User entertainment and engagement enhancements to search system

• US 20070016559A1
• Filed: 07/14/2005
• Published: 01/18/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Oath Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kraft, Reiner
• Application Number:
  US11/183,114
• Publication Number:
  US 20070016559A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

According to one aspect of the present invention, a method of actively engaging a user of a search system can include receiving from the user a search query for a search of a corpus of information and providing the user with search results for the search. The user can also be prompted to participate in a search-related activity wherein at least one aspect of the search-related activity is dependent on a context of the search. User input for performing the search-related activity can be accepted and an activity response can be provided to the user.

Claims

1. A method of actively engaging a user of a search system, the method comprising:

receiving from the user a search query for a search of a corpus of information;

providing the user with search results for the search;

prompting the user to participate in a search-related activity wherein at least one aspect of the search-related activity is dependent on a context of the search;

accepting user input for performing the search-related activity; and

providing an activity response to the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the context of the search includes one or more of the search query, a user identifier of a searcher, contents of the search results, a search history for the user, advertisements used without search context elements, and a time of day of the search.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the search-related activity comprises an instant win game.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the instant win game comprises:

displaying an indication to the user as part of a display for the search results, the indication to inform the user of availability of a reward; and

responsive to the user selecting the indication, displaying a message to the user indicating the nature of the reward, wherein the nature of the prize is dependent on the context of the search.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the search-related activity comprises a riddle game.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the riddle game comprises:

displaying a question to the user, wherein the question is dependent on the context of the search;

accepting an answer from the user; and

responsive to the answer being correct, displaying a message to the user indicating a reward.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the search-related activity comprises a search query competition.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the search query competition comprises:

displaying a description of hard-to-find information, wherein the hard-to-find information is dependent on the context of the search;

accepting a search query from the user, the search query intended to locate the hard-to-find information; and

responsive to the search query being a first search query submitted to locate the hard-to-find information, displaying a message to the user indicating a reward.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the search-related activity comprises a link location game.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the link location game comprises:

displaying a link to a page containing a specially marked link, wherein the page containing the specially marked link is dependent on the context of the search;

accepting a search query from the user; and

responsive to the search query from the user being the specially marked link, displaying a message to the user indicating a reward.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the search-related activity comprises a guessing game.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the guessing game comprises:

accepting a guess search query from the user, the guess search query comprising an attempt to guess a predetermined search query; and

responsive to the search query from the user matching the predetermined search query, displaying a message to the user indicating a reward.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the search-related activity comprises a link collection competition.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the link collection competition comprises:

collecting a list of links from the user, wherein a topic for the list of links is dependent on the context of the search;

judging the list of links; and

awarding a reward to the user based on said judging.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the search-related activity comprises a chain-type riddle game.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the chain-type riddle game comprises:

displaying a first question to the user;

accepting a first answer from the user;

responsive to the first answer being correct, displaying a second question to the user, wherein an answer to the second question requires knowledge of the first answer.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the search-related activity comprises an elimination-type puzzle competition.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the elimination-type puzzle competition comprises:

displaying a first question to the user;

accepting a first answer from the user;

responsive to the first answer being correct, advancing the user to a second question; and

responsive to the first answer being incorrect, eliminating the user from further participation in the activity.