SEARCH RESULTS WITH MAPS

• US 20130159825A1
• Filed: 12/16/2011
• Published: 06/20/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/16/2011
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Nishio, Kohki, Otsuki, Tetsuaki
• Application Number:
  US13/328,081
• Publication Number:
  US 20130159825A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/205
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases

Abstract

A plurality of query responses is obtained based on a query. A corresponding selectable thumbnail map is determined for each query response, each corresponding selectable thumbnail map including a graphical geographic focus entity that is associated with the corresponding query response. A display of the query responses with the corresponding selectable thumbnail maps each displayed adjacent to its corresponding query response is initiated, in response to the query. A request for an expanded map is received based on a selection action associated with one of the corresponding selectable thumbnail maps. A display of the expanded map that includes a selectable link associated with the corresponding query response that is associated with the corresponding selectable thumbnail map that represents a compressed view of the expanded map is initiated, the expanded map displayed in a common display area with the display of the query responses with the corresponding selectable thumbnail maps.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a query response acquisition component that obtains a first plurality of query responses based on a first query;

a result geographic locality determination component that determines, via a device processor, corresponding result geographic localities associated with each of the first plurality of query responses;

a thumbnail map determination component that determines a corresponding selectable thumbnail map for each one of the first plurality of query responses, based on the corresponding result geographic localities, each of the corresponding selectable thumbnail maps including a graphical geographic focus entity indicating a geographic location that is associated with the corresponding one of the first plurality of query responses;

a query response transmission component that initiates transmission of query response display information associated with a display of each of the first plurality of query responses adjacent to each respective corresponding selectable thumbnail map;

an expanded map determination component that determines a first expanded map that corresponds to one of the selectable thumbnail maps, the first expanded map including a selectable link associated with the one of the first plurality of query responses that is associated with the one of the corresponding selectable thumbnail maps that represents a compressed view of the first expanded map; and

an expanded map transmission component that initiates transmission of expanded map display information associated with a display of the first expanded map, in a display area in common with a display of at least a portion of the first plurality of query responses that includes the corresponding query response, the first expanded map including the selectable link associated with the corresponding query response that is associated with the one of the corresponding selectable thumbnail maps that represents a compressed view of the first expanded map.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

an expanded map acquisition component that receives a first request for the first expanded map based on a selection action associated with one of the corresponding selectable thumbnail maps, wherein;

the expanded map transmission component initiates transmission of the expanded map display information in response to the first request for the first expanded map.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the query response display information includes display order information associated with an ordering of the display of each of the first plurality of query responses adjacent to each respective corresponding selectable thumbnail map, the display order information based on search engine result relevance information.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the first plurality of query responses includes one or more of;

an aggregated query response that includes aggregated query response data based on a search response aggregation operation associated with a search engine,

a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) associated with a first web page representing a first one of the plurality of query responses,

a caption and a URL associated with a second web page representing a second one of the plurality of query responses, or

a web page description associated with a third web page representing a third one of the plurality of query responses.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a query information determination component that obtains first query information associated with the first query; and

a query geographic locality determination component that determines one or more query geographic localities associated with the first query, based on the first query information, wherein;

the thumbnail map determination component determines at least one of the corresponding selectable thumbnail maps based on the one or more query geographic localities associated with the first query.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein:

the first query information includes one or more of;

a street address,

an indication of a geographic location,

a geographic location indication associated with a user device that is associated with a transmission of the first query,

an indication of a landmark, or

a name of an item.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a response information determination component that obtains corresponding query response information associated with each one of the first plurality of query responses, wherein;

the thumbnail map determination component determines at least one of the corresponding selectable thumbnail maps based on the corresponding query response information associated with at least one of the first plurality of query responses.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein:

the corresponding query response information includes one or more of;

geographic location information included in a query response web page,

geographic location information included in web page metadata associated with a query response web page,

a street address,

an indication of a geographic location,

an indication of a landmark, or

a name of an item.

