Patent ID: 7953820

Claim:
A method for retrieving content from a web server that is upstream over a communication network from a browser application and a downstream proxy, the method comprising: receiving a request, at the downstream proxy, from the browser application for the content in the web server; modifying the request to specify support of a parse and pre-fetch function, the request being modified in a manner so as to permit handling of the modified request directly by the web server in absence of an upstream-proxy, upstream over the communication network for handling the modified request for the web server; forwarding the modified request over a communication link of the communication network to the web server, wherein the upstream proxy, if present, intercepts the modified request and, in response to the specified support of the parse and pre-fetch function, executes the parse and pre-fetch function, whereby the upstream proxy pre-fetches at least a portion of the content from the web server; and selectively receiving the content from the upstream proxy over the communication link and forwarding the content to the browser application, and wherein, pursuant to the parse and pre-fetch function, the upstream proxy retrieves an initial portion of the content from the web server, and parses the retrieved initial content, and wherein the pre-fetched portion of the content is based at least in part on the parsed initial content.