Context-sensitive query enrichment

• US 10,169,339 B2
• Filed: 11/30/2011
• Issued: 01/01/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Elwha LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Elwha LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Davis, Marc E., Dyor, Matthew G., Gates, William, Huang, Xuedong, Hyde, Roderick A., Jung, Edward K. Y., Kare, Jordin T., Levien, Royce A., Lu, Qi, Malamud, Mark A., Myhrvold, Nathan P., Nadella, Satya, Reed, Daniel, Shum, Harry, Tegreene, Clarence T., Wood, Jr., Lowell L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ma, Tize
• Application Number:
  US13/373,834
• Publication Number:
  US 20130135332A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,589 Days
• Field of Search: 345589
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/00 Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/434 using image data, e.g. images, photos, pictures taken by a user
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/436 using biological or physiological data of a human being, e.g. blood pressure, facial expression, gestures

Abstract

Structures and protocols are presented for facilitating a search partly based on a movement status of a search-capable device or on a position of a person'"'"'s limb or on an association with another search-capable device.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

circuitry for establishing an association between a first interface device and a second interface device;

circuitry for generating recognition data based at least in part on position of one or more portions of a person relative to one or more object portions;

circuitry for obtaining a second parameter from the second interface device based at least in part upon the recognition data;

circuitry for obtaining a first parameter from a first search task initiated at the first interface device;

circuitry for causing the second interface device to display the first parameter from the first search task initiated at the first interface device responsive to the obtaining the second parameter from the second interface device; and

circuitry for triggering a search task including at least transmitting a search expression to a search engine as a real time response to detecting a component of the search expression in a component of a vocalization, including at least circuitry for recognizing at least one search term of the search expression within the component of the vocalization without awaiting a corroborating indication or other confirmatory indication from a user.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry for obtaining optical data, via the second interface device, indicating whether a user has apparently corroborated a second parameter including a configuration feature.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry for associating the first interface device used by a first user with the second interface device used by a second user including at least;

circuitry for responding to an association request from at least one of the first user or the second user and;

circuitry for recording an identification of the first interface device in a memory of the second interface device.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry for obtaining a second parameter from the second interface device includes:

at least one of;

circuitry for obtaining, via an input to the second interface device from a user, an indication whether the user has corroborated a second parameter including a configuration feature;

circuitry for obtaining auditory data, via the second interface device, indicating whether a user has apparently corroborated a second parameter including a configuration feature;

or

circuitry for generating a first coordinate and a second coordinate that jointly characterize a position of a portion of an appendage of the user relative to one or more facial portions of the user as one or more object portions.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry for determining whether a user has apparently assented to a structured dialog including the second interface device indicating the first parameter from the first search task initiated at the first interface device.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry for obtaining a second parameter from the second interface device includes:

at least one of;

circuitry for responding to an indication of a symbol adjacent an edge of a region of an image by adjusting a size of the region of the image, the second parameter including the symbol adjacent the edge of the region of the image;

circuitry for comparing a local time with temporal data in a first cached document and with temporal data in a second cached document, the first cached document and the second cached document residing in the second interface device, the local time being the second parameter from the second interface device;

circuitry for recognizing a literal expression of a time signifying when a specific time interval begins;

or

circuitry for obtaining an indication of whether content includes a geographic identifier.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry for initiating a search using an informational element based at least in part on the recognition data obtained via an image captured at the second interface device, the second parameter from the second interface device being the informational element.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry for displaying a search expression that includes a character sequence obtained from a photograph captured via the first interface device, the character sequence obtained from the photograph being the first parameter from the first search task initiated at the first interface device, the search expression including the second parameter from the second interface device.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry for expressing a search term at the second interface device that includes a character sequence obtained from the first interface device the character sequence obtained from the first interface device being the first parameter from the first search task initiated at the first interface device.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry for obtaining a second parameter from the second interface device includes:

circuitry for highlighting an areal portion of an image captured via the second interface device selectively in response to a position of a depiction of an appendage relative to one or more portions of the second interface device as one or more object portions in the image, areal portion of the image including the second parameter from the second interface device.

11. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry for ranking a first component of a search result in relation to a second component of the search result partly based on a digital expression of a time of day and partly based on whether a confirmation of a search criterion has been received, the confirmation of the search criterion being the second parameter.

12. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry for causing the first parameter including a first search term to be transmitted to the second interface device after initiating the first search task using the first search term.

13. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry for receiving a result of the search task initiated at the first interface device from an Internet search engine into a memory of the second interface device.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry for obtaining a first parameter from a first search task initiated at the first interface device includes:

circuitry for triggering an anticipatory first search task by transmitting a search expression to a remote search engine in response to detecting a component of the search expression in a component of a visual image captured by the first interface device without first detecting a confirmation of the search expression.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the circuitry for triggering an anticipatory first search task by transmitting a search expression to a remote search engine in response to detecting a component of the search expression in a component of a visual image captured by the first interface device without first detecting a confirmation of the search expression includes:

circuitry for initiating an anticipatory search in response to a system load indicator being below a threshold.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the circuitry for triggering an anticipatory first search task by transmitting a search expression to a remote search engine in response to detecting a component of the search expression in a component of a visual image captured by the first interface device without first detecting a confirmation of the search expression includes:

circuitry for detecting a user status indicator being above a threshold.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry for obtaining a second parameter from the second interface device includes:

circuitry for highlighting a portion of an image captured by the second interface device without highlighting a remainder of the image, the portion having a location that depends upon whether the image depicts an appendage of a user relative to one or more object portions.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the circuitry for highlighting a portion of an image captured by the second interface device without highlighting a remainder of the image includes:

circuitry for modifying a size of the highlighted portion of an image.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the circuitry for modifying a size of a highlighted portion of an image, includes:

circuitry for modifying that is responsive to one or more movements of a thumb and a forefinger of the person.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry for establishing an association between a first interface device and a second interface device includes:

circuitry for establishing an association between a first interface device and a second interface device responsive to at least one common interaction by both the first interface device and the second interface device.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the circuitry for establishing an association between a first interface device and a second interface device responsive to at least one common interaction by both the first interface device and the second interface device includes:

circuitry for establishing an association between a first interface device and a second interface device responsive to at least one of;

a sync operation between the first interface device and the second interface device, a login to a common account via both the first interface device and the second interface device, sharing at least one common peripheral device by both the first interface device and the second interface device, common registration of the first interface device and the second interface device to a registration database, an interpersonal communication between the first interface device and the second interface device, subscription shared by the first interface device and the second interface device.

22. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry for establishing an association between a first interface device and a second interface device includes:

circuitry for establishing an association between a first interface device and a second interface device responsive to at least one of ownership or use of the first interface device and the second interface device by at least one common user.

23. The system of claim 1, wherein the position of one or more portions of a person relative to one or more object portions is determined on a real-time basis.

24. The system of claim 1, wherein the component of the vocalization is detected by one of the first or second interface devices and the search expression transmitted to the search engine was previously used by the other of the first or second interface devices.

25. A method comprising:

establishing an association between a first interface device and a second interface device;

generating recognition data based at least in part on position of one or more portions of a person relative to one or more object portions;

obtaining a second parameter from the second interface device based at least in part upon the recognition data;

obtaining a first parameter from a first search task initiated at the first interface device;

causing the second interface device to display the first parameter from the first search task initiated at the first interface device responsive to the obtaining the second parameter from the second interface device; and

triggering a search task including at least transmitting a search expression to a search engine as a real time response to detecting a component of the search expression in a component of a vocalization, including at least recognizing at least one search term of the search expression within the component of the vocalization without awaiting a corroborating indication or other confirmatory indication from a user.

26. A system comprising:

means for establishing an association between a first interface device and a second interface device;

means for generating recognition data based at least in part on position of one or more portions of a person relative to one or more object portions;

means for obtaining a second parameter from the second interface device based at least in part upon the recognition data;

means for obtaining a first parameter from a first search task initiated at the first interface device;

means for causing the second interface device to display the first parameter from the first search task initiated at the first interface device responsive to the obtaining the second parameter from the second interface device; and

means for triggering a search task including at least transmitting a search expression to a search engine as a real time response to detecting a component of the search expression in a component of a vocalization, including at least means for recognizing at least one search term of the search expression within the component of the vocalization without awaiting a corroborating indication or other confirmatory indication from a user.