fig1 shows a conventional search box 102 along with example auto complete options 104 . as shown in fig1 , “ new jersey ” has been entered into the search box 102 . a user may select the search button 108 or one of the auto complete options 104 to have the corresponding search be performed . with conventional search boxes , such as search box 102 of fig1 , once a search has been performed there is no way to return to the probable search terms , such probable search terms 104 shown in fig1 . for example , if the user were to click the back button in their browser , they would be presented with an empty search box . therefore , a need exists to provide a preview of the search that would be returned if the user were to select one of the probable search terms . to conserve bandwidth and screen space , a method and system is disclosed to allow a user to preview search results for particular probable search terms . advantageously , a preview can be viewed and discarded without requiring a new full search or navigation through the search results . this conserves bandwidth and provides for efficient searching in bandwidth constrained environments . an example search box 202 that utilizes an auto - complete result preview feature is shown in fig2 . in addition to search box 202 , a list of probable search terms 204 is provided . in the embodiment of fig2 , next to each of the probable search terms 204 is a preview button 210 . similar to a conventional auto - complete feature , such as that shown in fig1 , a list of popular searches is shown to the user . clicking on any of the auto - complete results , for example result 206 , will generate a search result page for that query . for example , selecting “ new jersey lottery ” will generate a full search result for those search terms . however , if the preview button 210 next to an auto - complete option is selected , a preview search or sample search is displayed which includes the top search results for the search terms , as described in more detail below in reference to fig3 . in an example scenario , as shown in fig2 , “ new jersey natural gas ” auto - complete option 206 is selected . in this example , selecting the auto - complete option for “ new jersey natural gas ” will return a search result for that search term . selecting the preview for the “ new jersey natural gas ” auto - complete option generates a preview or sampler of the search result . referring now to fig3 , a search box 302 displays a sample search preview 304 of a search term from the list of probable search terms 204 shown in fig2 . as shown in fig3 , the search term in this example is “ new jersey natural gas ” autocomplete option 206 , as selected in the example described above in reference to fig2 . in fig3 , however , a sample search preview 304 is shown for the terms “ new jersey natural gas .” in this example , the top results for the search term “ new jersey natural gas ” are shown in sample search preview 304 . if the user selects the run search button 310 , a full search for “ new jersey natural gas ” ( i . e ., the previewed search term ) is executed and the search results page is displayed . in contrast , if the search button 308 is selected , a full search is run for “ new jersey ” ( i . e ., the search terms actually entered by the user into search box 302 ). if , however , one of the preview results is selected , e . g . the preview result 306 for new jersey natural gas as selected in fig3 , the web page corresponding to that preview result is displayed in the browser window . if the close button 314 is selected the probable search terms are redisplayed as shown in fig2 . once a user has requested a full search and has been taken to the results page , he or she may decide that the search they requested was not the best search after all . a second aspect of the search sample is the “ backslide ” button 312 , 406 found on the search sample and the search results page , as shown in fig3 and 4 a - 4 b . when this button is clicked , the contents of the search box at the top of the page are returned to a previous state . an example scenario is illustrated in fig4 a - 4b . in this scenario , the results page is shown in fig4 a . for simplicity and clarity , the actual results are omitted and only the search box 402 is shown . if the user selected an auto - complete result , the contents are returned to how they appeared before the user selected an auto - complete option . for example , if the full search for “ new jersey natural gas ” auto - complete option 206 is selected in the example given above in reference to fig2 , the full search results for “ new jersey natural gas ” would be displayed . selecting backslide 406 will return the search box 402 to “ new jersey ” showing the probable search terms 408 , as shown in fig4 b . alternatively , the full results for “ new jersey natural gas ” may also be generated by selecting the run search button 310 on a search sample , such as that shown in fig3 . selecting backslide 406 in this circumstance will again return the search box 402 to “ new jersey ” showing the search preview options 408 . in another scenario and referring again to fig3 , selecting backslide 312 would display autocomplete results like that in fig4 b , but for the partial search terms “ new jersey natural .” referring now to fig5 , a flow chart depicting process 500 is shown . in step 502 , a user begins entering search terms . in step 504 , the system receives a partial search term request from the user / client . in step 506 , the system compares partial search terms against a data base of common search terms to compute the top most probable search terms . for auto - complete functionality , the system determines , in step 508 , whether any results were found in the database . if no results were found ( 508 : no ), then the system prepares a statement that no search terms