Encouraging inline person-to-person interaction

• US 10,061,851 B1
• Filed: 03/12/2013
• Issued: 08/28/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Su, Sara, Ganapathy, Subramaniam, Zhou, Jin, Liu, Sean, Tanphaichitr, Saksiri, Jones, Abigail
• Primary Examiner(s): Arani, Taghi T
• Assistant Examiner(s): Farhadian, F J
• Application Number:
  US13/795,028
• Time in Patent Office: 1,995 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for receiving a search query from a searching user, receiving contact data associated with a user that is determined to be responsive to the search query, the contact data being provided from one or more data sources, and providing an electronic document including instructions to display a search results page including search results responsive to the search query and a profile card associated with the user, the profile card including one or more graphical representations associated with an interaction channel, each interaction channel being associated with respective contact data of the contact data, and each graphical representation being operable to receive user input and initiate execution of an associated interaction from the search results page, an interaction interface used to execute the associated interaction being displayed concurrently with the search results page.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, by one or more processors, a search query from a searching user;

identifying, by the one or more processors and using a resource index, a plurality of search results that are responsive to the search query, each of the search results in the plurality of search results being representative of a web resource;

determining, by the one or more processors, whether there are users responsive to the search query using an interaction system that retrieves, from one or more data sources that are distinct from the resource index, contact information that is included in a user profile of the searching user, wherein determining whether there are users responsive to the search query includes cross-referencing the search query to the contact information that is included in the user profile of the searching user;

in response to determining that there are no users responsive to the search query, providing one or more search results of the plurality of search results to a computing device associated with the searching user;

in response to determining that there are users responsive to the search query;

providing, by the one or more processors, a sub-set of the users, each user in the sub-set being connected to the searching user through one or more computer-implemented services, the sub-set comprising at least one user;

determining that contact data of the at least one user is available, wherein the contact data comprises publically available contact data, and wherein determining that contact data is available comprises determining that a portion of the contact data is accessible to the searching user based on privacy settings provided by the user, the portion of the contact data being included in the contact data in response to determining that a portion of the contact data is accessible to the searching user, and in response to determining that contact data of the at least one user is available;

providing an electronic document comprising instructions that, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to display a search results page, wherein the search results page comprises a first portion including a group of search results each representative of a web resource responsive to the search query and a second portion including a profile card associated with the at least one user, the profile card comprising one or more graphical representations associated with an interaction channel, each interaction channel being associated with respective contact data of the contact data, and each graphical representation receiving user input and initiating execution of a respective interaction between the searching user and the at least one user from the search results page, an interaction interface that executes the respective interaction being displayed concurrently with the plurality of search results in the search results page, wherein the interaction interface is provided by an interaction hovercard displayed with the search results page in response to initiating execution of an interaction from the search results page; and

transmitting, by the one or more processors, the electronic document to the computing device associated with the searching user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the contact data comprises one or more of an electronic message address, a chat identification, a video identification and a telephone number.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more data sources comprise at least one of a contact data repository associated with a computer-implemented contact management service, a social data repository associated with a computer-implemented social networking service, an electronic mail address repository associated with a computer-implemented electronic mail service, and a public data repository.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein interactions comprise a telephone call, an electronic mail, a chat session and a video conference.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the collection of user information includes user names.

5. A system comprising:

one or more data sources storing contact data; and

one or more processors configured to interact with the one or more data sources, the one or more processors being further configured to perform operations comprising;

receiving a search query from a searching user;

identifying, by the one or more processors and using a resource index, a plurality of search results that are responsive to the search query, each of the search results in the plurality of search results being representative of a web resource;

determining, by the one or more processors, whether there are users responsive to the search query using an interaction system that retrieves, from one or more data sources that are distinct from the resource index, contact information that is included in a user profile of the searching user, wherein determining whether there are users responsive to the search query includes cross-referencing the search query to the contact information that is included in the user profile of the searching user;

in response to determining that there are no users responsive to the search query, providing one or more search results of the plurality of search results to a computing device associated with the searching user;

