Recommending Or Suggesting Search Terms And Queries Patents (Class 707/767)
  • Patent number: 9002887
    Abstract: An external traffic advertisement system is provided that generates advertisement sets based on analysis of visits to a web site that were referred by an external source. The advertisement system aggregates the referral information for each referral type. A referral type may be defined by one or more of keyword text derived from the query text of the referrals, landing page type, external source, product identifier, and so on. The advertisement system may, for each referral type, aggregate the total revenue from the visits of that referral type and may generate a count of the number of converting visits for that referral type. The advertisement system then identifies those referral types whose aggregated information satisfies an advertisement criterion and generates an advertisement set for each identified referral type with a keyword derived from keyword text and with a link based on the landing page type of the referral type.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2007
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2015
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Eric Alfred Herrmann, Stephan G. Betz, Joel Andrew Shapiro
  • Patent number: 9002874
    Abstract: In various example embodiments, systems and methods to provide sizing content recommendations are provided. An image of a user is received. The image includes a standard-sized marker. In response, sizing data for the user is determined using the image of the user that includes the standard-sized marker. Using the sizing data, a search is performed to determine items matching the sizing data. The matching items are presented to the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2015
    Assignee: eBay Inc.
    Inventors: Steve Yankovich, Ryan Melcher, Ganga Muthyala
  • Patent number: 8996560
    Abstract: Information may be presented to a user by receiving a selection of one or more terms passively displayed in a document, loading the terms to a search configuration, generating first results responsive to a user's predicted interest as expressed in the search configuration, and enabling display of the first results.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 31, 2015
    Assignee: Facebook, Inc.
    Inventor: Lara Mehanna
  • Patent number: 8996530
    Abstract: Users receive content recommendations from a personalized, generalized recommendation service that aggregates and selects content of high personal relevance to each individual user from a large pool of both personal and public content. The received content is filtered and the content determined to be relevant is cached. When a user request for content is received, the cached content is rescored and the content determined to be most relevant based on satisfaction of a relevance threshold is selected and forwarded to the user. Feedback methodologies are also implemented so that a user's actions are taken into consideration in real time and can affect subsequent recommendations to the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 31, 2015
    Assignee: Yahoo! Inc.
    Inventors: Chris LuVogt, Bruce Robbins, Vu B. Nguyen, Deepa Mahalingam
  • Publication number: 20150088921
    Abstract: A user may submit a search query to a search engine, which may process the search query and generate a set of results. Previous actions of the user or of other users may be used to identify recommended search queries. The recommended search queries may be presented to the user along with the search results for the query. The location of the recommended search queries may be fixed, set by the user, or determined on a query-by-query basis. A user interface element operable to cause the presentation of one or more recommended search queries may be presented after a delay. After an additional or independent delay, the recommended search queries may be presented automatically. The delays may be fixed, set by the user, or determined on a query-by-query basis.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 7, 2014
    Publication date: March 26, 2015
    Applicant: EBAY INC.
    Inventors: Manas Haribhai Somaiya, Rabi Chakraborty, Nirveek De, Akshata Baliga, Corey Demarco, Jian Xu, Sudeep Dasgupta, Meenal Varshney, Ganesh Gopalakrishnan, Dennis Marshall
  • Patent number: 8990182
    Abstract: Some embodiments relate to performing a search for content via the Internet, wherein user input specifying a search query is supplied to a mobile communications device, such as, for example, a smartphone. The mobile communications device separately issues the search query to a plurality of search engines and can receive the results from each search engine and display the results to the user. Thus, the user does not have to separately issue the query to each of the plurality of search engines.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 26, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2015
    Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc.