were found , in step 510 . in step 514 , the statement is returned to the user . alternatively , if results are found ( 508 : yes ), then the system prepares , in step 512 , a list of probable search terms that include a link to the search page of each search term as well as a link to a sample search of each search term . in an embodiment , e . g . fig2 , the link to the sample search is provided through a “ preview ” button embedded in the auto - complete results . in step 514 , the list is returned to the user . as noted above , the list may contain a link to a sample search for each returned search term . in an example , if a user would like to see a sample of a search that would be returned upon selection of that search term , the user may select the preview or search sample . referring now to fig6 , a user selects a preview search 602 . the system retrieves the top results for the search term for which the sample is requested 604 . the system determines , in step 606 , whether any results are found for the sample search . if not ( 606 : no ), the system prepares a statement that no search results are found , similar to that in step 608 . one of ordinary skill will note that this would be unlikely since an auto - complete search term was used for the search sample input , however , it is possible that no results will be returned . alternatively , if results are found ( 606 : yes ), the system prepares a list of the best search results in step 610 and returns the results to the user 612 . the user may select a run search link 614 , a backslide link 618 , or a close link 622 . if the user selects the run search link ( 614 : yes ), a search is executed based on the selected probable search term for which the preview search is displayed 616 . in the example shown in fig3 , the full search would be run on “ new jersey natural gas .” if the user selects the backslide link ( 618 : yes ), the rightmost term of the selected probable search term is removed and a new list of autocompletes , for the previously selected probable search terms with the rightmost term removed , is provided 620 . if the user selects the close link ( 622 : yes ), the probable search terms from the previous list are redisplayed 624 . referring now to fig7 , a diagram is provided that illustrates an exemplary interaction between the user and the search sampler system . as shown in the diagram , when the user types a search , the search terms are transmitted from the user to the system in or near real - time 702 . one of ordinary skill will note that the transmission may be to a remote system ( e . g . a web - server ) or may be to a local process on the same machine as the user ( e . g . an application running on the user &# 39 ; s computer ). the embodiments are not limited in this regard . after the search terms are transmitted , the system compares the search terms to a database of popular search terms . the probable search terms are then presented to the user 704 . a number of options are available to the user at this point . for example , a user may select a probable search term for a full search or search sample of a probable search term . in embodiments , a search sample of a probable search term is selected and the appropriate request is transmitted to the system 706 . the system compiles a sample of the best results of a search for the selected search term and returns those best results to the user 708 . the user may now select one of the results in the search sample , thereby opening the result directly . the user may also cancel the search sample and return to the auto - complete results . the user may also request a full search based on the selected search term . the user selects one of the available options and the appropriate request is transmitted to the system 710 . the system generates a page based on the user selection and displays the page 712 . the methods described above advantageously provide substantial bandwidth savings over conventional searching systems . table 1 summarizes experimental results comparing the bandwidth utilization of a typical search using the sample search methods described above , the full search methods , and searching method of conventional search tools . the methods described in this document may , for example , be implemented on a mobile electronic device such as a mobile telephone or smartphone . however , one of ordinary skill in the will recognize that the methods described herein may be implemented on any electronic device that contains electronic circuitry , such one or more processors , computer readable memory and / or media , receiver and transmitter circuitry , one or more antennae , and the like . this disclosure is not limited to the particular systems , devices and methods described , as these may vary . the terminology used in the description is for the purpose of describing the particular versions or embodiments only , and is not intended to limit the scope . as used in this document , the singular forms “ a ,” “ an ,” and “ the ” include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise . unless defined otherwise , all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meanings as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art . nothing in this disclosure is to be construed as an admission that the embodiments described in this disclosure are not entitled to antedate such disclosure by virtue of prior invention . as used in this document , the term “ comprising ” means “ including , but not limited to .” the claims , as originally presented and as they may be amended , encompass variations , alternatives , modifications , improvements , equivalents , and substantial equivalents of the embodiments and teachings disclosed herein , including those that are presently unforeseen or unappreciated , and that , for example , may arise from applicants / patentees and others .