SURFACING APPLICATIONS BASED ON BROWSING ACTIVITY

• US 20120323898A1
• Filed: 06/16/2011
• Published: 12/20/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: KUMAR, AMIT, MAHAJAN, MILIND
• Granted Patent: US 9,519,726 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/723
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/955 using information identifiers, e.g. uniform resource locators [URL]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement

Abstract

Applications are surfaced to a user during browsing without requiring a specific search by the user. The applications can be selected for surfacing to the user based on the network address entered into the address bar of a browser, the content of the page corresponding to the network address, or a combination thereof. Applications may be selected for surfacing based on a partial address entered into the address bar and/or based on the web page content that is currently visible in the browser display.

Claims

1. One or more computer-readable media having embodied thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed, perform a method for surfacing one or more applications based on browsing activity, the method comprising:

receiving one or more characters corresponding to characters detected in a browser address bar that have a network address format;

matching one or more applications with at least one keyword extracted from the one or more characters; and

transmitting an identification of the one or more matched applications in response to receiving the one or more characters.

2. The computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein receiving one or more characters corresponding to characters detected in a browser address bar comprises receiving at least one keyword extracted from the one or more characters.

3. The computer-readable media of claim 1, further comprising extracting one or more keywords from the one or more characters, the one or more applications being matched with the at least one keyword extracted from the one or more keywords.

4. The computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein matching at least one application with keywords extracted from the received characters comprises:

identifying an extracted keyword containing a last character relative to a direction of text flow;

expanding the identified extracted keyword with one or more additional characters to generate a plurality of expanded keywords; and

matching an application based on one or more non-identified extracted keywords and an expanded keyword selected from the plurality of expanded keywords.

5. The computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the received one or more characters comprise a uniform resource identifier or an internationalized resource identifier having a registered scheme.

6. The computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein extracting one or more keywords comprises:

selecting an address template having a format that corresponds to the network address format, the address template including a one or more template fields; and

extracting keywords corresponding to the one or more template fields from the received one or more characters.

7. The computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein matching at least one application with the extracted keywords comprises:

comparing the extracted keywords with keywords in an application keyword index;

ranking one or more applications based on said comparing; and

selecting at least one application having a ranking greater than a ranking threshold as an application that matches the network address.

8. A computer-implemented method for surfacing one or more applications as a function of search results, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality characters having a network address format, the plurality of characters corresponding to a document location;

matching a plurality of applications with at least one keyword extracted from the plurality of characters, a document associated with the document location, or a combination thereof;

assigning the plurality of matched applications to categories corresponding to the relationship of an application to the associated document; and

transmitting an identification of the one or more matched applications and the assigned categories in response to receiving the one or more characters.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, further comprising

extracting at least one keyword from the received plurality of characters, the associated document, or a combination thereof.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the plurality of matched applications are assigned to a plurality of categories selected from official applications, contextual applications, recommended applications, and related applications.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein matching the plurality of applications with the associated document comprises:

detecting an entity based on the extracted keywords; and

selecting one or more applications based on the detected entity.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein assigning the plurality of matched applications to categories comprises assigning at least one application to a recommended category based on an application popularity score.

13. One or more computer-readable media having embodied thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed, perform a method for surfacing one or more applications as a function of search results, the method comprising:

detecting a plurality of characters in a browser address bar, the plurality of characters having a network address format;

displaying a first portion of a document associated with a document location corresponding to the detected plurality of characters;

forwarding the detected plurality of characters to a search engine;

receiving identification of one or more applications that are matched with keywords extracted from the plurality of characters, the associated document, or a combination thereof;

displaying at least one link corresponding to a matched application;

displaying a second portion of the associated document;

identifying extracted keywords located within the displayed second portion of the associated document;

modifying the displayed at least one link based on the identified extracted keywords located within the displayed second portion of the associated document.

14. The computer-readable media of claim 13, wherein displaying a second portion of the associated document comprises displaying a document portion that is made visible after translation of the document along a direction.

15. The computer-readable media of claim 14, wherein the document is translated along a direction in response to a user input.

16. The computer-readable media of claim 14, wherein at least some content of the first portion of the associated document is displayed during display of the second portion of the associated document.

17. The computer-readable media of claim 14, wherein display of the second portion of the associated document comprises display of content related to an entity, the entity-related content not being visible during display of the first portion of the associated document.

18. The computer-readable media of claim 13, further comprising detecting characters corresponding to a partial network address in the browser address bar;

extracting one or more keywords from the partial network address; and

displaying at least one preliminary link corresponding to a received identification of an application based on match of the keywords extracted from the partial network address,

wherein the detected one or more characters in the browser address bar include the characters corresponding to the partial network address, and wherein said displaying at least one link corresponding to a matched application further comprises removing the display of the preliminary link.

19. The computer-readable media of claim 13, wherein detecting one or more characters in a browser address bar comprises detecting the detecting one or more characters in a browser address bar prior to display of the first portion of the associated document, the method further comprising:

extracting one or more keywords from the one or more characters in the browser address bar;

displaying at least one preliminary link corresponding to a received identification of an application based on match of the keywords extracted from one or more characters in the browser address bar, and

extracting at least one additional keyword from the associated document after display of the first portion of the associated document, the at least one additional keyword corresponding to content that is part of the displayed first portion,

wherein said displaying at least one link corresponding to a matched application further comprises removing the display of the preliminary link.

20. The computer-readable media of claim 13, wherein modifying the displayed at least one link comprises changing a display location for a link based on the extracted keywords located in the displayed second portion, displaying an additional link to an application, or a combination thereof.