Patent ID: 8260800

Claim:
A method for generating, managing, and delivering digital images in a computer networked environment, each digital image for display in a computer application graphical user interface to represent a result of a search for information as performed by a user, the method steps comprising: receiving, from the user's computer application, a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) and at least one display parameter; determining if a first image associated with the URL and having the at least one display parameter is stored in a first database; if the first image is stored in the first database: providing the first image to the application interface for display before the user; if the first image is not stored in the first database: generating a base image associated with the URL and the at least one display parameter; providing the base image to the application interface for display before the user; displaying the one of the first image and the base image provided as part of the digital images representing the result of the search for information; and if the base image associated with the URL cannot be generated according to the URL as provided by the application: (a) truncating the URL; (b) generating the base image associated with the truncated URL; (c) determining if the base image is displayable; and (d) repeating steps (a) through (c) until the URL's file extension is a top level domain (TLD).