Patent ID: 7467137

Claim:
A client computer operated by a user, where the client computer is programmed to be capable of carrying out the operations of: monitoring input to the client computer that is operated by the user; receiving a search query as input to the client computer, where the search query is entered by the user using an input device associated with the client computer; submitting the search query to a search engine, where the search engine uses the search query to identify a plurality of search documents that may be of interest to the user based on the search query, where the search engine identifies the plurality of search documents from among a large number of documents that may be available to the client computer over a connection providing access to the large number of documents; identifying a first document as a document that the user may wish to display on a display screen associated with the client computer, where the first document is one of the search documents found by the search engine; retrieving information that can be used to display the first document on the display screen, where the information that can be used to display the first document is retrieved over the connection by the client computer from a remote location relative to the client computer, where the information that can be used to display the first document is retrieved after the operation of submitting the search query to the search engine and before the user inputs a request for the first document to be displayed on the display screen associated with the client computer, and where the information that can be used to display the first document is retrieved in anticipation of quickly displaying the first document if the user inputs a request for the first document to be displayed on the display screen; storing the information that can be used to display the first document in local storage associated with the client computer; continuing to monitor input from the user operating the client computer; detecting as input from the user a request for the first document to be displayed on the display screen associated with the client computer; and upon detecting as input from the user a request for the first document to be displayed on the display screen associated with the client computer, displaying the first document on the display screen by accessing the information that can be used to display the first document stored in local storage associated with the client computer so that the first document is displayed for the user on the display screen associated with the client computer more quickly than if the entire first document was retrieved over the network following the user's request for the first document to be displayed.