Automatic Routing of Search Results

• US 20120015674A1
• Filed: 09/26/2011
• Published: 01/19/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/20/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: LeBeau, Michael J., Jitkoff, John Nicholas, Byrne, William J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,312,042 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.3
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/953 Querying, e.g. by the use of web search engines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/25 using position of the lips, movement of the lips or face analysis
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72445 for supporting Internet browser applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/40 using speech recognition speech recognition per se G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/15 Information service where the information is dependent on the location of the subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4931 Directory assistance systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4935 Connection initiated by DAS system

Abstract

In general, the subject matter described in this specification can be embodied in methods, systems, and program products for providing search results automatically to a user of a computing device. A spoken input provided by a user to a computing device is received. The spoken input is transmitted to a computer server system that is remote from the computing device. Search result information that is responsive to the spoken input is receiving by the computing device and in response to the transmitted spoken input. An alert is provided to the user that the device will connect the user to a target of the search result information if the user does not intervene to stop the connecting of the user. The user is connected to the target of the search result information based on a determination that the user has not intervened to stop the connecting of the user.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium encoded with a computer program comprising instructions that, when executed, operate to cause a computer to perform operations comprising:

receiving, by a mobile device, a voice input;

encoding, by the mobile device, the voice input in an audio signal;

identifying, by the mobile device, information either identifying a current location of the mobile device or usable to determine a current location of the mobile device;

submitting, by the mobile device, the audio signal and the information to a search engine, as part of a voice query,

receiving, by the mobile device and from the search engine, a search engine results page that identifies multiple search results in response to the voice query;

identifying, by the mobile device, a telephone number associated with a particular one of the search results identified on the search engine results page;

automatically placing, by the mobile device, a telephone call using the telephone number, without requiring a user of the mobile device to select the particular search result from among the multiple search results identified on the search engine results page.

2. The medium of claim 1, comprising displaying on the search engine results page a notification indicating that the telephone number is to be dialed unless a cancel control on the search engine results page is selected.

3. The medium of claim 1, comprising:

determining that an automatic calling control has been selected; and

in response to determining that the automatic calling control has been selected, determining that multiple search results that are responsive to the voice query are to be evaluated as candidates for automatic calling.

4. The medium of claim 1, comprising displaying an animated countdown timer that illustrates an amount of time that is left until the telephone call will be automatically placed.

5. The medium of claim 1, wherein submitting the audio signal comprises submitting a signal that the voice query is a local search query.

6. A method comprising:

determining a location of a computing device;

submitting, with a voice query, data identifying the location of the computing device, and a signal that indicates that search results that are responsive the voice query are to be evaluated as candidates for automatic calling;

receiving the search results that are responsive to the voice query, and telephone number for a particular search result;

displaying the particular search result prominently among the search results that are displayed on a search engine results page;

determining that a user has confirmed dialing, or has not cancelled dialing, of the telephone number, through interaction with the search engine results page; and

dialing the telephone number based on determining that the user has confirmed dialing, or has not cancelled dialing, through interaction with the search engine results page.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein determining that a user has confirmed dialing comprises determining that the user has selected a dial control on the search engine results page.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein determining that the user has not cancelled dialing comprises determining that the user has not selected a cancel control on a countdown timer displayed on the search engine results page.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein determining that a user has confirmed dialing, or has not cancelled dialing, comprises determining that, between a time when the voice query is submitted and a time when the particular search results are displayed, that no additional user input is received.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein displaying the particular search result comprises displaying a notification indicating that the telephone number is to be dialed unless a cancel control on the search engine results page is selected.

11. The method of claim 6, comprising:

determining that an automatic calling control has been selected; and

in response to determining that the automatic calling control has been selected, generating the signal that indicates that search results that are responsive to the voice query are to be evaluated as candidates for automatic calling.

12. A smartphone comprising:

a network interface configured to receive multiple search results and automatic redirection information from a local search engine;

a display configured to display multiple search results; and

an automatic redirection module configured to automatically redirect a user of the mobile device using the automatic redirection information received from the local search engine.

13. The smartphone of claim 12, wherein the display is configured to display an animated countdown timer that illustrates an amount of time that is left until the user of the mobile device will be automatically redirected using the automatic redirection information.

14. The smartphone of claim 12, comprising a user interface configured to receive a voice query, wherein the network interface is configured to transmit the voice query to the local search engine.

15. The smartphone of claim 12, comprising a location engine configured to determine a location of the smartphone, wherein the network interface is configured to transmit information identifying the location of the smartphone to the local search engine.

16. The smartphone of claim 12, wherein the automatic redirection information comprises a telephone number, an email address, or a Uniform Resource Locator (URL).

17. The smartphone of claim 12, wherein the automatic redirection module is configured to automatically redirect the user of the mobile device without requiring the user to indicate that the automatic redirection is to occur.

18. A computer-implemented method comprising:

determining, by one or more servers, that textual representation of a spoken phrase includes one or more keywords that are associated with automatic dialing;

in response to determining that the textual representation includes the keywords, submitting, by the one or more servers, the textual representation of the spoken phrase to a geographic search engine;

receiving, by the one or more servers, one or more responsive search results from the geographic search engine selecting, by the one or more servers, contact information associated with a particular search result; and

providing, by the one or more servers and to a mobile device, an instruction to automatically initiate communication using the selected contact information.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein providing an instruction comprises providing an instruction to initiate communication using the selected contact information without waiting for a user of the mobile device to confirm that communication is to be initiated.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the contact information comprises a telephone number, and the instruction instructs the mobile device to automatically place a telephone call using the telephone number.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein the contact information comprises a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), and the instruction instructs the mobile device to automatically direct a web browser to a web site associated with the URI.

22. The method of claim 18, wherein the contact information comprises an email address, and the instruction instructs the mobile device to automatically compose an email to the email address.

23. The method of claim 18, wherein submitting the textual representation comprises submitting the textual representation to a geographic search engine instead of to a general search engine.

24. The method of claim 18, comprising:

filtering the keywords from the textual representation,

wherein submitting the textual representation comprises submitting the filtered textual representation.

25. The method of claim 18, wherein the one or more servers comprise a local search engine.

26. The method of claim 18, comprising providing, by the one or more servers, a search engine results page for display on the mobile device, wherein the search engine results page includes a notification indicating that communication will automatically be initiated using the selected contact information unless a cancel control on the search engine results page is selected.

27. The method of claim 18, comprising providing, by the one or more servers, a search engine results page for display on the mobile device, wherein the search engine results page includes a countdown timer that illustrates an amount of time that is left until the communication is automatically initiated.

28. The method of claim 18, comprising receiving, by the one or more servers, (i) an audio signal that corresponds to the spoken phrase, and (ii) a signal indicating that the audio signal is to be processed as a local search query.

29. The method of claim 18, wherein selecting the particular search result comprises selecting a highest ranked of the responsive search results.

30. The method of claim 18, wherein selecting the particular search result comprises selecting a responsive search result that is not a highest ranked of the responsive search results.