    Inventors: Vladimir Sejnoha, Gunnar Evermann, Marc W. Regan, Stephen W. Laverty
  • Patent number: 8990242
    Abstract: Methods and computer-storage media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that facilitate determining enhanced query suggestions are provided. A plurality of query suggestions responsive to a user query are received. Items of data corresponding to the query suggestions are received. Based on the received query suggestions and the received items of data, enhanced query suggestions are determined. In embodiments, an enhanced query suggestion includes one or more items of data related to a respective query suggestion. A user may select at least a portion of an enhanced query suggestion. In embodiments, selection of a portion of an enhanced query suggestion provides additional information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 15, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2015
    Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Asad Mohiuddin, Glen Joseph Fernandes, Hussein Mohamed Mehanna, Tabreez Govani, Ashwin Satyanarayana, Xin Liu
  • Patent number: 8990241
    Abstract: Systems and methods for identifying candidate queries related to a trending topic based on a user query are described. A trending topic identification module identifies topics trending in one or more real-time content sources. The real-time content source(s) may include, for example, a source of microblog posts or other user-generated data, a news feed, or the like. A query recommendation module suggests at least one candidate query in response to receiving a user query. The query recommendation module obtains the at least one candidate query by comparing words and named entities of the user query with words and named entities associated with the trending topics identified by the trending topic identification module.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2015
    Assignee: Yahoo! Inc.
    Inventors: Huming Wu, Siva Gurumurthy, Hang Su
  • Patent number: 8983995
    Abstract: Systems, methods and computer-storage media are provided for identifying query formulation suggestions in response to receiving a search query. A portion of a search query is received. Query formulation suggestions are identified by semantically analyzing the search query. The query formulation suggestions are used to further formulate the received search query. The query formulation suggestions include semantic-pattern-based query suggestions that are derived from semantic query patterns, one or more entities, and information associated with these entities. The query formulation suggestions are transmitted for presentation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2015
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Bo-June Hsu, Kuansan Wang, Yu-Ting Kuo, Chao-Chia Liu, Heung-Yeung Shum, Cornelia Carapcea, Yusuf Furkan Fidan, Lawrence William Colagiovanni, Arun Sacheti
  • Patent number: 8983996
    Abstract: Example systems, methods, apparatuses, or articles of manufacture, etc. are disclosed in connection with assisted search results.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2015
    Assignee: Yahoo! Inc.
    Inventors: Larry Lai, Emre Velipasaoglu, David (Ciemo) Ciemiewicz
  • Patent number: 8983999
    Abstract: Embodiments of tokenized search suggestions include generating, by at least one suggestion engine executing on a data processing system, first suggestions based on first text input in a text input field. The first suggestions are displayed on a display device and a selection of one of the first suggestions is received. The first text input is replaced with a first token corresponding to the selected one of the first suggestions. The at least one suggestion engine generates second suggestions based on second text input in the text input field and filters the second suggestions using the selected one of the first suggestions. The filtered selections are displayed on a display device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2015
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Wayne R. Loofbourrow, Julien Robert, Alexandre Moha, Olivier Bonnet, Simon I. Bovet, Stephen Frederick Decker, Brendan John Langoulant, Julien Jacques Jalon
  • Patent number: 8983997
    Abstract: There is provided an information processing apparatus including a setting unit that sets a search character string, a searching unit that searches information including the set search character string, and a determining unit that extracts a co-occurrence character string candidate group other than partial character strings appearing as only a part of other partial character strings, among all partial character strings appearing in a plurality of pieces of the information obtained as a search result, and determines a co-occurrence character string from the co-occurrence character string candidate group, on the basis of the extracted co-occurrence character string candidate group and kinds of characters used in characters before and after the co-occurrence character string candidate group.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 11, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2015
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Takuya Fujita, Mitsuhiro Miyazaki, Takehiro Hagiwara, Takahito Migita, Hiroyuki Masuda, Katsuyoshi Kanemoto, Masahiro Morita
  • Patent number: 8983998
    Abstract: Various aspects of the subject technology relate to systems, methods, and machine-readable media for prioritizing points of interest. A system is configured to receive a plurality of points of interest (POIs) selected for a user, identify at least one point of interest in the plurality of POIs that has been assigned a rating by a linker entity that is associated with a first geographic region that is associated with the user and a second geographic region that is not associated with the user, prioritize the at least one identified point of interest, and select, based on the prioritizing, a subset of the plurality of POIs to be presented to the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2015
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventor: Stephen Timothy Spence
  • Publication number: 20150074137
    Abstract: A search query portion is received. A plurality of suggested search queries is identified based on the search query portion. Feature values are determined for each of the plurality of suggested search queries based on a feature display preference. A heat map of the suggested search queries is transmitted to a client computer system. The heat map contains a plurality of blocks visually representing the plurality of suggested search queries and the determined feature values.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 6, 2013
    Publication date: March 12, 2015
    Applicant: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Billy W. Chang, Sarbajit K. Rakshit
  • Publication number: 20150074138
    Abstract: A search system for providing a vertical service connection includes a search word completing unit configured to determine, upon receiving a search word from a user terminal, at least one auto-complete search word corresponding to a currently input search word; a search word matching unit configured to match the at least one auto-complete search word with a vertical service; a display unit configured to cause the display of the at least one auto-complete search word and a vertical service icon; and a vertical service searching unit configured to provide, upon receiving a selection signal indicating selection of the vertical service icon, results of searching content included in the matched vertical service for the at least one auto-complete search word.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 9, 2014
    Publication date: March 12, 2015
    Inventors: Chan Woo NAM, Chan Il KIM, Hyun Soo KIM
  • Patent number: 8977640
    Abstract: A method of processing a supply query is described. The method includes receiving a first supply query comprising a first set of attributes. A size of the first set of attributes is compared to a threshold value. A second supply query comprising a second set of attributes is generated when the comparison indicates that the size of the first set of attributes is greater than the threshold value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 10, 2015
    Assignee: Yahoo! Inc.
