WORLD KNOWLEDGE TRIGGERS

• US 20160350306A1
• Filed: 06/26/2015
• Published: 12/01/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Hurley, Fergus Gerard, Dua, Robin
• Granted Patent: US 10,642,843 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24565 Triggers; Constraints
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, for associating actions with events that are determined independent of the action type of the action. A system receives, from a user device, identification of an action to be taken, the action being one of a plurality of action types, and an identification of a first event that is determined independent of the action type and for which the occurrence of the first event may be determined by the system. They system associates the action and the first event with instructions for determining if the first event has occurred, and then determines whether the first event has occurred. In response to determining that the first event has occurred, the system causes the action to occur.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a system, and from a user device, identification of an action to be taken, the action being one of a plurality of action types;

receiving by a system, from a user device, an identification of a first event that is determined independent of the action type and for which the occurrence of the first event may be monitored and determined by the system;

associating, by the system, the action and the first event with instructions for determining if the first event has occurred;

determining whether the first event has occurred; and

in response to determining that the first event has occurred, causing the action to occur.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from the user device, a query;

submitting the query to a search system that searches an information source;

receiving, from the search system, events derived from the information source that are determined to be relevant to the query;

providing, to the user device, data that causes the user device to display a list of events as selectable events; and

wherein receiving an identification of a first event that is determined independent of the action type and for which the occurrence of the first event may be determined by the system comprises receiving, from the user device, a selection of one of the selectable events.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the information source is a web resource corpus.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the information source is a knowledge graph.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the system, and from the user device, an identification of a second event that is determined independent of the action type; and

associating, by the system, the action and the second event.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein:

determining whether the first event has occurred comprises also determining whether the second event has occurred; and

in response to determining that the first event has occurred, causing the action to occur comprises in response to determining that both the first event and the second event have occurred, causing the action to occur.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein:

determining whether the first event has occurred comprises also determining whether the second event has occurred; and

in response to determining that the first event has occurred, causing the action to occur comprises in response to determining that either the first event or the second event have occurred, causing the action to occur.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein:

the second event is an event that is determined by the user device.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the second event includes at least one of a time period event, a location area event, and a person proximity event.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein associating, by the system, the action and the first event with instructions for determining if the first event has occurred comprises associating the action and the first event with instructions that cause a periodic search an information source for data indicating the occurrence of the first event.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein associating the action and the first event with instructions that cause a periodic search an information source comprises:

determining an event type for the first event from a plurality of event types; and

selecting a search period for the instructions based on the determined event type, wherein event types that are different from each other have different search periods.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the information source comprises user preferences and user-specific data that is specific to the user.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the information source is a knowledge graph.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the action to be taken is presentation of a reminder at the user device; and

causing the action to occur comprises sending data to the user device that causes the user device to present the reminder.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the action to be taken is an action that is performed independent of the user device.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the action to be taken is presentation of a confirmation to take a second action;

causing the action to occur comprises sending data to the user device that causes the user device to present the confirmation; and

further comprising performing, by the system, the second action in response to receiving from the user device data indication acceptance of the confirmation.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the first event is an event associated with the user.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the first event is an event independent of the user.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein associating, by the system, the action and the first event with instructions for determining if the first event has occurred comprises:

testing the first event for a valid condition; and

only associating the action and the first event with instructions for determining if the first event has occurred when the testing of the first even for an valid condition indicates the first event can occur.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

wherein the at least one activity condition is at least one of a time period condition, a location area condition, and a person proximity condition.

