ACCURATE SEARCH RESULTS WHILE HONORING CONTENT LIMITATIONS

• US 20130054572A1
• Filed: 08/25/2011
• Published: 02/28/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Hamilton, Justin, Ma, Yue, Wu, Kun, Cummins, Charles E., Ding, Hua, Sheng, Xiaowei, Lang, Bing
• Granted Patent: US 8,694,604 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/722
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results

Abstract

Accurate search results are provided while still honoring content limitations. Content responsive to search, whose presentation is prevented by content limitations is presented in an obscured manner, notifying the user of the existence of the content, while not enabling discerning of details, thereby honoring the content limitations. Attempted user interaction with obscured content acts as an entry point to changing the content limitations, including presenting user notifications of the content limitations and presenting an option to change the content limitations to allow for the unobscured presentation of the obscured content. Graphical content can be obscured by applying graphical modifications to generate new, obscured content that provides only a vague resemblance to the original, including jittering pixels, or other subcomponents, the applying of Gaussian blurs, and pixelization.

Claims

1. One or more computer-readable media comprising computer-executable instructions for generating search results while honoring content limitations, the computer-executable instructions performing steps comprising:

receiving a search query and the content limitations;

identifying content, hosted by multiple remote computing devices, that is responsive to the search query, the identified responsive content comprising identified responsive restricted content which the content limitations proscribe from presenting in response to the search query;

generating obscured versions of at least some of the identified responsive restricted content, the generated obscured versions lacking those aspects of the identified responsive restricted content that are restricted by the content limitations; and

providing, in response to the search query, both the generated obscured versions and at least some of the identified responsive content that is not restricted by the content limitations.

2. The computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the identified responsive restricted content is graphical content;

and wherein further the computer-executable instructions for generating the obscured versions comprise computer-executable instructions for eliminating graphical details so as to render unrecognizable those aspects of the graphical content that cause the graphical content to be restricted by the content limitations.

3. The computer-readable media of claim 2, wherein the computer-executable instructions for eliminating graphical details comprise computer-executable instructions for:

adjusting an alpha value of pixels of the graphical content to modify the graphical content such that it appears as if the graphical content is being viewed through glass; and

randomly changing positions the pixels to further modify the graphical content such that it appears as if the graphical content is being viewed through frosted glass.

4. The computer-readable media of claim 1, comprising further computer-executable instructions for providing, in response to the search query, computer-executable instructions for presenting a notification if a user action is directed to one of the generated obscured versions that were provided, the notification comprising an indication that the content limitations proscribe presentation of an unobscured version of the one of the generated obscured version to which the user action was directed.

5. The computer-readable media of claim 4, wherein the notification further comprises a user-selectable option to change the content limitations so as to allow presentation of unobscured versions of the generated obscured versions.

6. The computer-readable media of claim 1, comprising further computer-executable instructions for assigning a value to the received search query, the assigning value quantifying an extent to which the received search query is directed to restricted content which the content limitations proscribe from presenting in response to the search query.

7. The computer-readable media of claim 6, comprising further computer-executable instructions for generating additional obscured versions of at least some of the identified responsive content that is not restricted by the content limitations, the generated additional obscured versions lacking those aspects of the identified responsive content that would be restricted by the content limitations, if the value assigned to the search query is below a first threshold indicating that the at least some of the identified responsive content for which the additional obscured versions were generated was not intended by the search query.

8. The computer-readable media of claim 6, wherein the identifying the content responsive to the search query comprises searching a restricted content store only if the value assigned to the search query is above a second threshold indicating that there is a restricted content aspect to the search query;

wherein the restricted content store comprises content which the content limitations proscribe from presenting in response to the search query.

9. A method for providing search results while honoring content limitations, the computer-executable instructions performing steps comprising:

receiving a search query and the content limitations;

identifying content, hosted by multiple remote computing devices, that is responsive to the search query, the identified responsive content comprising identified responsive restricted content which the content limitations proscribe from presenting in response to the search query;

generating obscured versions of at least some of the identified responsive restricted content, the generated obscured versions lacking those aspects of the identified responsive restricted content that are restricted by the content limitations; and

providing, in response to the search query, both the generated obscured versions and at least some of the identified responsive content that is not restricted by the content limitations.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the identified responsive restricted content is graphical content;

and wherein further the generating the obscured versions comprises eliminating graphical details so as to render unrecognizable those aspects of the graphical content that cause the graphical content to be restricted by the content limitations.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the eliminating graphical details comprises:

adjusting an alpha value of pixels of the graphical content to modify the graphical content such that it appears as if the graphical content is being viewed through glass; and

randomly changing positions the pixels to further modify the graphical content such that it appears as if the graphical content is being viewed through frosted glass.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising the steps of:

providing, in response to the search query, computer-executable instructions for presenting a notification if a user action is directed to one of the generated obscured versions that were provided, the notification comprising an indication that the content limitations proscribe presentation of an unobscured version of the one of the generated obscured version to which the user action was directed.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the notification further comprises a user-selectable option to change the content limitations so as to allow presentation of unobscured versions of the generated obscured versions.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising the steps of:

assigning a value to the received search query, the assigning value quantifying an extent to which the received search query is directed to restricted content which the content limitations proscribe from presenting in response to the search query.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising the steps of:

generating additional obscured versions of at least some of the identified responsive content that is not restricted by the content limitations, the generated additional obscured versions lacking those aspects of the identified responsive content that would be restricted by the content limitations, if the value assigned to the search query is below a first threshold indicating that the at least some of the identified responsive content for which the additional obscured versions were generated was not intended by the search query.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the identifying the content responsive to the search query comprises searching a restricted content store only if the value assigned to the search query is above a second threshold indicating that there is a restricted content aspect to the search query;

wherein the restricted content store comprises content which the content limitations proscribe from presenting in response to the search query.

17. A graphical user interface generated on a display device by a computing device for providing a user with search results while honoring content limitations, the user interface comprising:

a user-entered search query;

content responsive to the search query that is not restricted by the content limitations; and

obscured versions of content responsive to the search query that is restricted by the content limitations, the obscured versions lacking those aspects of the responsive restricted content that are restricted by the content limitations,

wherein the obscured versions comprise;

modified alpha values of their pixels so that that it appears as if the graphical content is being viewed through glass; and

randomly changed positions of their pixels so that that it appears as if the graphical content is being viewed through frosted glass.

18. The graphical user interface of claim 17, wherein the responsive restricted content is graphical content;

and wherein the obscured versions lack graphical details such that those aspects of the graphical content that cause the graphical content to be restricted by the content limitations are unrecognizable.

20. The graphical user interface of claim 17, further comprising:

a notification comprising;

an indication that the content limitations proscribe presentation of unobscured versions of the responsive restricted content; and

a user-selectable option to change the content limitations so as to allow presentation of unobscured versions of the responsive restricted content.

19. (canceled)