    Inventors: Ramana Yerneni, Saurabh Sodani, Jayanth Anandaram
  • Patent number: 8977641
    Abstract: Techniques include: receiving a first search query from a user; determining a topic associated with the first search query; sending a second search query to the user, where the second search query is associated with the topic and is different from the first search query; receiving a selection of the second search query from the user; and, when the second search query has been received from other users more than a specified number of times within a time window, sending an invitation to the user. The invitation may be for inviting participation in an online social group that includes others who have sent the second query to the server system within the time window. The invitation can be for inviting participation in an online social group including other users (e.g., members of a social network) who have sent the second query to the server system within the time window.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 10, 2015
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventors: Daniel M. Crichton, Frances B. Haugen
  • Patent number: 8977642
    Abstract: A method and system for recommending relevant and personalized content retrieving keywords to users of a text messaging service (TMS) based content platform. Embodiments of the invention provide a discovery mechanism for introducing registered keywords identifying published information in the TMS based content platform that may be of interest to the user. In particular, the solution is hybrid in nature combining various sources of recommendations (e.g., based on past usage patterns, emerging trends, expert suggestions, etc.) to select recommended keywords. Based on this keyword discovery/recommendation mechanism, users with a basic phone and without smartphone data plans can discover contents through a TMS based content platform.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 10, 2015
    Assignee: Intuit Inc.
    Inventors: Samit Paul, Gopi Krishnan Nambiar, Srividhya Ramarathnam, Vishal Singh
  • Patent number: 8972435
    Abstract: Query suggestions are generated based on a Breadth-First-Search having a configurable decaying radius. A computer system receives an initial set of semantically similar queries. The computer system expands the set to include related terms. The set of related terms is included in the initial set. The expansion process is repeated for each query or related term in the set. The radius may be reduced for each subsequent related term added to the query. The process may stop when the radius reaches a specified threshold, e.g., a predetermined number of queries or terms for the set is reached. The set includes the related terms and search queries. The set may be used for, among other things, suggesting related terms to a researcher, improving search engine performance, or selecting appropriate advertisements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2015
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Marcelo De Barros, Manish Mittal
  • Publication number: 20150058373
    Abstract: A method may provide an agent service to a user terminal by including receiving a user instruction from the user terminal, determining whether at least one agent reply to at least one keyword included in the user instruction is able to be searched for in a database, providing at least one suggestive query to the user terminal to allow a search for the at least one agent reply, receiving at least one set of additional information with respect to the at least one suggestive query from the user terminal, and providing the at least one agent reply to the user terminal based on the at least one set of additional information.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 21, 2014
    Publication date: February 26, 2015
    Inventors: Jee Won AHN, Nam Kyu Kang, Dong Kuk Park, Sung Woo Park
  • Patent number: 8959105
    Abstract: In various example embodiments, systems and methods to mine product recommendations from query reformulation is provided. In example embodiments, a search query is mapped to a particular product. Transition data for the particular product is accessed. The transition data includes values reflecting a number of search transitions between the particular product and other products in session sets of previous queries. One or more recommendations based on the transition data is determined and provided to the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 20, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 17, 2015
    Assignee: eBay Inc.
