Context-sensitive query enrichment

• US 20130106893A1
• 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:
  US13/317,990
• Publication Number:
  US 20130106893A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/589
• 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 first interface device input configured to be supported by the person and to a three-dimensional region indicated by the first limb of the person, the three-dimensional region including a first informational element; and

circuitry for transmitting a search result relating to the first informational element and partly based on first auditory data from a vicinity of the person 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.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a wearable device supporting the circuitry for recognizing 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 supporting the circuitry for transmitting the search result relating to the first informational element and partly based on the first auditory data from the vicinity of the person 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.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a server including the circuitry for recognizing 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 including the circuitry for transmitting the search result relating to the first informational element and partly based on the first auditory data from the vicinity of the person 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.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry for determining from key press input from a user whether or not the user has apparently corroborated a configuration feature, the configuration feature being the first informational element configured as a search term.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry for determining from auditory data whether or not a user has apparently corroborated a configuration feature, the configuration feature being the first informational element configured as a search term, the auditory data being the first auditory data from the vicinity of the person, being the user.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry for determining from optical data whether or not a user has apparently corroborated a configuration feature, the configuration feature being the first informational element configured as a search term.

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 in response to the first auditory data from the vicinity of the person.

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 limb of the person.

11. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry for determining whether or not a user has apparently assented to a structured dialog from the first auditory data from the vicinity of the person, being the user.

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 informational element including the symbol.

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 informational element not including the symbol.

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 indicating the first cached document and the second cached document, the search result also indicating the temporal data in the first cached document and the temporal data in 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 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, the first informational element including the character.

16. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry for displaying a search expression that includes a character sequence obtained from a 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, the first informational element including the character sequence.

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 informational element including the character sequence obtained from the second interface.

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 areal portion of the image depicting at least some of the first informational element, 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 three-dimensional region indicated by the first limb of the person.

19. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry for recognizing a literal expression of a time signifying when a specific time interval begins in the search result relating to the first informational element and partly based on the first auditory data from a vicinity of the person 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.

20. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry for obtaining a boolean expression indicative of whether or not content includes a literal expression of a time of day, the search result including the content, the informational element not including the literal expression, the auditory data not including the literal expression.

21. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry for obtaining a boolean expression indicative of whether or not content includes a geographic identifier, the search result including the content, the informational element not including the geographic identifier, the auditory data not including the geographic identifier.

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 or not a confirmation of a search criterion has been received, the search result being the search result relating to the first informational element and partly based on the first auditory data from the vicinity of the person 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, 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 first search triggering the search result relating to the first informational element and partly based on first auditory data from the vicinity of the person 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.

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 term including the first informational element, the person being the user of the mobile device.

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 result of the search from the Internet search engine being the search result relating to the first informational element and partly based on the first auditory data from the vicinity of the person 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.

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 component of the vocalization being the first auditory data from the vicinity of the person, the search task yielding the search result relating to the first informational element and partly based on the first auditory data from the vicinity of the person 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.

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 search expression including the first informational element, the remote search engine being remote from the person, the anticipatory search task yielding the search result relating to the first informational element and partly based on the first auditory data from the vicinity of the person 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.

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 or not the image depicts an appendage of a user, the appendage of the user being the first limb of the person, the auditory data relating to the first informational element, the first portion of the image including a depiction of the first informational element.

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 appendage being the first limb of the person, 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.

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 appendage being the first limb of the person, 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.

144. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a server including the circuitry for recognizing 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 including the circuitry for transmitting the search result relating to the first informational element and partly based on the first auditory data from the vicinity of the person 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;

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, the first interface device input being an optical sensor of the first device, the first user being the person;

circuitry for generating a first coordinate and a second coordinate that jointly characterize a position of a portion of an appendage of the first user, being the limb of the person;

circuitry for displaying a search expression that includes a character sequence obtained from a 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, the first informational element including the character sequence; and

circuitry for obtaining a boolean expression indicative of whether or not content includes a geographic identifier, the search result including the content, the informational element not including the geographic identifier, the first auditory data from the vicinity of the person not including the geographic identifier.

3. (canceled)

8. (canceled)

29. (canceled)

32. A method comprising:

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

invoking circuitry for transmitting a search result relating to the first informational element and partly based on first auditory data from a vicinity of the person 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.

33-59. -59. (canceled)

60. A system comprising:

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

means for transmitting a search result relating to the first informational element and partly based on first auditory data from a vicinity of the person 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.

79. The system of claim 60, further comprising:

means 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 first search triggering the search result relating to the first informational element and partly based on first auditory data from the vicinity of the person 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.

61-78. -78. (canceled)

80-87. -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 first interface device input configured to be supported by the person and to a three-dimensional region indicated by the first limb of the person, the three-dimensional region including a first informational element; and

transmitting a search result relating to the first informational element and partly based on first auditory data from a vicinity of the person 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.

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

transmitting a search result relating to the first informational element and partly based on first auditory data from a vicinity of the person 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.

117-143. -143. (canceled)