9. A method comprising:

obtaining first query information associated with a first query;

obtaining a first plurality of query responses based on the first query;

determining a response geographic locality associated with each of the first plurality of query responses;

obtaining a corresponding selectable thumbnail map for each one of the first plurality of query responses, each of the corresponding selectable thumbnail maps including a graphical geographic focus entity that is associated with each one of the first plurality of query responses;

initiating a transmission of query response display information associated with a display of each of the first plurality of query responses adjacent to each respective corresponding selectable thumbnail map;

receiving a first request for a first expanded map based on a selection action associated with one of the corresponding selectable thumbnail maps; and

initiating transmission of expanded map display information associated with a display of the first expanded map, on a page in common with display of the corresponding query response, the first expanded map including a selectable link associated with the corresponding query response that is associated with the one of the corresponding selectable thumbnail maps that represents a compressed view of the first expanded map.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein:

receiving the first request for the first expanded map includes receiving the first request for the first expanded map based on a user selection of the one of the corresponding selectable thumbnail maps.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein:

obtaining the first plurality of query responses includes receiving the first plurality of query responses from a search engine, based on a web search operation of the search engine, based on the first query.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein:

at least one of the first plurality of query responses is based on search engine retrieval information associated with one or more of;

a blog entry,

a WIKIPEDIA entry,

a social network entry,

a yellow pages entry,

a business entity web page,

a personal entity web page,

an organization web page, or

a government entity web page.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein:

the selectable link associated with the corresponding query response includes a URL included in the corresponding query response.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein:

the first expanded map includes the graphical geographic focus entity in an expanded display format, the selectable link and a caption associated with the corresponding query response.

15. A computer program product tangibly embodied on a computer-readable storage medium and including executable code that causes at least one data processing apparatus to:

obtain a first plurality of query responses based on a first query;

determine a corresponding selectable thumbnail map for each one of the first plurality of query responses, each of the corresponding selectable thumbnail maps including a graphical geographic focus entity that is associated with the corresponding one of the first plurality of query responses;

initiate a display of the first plurality of query responses with the corresponding selectable thumbnail maps each displayed adjacent to the corresponding one of the first plurality of query responses, in response to the first query;

receive a first request for a first expanded map based on a selection action associated with one of the corresponding selectable thumbnail maps; and

initiate a display of the first expanded map that includes a selectable link associated with the corresponding one of the first plurality of query responses that is associated with the one of the corresponding selectable thumbnail maps that represents a compressed view of the first expanded map, the first expanded map displayed in a common display area with the display of the first plurality of query responses with the corresponding selectable thumbnail maps.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the executable code causes at least one data processing apparatus to:

determine a result geographic locality associated with each of the first plurality of query responses, wherein;

determining the corresponding selectable thumbnail map for each one of the first plurality of query responses includes determining the corresponding selectable thumbnail map for each one of the first plurality of query responses based on the determined result geographic locality associated with each of the first plurality of query responses.

17. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the executable code causes at least one data processing apparatus to:

obtain first query information associated with the first query; and

determine a query geographic locality associated with the first query, based on the first query information, wherein;

at least one of the corresponding selectable thumbnail maps is determined based on the query geographic locality associated with the first query.

18. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the executable code causes at least one data processing apparatus to:

initiate the display of the first plurality of query responses with the corresponding selectable thumbnail maps each displayed adjacent to the corresponding one of the first plurality of query responses, in response to the first query, based on display order information associated with an ordering of display of each of the first plurality of query responses adjacent to each respective corresponding selectable thumbnail map, the display order information based on search engine result relevance information.

19. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the executable code causes at least one data processing apparatus to:

initiate the display of the first plurality of query responses with the corresponding selectable thumbnail maps each displayed adjacent to the corresponding one of the first plurality of query responses, in response to the first query, within a scrollable display area on a mobile device.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the executable code causes at least one data processing apparatus to:

initiate the display of the first expanded map in the common display area with the display of the first plurality of query responses with the corresponding selectable thumbnail maps, within the scrollable display area on the mobile device.