    Inventor: Ravi Chandra Jammalamadaka
  • Publication number: 20150046422
    Abstract: A set of ordered predicted completion strings including strings of ideographs are presented to a user as the user enters text in a text entry box (e.g., a browser or a toolbar). The user entered text may include zero or more ideographs followed by one or more phonetic characters, or the entered text may be one or more. The predicted completion strings can be in the form of URLs or query strings. The ordering may be based on any number of factors (e.g., a query's frequency of submission from a community of users). URLs can be ranked based on an importance value of the URL. The sets of ordered predicted completion strings are obtained by matching a fingerprint value of the user's entry string to a fingerprint to table map which contains the set of ordered predicted completion strings. The generation of the ordered prediction strings takes into account multiple phonetic representations of certain strings of ideographs.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 27, 2014
    Publication date: February 12, 2015
    Inventor: Kevin A. Gibbs
  • Patent number: 8954466
    Abstract: Methods and arrangements for generating exploratory search results. A first search query is accepted in a browsing session, and first search result set is derived, comprising at least one search result from the first search query. A second search query is predicted, and a second search result set is derived, comprising at least one search result from the second search query. A final search result set is yielded via combining the first search result set and the second search result set.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 10, 2015
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Nitendra Rajput, Shrey Sahay
  • Patent number: 8954465
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus related to processing of at least one descriptive term of a query to obtain at least one query suggestion for a query. A descriptive term may be identified in a partial search query. A modified partial query suggestion request for the partial search query may be transmitted that omits the descriptive term. At least one query suggestion result for the modified partial query suggestion request may be received and the descriptive term reinserted into the query suggestion result.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 22, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 10, 2015
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventors: Lev Finkelstein, Artiom Myaskouvskey, Alexandru Marius Pasca
  • Patent number: 8954463
    Abstract: Methods and arrangements for generating exploratory search results. A first search query is accepted in a browsing session, and first search result set is derived, comprising at least one search result from the first search query. A second search query is predicted, and a second search result set is derived, comprising at least one search result from the second search query. A final search result set is yielded via combining the first search result set and the second search result set.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 29, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 10, 2015
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Nitendra Rajput, Shrey Sahay
  • Patent number: 8954429
    Abstract: Implementing query classification includes receiving a core term from a search query responsive to execution of a first module. The first module searches a table for the core term and yields a first result. The query classification also includes receiving a second result from the search query responsive to execution of a second module. The second module searches an index of terms that are mapped to documents and corresponding categories in the index. The second result is indicative of one of the corresponding categories in the index based on a probability score. Upon determining the first result is a category associated with the core term in the table, the query classification also includes calculating a weighted average for the first result and the second result. The calculation yields a third result. The query classification further includes transmitting the third result to a computer device that generated the query.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 10, 2015
    Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I, L.P.
    Inventors: Ritesh Jitendra Agrawal, Irwin King, Remi Zajac
  • Patent number: 8954462
    Abstract: A system and method for suggesting search terms is described. The method includes receiving a search term from a client at a first time and generating one or more suggested search terms to the client based on the analysis of elapsed time data between the first time and a prior time of receiving a prior search terms. The method further includes sending the suggested search terms to the client.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2009
    Date of Patent: February 10, 2015
    Assignee: Red Hat, Inc.
    Inventor: James Paul Schneider
  • Publication number: 20150039644
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for recommending and/or optimizing a presentation of content as a function of activity related to consumed content, and more particularly to analysis of content and related data as a criteria for forming specific playlists based on a larger selection of content, and arranging the order of content within a playlist to form, for example, personalized, curated collections of content (e.g., curated “playlists”). According to some examples, a flow includes receiving, at a processor, a request for a list identifying audio content items, and accessing consumption data indicative of audio content consumed by one or more media devices associated with a user. The flow can also include identifying one or more lists identifying subsets of audio content items, determining an order of presentation, and providing the processor with data representing the one or more modified lists responsive to the request.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 5, 2014
    Publication date: February 5, 2015
    Applicant: AliphCom
    Inventor: Mehul A. Trivedi
  • Patent number: 8949265
    Abstract: In various example embodiments, a system and method to provide query linguistic service is provided. An initial query term set is received. Phrase recognition is performed on the initial query term set to determine recognized phrases. Using the determined recognized phrases, one or more synonyms for each of the recognized phrases are determined. Results matching the initial query term set and any selected synonyms from the determined one or more synonyms are determined.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 3, 2015
    Assignee: eBay Inc.
