Apparatus and method for optimizing client-state data storage

A method of minimizing server latency while constructing a personalized client web page according to a client's interests, the personalized web page defined by a set of client content choices contained within a data structure, the data structure possibly containing canonical representations of web page client content choices, where canonical representations of web page client content choices are defined as ASCII character sequences containing name-value pairs, the method comprising:

• storing by a server in the data structure non-canonical compressed representations of client content choices;
• delivering by the server to the client the data structure;
• accepting by the server the data structure from the client;
• identifying by the server a character within the non-canonical compressed representations of client content choices;
• and
• determining the binary representation of the character, the binary representation comprising an ordered string of personalized web page content exclusion and inclusion bits;
• determining for each of plural bits in the ordered string of personalized web page content exclusion and inclusion bits, a client content choice based on a combination of the location of the bit within the binary representation of the character along with whether or not the bit in that location is set;
• sending to the client the personalized web page containing plural content choices determined from the personalized web page content exclusion and inclusion bits.

A method of constructing a cookie data structure for storing a client's preferences, the data structure having plural fields, and each field having plural field entries, each such entry being a client preference exclusion and inclusion bit corresponding to a particular content preference and having a default value, the method comprising:

• ordering the plural fields such that preferences likely to have default values are last stored in the plural fields;
• determining client content preferences;
• and
• storing such preferences in the cookie data structure;
• wherein each field is truncated to remove trailing default values.