UNIT CONVERTER WITH SORTED LIST OF RESULTS

• US 20150347530A1
• Filed: 07/07/2014
• Published: 12/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Wendker, Andreas W., Douceur, Arnaud
• Granted Patent: US 10,296,545 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation

Abstract

Unit conversion methods and systems that use an auto-scaling algorithm to sort conversion results. A plurality of unit conversion results, which represent a conversion of an input value in an input unit, are sorted into a sorted list based on the scale of the values in the results and the sorted list is presented (e.g. displayed) to a user. In one embodiment, the sorting is done without regard to the units in the conversion results and values between zero and one are transformed before sorting.

Claims

1. A method of performing unit conversion, the method comprising:

receiving, at a data processing system, a user input within a text input field, the user input including data indicating an input value and an input unit;

calculating a plurality of unit conversions from the input value in the input unit to other available units thereby providing a plurality of unit conversion results each having a value in one of the other available units;

sorting the plurality of unit conversion results into a sorted list based on the scale of the values in the other available units; and

presenting the sorted list.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the sorting sorts the values in the other available units from smallest to largest and a set of values between zero (0) and one (1) are transformed by a transformation before sorting.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the transformation is a reciprocal calculation.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the reciprocal calculation is a reciprocal of the value taken to an exponential power greater than 1.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein the sorting is performed without regard to the units in the other available units for at least a set of the available units.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the sorting sorts values by ranking values based on how close each value is to 1.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein a set of values between zero and one are transformed by a transformation before sorting.

8. The method of claim 2 wherein the smallest value in the other available units is ranked first in the sorted list and the text input field is a search input field for searching one or more of local content on the data processing system or remote content on one or more remote data processing systems and wherein the plurality of unit conversions are calculated and sorted and the sorted list is presented without requiring an enter or return user input.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the data processing system performs a predictive autocompletion of suggested search inputs as the user input is received and wherein the local content includes full text indexed content and metadata and the remote content includes one or more databases of social media content.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the available units include one or more of:

units for length;

units for time;

units for weight;

units for velocity;

units for volume;

units for power;

units for pressure;

units for currency;

or units for area.

11. A machine readable non-transitory storage medium storing executable instructions which when executed cause a data processing system to perform a method of performing unit conversion, the method comprising:

receiving, at the data processing system, a user input within a text input field, the user input including data indicating an input value and an input unit;

calculating a plurality of unit conversions from the input value in the input unit to other available units thereby providing a plurality of unit conversion results each having a value in one of the other available units;

sorting the plurality of unit conversion results into a sorted list based on the scale of the values in the other available units; and

presenting the sorted list.

12. The medium of claim 11 wherein the sorting sorts the values in the other available units from smallest to largest and a set of values between zero (0) and one (1) are transformed by a transformation before sorting.

13. The medium of claim 12 wherein the transformation is a reciprocal calculation.

14. The medium of claim 13 wherein the reciprocal calculation is a reciprocal of the value taken to an exponential power greater than 1.

15. The medium of claim 13 wherein the sorting is performed without regard to the units in the other available units for at least a set of the available units.

16. The medium of claim 11 wherein the sorting sorts values by ranking values based on how close each value is to 1.

17. The medium of claim 16 wherein a set of values between zero and one are transformed by a transformation before sorting.

18. The medium of claim 12 wherein the smallest value in the other available units is ranked first in the sorted list and the text input field is a search input field for searching one or more of local content on the data processing system or remote content on one or more remote data processing systems and wherein the plurality of unit conversions are calculated and sorted and the sorted list is presented without requiring an enter or return user input.

19. The medium of claim 18 wherein the data processing system performs a predictive autocompletion of suggested search inputs as the user input is received and wherein the local content includes full text indexed content and metadata and the remote content includes one or more databases of social media content.

20. The medium of claim 19 wherein the available units include one or more of:

units for length;

units for time;

units for weight;

units for velocity;

units for volume;

units for power;

units for pressure;

units for currency;

or units for area.