    Inventors: Karin Mauge′, Radoslav Valentinov Petranov, Jean-David Ruvini, Antoniya T. Statelova, Neelakantan Sundaresan
  • Patent number: 8943070
    Abstract: Embodiments of the invention relate to techniques for personalized tag recommendation for enterprise social bookmarking systems. According to one embodiment of the invention, a method comprises computing at least one set of candidate tags for a document in accordance with at least one factor, and combining the at least one set of candidate tags from different factors into an overall recommendation list of candidate tags. At least one suggested tag from the overall recommendation list is returned as a result of the combination. At least one applied tag that is applied to the document by a user of a computer system is recorded, and the combination is adjusted based on the at least one applied tag.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 16, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 27, 2015
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Hongxia Jin, Qihua Wang
  • Patent number: 8943089
    Abstract: Techniques and systems for facilitating searching of digital media assets are disclosed. In one embodiment, a user can be assisted in entering search strings for searching a media repository (e.g., online media store) having a plurality of digital media assets that are available, e.g., available for purchase. When the user enters a search character, a list of possible complete search strings corresponding to digital media assets available in the media repository can be obtained over a network and presented to the user. The list of possible search strings can be filtered based on whether a client device supports a media type associated with a word or based on a location of the client device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 27, 2015
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventor: Christopher Volkert
  • Patent number: 8938465
    Abstract: A method and system for providing access to content on an electronic device is provided. One embodiment includes receiving contextual information and querying a packaged content source for content related to the contextual information. Available content relating to the contextual information from the packaged content source is then indicated for user access.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 20, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 20, 2015
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Alan Messer
  • Patent number: 8935271
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a method includes receiving a search query requesting first search results of a first object type. The search query includes an inner query requesting second search results of a second object type. The method includes accessing an inverted index of a data store corresponding to the second object type; retrieving the second search results requested by the inner query using the inverted index of the data store corresponding to the second object type; accessing a forward index of the data store corresponding to the second object type; retrieving the first search results requested by the search query using the second search results and the forward index of the data store corresponding to the second object type.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 13, 2015
    Assignee: Facebook, Inc.
    Inventors: Soren Bogh Lassen, Sandhya Kunnatur, Michael Curtiss
  • Patent number: 8930393
    Abstract: Computer-implemented methods for providing suggestions for a search based on previously viewed content are provided. In one aspect, a method includes receiving information on previously viewed content, and receiving a request to enter a query into a search field subsequent to receiving the information on the previously viewed content. The method also includes identifying, based on the content, at least one entity referred to in the content, and providing an identifier of the at least one entity for display with the search field. Systems and machine-readable storage media are also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 6, 2015
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventors: Paul Nordstrom, Casey Stuart Whitelaw
  • Patent number: 8930392
    Abstract: A system and method for generating suggestions to a user using simulated annealing is disclosed. The system includes a user activity processing unit, a recommendation engine, a ranking engine and a simulated annealing engine. The user activity processing unit receives user activities and generates user interests. The simulated annealing engine generates a temperature to control how far to stray from highly relevant suggestions. The recommendation engine generates a query for content and generates at least one suggestion for the user from received content. The ranking engine ranks the at least one suggestion based on a recency of user interests, frequency of actions associated with the user interests and social affinity of the user to other users that generated any of the at least one suggestions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 6, 2015
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventor: Jerrold Leichter
  • Publication number: 20150006565
    Abstract: Provided are a computer program product for generating suggestions for an input string. A determination is made of strings in a user selected data source having at least a substring matching an input string, from a computer implemented user interface, comprising at least one character for use by a computer implemented process. The determined strings are provided to the user interface and selection is received of one of the determined strings from the user interface to provide to the computer implemented process.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 17, 2014
    Publication date: January 1, 2015
    Inventors: Billy W. Chang, Sarbajit K. Rakshit
  • Publication number: 20150006566
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a method includes accessing a social graph that includes a plurality of nodes and edges, receiving an unstructured text query comprising an ambiguous n-gram, identifying nodes and edges that correspond to the ambiguous n-gram, generating a first set of structured queries corresponding to the identified second nodes and edges, receiving from the first user a selection of a first structured query form the first set, and generating a second set of structured queries based on the selected first structured query.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 18, 2014
    Publication date: January 1, 2015
    Inventors: Yofay Kari Lee, Keith L. Peiris, William R. Maschmeyer, Lars Eilstrup Rasmussen, Joshua Keith Duck
  • Publication number: 20150006564
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus related to associating a task with a user based on the user selecting a task suggestion that is provided to the user in response to a user query. In some implementations, the task may be identified based on similarities between the words and/or phrases of the user query and a task suggestion that is associated with a task. In some implementations, the task may be identified based on user data associated with the user. In some implementations, the task may be associated with additional information related to completing the task.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 28, 2013
    Publication date: January 1, 2015
    Applicant: Google Inc.
