Pushing suggested search queries to mobile devices

• US 10,244,042 B2
• Filed: 10/28/2015
• Issued: 03/26/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Peiris, Keith L., Deng, Peter
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Cam Linh T
• Application Number:
  US14/925,800
• Publication Number:
  US 20160050540A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,245 Days
• Field of Search: 707723, 707748, 707767
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/243 Natural language query formulation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3322 using system suggestions G06F16/3325 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/90324 using system suggestions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method includes receiving an indication of a first location of a first user from a mobile-client system of a first user, generating one or more search queries based on the location of the first user, executing one or more of the search queries, and sending a plurality of search results corresponding to the executed search queries to the mobile-client system.

Claims

1. A method comprising, by a social-networking system of an online social network:

receiving, at the social-networking system from a mobile-client system of a first user associated with the online social network, an indication of a first location of the first user, wherein the social-networking system automatically receives periodic location data of the user transmitted by the mobile-client system;

identifying, by the social-networking system, one or more objects associated with the online social network based at least on the first location, each object having a corresponding name string;

generating, by the social-networking system, automatically in response to receiving the indication of the first location, one or more suggested queries based on the location of the first user, wherein each suggested query comprises query tokens associated with one or more of the identified objects, and wherein at least one of the query tokens of each suggested query is the name string corresponding to at least one of the identified objects;

pushing, from the social networking system to the mobile-client system automatically in response to receiving the indication of the first location, a notification comprising one or more of the suggested queries, each suggested query being selectable by the first user to retrieve search results corresponding to the suggested query;

receiving, at the social-networking system from the mobile-client system, an indication the first user has selected one of the suggested queries;

executing, by the social-networking system, the selected suggested query; and

sending, from the social networking system to the mobile-client system in response to receiving the indication of the selection, a plurality of search results corresponding to the selected suggested query, wherein each search result matches the query tokens of the selected suggested query.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating one or more search results corresponding to the selected suggested query.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising calculating a score for each of the generated suggested queries, wherein the notification comprise one or more suggested queries having a score greater than a threshold score.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein calculating the score for each of the generated suggested queries is based on a number of possible search results corresponding to the suggested query.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the search results are sent via is one or more of a SMS message, a MMS message, an email message, a banner notification, a pop-up notification, an in-app notification, a cloud-to-device notification, or any combination thereof.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more suggested queries are based on natural-language strings generated by a context-free grammar model.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first location is indicated by one or more of a global position system (GPS) signal, a Wi-Fi signal, or a cellular radio signal.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining an intent of the first user based at least on the first location, wherein generating the one or more suggested queries is further based on the intent of the first user.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein determining the intent of the first user is further based on one or more of:

a search history associated with the first user;

a current time associated with the first user;

feedback from the first user indicating an interest of the first user for particular queries or query-types;

a social-graph affinity associated with the first user;

the proximity of the first user to one or more objects associated with one or more second locations, the proximity of the first user being based on the distance between the first location of the first user and the second locations of the one or more objects;

or

a degree of separation in a social graph between the first user and one or more objects.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

accessing a social graph comprising a plurality of nodes and a plurality of edges connecting the nodes, each of the edges between two of the nodes representing a single degree of separation between them, the nodes comprising;

a first node corresponding to the first user; and

a plurality of second nodes corresponding to a plurality of objects associated with the online social network, respectively, each second node being associated with a second location.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the one or more suggested queries are structured queries comprising references to one or more second nodes and one or more edges.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein each search result corresponds to a node of the plurality of second nodes connected by an edge to a node corresponding to an object associated with the suggested query corresponding to the search result.

13. One or more computer-readable non-transitory storage media embodying software that is operable when executed to:

receive, at a social-networking system of an online social network from a mobile-client system of a first user associated with the online social network, an indication of a first location of the first user, wherein the social-networking system automatically receives periodic location data of the user transmitted by the mobile-client system;

identify, by the social-networking system, one or more objects associated with the online social network based at least on the first location, each object having a corresponding name string;

generate, by the social-networking system, automatically in response to receiving the indication of the first location, one or more suggested queries based on the location of the first user, wherein each suggested query comprises query tokens associated with one or more of the identified objects, and wherein at least one of the query tokens of each suggested query is the name string corresponding to at least one of the identified objects;

push, from the social-networking system, to the mobile-client system automatically in response to receiving the indication of the first location, a notification comprising one or more of the suggested queries, each suggested query being selectable by the first user to retrieve search results corresponding to the suggested query;

receive, at the social-networking system, from the mobile-client system, an indication the first user has selected one of the suggested queries;

execute, by the social-networking system, the selected suggested query; and

send, from the social-networking system, to the mobile-client system in response to receiving the indication of the selection, a plurality of search results corresponding to the selected suggested query, wherein each search result matches the query tokens of the selected suggested query.

14. A social-networking system comprising:

one or more processors; and

a memory coupled to the processors comprising instructions executable by the processors, the processors operable when executing the instructions to;

receive, at the social-networking system of an online social network from a mobile-client system of a first user associated with the online social network, an indication of a first location of the first user;

identify, by the social-networking system, one or more objects associated with the online social network based at least on the first location, each object having a corresponding name string;

generate, by the social-networking system, automatically in response to receiving the indication of the first location, one or more suggested queries based on the location of the first user, wherein each suggested query comprises query tokens associated with one or more of the identified objects, and wherein at least one of the query tokens of each suggested query is the name string corresponding to at least one of the identified objects;

push, from the social-networking system, to the mobile-client system automatically in response to receiving the indication of the first location, a notification comprising one or more of the suggested queries, each suggested query being selectable by the first user to retrieve search results corresponding to the suggested query;

receive, at the social-networking system, from the mobile-client system, an indication the first user has selected one of the suggested queries;

execute, by the social-networking system, the selected suggested query; and

send, from the social-networking system, to the mobile-client system in response to receiving the indication of the selection, a plurality of search results corresponding to the selected suggested query, wherein each search result matches the query tokens of the selected suggested query.

15. The system of claim 14, the processors being further operable when executing the instructions to generate one or more search results corresponding to the selected suggested query.

16. The system of claim 14, the processors being further operable when executing the instructions to calculate a score for each of the generated suggested queries, wherein the notification comprise one or more suggested queries having a score greater than a threshold score.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein calculating the score for each of the generated suggested queries is based on a number of possible search results corresponding to the suggested query.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the search results are sent via is one or more of a SMS message, a MMS message, an email message, a banner notification, a pop-up notification, an in-app notification, a cloud-to-device notification, or any combination thereof.

19. The system of claim 14, wherein the one or more suggested queries are based on natural-language strings generated by a context-free grammar model.

20. The system of claim 14, wherein the first location is indicated by one or more of a global position system (GPS) signal, a Wi-Fi signal, or a cellular radio signal.