21. A method, comprising:

receiving, at a data processing apparatus and from a user device, a first set of terms describing a user defined action that is input at the user device;

determining, based on information in a knowledge base system, events that meet a threshold relevance to the user defined action described by the first set of terms;

providing, to the user device, data that causes the user device to display a list of selectable events, the selectable events including the events that meet the threshold relevance to the user defined action;

receiving, by the data processing apparatus and from the user device, data describing a user defined event that is input at the user device by a selection of one of the selectable events, wherein an occurrence of the user defined event triggers the user defined action to be provided as a notification to the user device;

searching, by the data processing apparatus, the knowledge base system to determine whether there has been the occurrence of the user defined event;

determining, by the data processing apparatus, the occurrence of the user defined event based on information obtained from searching the knowledge base system; and

providing, by the data processing apparatus, the notification of the user defined action to the user device.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein determining events that meet a threshold relevance to the user defined action described by the first set of terms comprises:

generating a query from the first set of terms;

submitting the query to the knowledge base system; and

receiving, from the knowledge base system, events defined in the knowledge base system that are determined to be relevant to the query.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein determining, from the knowledge base system, events that meet a threshold relevance to the user defined action described by the first set of terms comprises:

receiving, at the data processing apparatus and from the user device, a second set of terms describing an event type;

generating a query from the second set of terms;

submitting the query to a knowledge base system; and

receiving, from the knowledge base system, events defined in the knowledge base that are determined to be relevant to the query.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein determining the occurrence of the user defined event further comprises:

determining the occurrence of the user defined event based on data representing information in the knowledge base system.

25. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

receiving, by the data processing apparatus and from the user device, data describing a selection of at least one trigger condition, the at least one trigger condition indicating a condition to be satisfied in determining the occurrence of the user defined event, the trigger condition being different from the user defined event; and

wherein determining the occurrence of the user defined event further includes;

determining, by the data processing apparatus, whether the at least one trigger condition has been satisfied in response to determining the occurrence of the user defined event.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the at least one activity condition is at least one of a time period condition, a location area condition, and a person proximity condition.

27. The method of claim 21, further including:

upon determining the occurrence of the user defined event, performing, by the data processing apparatus, the user defined action; and

providing, by the data processing apparatus, a notification that the user defined action has been performed.

28. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a computer-readable medium coupled to the processor and having instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

receiving, from a user device, a first set of terms describing a user defined action that is input at the user device;

determining, based on information in a knowledge base system, events that meet a threshold relevance to the user defined action described by the first set of terms;

providing, to the user device, data that causes the user device to display a list of selectable events, the selectable events including the events that meet the threshold relevance to the user defined action;

receiving, from the user device, data describing a user defined event that is input at the user device by a selection of one of the selectable events, wherein an occurrence of the user defined event triggers the user defined action to be provided as a notification to the user device;

searching the knowledge base system to determine whether there has been the occurrence of the user defined event;

determining the occurrence of the user defined event based on information obtained from searching the knowledge base system; and

providing the notification of the user defined action to the user device.

29. A computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations, comprising:

receiving, from a user device, a first set of terms describing a user defined action that is input at the user device;

determining, based on information in a knowledge base system, events that meet a threshold relevance to the user defined action described by the first set of terms;

providing, to the user device, data that causes the user device to display a list of selectable events, the selectable events including the events that meet the threshold relevance to the user defined action;

receiving, from the user device, data describing a user defined event that is input at the user device by a selection of one of the selectable events, wherein an occurrence of the user defined event triggers the user defined action to be provided as a notification to the user device;

searching the knowledge base system to determine whether there has been the occurrence of the user defined event;

determining the occurrence of the user defined event based on information obtained from searching the knowledge base system; and

providing the notification of the user defined action to the user device.

30. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a computer-readable medium coupled to the processor and having instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

receiving, from a user device, identification of an action to be taken, the action being one of a plurality of action types;

receiving, from a user device, an identification of a first event that is determined independent of the action type and for which the occurrence of the first event may be monitored and determined by the system;

associating the action and the first event with instructions for determining if the first event has occurred;

determining whether the first event has occurred; and

in response to determining that the first event has occurred, causing the action to occur.

31. A computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations, comprising:

receiving, from a user device, identification of an action to be taken, the action being one of a plurality of action types;

receiving, from a user device, an identification of a first event that is determined independent of the action type and for which the occurrence of the first event may be monitored and determined by the system;

associating the action and the first event with instructions for determining if the first event has occurred;

determining whether the first event has occurred; and

in response to determining that the first event has occurred, causing the action to occur.