Context aware search service

• US 20030135582A1
• Filed: 04/29/2002
• Published: 07/17/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2001
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Docomo Laboratories
• Original Assignee: DOCOMO Communications Laboratories USA, Inc.
• Inventors: Miki, Toshio, Shoaib, Shahid, Allen, Lee
• Application Number:
  US10/134,814
• Publication Number:
  US 20030135582A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results

Abstract

A context-aware search service is provided to users requesting information. The context-aware search incorporates contextual information such as the context of the user making the request, the external context of the user or terminal that the user accesses, or the characteristics or context of the terminal. The contextualized request is processed through sets of analyses to customize the request including analyses to determine an exact nature of the request, analyses to limit a universe of reference to be examined to provide the result, and analyses to select the most appropriate content and format for presentation to the user once the result is obtained from separate service providers.

Claims

1. A context aware search services system, comprising:

a virtual network operator;

a terminal in communication with the virtual network operator, the virtual network operator to customize requests from the terminal using context information; and

at least one service provider in communication with the virtual network operator, the virtual network operator operable to selectively forward the customized requests to the at least one service provider and provide a result based on responses returned by the service provider to the terminal.

2. The context aware search services system of claim 1, wherein the virtual network operator is further in communication with at least one external context provider that provides at least one of an external context of the terminal, context of usage of the terminal, and a user operating the terminal.

3. The context aware search services system of claim 2, wherein the at least one external context provider provides at least one of an identity of the user, a physical location of the user, a method of locomotion of the user, a time of the request from the terminal and a date of the request from the terminal.

4. The context aware search services system of claim 1, wherein the virtual network operator provides information regarding preferences of the user.

5. The context aware search services system of claim 1, wherein the virtual network operator comprises at least one analysis to customize the requests from the terminal prior to submission to the at least one service provider.

6. The context aware search services system of claim 5, wherein the at least one analysis comprise a first analysis that determine an exact nature of the request from the user.

7. The context aware search services system of claim 5, wherein the at least one analysis comprise a first analysis that limit a universe of reference that the at least one service provider examines to provide the responses returned to the virtual network operator.

8. The context aware search services system of claim 6, wherein the at least one analysis further comprise a second analysis that limit a universe of reference of which the at least one service provider examines to provide the responses returned to the virtual network operator.

9. The context aware search services system of claim 1, wherein the virtual network operator comprises at least one analysis to customize the responses from the service provider prior to returning results to the terminal.

10. The context aware search services system of claim 9, wherein the at least one analysis select the most appropriate content and format for presentation by the terminal to the user.

11. The context aware search services system of claim 1, wherein the external context of the terminal is specific to at least one of spatial environs of the user and temporal environs of the request.

12. The context aware search services system of claim 1, wherein an overall result from the virtual network operator to the terminal, and not merely a display on the terminal, is contextualized.

13. The context aware search services system of claim 1, wherein only the virtual network operator contains user preferences that customize the request.

14. The context aware search services system of claim 1, wherein the virtual network operator stores user preferences.

15. The context aware search services system of claim 14, wherein the user preferences are updated upon occurrence of a specific event.

16. The context aware search services system of claim 15, wherein the specific event is each request.

17. The context aware search services system of claim 1, wherein the responses from all service providers of the at least one service provider are received by the virtual network operator prior to the result being supplied to the terminal.

18. The context aware search services system of claim 10, wherein the responses from all service providers of the at least one service provider are received by the virtual network operator and selected by the at least one analysis prior to the result being supplied to the terminal.

19. The context aware search services system of claim 1, wherein the at least one service provider comprises at least one of an Internet provider, a specialized data provider, and a specialized service provider.

20. The context aware search services system of claim 1, wherein the at least one service provider comprises at least two of an Internet provider, a specialized data provider, and a specialized service provider.

21. The context aware search services system of claim 1, wherein the terminal comprises one of a cellular telephone, personal digital assistant, visor, portable computers, and on-board vehicle computer.