    Inventors: Andrew Tomkins, Tristan Harris, Can Sar, Angelo DiNardi
  • Patent number: 8924890
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for a dynamic glyph based search includes an image server. The image server analyzes images to determine the content of an image. The image and data related to the determined content of the image are stored in an image database. A user can access the image server and search images using search glyphs. In response to selection of a generic-search glyph, the image server finds related images in the image database and the images are displayed to the user. In addition, refine-search glyphs are displayed to a user based on the selected generic-search glyph. One or more refine-search glyphs can be selected by a user to further narrow a search to specific people, locations, objects, and other image content.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 10, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 30, 2014
    Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I, L.P.
    Inventors: Lee Begeja, Robert J. Andres, David C. Gibbon, Steven Neil Tischer
  • Patent number: 8924409
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatuses, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for optimizing search engine user input selection are disclosed. In one embodiment a user may input a portion of a query term or terms. The method may include receiving a partial query from a user, identifying two or more query suggestions based on the partial query, and determining a probability that each respective complete query suggestion is a query that the user intended to input. The method may also include ranking the two or more query suggestions based on the probability of each respective query suggestion, and determining that a top ranking query suggestion is associated with a probability above a threshold. The method may further include providing for display the two or more query suggestions relative to the partial query, and providing for display, an indication of the top ranking query suggestion among the two or more query suggestions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 30, 2014
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventor: James Roskind
  • Publication number: 20140379745
    Abstract: Search keyword recommendation includes: receiving a set of search keywords input by a user; determining whether the set of search keywords indicate a clearly defined intention by the user, including comparing the set of search keywords with a plurality of predetermined words corresponding to intentions that are not clearly defined; in the event that the set of search keywords are determined not to indicate a clearly defined intention, executing a first recommendation method to obtain recommended search keywords; wherein: the first recommendation method is selected among a plurality of recommendation methods; and the first recommendation method includes a knowledge-based recommendation method, a session correlation-based method, or a combination.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 24, 2014
    Publication date: December 25, 2014
    Inventors: Li Zhu, Xiaocong Zhu
  • Publication number: 20140379746
    Abstract: The present invention is directed towards a method and system for providing a recommendation set. The method and system includes determining various topic clusters from single topic clusters. The method and system further includes identifying various topic clusters for an identified single topic cluster and providing recommendations from the various topic clusters via web updates.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 8, 2014
    Publication date: December 25, 2014
    Inventors: Liang-Yu (Tom) Chi, Su-Lin Wu
  • Publication number: 20140379744
    Abstract: Systems, methods, and computer storage media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that provide contextual services are provided. Embodiments of the present invention allow an input mechanism to provide contextual services. Exemplary input mechanisms include a keyboard, a gesture interface, and a speech interface. These inputs may be used to provide user input into one or more applications running on a computer. The contextual services provided include composition assistance, grammatical assistance, communication-context assistance, and research assistance. In one embodiment, an input mechanism (“IME”) program provides the contextual service. The IME program may work with a remote contextual-service provider. The IME program communicates user input and contextual information to the contextual-service provider. The contextual-service provider analyzes the input and contextual information to determine whether one or more contextual services should be provided.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 20, 2013
    Publication date: December 25, 2014
    Inventors: YU-TING KUO, ANTONIO GULLI, KUANSAN WANG
  • Patent number: 8918418
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a method includes accessing a social graph that includes a plurality of nodes and edges, identifying a nodes corresponding to a page currently accessed by a first user, generating one or more structured queries, where each structured query comprises a reference to the identified node and one or more edges that are connected to the identified node, and transmitting one or more of the structured queries to the first user for display on the page.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 31, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 23, 2014
    Assignee: Facebook, Inc.
