Context-sensitive query enrichment

• US 20130106683A1
• Filed: 10/31/2011
• Published: 05/02/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2011
• Status: Active Application

• Current Assignee: Elwha LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Elwha LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Davis, Marc E., Dyor, Matthew G., Gates, William, Huang, Xuedong, Hyde, Roderick A., Jung, Edward K.Y., Kare, Jordin T., Levien, Royce A., Lu, Qi, Malamud, Mark A., Myhrvold, Nathan P., Nadella, Satya, Reed, Daniel, Shum, Harry, Tegreene, Clarence T., Wood, Lowell L. Jr.
• Application Number:
  US13/317,991
• Publication Number:
  US 20130106683A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/156
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9032 Query formulation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0304 Detection arrangements using opto-electronic means constructional details of pointing devices not related to the detection arrangement using opto-electronic means G06F3/033; optical digitisers G06F3/042

Abstract

Structures and protocols are presented for facilitating a search partly based on a movement status of a search-capable device or on a position of a person'"'"'s limb or on an association with another search-capable device.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

circuitry for recognizing a position of a first limb of a person in relation to a three-dimensional region indicated by the first limb of the person and to a first interface device input configured to be supported by the person, the three-dimensional region including a first informational element; and

circuitry for transmitting a search result partly based on the person corroborating the first informational element as a component of a search criterion and partly based on the position of the first limb of the person in relation to the three-dimensional region indicated by the first limb of the person and to the first interface device input configured to be supported by the person.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry for determining from optical data whether a user has apparently corroborated a configuration feature, the configuration feature being the search criterion including the first informational element.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry for associating a first device used by a first user with a second device used by a second user in response to an association request from the first user, being the person, the first device including the first interface device input.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry for associating a first device with a second device by recording an identification of the first device in a memory of the second device, the first device including the first interface device input.

10. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry for generating a first coordinate and a second coordinate that jointly characterize a position of a portion of an appendage of a user, being the person, the first coordinate and the second coordinate that jointly characterize the position of the portion of the appendage of the user manifesting the position of the first limb of the person in relation to the three-dimensional region indicated by the first limb of the person.

11. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry for determining whether a user has apparently assented to a structured dialog, the structured dialog requesting a decision of whether to include the first informational element in the search criterion.

12. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry for adjusting a rectangular image component aspect ratio in response to an indication of a symbol adjacent an edge of a portion of an image, the image manifesting the position of the first limb of the person in relation to the first interface device input configured to be supported by the person and to the three-dimensional region indicated by the first limb of the person.

13. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry for responding to an indication of a symbol adjacent an edge of a region of an image by adjusting a size of the region of the image, the image manifesting the position of the first limb of the person in relation to the first interface device input configured to be supported by the person and to the three-dimensional region indicated by the first limb of the person.

14. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry for comparing a local time with temporal data in a first cached document and with temporal data in a second cached document, the search result including the first cached document and the second cached document.

15. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry for initiating a search using a character obtained from a photograph, the first informational element being the character obtained from the photograph, the photograph manifesting the position of the first limb of the person in relation to the first interface device input configured to be supported by the person and to the three-dimensional region indicated by the first limb of the person.

16. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry for displaying a search expression that includes a character sequence obtained from a photograph, the search expression including the search criterion, the first informational element being a character of the character sequence obtained from the photograph, the photograph manifesting the position of the first limb of the person in relation to the first interface device input configured to be supported by the person and to the three-dimensional region indicated by the first limb of the person.

17. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry for expressing a search term at a first interface that includes a character sequence obtained from a second interface, the first interface device input being a component of the second interface, the first informational element comprising an image that depicts the character sequence.

18. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry for highlighting an areal portion of an image selectively in response to a position of a depiction of an appendage in the image, the position of the depiction of the appendage in the image manifesting the position of the first limb of the person in relation to the first interface device input configured to be supported by the person and to the three-dimensional region indicated by the first limb, being the appendage.

19. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry for recognizing a literal expression of a time signifying when a specific time interval begins as a component of the search result.

20. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry for obtaining a boolean expression indicative of whether content includes a literal expression of a time of day, the content being a component of the search result.

21. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry for obtaining a boolean expression indicative of whether content includes a geographic identifier, the content being a component of the search result.

22. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry for ranking a first component of a search result in relation to a second component of the search result partly based on a digital expression of a time of day and partly based on whether a confirmation of a search criterion has been received, the search result being the search result partly based on the person corroborating the first informational element as a component of a search criterion and partly based on the position of the first limb of the person in relation to the three-dimensional region indicated by the first limb of the person and to the first interface device input configured to be supported by the person, the search result having arisen from a usage of the first informational element as a component of the search criterion.

23. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry for causing a first search term and a second search term to be transmitted to a mobile device after initiating a first search using the first search term and after initiating a second search using the second search term, the search criterion being the first search term, the mobile device being an interface device and including the first interface device input configured to be supported by the person.

24. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry for causing a search engine to use a search term conditionally in response to a user of a mobile device corroborating the search term via the mobile device, the search criterion including the search term, the mobile device being an interface device and including the first interface device input configured to be supported by the person.

25. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry for receiving a result of a search from an Internet search engine into a memory of a mobile device, the mobile device being an interface device and including the first interface device input configured to be supported by the person, the result of the search from the Internet search engine being the search result partly based on the person corroborating the first informational element as the component of the search criterion and partly based on the position of the first limb of the person in relation to the three-dimensional region indicated by the first limb of the person and to the first interface device input configured to be supported by the person.

26. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry for triggering a search task by transmitting a search expression to a search engine as a real time response to detecting a component of the search expression in a component of a vocalization, the search expression including the search criterion, the component of the search expression being another component of the search criterion.

27. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry for triggering an anticipatory search task by transmitting a search expression to a remote search engine in response to detecting a component of the search expression in a component of a visual image without first detecting a confirmation of the search expression, the component of the search expression being the first informational element, the visual image manifesting the position of the first limb of the person in relation to the three-dimensional region indicated by the first limb of the person and to the first interface device input configured to be supported by the person in the photographic image.

28. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry for highlighting a first portion of an image without highlighting a remainder of the image, the first portion having a location that depends upon whether the image depicts an appendage of a user, the position of the first limb of the person in relation to the three-dimensional region indicated by the first limb of the person and to the first interface device input configured to be supported by the person manifesting whether the image depicts the appendage of the user.

29. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry for performing an image modification upon a first region of a photographic image without performing the image modification upon a remainder of the photographic image, the first region having a location that depends upon whether the photographic image includes a semblance of an appendage, the semblance of the appendage manifesting the position of the first limb of the person in relation to the three-dimensional region indicated by the first limb of the person and to the first interface device input configured to be supported by the person in the photographic image.

30. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry for responding to a detection of a depiction of an appendage by discarding a major portion of a photographic image without discarding a remainder of the photographic image, the remainder of the photographic image having a rectangular shape, the major portion of the photographic image encompassing more than 50% of an area of the depiction of the appendage and more than 50% of an area of the photographic image, the depiction of the appendage manifesting the position of the first limb of the person in relation to the three-dimensional region indicated by the first limb of the person and to the first interface device input configured to be supported by the person in the photographic image.

31. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry for responding to a depiction of an appendage in a data file representative of a graphic image by discarding a first informational element in the data file without discarding a second informational element in the data file, the depiction of the appendage in the data file representative of the graphic image manifesting the position of the first limb of the person in relation to the three-dimensional region indicated by the first limb of the person and to the first interface device input configured to be supported by the person.

144. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry for obtaining a boolean expression indicative of whether content includes a literal expression of a time of day, the content being a component of the search result;

circuitry for determining from optical data or from key press input whether the person has apparently corroborated a configuration feature, the configuration feature being the search criterion including the first informational element;

circuitry for associating a first device with a second device by recording an identification of the first device in a memory of the second device, the first device including the first interface device input;

circuitry for generating a first coordinate and a second coordinate that jointly characterize a position of a portion of an appendage of the person, the first coordinate and the second coordinate that jointly characterize the position of the portion of the appendage of the person manifesting the position of the first limb of the person in relation to the three-dimensional region indicated by the first limb of the person;

circuitry for determining whether the person has apparently assented to a structured dialog, the structured dialog requesting a decision of whether to include the first informational element in the search criterion;

circuitry for comparing a local time with temporal data in a first cached document and with temporal data in a second cached document, the search result including the first cached document and the second cached document;

circuitry for displaying a search expression that includes a character sequence obtained from a photograph, the search expression including the search criterion, the first informational element being a character of the character sequence obtained from the photograph, the photograph manifesting the position of the first limb of the person in relation to the first interface device input configured to be supported by the person and to the three-dimensional region indicated by the first limb of the person; and

circuitry for initiating a search using at least one character of the character sequence obtained from the photograph, the first informational element being the one character obtained from the photograph, the photograph manifesting the position of the first limb of the person in relation to the first interface device input configured to be supported by the person and to the three-dimensional region indicated by the first limb of the person.

145. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry for ranking a first component of the search result in relation to a second component of the search result partly based on a digital expression of a time of day and partly based on whether a confirmation of a search criterion has been received, the search result being the search result partly based on the person corroborating the first informational element as a component of a search criterion and partly based on the position of the first limb of the person in relation to the three-dimensional region indicated by the first limb of the person and to the first interface device input configured to be supported by the person, the search result having arisen from a usage of the first informational element as a component of the search criterion;

circuitry for causing a search engine to use a search term conditionally in response to a user of a mobile device corroborating the search term via the mobile device, the search criterion including the search term, the mobile device being an interface device and including the first interface device input configured to be supported by the person; and

circuitry for responding to a detection of a depiction of an appendage by discarding a major portion of a photographic image without discarding a remainder of the photographic image, the remainder of the photographic image having a rectangular shape, the major portion of the photographic image encompassing more than 50% of an area of the depiction of the appendage and more than 50% of an area of the photographic image, the depiction of the appendage manifesting the position of the first limb of the person in relation to the three-dimensional region indicated by the first limb of the person and to the first interface device input configured to be supported by the person in the photographic image.

2-6. -6. (canceled)

32. A method comprising:

recognizing a position of a first limb of a person in relation to a three-dimensional region indicated by the first limb of the person and to a first interface device input configured to be supported by the person, the three-dimensional region including a first informational element; and

invoking circuitry for transmitting a search result partly based on the person corroborating the first informational element as a component of a search criterion and partly based on the position of the first limb of the person in relation to the three-dimensional region indicated by the first limb of the person and to the first interface device input configured to be supported by the person.

33-59. -59. (canceled)

60. A system comprising:

means for recognizing a position of a first limb of a person in relation to a three-dimensional region indicated by the first limb of the person and to a first interface device input configured to be supported by the person, the three-dimensional region including a first informational element; and

means for transmitting a search result partly based on the person corroborating the first informational element as a component of a search criterion and partly based on the position of the first limb of the person in relation to the three-dimensional region indicated by the first limb of the person and to the first interface device input configured to be supported by the person.

61-87. -87. (canceled)

88. An article of manufacture comprising:

one or more physical media configured to bear a device-detectable implementation of a method including at least

recognizing a position of a first limb of a person in relation to a three-dimensional region indicated by the first limb of the person and to a first interface device input configured to be supported by the person, the three-dimensional region including a first informational element; and

transmitting a search result partly based on the person corroborating the first informational element as a component of a search criterion and partly based on the position of the first limb of the person in relation to the three-dimensional region indicated by the first limb of the person and to the first interface device input configured to be supported by the person.

89-115. -115. (canceled)

116. An article of manufacture comprising:

one or more physical media bearing a device-detectable outcome indicating an occurrence of

recognizing a position of a first limb of a person in relation to a three-dimensional region indicated by the first limb of the person and to a first interface device input configured to be supported by the person, the three-dimensional region including a first informational element; and

transmitting a search result partly based on the person corroborating the first informational element as a component of a search criterion and partly based on the position of the first limb of the person in relation to the three-dimensional region indicated by the first limb of the person and to the first interface device input configured to be supported by the person.

117-143. -143. (canceled)