COMBINED WEB BROWSING AND SEARCHING

• US 20090234811A1
• Filed: 03/17/2008
• Published: 09/17/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/17/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Jamil, Faisal R., Herri, Gunawan
• Granted Patent: US 8,150,869 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation

Abstract

Context information for a user of a device is identified and is used to identify a set of keywords based at least in part on a current Web page being displayed and one or more previous Web pages displayed for the user. The set of keywords and/or information regarding previous searches are used to identify a set of query terms. The set of query terms are displayed as part of a user interface. Additionally, a user selection of a search preview option can be received while displaying a Web page. In response to receiving the user selection of the search preview option, a user-entered query term is sent to a search engine. Search results based on the query term are received from the search engine, and both the search results and the Web page are displayed concurrently in a same window.

Claims

1. A method implemented in a device, the method comprising:

identifying context information for a user of the device;

using the context information to identify a set of keywords based at least in part on a current Web page being displayed and one or more previous Web pages displayed for the user;

using the set of keywords to identify a set of query terms; and

displaying the identified set of query terms as part of a user interface of the device.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, the using the set of keywords comprising using both the set of keywords and information regarding previous searches to identify the set of query terms.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, the displaying comprising displaying the identified set of query terms in a drop-down menu, corresponding to a search box, displayed as part of the user interface of the device.

4. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a user selection of one of the set of query terms;

displaying the selected one of the set of query terms in the search box; and

sending the selected one of the set of query terms to a search engine in response to user selection of a search option.

5. A method as recited in claim 1, the context information comprising a current geographical location of the device.

6. A method as recited in claim 1, the context information comprising keywords from one or more previous Web pages accessed by the user.

7. A method as recited in claim 1, the using the set of keywords to identify the set of query terms further comprising using an expansion method so that the set of query terms includes keywords in addition to the set of keywords.

8. A method as recited in claim 1, the using the set of keywords to identify the set of query terms further comprising using a category method to identify one or more general categories that the set of keywords are part of, and including the one or more general categories in the set of query terms.

9. A method as recited in claim 1, the using the set of keywords to identify the set of query terms further comprising using a sibling method to identify one or more query terms that share some but not all of the set of keywords, and including the one or more query terms in the set of query terms.

10. A method as recited in claim 1, the using the set of keywords to identify the set of query terms further comprising using an inference method to identify one or more query terms that are assumed to be desired by the user based on one or more other keywords entered by the user.

11. A method as recited in claim 1, the using the set of keywords and to identify the set of query terms further comprising using an intersection method to identify common keywords among multiple Web pages accessed by the user, and including the common keywords in the set of query terms.

12. A method implemented in a device, the method comprising:

receiving, while a display device is displaying a Web page, a user selection of a search preview option;

sending, in response to receiving the user selection of the search preview option, a user-entered query term to a search engine;

receiving, from the search engine, search results based on the query term; and

displaying both the search results and the Web page concurrently in a same window being displayed by the display device.

13. A method as recited in claim 12, the displaying comprising displaying the search results in a first portion of the same window and displaying the Web page in a second portion of the same window, the method further comprising:

sending, in response to receiving an additional user selection of the search preview option, an additional user-entered query term to a search engine;

receiving, from the search engine, search results based on the additional user-entered query term;

displaying the search results based on the additional user-entered query term in the first portion; and

displaying the Web page in the second portion.

14. A method as recited in claim 12, the user-entered query term having been entered by the user selecting a query term from a drop-down menu, the drop-down menu having included a set of query terms identified based on both context information for the user and information regarding previous searches.

15. A method as recited in claim 14, the set of query terms further including one or more query terms identified by using a sibling method to identify query terms that share some but not all of a set of keywords obtained from the context information.

16. A method as recited in claim 14, the set of query terms further including one or more query terms identified by using an intersection method to identify common keywords among multiple Web pages accessed by the user.

17. A method as recited in claim 12, the search results being a result of searching a Web site for the query term.

18. A method as recited in claim 12, the search results being a result of searching the Web for the query term.

19. One or more computer storage media having stored thereon multiple instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a device, causes the one or more processors to:

display a current Web page and search options, the search options including a search box, a query term drop-down menu, and a search preview button;

use both context information for a user of the device and information regarding previous searches to identify a set of query terms;

display the set of query terms in the query term drop-down menu;

receive a user selection of one of the set of query terms;

send the selected one of the set of query terms to a search engine; and

display both search results received from the search engine and the current Web page concurrently in a same window of the device.

20. One or more computer storage media as recited in claim 19, the context information comprising a current geographical location of the device.