External action suggestions in search results

• US 10,049,151 B2
• Filed: 01/26/2016
• Issued: 08/14/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/14/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Civelli, Jay Pierre, Choc, Theodore Nicholas
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Tam T
• Application Number:
  US15/007,058
• Publication Number:
  US 20160140215A1
• Time in Patent Office: 931 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3323 using document space presentation or visualization, e.g. category, hierarchy or range presentation and selection
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/338 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/84 Mapping; Conversion
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/90335 Query processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9038 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range

Abstract

Methods for suggesting in search results an action that is to be performed in an external application based on a previous search query are provided. In one aspect, a method includes receiving, from an application on a device, a search query that was previously submitted by a user or another user, and providing, as a result of the search query, an interface to perform an action to launch an external application on the device, wherein the action was previously selected by the user or the other user in response to previous results of the search query. Systems, graphical user interfaces, and machine-readable media are also provided.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, from an application on a device, a second submission of a search query that was previously submitted as a first submission of the search query; and

providing an interface comprising an identifier of an action to launch an external application on the device as an item in an item listing of results of the second submission of the search query,

wherein the action was selected by a user subsequent to the first submission of the search query from a resource responsive to the first submission of the search query,

wherein the interface to perform the action was not included in results of the first submission of the search query, and the interface to perform the action is included in the results of the second submission of the search query in response to the user both selecting a result of the first submission of the search query, and then subsequently selecting the action to launch the external application, and

wherein the identifier of the action is based on at least one of a displayable address of the resource responsive to the first submission of the search query, or a title of the resource responsive to the first submission of the search query.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first submission of the search query was previously submitted on another device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the resource responsive to the first submission of the search query comprises a web page responsive to the first submission of the search query.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the web page is included in the results of the first submission of the search query.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the external application comprises a mapping application, telephone application, multimedia application, or social networking application.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the action is the last action selected by the user prior to a submission of a new search query by the user.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the action is the first action selected by the user after the first submission of the search query.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the second submission of the search query is similar to the first submission of the search query.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the application is a web browser, and the device is a mobile device.

10. A system comprising:

a memory comprising an interface to perform an action to launch an external application on a device, wherein the action was selected subsequent to a submission of a first search query from a resource responsive to the first submission of the search query; and

a processor configured to;

receive, from a web browser on the device, a second search query that is substantially similar to the first search query; and

provide an interface comprising an identifier of an action to launch an external application on the device as an item in an item listing of results of the second search query,

wherein the interface to perform the action was not included in results of the first search query, and is included in results of the second search query in response to a user both selecting a result of the first submission of the search query, and then subsequently selecting the action to launch the external application, and

wherein the identifier of the action is based on at least one of a displayable address of the resource responsive to the first submission of the search query, or a title of the resource responsive to the first submission of the search query.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the first search query was previously submitted by the user on another device.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the resource responsive to the first submission of the search query comprises a web page responsive to the first search query.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the web page is included in the results of the first search query.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the external application comprises a mapping application, telephone application, multimedia application, or social networking application.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the action is the last action selected by the user prior to a submission of a new search query by the user.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the action is the first action selected by the user after the submission of the first search query.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the application is a web browser, and the device is a mobile device.

18. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium comprising machine-readable instructions for causing a processor to execute a method, the method comprising:

receiving, from an application on a device, a second submission of a search query that was previously submitted as a first submission of the search query; and

providing, as an item in an item listing of results of the second submission of the search query, an identifier of an action to launch an external application on the device,

wherein the action was previously selected by a user from a resource responsive to the first submission of the search query,

wherein the interface to perform the action was not included in results of the previously submitted search query, and the interface to perform the action is included in the results of the second submission of the search query in response to the user both selecting the resource responsive to the first submission of the search query, and then subsequently selecting the action to launch the external application from the resource responsive to the first submission of the search query,

wherein the action is the last action selected by the user prior to a submission of a new search query by the user, and

wherein the interface to perform the action to launch the external application comprises an identifier based on at least one of a displayable address of the resource responsive to the first submission of the search query, or a title of the resource responsive to the first submission of the search query.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the first submission of the search query was previously submitted by the user on another device.

20. A computer-implemented method, the method comprising:

receiving, from an application on a first device, a first submission of a search query;

providing search results responsive to the first submission of the search query and comprising at least one search result;

receiving a selection by a user of the at least one search result;

receiving a selection by the user of an action to launch an external application on the first device, wherein the action to launch the external application is not included as a result in the search results;

storing an indicator of the selected action for the search query;

receiving, on a second device, a second submission of the search query; and

providing for display on the second device, in results of the second submission of the search query, an interface to perform the action to launch the external application on the second device in response to the user on the first device both selecting the at least one search result of the first submission of the search query, and then subsequently selecting the action to launch the external application,

wherein the interface to perform the action to launch the external application comprises an identifier based on at least one of a displayable address of the resource responsive to the first submission of the search query, or a title of the resource responsive to the first submission of the search query.