Methods and systems to refine search results

• US 10,599,665 B2
• Filed: 05/30/2017
• Issued: 03/24/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 05/29/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Original Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Inventors: Achuthan, Ashita, Barber, Paden, Chard, Jonathan David, Foss, Patrick, Gabaix-Hiale, Jean-Charles, Higgins, Krystal Rose, MacDonald, Margaret, Eppolito, Mark, MacLaurin, Matthew Bret, Merce, Mica, Nugent, Tyler Yong, Reeves, Ryan, Roberts, Bradley, Tenniswood, James, Van Tol, Ladd
• Primary Examiner(s): Iwarere, Oluseye
• Application Number:
  US15/607,795
• Publication Number:
  US 20170262513A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,029 Days
• Field of Search: 707713, 707722, 345173, 715864, 705 2662
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9032 Query formulation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0625 Directed, with specific intent or strategy
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72436 for text messaging, e.g. short messaging services [SMS] or e-mails

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided to refine search information. The methods and systems are for receiving a request from a mobile device, the request including an indication of a swiping motion that is applied across a touch-sensitive screen on the mobile device, the touch sensitive screen displaying search results including a first plurality of data items. The methods and systems are for retrieving a first refinement and a first value from a database entry. The methods and systems are for filtering the search results to generate refined search results including a second plurality of data items that are filtered based on the first refinement and the first value. The methods and systems are for communicating a user interface, over the network, to the mobile device, the communicating being responsive to the receiving the request, the user interface including the second plurality of data items for display on the mobile device.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

at least one processor and executable instructions accessible on a computer-readable medium that, when executed, cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising;

receiving, from a mobile device identified by a client identifier, a request including an indication of a swiping motion that is applied at a touch-sensitive screen of the mobile device that includes a display of search results including a first plurality of data items; and

responsive to receiving the request;

retrieving a refinement value from a database entry, the database entry being identified based on the client identifier and independent of the first plurality of data items included in the search results;

generating refined search results by filtering the first plurality of data items using the refinement value, the refined search results including a subset of the first plurality of data items; and

causing the mobile device to output a display of the subset of the first plurality of data items.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the swiping motion is a single swiping motion that is applied at the touch-sensitive screen of the mobile device.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the swiping motion is a double swiping motion that is applied at the touch-sensitive screen of the mobile device.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the user interface includes a search panel including a search box configured to receive keywords.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the user interface includes a search panel that includes the subset of the first plurality of data items.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the user interface further includes a parent panel and a child panel, the operations further comprising identifying a second refinement value in response to receiving input at the parent panel and the child panel.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the refinement value specifies a condition of an item being offered for sale on a network-based marketplace.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the child panel includes a plurality of values that are selectable to specify different conditions for the refinement value.

9. A method comprising:

receiving, from a mobile device identified by a client identifier, a request including an indication of a swiping motion that is applied at a touch-sensitive screen of the mobile device that includes a display of search results including a first plurality of data items; and

responsive to receiving the request;

retrieving a refinement value from a database entry, the database entry being identified based on the client identifier and independent of the first plurality of data items included in the search results;

generating refined search results by filtering the first plurality of data items using the refinement value, the refined search results including a subset of the first plurality of data items; and

causing the mobile device to output a display of the subset of the first plurality of data items.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the swiping motion is a single swiping motion being applied at the touch-sensitive screen of the mobile device.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the swiping motion is a double swiping motion being applied at the touch-sensitive screen of the mobile device.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the user interface includes a search panel including the subset of the first plurality of data items.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the user interface further includes a parent panel and a child panel, the method further comprising identifying a second refinement value in response to receiving input at the parent panel and the child panel.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the refinement value specifies a condition of an item being offered for sale on a network-based marketplace.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the refinement value specifies a category of an item being offered for sale on a network-based marketplace.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the child panel includes a plurality of values that are selectable to specify different conditions for the refinement value.

20. The method as described in claim 9, further comprising:

receiving, from a different mobile device identified by a different client identifier, a different request including an indication of the same swiping motion that is applied at the different mobile device, the different mobile device including the display of search results;

responsive to receiving the different request, retrieving a different refinement value based on the different client identifier and independent of the search results;

generating a different set of refined search results by filtering the first plurality of data items using the different refinement value, the refined search results including a different subset of the first plurality of data items; and

causing the different mobile device to output a display of the different subset of the first plurality of data items.

17. A non-transitory machine-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

receiving, from a mobile device identified by a client identifier, a request including an indication of a gesture input that is applied at a touch-sensitive screen of the mobile device that includes a display of search results including a first plurality of data items;

responsive to receiving the request;

retrieving a refinement value from a database entry, the database entry being identified based on the client identifier and independent of the first plurality of data items included in the search results;

generating refined search results by filtering the first plurality of data items using the refinement value, the refined search results including a subset of the first plurality of data items; and

causing the mobile device to output a display of the subset of the first plurality of data items;

receiving, from a different mobile device identified by a different client identifier, a different request including an indication of the gesture input that is applied at a touch-sensitive screen of the different mobile device that includes a display of search results including a second plurality of data items; and

responsive to receiving the different request;

retrieving a different refinement value from a different database entry, the different database entry being identified based on the different client identifier and independent of the second plurality of data items included in the search results;

generating different refined search results by filtering the second plurality of data items using the different refinement value, the different refined search results including a subset of the second plurality of data items; and

causing the different mobile device to output a display of the subset of the second plurality of data items.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the first plurality of data items includes a data item that is not included in the subset of the first plurality of data items.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 17, the operations further comprising receiving the refinement value from the mobile device prior to receiving the request and storing the refinement value as being associated with the client identifier.