DYNAMIC GENERATION OF RELEVANT ITEMS

• US 20110252022A1
• Filed: 04/07/2010
• Published: 10/13/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/07/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Panchadsaram, Ryan S., Birman, Mikhail
• Granted Patent: US 8,972,418 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/723
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries

Abstract

Various embodiments dynamically generate relevant items for a user based on a user'"'"'s location and an item'"'"'s popularity. In at least some embodiments, a probability component generates a ranked list of items that are relevant to users at a particular location using probability data associated with the list of items and the particular location. The probability data is based on user selections of items in the list of items.

Claims

1. One or more computer-readable storage media embodying computer executable instructions, which when executed by a computing device, perform a method, comprising:

receiving, from a client device, a request for a list of items;

determining a location associated with the client device;

selecting probability data associated with the list of items and with the location of the client device, the probability data based on selections of items in the list of items from sources other than the client device;

generating a ranked list of items using the probability data; and

transmitting the ranked list of items to the client device.

2. One or more computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from the client device, a user selection of an item in the ranked list of items; and

updating the probability data associated with the list of items using the user selection.

3. One or more computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 2, wherein updating the probability data includes increasing a probability associated with the selected item and decreasing probabilities associated with the other items in the list of items.

4. One or more computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 2, wherein updating the probability data includes updating the probability data associated with the list of items for one or more regions associated with the location of the client device.

5. One or more computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 2, wherein updating the probability data includes updating the probability data associated with the list of items in real time.

6. One or more computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 1, wherein the list of items comprises a list of social media websites.

7. One or more computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 1, wherein selecting probability data further comprises:

determining whether probability data corresponding to the location associated with the client device is available; and

responsive to determining that probability data is not available, zooming out to a less precise location to determine whether probability data is available at the less precise location.

8. One or more computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 1, wherein the probability data is further based on selections of items from said sources having a same location as the location of the client device.

9. One or more computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 1, wherein determining a location associated with the client device includes determining a location using a user-specified location, GPS data, or an IP address of the client device.

10. A computer-implemented method comprising:

requesting, from a server, a list of social media websites;

receiving, from the server, a ranked list of social media websites, wherein the ranked list of social media websites is ranked using probabilities based on previous selections of user-selectable items corresponding to social media websites; and

displaying, in an item display area, user-selectable items corresponding to one or more of the highest ranked social media websites in the ranked list.

11. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 10, further comprising:

receiving a user selection of one of the one or more user-selectable items displayed in the item display list; and

transmitting the user selection to the server to enable the server to increase an associated probability of the selected one or more user-selectable items.

12. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 10, further comprising displaying one or more other user-selectable items corresponding to one or more of the social media websites in a scrollable display list.

13. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 10, wherein the item display area is configured to display a limited number of user-selectable items corresponding to the social media websites.

14. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, from a client device, a user selection of an item in a list of items;

receiving, from the client device, location information associated with a location of the client device; and

updating probability data associated with both the list of items and the location of the client device.

15. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 14, wherein updating the probability data comprises:

increasing a probability associated with a selected item for the location associated with the client device; and

decreasing a probability associated with other items in the list of items for the location associated with the client device.

16. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 15, wherein increasing the probability includes increasing the probability associated with the selected item for one or more regions associated with the location of the client device.

17. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 15, wherein decreasing the probability includes decreasing a total probability of the other items in the list of items by an amount equal to the increase in probability of the selected item.

18. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 14, wherein the list of items comprises a list of social media websites.

19. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 14, wherein the probability data is based on selections of items from sources other than the client device.

20. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 19, wherein the probability data is further based on selections of items from said sources having a same location as the location of the client device.