    Inventors: Yofay Kari Lee, Keith L. Peiris, William R. Maschmeyer, Lars Eilstrup Rasmussen, Aaron Sittig, Craig S. Campbell
  • Patent number: 8914397
    Abstract: Tagging of resources in order to associate them is described. In an embodiment it is possible to assign tags to resources or switch between resources with different tags, in the context of current work being undertaken by a user. For example, from a single application window that is currently used, a user is able to switch to other resources by tag in an embodiment. Different embodiments illustrate how tags may have multiple purposes and those purposes may evolve thus enabling associated resources to be exposed in different ways. In some embodiments rich metadata about tag usage and/or the use of resource associated with a tag is stored and used to provide additional functionality. Examples are described in which persistence of resources associated with tags is provided and may involve representation of resources such as by duplication of files or by creating alternative representations of resources.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2008
    Date of Patent: December 16, 2014
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Natasa Milic-Frayling, Gavin Smyth, Eduarda Mendes Rodrigues, Gabriella Kazai
  • Patent number: 8914398
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for an automated keyword refinement tool for generating an output set of keywords. The keyword refinement tool may utilize or incorporate results from keyword suggestion tools and keyword ranking tools in order to determine a set of keywords that produce better search engine results that if the keyword suggestion tools or keyword ranking tools were utilized individually. The keyword refinement tool may use a variety of methods for determining input to keyword suggestions tools and keyword ranking tools and a variety of methods for combining the results from the keyword suggestion tools and keyword ranking tools.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 16, 2014
    Assignee: Adobe Systems Incorporated
    Inventors: Daniel A. McCallum, Jason A. Carter, Darren R. Noble, Adam I. Stevenson, Roy Gray Merrill
  • Patent number: 8914399
    Abstract: This disclosure describes systems and associated processes for generating recommendations for users based on usage, among other things. These systems and processes are described in the context of an interactive computing system that enables users to download applications for mobile devices (such as phones) or for other computing devices. Users' interactions with applications once they are downloaded can be observed and tracked, with such usage data being collected and provided to the interactive computing system. The interactive computing system can include a recommendation system or service that processes the usage data from a plurality of users to detect usage patterns. Using these usage patterns, among possibly other data, the recommendation system can recommend applications to users for download.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 16, 2014
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Ameesh Paleja, Mekka C. Okereke, Matthew A. Jones
  • Publication number: 20140359519
    Abstract: Various embodiments provide a web platform, e.g., a web browser, which is designed to facilitate user access to websites in a quick and efficient manner. The web platform includes an address bar and, as keystrokes are entered into the address bar, a user interface container is populated with relevant suggestions from a combination of various data sources based on matching character input. Data sources can include a user's browsing history, favorites, and domain suggestions from a remote source, such as a service provider.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 31, 2013
    Publication date: December 4, 2014
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Kevin Y. Luu, Sean Lyndersay, Alexandra M. Feldman, Martin J. Hall, Zachary J. Shallcross, Anthony G. Amatino, Daniel Bernhardt, Ambarish Chitnis, Robert E. Kolba, JR., John B. Bravenec, Jatinder Singh Mann, Swathi Ganapathi
  • Publication number: 20140358957
    Abstract: Provided are a computer program product for generating suggestions for an input string. A determination is made of strings in a user selected data source having at least a substring matching an input string, from a computer implemented user interface, comprising at least one character for use by a computer implemented process. The determined strings are provided to the user interface and selection is received of one of the determined strings from the user interface to provide to the computer implemented process.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 31, 2013
    Publication date: December 4, 2014
    Inventors: Billy W. Chang, Sarbajit K. Rakshit
  • Patent number: 8903844
    Abstract: Methods and arrangements for providing interactive query suggestions. A partial user query phrase is received, the partial query phrase comprising a final word element. A vocabulary is accessed and, from the vocabulary, at least one possible completion of the final word element is ascertained. A phrase index is accessed and, from the phrase index, at least two phrases corresponding to completions of the partial user query phrase with the at least one possible completion of the final word element are ascertained. A probability score is assigned to each of the at least two phrases, and the at least two phrases are ranked based on probability.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 2, 2014
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Sumit Bhatia, Debapriyo Majumdar, Karthik Visweswariah