in response to determining that there are users responsive to the search query;

providing, by the one or more processors, a sub-set of the users, each user in the sub-set being connected to the searching user through one or more computer-implemented services, the sub-set comprising at least one user;

determining that contact data of the at least one user is available, wherein the contact data comprises publically available contact data, and wherein determining that contact data is available comprises determining that a portion of the contact data is accessible to the searching user based on privacy settings provided by the user, the portion of the contact data being included in the contact data in response to determining that a portion of the contact data is accessible to the searching user, and in response to determining that contact data of the at least one user is available;

providing an electronic document comprising instructions that, when executed by the computing device, cause the computing device to display a search results page, wherein the search results page comprises a first portion including a group of search results each representative of a web resource responsive to the search query and a second portion including a profile card associated with the at least one user, the profile card comprising one or more graphical representations associated with an interaction channel, each interaction channel being associated with respective contact data of the contact data, and each graphical representation receiving user input and initiating execution of a respective interaction between the searching user and the at least one user from the search results page, an interaction interface that executes the respective interaction being displayed concurrently with the plurality of search results in the search results page, wherein the interaction interface is provided by an interaction hovercard displayed with the search results page in response to initiating execution of an interaction from the search results page; and

transmitting the electronic document to the computing device associated with the searching user.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the contact data comprises one or more of an electronic message address, a chat identification, a video identification and a telephone number.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the one or more data sources comprise at least one of a contact data repository associated with a computer-implemented contact management service, a social data repository associated with a computer-implemented social networking service, an electronic mail address repository associated with a computer-implemented electronic mail service, and a public data repository.

8. The system of claim 5, wherein interactions comprise a telephone call, an electronic mail, a chat session and a video conference.

9. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

receiving, by the one or more processors, a search query from a searching user;

identifying, by the one or more processors and using a resource index, a plurality of search results that are responsive to the search query, each of the search results in the plurality of search results being representative of a web resource;

determining, by the one or more processors, whether there are users responsive to the search query using an interaction system that retrieves, from one or more data sources that are distinct from the resource index, contact information that is included in a user profile of the searching user, wherein determining whether there are users responsive to the search query includes cross-referencing the search query to the contact information that is included in the user profile of the searching user;

in response to determining that there are no users responsive to the search query, providing one or more search results of the plurality of search results to a computing device associated with the searching user;

in response to determining that there are users responsive to the search query;

providing, by the one or more processors, a sub-set of the users, each user in the sub-set being connected to the searching user through one or more computer-implemented services, the sub-set comprising at least one user;

determining that contact data of the at least one user is available, wherein the contact data comprises publically available contact data, and wherein determining that contact data is available comprises determining that a portion of the contact data is accessible to the searching user based on privacy settings provided by the user, the portion of the contact data being included in the contact data in response to determining that a portion of the contact data is accessible to the searching user, and in response to determining that contact data of the at least one user is available;

providing an electronic document comprising instructions that, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to display a search results page, wherein the search results page comprises a first portion including a group of search results each representative of a web resource responsive to the search query and a second portion including a profile card associated with the at least one user, the profile card comprising one or more graphical representations associated with an interaction channel, each interaction channel being associated with respective contact data of the contact data, and each graphical representation receiving user input and initiating execution of a respective interaction between the searching user and the at least one user from the search results page, an interaction interface that executes the respective interaction being displayed concurrently with the plurality of search results in the search results page, wherein the interaction interface is provided by an interaction hovercard displayed with the search results page in response to initiating execution of an interaction from the search results page; and

transmitting the electronic document to the computing device associated with the searching user.

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the contact data comprises one or more of an electronic message address, a chat identification, a video identification and a telephone number.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the one or more data sources comprise at least one of a contact data repository associated with a computer-implemented contact management service, a social data repository associated with a computer-implemented social networking service, an electronic mail address repository associated with a computer-implemented electronic mail service, and a public data repository.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein interactions comprise a telephone call, an electronic mail, a chat session and a video conference.