Patents by Inventor Alex B. Harper

Alex B. Harper has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 9619582
    Abstract: The subject matter of this specification can be implemented in, among other things, a computer-implemented method including receiving a partial query term from a user. The method further includes providing the partial query term to multiple data provider modules. Additionally, the method includes receiving a set of search suggestion items responsive to the partial query term and receiving information identifying a category for each search suggestion item. The method further includes rendering a representation of each search suggestion item, and receiving a user selection identifying one of the search suggestion items from the user interface. And, the method includes rendering a status bar indicating the user selection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 20, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2017
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventors: Gueorgui N. Djabarov, Alex B. Harper, Stuart B. Morgan, David I. MacLachlan, Michael D. Pinkerton, John Nicholas Jitkoff, Ryan C. Tabone
  • Patent number: 8838603
    Abstract: The subject matter of this specification can be implemented in, among other things, a computer-implemented method including receiving a partial query term from a user. The method further includes providing the partial query term to multiple data provider modules. Additionally, the method includes receiving a set of search suggestion items responsive to the partial query term and receiving information identifying a category for each search suggestion item. The method further includes rendering a representation of each search suggestion item, and receiving a user selection identifying one of the search suggestion items from the user interface. And, the method includes rendering a status bar indicating the user selection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 18, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 16, 2014
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventors: Gueorgui N. Djabarov, Alex B. Harper, Stuart B. Morgan, David I. MacLachlan, Michael D. Pinkerton, John Nicholas Jitkoff, Ryan C. Tabone
  • Patent number: 8407249
    Abstract: One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that controls accesses to revisions of documents in the presence of a multi-user permissions and ownership model. During operation, the system receives a request to on behalf of a user to access a revision of a document. If the request is directed to a most-recent revision of an existing document, the system uses the multi-user permissions and ownership model to control access to the revision. Otherwise, if the request is directed to a previous revision of the document, the system grants access to the revision only if the user was the owner of the document at the time of the revision.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 6, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2013
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventors: Michael Pinkerton, Thomas E. Van Lenten, Amanda E. Walker, David MacLachlan, Greg Miller, Alex B. Harper
  • Patent number: 8204897
    Abstract: The subject matter of this specification can be implemented in, among other things, a computer-implemented method including receiving from a user a portion of a query. The method further includes providing the portion of the query to multiple data provider modules nearly simultaneously. The method further includes receiving, from ones of the data provider modules, a set of search suggestion items resulting from searching the data sources, each of the search suggestion items including a rank and a relevance value. The method further includes determining a score for each of the search suggestion items by combining the rank and the relevance value for each of the search suggestion items. The method further includes sorting the search suggestion items using the scores. The method further includes presenting the sorted search suggestion items to the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 19, 2012
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventors: Gueorgui N. Djabarov, Alex B. Harper, Stuart B. Morgan, David I. MacLachlan, Michael D. Pinkerton, John Nicholas Jitkoff, Ryan C. Tabone
  • Patent number: 8019780
    Abstract: One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that controls accesses to revisions of documents in the presence of a multi-user permissions and ownership model. During operation, the system receives a request to on behalf of a user to access a revision of a document. If the request is directed to a most-recent revision of an existing document, the system uses the multi-user permissions and ownership model to control access to the revision. Otherwise, if the request is directed to a previous revision of the document, the system grants access to the revision only if the user was the owner of the document at the time of the revision.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2011
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventors: Michael Pinkerton, Thomas E. Van Lenten, Amanda E. Walker, David MacLachlan, Greg Miller, Alex B. Harper