Refined Search User Interface

• US 20070219954A1
• Filed: 03/15/2006
• Published: 09/20/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Savage, Tammy, Ray, Ethan, Edwards, Rodney
• Application Number:
  US11/276,812
• Publication Number:
  US 20070219954A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0236 using selection techniques to select from displayed items

Abstract

A refined search user interface is described. In an implementation, items that are available via a particular service and a list of other services that are also available are displayed in a user interface. The display of items is refined for each character entered via a search portion of the user interface. In another implementation, the list of other services that are displayed is determined based on relevance of one or more characters to the respective services. In yet another implementation, the display of other services is refined as the characters are input by a user.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

displaying, in a user interface, items that are available via a particular service and a list of other services that are also available; and

refining the display of items for each character entered via a search portion of the user interface.

2. A method as described in claim 1, wherein:

the displaying includes displaying items that are available via the particular service that correspond to a first character and a list of other services, wherein at least one said other service is available over a network; and

wherein the refining includes refining the display of items to include items having the first character and a second character input via the search portion after the first character.

3. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the refining further includes refining a list of other services based on determined relevancy of the other services to each character received via the search portion.

4. A method as described in claim 1, wherein each said service is selected from a group consisting of:

email service;

instant messaging service;

Internet search service;

image search service;

web log service;

ecommerce service; and

news service.

5. A method as described in claim 1, wherein:

the particular service is an Internet search service;

each said item includes one or more search term suggestions based on the one or more characters;

the refining includes refining the display of items as each said character is received via the search portion; and

the one or more search terms are selectable to cause an Internet search to be performed using the terms.

6. A method as described in claim 5, wherein at least one said search term is not based on characters that were received and stored previous to the one or more characters by a client device that performs the outputting and the displaying.

7. A method as described in claim 5, wherein:

Internet searches performed using the search term suggestions produce search results having Uniform Resource Locators (URLs); and

the search term suggestions do not include URLs.

8. A method comprising:

outputting a user interface having a search portion and data obtained via a particular service of a service provider; and

displaying a list of other services that are available via the service provider in the user interface that are determined to be relevant based on one or more characters received via the search portion.

9. A method as described in claim 8, wherein the displaying is performed as each said character is received via the search portion.

10. A method as described in claim 8, wherein the displaying is performed through use of an overlay such that the list of other services overlays at least a portion of the data obtained via the particular service.

11. A method as described in claim 8, wherein the displaying also includes displaying items available via the particular service that correspond to the one or more characters received via the search portion.

12. A method as described in claim 11, wherein the display of items that are available via the particular service is refined as each said character is received via the search portion.

13. A method as described in claim 8, further comprising when an input is received selecting one of the other services in the user interface after the one or more characters are received, searching the selected said service using the received one or more characters.

14. A method as described in claim 13, wherein the searching is performed without reentering the one or more characters by a user in the search portion after the input is received.

15. One or more computer-readable media comprising computer executable instructions that, when executed, direct a computer to:

monitor characters input by a user in a search portion of a user interface, wherein the search portion is configured to receive characters that are to be used to search for items accessible via a particular service and that have the characters; and

display other services, based on the monitoring, that are searchable using the text, wherein the display of other services is refined as the characters are input by the user.

16. One or more computer-readable media as described in claim 15, wherein each said other service, as displayed, is selectable to cause a search to be performed of the service using the received characters.

17. One or more computer-readable media as described in claim 16, wherein each said other service is selectable to cause the search to be performed without having a user reenter the characters.

18. One or more computer-readable media as described in claim 15, wherein the computer-executable instructions further configure the computer to display items available via the particular service that have the characters.

19. One or more computer-readable media as described in claim 18, wherein the display of items is refined as each said character is received.

20. One or more computer-readable media as described in claim 18, wherein the display of items is performed through use of an overlay.