PROVIDING CONTENT ITEMS SELECTED BASED ON CONTEXT

• US 20100241663A1
• Filed: 06/01/2010
• Published: 09/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/07/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Chen, Zheng, Li, Shipeng, Huang, Xuedong
• Application Number:
  US12/791,091
• Publication Number:
  US 20100241663A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/770
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2746 Sorting, e.g. according to history or frequency of use
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2747 Scrolling on a display
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2757 by data transmission, e.g. downloading
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/56 Arrangements for indicating or recording the called number at the calling subscriber's set
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/575 Means for retrieving and displaying personal data about calling party
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/576 associated with a pictorial or graphical representation
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/578 associated with a synthesized vocal announcement
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/7243 with interactive means for internal management of messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72451 according to schedules, e.g. using calendar applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72454 according to context-related or environment-related conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/52 including functional features of a camera constructional features concerning the integration of cameras in portable phones H04M1/0264
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/60 logging of communication history, e.g. outgoing or incoming calls, missed calls, messages or URLs logging of telephone numbers H04M1/56, H04M1/57

Abstract

Systems, methods, and computer storage media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that provide content items selected based on context are provided. Contextual indicators associated with a user are identified and utilized to determine one or more content items that the user is likely to desire to access at a particular point in time. Upon receiving an indication that the user desires to perform a context-aware search, the identified content items (or references thereto) are presented automatically to the user, that is, without the user having to input any search query terms. The indication that the user desires to perform a context-aware search may be received, for instance, upon receiving an indication that a selectable context-aware search button has been selected by the user. This single-button action is particularly useful for mobile computing devices, wherein alpha-numeric textual input is relatively difficult.

Claims

1. One or more computer storage media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon, that when executed, cause a computing device to perform a method for providing content items selected based on context, the method comprising:

receiving at least one contextual indicator associated with a user;

using the at least one contextual indicator to select at least one content item, the at least one content item being one of visible information, audible information, or a combination of visible and audible information;

receiving an indication that a context-aware search has been requested;

automatically providing the at least one content item for output in association with the computing device in response to the context-aware search request and in the absence of receiving any user-input search query terms.

2. The one or more computer storage media of claim 1, wherein the at least one content item comprises, at least in part, visible information, and wherein the method further comprises:

displaying the visible information in association with a user interface in response to the context-aware search request; and

displaying a search query input region configured for receiving at least one user-input search query term in association with the user interface.

3. The one or more computer storage media of claim 1, wherein receiving the indication that the context-aware search has been requested comprises receiving an indication that a context-aware search selector has been selected.

4. The one or more computer storage media of claim 3, wherein the context-aware search selector is one of a hardware-based search selector associated with the computing device, a software-based search selector, and a combination of a hardware-based and a software-based search selector.

5. The one or more computer storage media of claim 1, wherein automatically providing the at least one content item for output in association with the computing device in response to the context-aware search request comprises accessing a remote source of the at least one content item, accessing a local cache synchronized from a remote source of the at least one content item, or a combination thereof.

6. The one or more computer storage media of claim 1, wherein the computing device is a mobile computing device.

7. The one or more computer storage media of claim 1,

wherein using the at least one contextual indicator to select the at least one content item comprises using the at least one contextual indicator to select the at least one contextual indicator prior to receiving the indication that the context-aware search has been requested,

and wherein the method further comprises caching the at least one content item.

8. The one or more computer storage media of claim 1,

wherein receiving the at least one contextual indicator associated with the user comprises receiving a plurality of contextual indicators associated with the user,

and wherein using the at least one contextual indicator to select the at least one content item comprises selecting a plurality of content items, each of the plurality of content items being selected based on one or more of the plurality of contextual indicators.

9. The one or more computer storage media of claim 8, wherein automatically providing the at least one content item for output in association with the computing device in response to the context-aware search request comprises automatically providing at least a portion of the plurality of content items for output in association with the computing device in response to the context-aware search request.

10. The one or more computer storage media of claim 9, wherein the method further comprises associating a likelihood with each of the plurality of content items indicative of how likely it is that the user wishes presentation of the associated content item, and wherein automatically providing at least a portion of the plurality of content items for output in association with the computing device comprises automatically providing less than all of the plurality of content items based upon the likelihood associated with each of the plurality of content items.

11. The one or more computer storage media of claim 1, further comprising using profile data, current state data, or a combination of profile data and current state data to select the at least one content item.

12. The one or more computer storage media of claim 11, further comprising mining at least a portion of the profile data based on previous activities of the user.

13. The one or more computer storage media of claim 1, wherein the at least one contextual indicator associated with the user is based on at least one interaction of the user with the computing device.

14. A content delivery system, comprising:

a computing device associated with one or more processors and one or more computer storage media;

a data store coupled with the computing device; and

a content item selection engine that receives at least one contextual indicator associated with a user of the computing device, selects at least one content item based upon the at least one contextual indicator, and automatically provides the at least one content item for output in association with the computing device in response to receiving an indication that a context-aware search has been requested and in the absence of receiving any user-input search query terms.

15. The content delivery system of claim 14, further comprising a context-aware search selector, selection of which generates the indication that the context-aware search has been requested.

16. The content delivery system of claim 14, wherein the content item selection engine uses profile data, current state data, or a combination of profile data and current state data to select the at least one content item.

17. The content delivery system of claim 16, wherein the content item selection engine mines at least a portion of the profile data based on previous activities of the user to select the at least one content item.

18. The content delivery system of claim 14, wherein the at least one contextual indicator associated with the user of the computing device is based on at least one interaction of the user with the computing device.

19. One or more computer storage media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon, that when executed, cause a computing device to perform a method for providing content items selected based on context, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of contextual indicators associated with a user;

determining a plurality of content items capable of being presented in association with a user interface on the computing device, each of the plurality of content items being determined based upon at least one of the plurality of contextual indicators;

associating a likelihood with each of the plurality of content items indicative of how likely it is that the user wishes presentation of the associated content item;

receiving an indication that a context-aware search selector has been selected;

automatically presenting a portion of the plurality of content items in association with a first region of the user interface in response to the selection of the context-aware search selector and in the absence of receiving any user-input search query terms, wherein content items comprising the portion of the plurality of content items are selected for presentation based upon relative associated likelihoods; and

presenting a search query input region configured for receiving at least one user-input search query term in association with a second region of the user interface in response to the selection of the context-aware search selector.

20. The one or more computer storage media of claim 19, wherein each of the plurality of contextual indicators associated with the user is determined using one or more of profile data, current state data, user-activity data, user/device interaction data, and any combination thereof.