Patent ID: 7630970

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving, at a client, user input comprising one or more characters; in response to receiving a most recently received character of the one or more characters, determining whether a first timer is to be set based, at least in part, on what particular character the most recently received character is; in response to a determination that the first timer is to be set, performing the steps of: setting the first timer, wherein the first timer is scheduled to go off after a first time interval; determining whether the first timer goes off prior to receiving a new character of user input; and in response to a determination that the first timer goes off prior to receiving a new character of user input, determining whether to send a request to a server for search results that match a search query that is based on the user input that includes the one or more characters; in response to receiving a new character of user input before the first timer has none off, determining whether a second timer is to be set based, at least in part, on what particular character the new character is; in response to a determination that the second timer is to be set, performing: setting the second timer, wherein the second timer is scheduled to go off after a new time interval; determining whether the second timer goes off prior to receiving a second new character of user input; and in response to a determination that the second timer goes off prior to receiving the second new character of user input, determining whether to send a request to a server for search results that match a search query that is based on the user input that includes the new character; wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.