US Patent 11856048 System and method for deferring data retrieval

A server receives a first hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) from a client device that requests first and second items of content associated with a webpage and applies a defer directive to the second item. The server retrieves, from a database, via a single worker thread, first data associated with the first item and transmits a first message comprising the first data associated with the first item. The server retrieves, from the database, via the worker thread, second data associated with the deferred item and transmits a second message comprising the second data associated with the second item.