Universal search interface systems and methods

• US 20040249801A1
• Filed: 04/05/2004
• Published: 12/09/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 04/04/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kapur, Shyam
• Granted Patent: US 7,698,327 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results

Abstract

Systems and methods for enhancing information retrieval and communication functionality through the use of a universal interface that is configurable to interface with multiple applications resident on a user computer, and which provides a persistent two-way communication channel for communicating with search intelligence on a remote system. Sharable, actionable labels and codebooks of labels may be defined by a user. Each label may be defined in a natural language format and may include a mapping to a specific application or set of applications executable on a user system. Transfer of labels and codebooks between user systems allows for enhanced information exchange and retrieval among users as well as information exchange tracking and analysis by a server system.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method of processing a user input to determine an action to be taken based on the content of the user input in a client system, the method comprising:

displaying a dialog box on a graphical user interface display associated with the client system;

receiving a user input into the dialog box; and

processing the content of the user input to determine an action to take based on the user input content, wherein the action includes one of performing a search using the user input as a search query and accessing one or more applications residing on the client system to perform further processing based on the content.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the content includes a user-defined label that maps to a specific application.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the specific application is selected from the group consisting of an e-mail client, an instant messaging client, a database management client, a document management client, a calendar client, a browser client, a spreadsheet client and a file transfer client.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the label is stored to a mapping table that maps the label to the specific application, and wherein processing includes accessing the mapping table using the label as a key to identify the specific application.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein processing further includes invoking the specific application to further process the content.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the content includes a user-defined label that maps to a plurality of specific applications.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the plurality of specific applications includes at least one application selected from the group consisting of an e-mail client, an instant messaging client, a database management client, a document management client, a calendar client, a browser client, a spreadsheet client and a file transfer client.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the content includes a natural language label for a specific need, and wherein the natural language label maps to one or more applications residing on the computer or on a network coupled with the computer.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein performing a search includes invoking a browser client on the client system and sending the search query to a remote server.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein a context of the user input is determined based on a format of the user input, and wherein determining an action to take is based on the context.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the user input is received via one or more user input devices associated with the client system.

12. The method of claim 1, further including:

receiving a codebook from a remote system, the codebook including a mapping of one or more labels with one or more specific applications, the codebook labels being defined by another user; and

storing the codebook to a memory unit in the client system.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein processing includes identifying one or more labels in the user input, and wherein accessing one or more applications includes identifying the one or more applications using the codebook.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein identifying the one or more applications includes using the one or more labels as a key to lookup the one or more applications in the codebook.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein accessing one or more applications includes one of executing one or more APIs configured to interface with the one or more applications and executing one or more scripts configured to interface with the one or more applications.

32. The method of claim 1, wherein the action to take includes delivering information to a user based on a context of the information to be delivered.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the delivering information includes providing the information using one of a mail application, an instant messaging application and a browser application.

34. The method of claim 1, wherein the user input includes a plurality of separate entries, wherein processing the content of the user input includes processing the content of each entry separately.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein, for each entry, the method includes determining an action to take, wherein each action is determined based on a context of the entry.

36. The method of claim 1, wherein the action includes performing a search using the user input as a search query, wherein the search provides one or more search results, the method further including establishing a communication link with a remote site associated with one of the search results.

37. The method of claim 36, further including receiving additional information from the remote site and providing the additional information and the search result to the client system.

38. The method of claim 1, wherein the action to take includes accessing two or more of said applications and displaying information from each of said two or more applications.

39. The method of claim 1, wherein processing includes accessing a first application, and wherein further processing includes accessing a second application based on the content.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein the first application is an e-mail client, and wherein the second application is one of a spreadsheet client, a calendar client and a browser client.

16. A method of sharing actionable labels between a plurality of client systems, the method comprising:

creating a first label on a first client system, the label including a mapping to at least one specific application executable on the first client system;

transferring the label to a second client system over a network;

storing the first label to a memory unit of the second client system; and

processing user input on the second client system, and if the user input identifies the first label;

invoking the at least one specific application on the second system; and

processing the user input using the at least one specific application.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the at least one specific application is selected from the group consisting of an e-mail client, an instant messaging client, a database management client, a document management client, a calendar client, a browser client, a spreadsheet client and a file transfer client.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the first label references any of a plurality of data types selected from the group consisting of a structured data type, an unstructured data type, text, number, image and database record.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the label is transferred to the second client system in a codebook including one or more additional labels, each additional label identifying a specific application executable on a client system.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the first label is in a natural language format.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the label identifies a web site at a remote server, and wherein the label maps to a browser application.

22. The method of claim 16, wherein the at least one application is a browser application, and wherein processing includes performing a search using the user input.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein performing a search includes sending a search query to a remote system, and wherein the remote search system provides search results based on the user input and on the first label.

24. The method of claim 16, wherein the first label identifies a first referent, the method further comprising changing the first referent to a second referent in the second client system responsive to a user request.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein invoking includes invoking a browser application, and wherein processing includes accessing a remote system using the second referent.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the second referent includes one of a URL and a link to a remote site.

27. The method of claim 16, wherein processing includes one of retrieving or requesting information from a remote site based on the first label.

28. The method of claim 27, further including selecting a delivery application for delivering the information to a user based on a context of the information to be delivered.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the delivery application includes one of a mail application, an instant messaging application and a browser application.

30. The method of claim 16, wherein the first label includes a first name, the method further comprising changing the first name to a second name in the second client system responsive to a user request.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the first label identifies a first referent, the method further comprising changing the first referent to a second referent in the second client system responsive to the user request.