical icons that are copied from standard emoji sets or commonly available symbol libraries. These icons are chosen specifically because they are widely supported across different devices and platforms, ensuring compatibility while maintaining user recognition. The icons serve as universal visual language that transcends device-specific limitations.
Data Source
AI summary
A uniform resource locator (URL) shortener relies on client-side support to embed links to websites into, for example, text messages, emails, tweets, or other forms of microblogging, and that provides additional capabilities. A method may include: recognizing a token indicator; recognizing a token in conjunction with the token indicator; selecting a template corresponding to the token indicator; and executing a process enabled according to the token and the template. Executing an enabled process may include one or more of: generating a URL; generating a URL that is itself a server-based URL shortener, in which the token indicator is substituted for the server-based URL shortener hostname to reduce the character count from that of the server-based URL shortener; displaying information from a destination website of the URL generated from the token and the template; or generating a URL according to a distinctive visual characteristic of the token indicator.