22. The context aware search services system of claim 1, wherein the communication between the terminal and the virtual network operator is wireless.

23. The context aware search services system of claim 1, wherein a transaction fee is assessed by the at least one service provider to the virtual network operator for each request provided by the virtual network operator to the at least one service provider.

24. The context aware search services system of claim 1, wherein the result includes analysis of a purchase history of the user and recommendations are transmitted to the terminal regarding potential vendors.

25. The context aware search services system of claim 1, further comprising a specialty system to analyze a purchase history of the user and recommend potential vendors to the user based on the request.

26. The context aware search services system of claim 1, wherein the customization information included in the customized request is aggregated with customization information from other users of other terminals and a business proposal is created and supplied to subscribing vendors on behalf of the user and the other users.

27. The context aware search services system of claim 1, further comprising a specialty system to aggregate customization information included in the customized request with customization information from other users of other terminals and to create and supply a business proposal to subscribing vendors on behalf of the user and the other users.

28. The context aware search services system of claim 1, wherein specially formatted requests are organized, verified, filtered and enhanced and special results are provided to the specially formatted requests.

29. The context aware search services system of claim 1, further comprising a specialty system to organize, verify, filter and enhance specially formatted requests and to provide special results to the specially formatted requests.

30. The context aware search services system of claim 1, wherein the user has control over whether user preferences are supplied to the at least one service provider.

31. The context aware search services system of claim 27, wherein the user has control over whether user preferences are supplied to the specialty system.

32. The context aware search services system of claim 1, wherein the customized request includes one of a real-time condition and a real-time situation in which the user is situated.

33. A network operator that:

accepts a query from a user;

customizes the query by including at least customer-identifying information of the user and context information that contains at least one of an external context of the user and a context of usage of the user; and

returns a result based on the customized query to the user.

34. The network operator of claim 33, wherein the operator one of furnishes the customer-identifying information of the user and is in communication with an entity that furnishes the customer-identifying information of the user, the operator one of furnishes the context information and is in communication with an entity that furnishes the context information, and the operator is in communication with a service provider that searches a data base based on the customized query and returns a response based on the search.

35. The network operator of claim 33, wherein the operator comprises at least three sets of analyses to customize the requests, a first analysis to determine an exact nature of the query from the user, a second analysis to limit a universe of reference to be examined to provide the result, and a third analysis to select the most appropriate content and format for presentation to the user.

36. The network operator of claim 34, wherein the operator comprises at least two sets of analyses to customize the requests, a first analysis to determine an exact nature of the query from the user, a second analysis to limit a universe of reference to be examined to provide the result, and a third analysis to select the most appropriate content and format of the response for presentation to the user.

37. The network operator of claim 33, wherein the operator one of furnishes the customer-identifying information of the user and is in communication with an entity that furnishes the customer-identifying information of the user, the operator one of furnishes the context information and is in communication with an entity that furnishes the context information, and the operator is in communication with a plurality of service providers that each search a different data base based on the customized query and return a response based on the search.

38. The network operator of claim 37, wherein the operator comprises at least two sets of analyses to customize the requests, a first analysis to determine an exact nature of the query from the user, a second analysis to limit a universe of reference to be examined to provide the result, and a third analysis to select the most appropriate content and format of the responses for presentation to the user.

39. The network operator of claim 33, wherein the result includes analysis of a purchase history of the user and recommendations are transmitted to the user regarding potential vendors.

40. The network operator of claim 33, wherein the customization information included in the customized request is aggregated with customization information from other users and a business proposal is created and supplied to subscribing vendors on behalf of the user and the other users.

41. The network operator of claim 33, wherein specially formatted requests are organized, verified, filtered and enhanced and special results are provided to the specially formatted requests.

42. The network operator of claim 33, wherein the customization includes one of a real-time condition and a real-time situation in which the user is situated.

