Contextual new tab experience in a heterogeneous tab environment

• US 10,564,814 B2
• Filed: 04/19/2017
• Issued: 02/18/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 04/19/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Fang, Richard, Luengen, Ross N., Krieder, Scott James, Patten, Michael John, Dunn, Robyn Elizabeth, Uphoff, Brian Eric, Doan, Christopher, Laybourn, Darren Christopher, Lew, Phoi Heng
• Primary Examiner(s): Bashore, William L
• Assistant Examiner(s): Shrewsbury, Nathan K
• Application Number:
  US15/491,781
• Publication Number:
  US 20180307390A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,035 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0483 Interaction with page-structured environments, e.g. book metaphor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44 Arrangements for executing specific programs
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/453 Help systems

Abstract

Techniques for a contextual new tab experience in a heterogeneous tab environment are described. In at least some implementations, relevant content associated with a user'"'"'s current task is determined based on contextual information collected from tabs presented in a heterogeneous tab environment. According to various implementations, a new tab is launched displaying the relevant content in the heterogeneous tab environment. Thus, contextually relevant content can be determined from a current task and displayed in a single location via a heterogeneous tab environment.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

at least one processor; and

one or more computer-readable storage media including instructions stored thereon that, responsive to execution by the at least one processor, cause the system to perform operations including;

identifying that a browser window is a heterogeneous tab environment based on a collection of contextual information from tabs that are currently presented in the browser window, wherein the identifying comprises analyzing the contextual information to detect similarities between content in the tabs that are currently presented;

receiving a request to launch a new tab in the browser window;

in response to identifying that the browser window is the heterogeneous tab environment, determining relevant content for progressing to a likely subsequent step of a current task identified for the heterogeneous tab environment, wherein said determining of the relevant content comprises ranking the relevant content based on the current task and the analyzed contextual information; and

said determining of the relevant content further comprises ranking the relevant content based on the current task associated with the heterogeneous tab environment

updating the heterogeneous tab environment by launching the new tab in the browser window, wherein the new tab comprises visual representations of the determined relevant content that are each selectable to enable presentation of a respective instance of the determined relevant content in the new tab.

2. The system as described in claim 1, the operations further including:

receiving a selection of one of the visual representations; and

responsive to said receiving the selection, presenting the respective instance of the determined relevant content in the new tab.

3. The system described in claim 1, wherein the contextual information further comprises information regarding a present user of the heterogeneous tab environment.

4. The system described in claim 1, wherein the contextual information further comprises metadata associated with content currently presented in the tabs of the heterogeneous tab environment.

5. The system described in claim 1, wherein the visual representations comprise preview images of the determined relevant content.

6. The system described in claim 1, wherein the contextual information further comprises information indicating tasks previously performed by a present user of the heterogeneous tab environment.

7. The system described in claim 1, wherein the contextual information further comprises a user profile for a present user of the heterogeneous tab environment including data indicating prior interaction by the present user with content including interaction by the present user with at least an application or a service.

8. The system described in claim 1, wherein said determining of the relevant content further comprises ranking the relevant content based on a current task associated with a state of the heterogeneous tab environment, wherein the current task is determined based on a correlation of the detected similarities between the content in the tabs and a task prediction for the current task, and wherein the visual representations are displayed in an order based on said ranking.

9. The system described in claim 1, wherein the relevant content includes an application or a service which is not currently locally executable on a client device, and wherein a selection of a visual representation that represents the application or the service, which is not currently locally executable, causes the system to further perform operations including initiating an installation of a local instance of the application or the service.

16. The system described in claim 1, wherein the request to launch the new tab is a selection of a user interface icon, within the browser window, configured for launch of a blank tab in the browser window.

10. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

identifying that a browser window is a heterogeneous tab environment based on a collection of contextual information from tabs that are currently presented in the browser window, wherein the identifying comprises analyzing the contextual information to detect similarities between content in the tabs that are currently presented;

identifying, based on the contextual information, a task associated with the contextual information;

in response to identifying that the browser window is the heterogeneous tab environment, determining relevant content for progressing to a likely subsequent step of a current task identified for the heterogeneous tab environment, wherein said determining of the relevant content comprises ranking the relevant content based on the current task and the analyzed contextual information; and

updating the heterogeneous tab environment by launching a new tab in the browser window, wherein the new tab comprises one or more visual representations of the determined relevant content.

11. The method described in claim 10, further comprising:

receiving an input indicating a selection of the one or more visual representations of the determined relevant content; and

presenting a selected instance of content in the new tab based on the received input.

17. The method described in claim 10, wherein the request to launch the new tab is a selection of a user interface icon, within the browser window, configured for launch of a blank tab in the browser window.

18. The method described in claim 10, wherein the current task is determined based on a correlation of the detected similarities between the content in the tabs and a task prediction for the current task, and wherein the visual representations are displayed in an order based on said ranking.

12. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

identifying that a browser window is a heterogeneous tab environment based on a collection of contextual information from tabs that are currently presented in the browser window, wherein the identifying comprises analyzing the contextual information to detect similarities between content in the tabs that are currently presented;

receiving a request to launch a new tab in the browser window;

in response to identifying that the browser window is the heterogeneous tab environment, determining relevant content for progressing to a likely subsequent step of a current task identified for the heterogeneous tab environment, wherein said determining of the relevant content comprises ranking the relevant content based on the current task and the analyzed contextual information; and

updating the heterogeneous tab environment by launching the new tab in the browser window, wherein the new tab comprises one or more visual representations of the determined relevant content that are each selectable to enable presentation of a respective instance of the determined relevant content in the new tab.

13. The method described in claim 12, further comprising:

receiving an input indicating a selection of the one or more visual representations of the determined relevant content; and

presenting a selected instance of content in the new tab based on the received input.

14. The method described in claim 12, wherein said receiving the request to launch the new tab comprises a hover action over an interactive new tab control and the determined relevant content is presented in a pop-up element responsive to said receiving the hover action.

15. The method described in claim 12, wherein an instance of the determined relevant content comprises an application or a service which is not currently locally executable and wherein the operations further include:

receiving a selection of the application or the service which is not currently locally executable; and

initiating a local installation of the application or the service to enable presentation of the application or the service in the new tab.

19. The method described in claim 12, wherein the request to launch the new tab is a selection of a user interface icon, within the browser window, configured for launch of a blank tab in the browser window.

20. The method described in claim 12, wherein the current task is determined based on a correlation of the detected similarities between the content in the tabs and a task prediction for the current task, and wherein the visual representations are displayed in an order based on said ranking.