This prefetch scheme has two main components:

1. an adaptive prefetch algorithm, which can be used to obtain files on remote servers before a user requests them, so that the average delay of accessing these files is reduced, and

2. a GUI, which adds icons to each web link on a page that indicate the quality and condition of the link to assist the user in deciding whether to access any particular link.

Earlier prefetching schemes simply prefetch a fixed number of pages or pages above a fixed threshold value. These are not adaptive to network conditions, so there is often no real improvement on system performance.

This new adaptive prefetch scheme predicts how likely it is that a user will request files based on access history. It determines not only which pages are requested, but also from which page the request is initiated. It also assesses the quality of the link based on the network capacity, system load, and takes into account the cost of bandwidth and usage time.

This prefetch scheme can be incorporated into a Web browser, and the techniques may be applied in other caching applications as well.

Reference: UCLA Case No. 1998-616

US Patent Number: 6,385,641