This application relates to the tracking of user interaction with a stream of content such as user interaction with streaming media. This application also relates to communicating compressed data across a network from a client device running a client-side application (such as web browser). This application also relates to techniques for streaming content via a client-side application, such as techniques for streaming content to a page view displayed by a web browser. Further, this application relates to compressing data associated with streaming content, including content data and user interaction data associated with a stream.
Amongst complex client-side applications and page views of websites, a growing amount of content and data are being rendered and tracked over the Internet. In some instances, the rate of growth in the amount of content and data provided and tracked exceeds the growth rate of bandwidth and communications speed per costs. Contemporary remedies for communicating more data faster usually focus on improving the communications channels. Another remedy is to change the data being communicated so that it is more concise or at least smaller.
One known way to make data more concise or at least smaller is to compress it. For example, it is known and common to compress email attachments to increase the speed in which an email attachment is uploaded for communication via an email, communicated across a network between email servers, and eventually downloaded by a receiving email server and a user that clicks to download the attachment. Because of such demands, compression has evolved throughout the Information Age and progressing information systems have been configured to include data compression for many reasons.
However, contemporary methods and systems for communicating tracked content data and user interaction data over the Internet for analysis, which effectively employ data compression, can be improved. Described herein are example improvements.
Additionally, with regard to delivering content over the Internet, especially through a stream, performance and seamlessness of presenting new content to a user still has hiccups, especially when a user device includes or is connected to a link having limited bandwidth. Described herein are also systems and methods for improving seamlessness in the delivery of content over the Internet and ways to compress that data and associated data for communication to a server, such as a web analytics server.