43. A method of customizing a request of a user to a system, the method comprising:

augmenting the request with at least context information that contains at least one of an external context of the user making the request, an external context of one of the user and terminal used to make the request, and characteristics of the terminal used to make the request;

searching at least one database with information dependent on the augmented request; and

returning a result to the user based on responses of the search.

44. The method of claim 43, further comprising further augmenting the request with customer-identifying information of the user prior to searching the database.

45. The method of claim 43, further comprising applying a plurality of sets of analyses to customize the augmented request prior to searching the database and applying at least one analysis to the responses of the search prior to returning the result to the user.

46. The method of claim 43, further comprising determining an exact nature of the request from the user and limiting a universe of the database to be searched prior to searching the database and forming the result by selecting a most appropriate content and format for presentation of the responses prior to returning the result to the user.

47. The method of claim 43, further comprising including analysis of a purchase history of the user in the responses and transmitting recommendations to the user regarding potential vendors.

48. The method of claim 43, further comprising aggregating the customization information of the user with customization information from other users, creating a business proposal, and supplying the business proposal to subscribing vendors on behalf of the user and the other users.

49. The method of claim 43, further comprising organizing, verifying, filtering and enhancing requests to form specially formatted requests and providing special results to the specially formatted requests.

50. The method of claim 43, further comprising including one of a real-time condition and a real-time situation in which the user is situated in the context information.

51. The method of claim 43, further comprising permitting the user to have control over whether at least some customer-identifying information is supplied to an entity that performs the search.

52. A terminal that:

accepts a request from a user;

transmits the request to a network operator where the request is customized by including at least customer-identifying information of the user and context information that contains at least one of an external context of the terminal and a context of usage of the terminal; and

accepts a return from the network operator based on the customized request and presents the return to the user.

53. The terminal of claim 52, wherein the terminal transmits the request to the operator which one of furnishes the customer-identifying information of the user and is in communication with an entity that furnishes the customer-identifying information of the user, one of furnishes the context information and is in communication with an entity that furnishes the context information, and is in communication with a service provider that searches a data base based on the customized request and returns a response based on the search.

54. The terminal of claim 52, wherein the request is subjected to at least two sets of analyses to customize the request, a first analysis to determine an exact nature of the request from the user, a second analysis to limit a universe of reference to be examined to provide the result, and a response based on the request is subjected to a third analysis to select the most appropriate content and format for presentation to the user to transform the response into the return.

55. The terminal of claim 53, wherein the request is subjected to at least two sets of analyses to customize the request, a first analysis to determine an exact nature of the request from the user, a second analysis to limit a universe of reference to be examined to provide the result, and the response is subjected to a third analysis to select the most appropriate content and format for presentation to the user to transform the response into the return.

56. The terminal of claim 52, wherein the terminal transmits the request to the operator which one of furnishes the customer-identifying information of the user and is in communication with an entity that furnishes the customer-identifying information of the user, one of furnishes the context information and is in communication with an entity that furnishes the context information, and is in communication with a plurality of service providers that each search a different data base based on the customized request and return a response based on the search.

57. The terminal of claim 56, wherein the request is subjected to at least two sets of analyses to customize the request, a first analysis to determine an exact nature of the request from the user, a second analysis to limit a universe of reference to be examined to provide the result, and responses are subjected to a third analysis to select the most appropriate content and format for presentation to the user to transform the responses into the return.

58. The terminal of claim 52, wherein the result includes analysis of a purchase history of the user and recommendations are transmitted to the user regarding potential vendors.

59. The terminal of claim 52, wherein the customization information included in the customized request is aggregated with customization information from other users and a business proposal is created and supplied to subscribing vendors on behalf of the user and the other users.

60. The terminal of claim 52, wherein specially formatted requests are organized, verified, filtered and enhanced and special results are provided to the specially formatted requests.

61. The terminal of claim 52, wherein the customization includes one of a real-time condition and a real-time situation in which the user is situated.