Soliciting information based on a computer user's context
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A system comprising:
- a characterization module configured to obtain information about a current physical environment of a user that is external to a computing system of the user and to automatically characterize a current context of the user based at least in part on changes in the physical environment; and
a search criteria generator configured to receive a user search request via one or more input devices and to automatically generate search criteria corresponding to the user search request based at least in part on the characterized current context of the user, so that results obtained using the automatically generated search criteria automatically reflect the current context of the user.
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Abstract
A user search request is received and context information for the user is identified. The user search request and the context information are then combined to generate search criteria corresponding to the user search request, providing for information solicitation based on a computer user'"'"'s context.
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Citations
70 Claims
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1. A system comprising:
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a characterization module configured to obtain information about a current physical environment of a user that is external to a computing system of the user and to automatically characterize a current context of the user based at least in part on changes in the physical environment; and
a search criteria generator configured to receive a user search request via one or more input devices and to automatically generate search criteria corresponding to the user search request based at least in part on the characterized current context of the user, so that results obtained using the automatically generated search criteria automatically reflect the current context of the user. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
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45. A system comprising:
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a characterization module configured to obtain information about a current physical environment of a user that is based at least in part on a current physical location of the and on the current time and to automatically characterize a current context of the user based at least in part on the physical environment; and
a search criteria generator configured to receive a user search request via one or more input devices and to automatically generate search criteria corresponding to the user search request based at least in part on the characterized current context of the user, so that results obtained using the automatically generated search criteria reflect the characterized current context of the user.
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46. A method comprising:
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receiving sensed information related to a current physical environment of a user;
automatically characterizing a current context of the user based at least in part on changes in the physical environment of the user that were not directly initiated by the user;
receiving one or more search parameters identified by the user for a search request;
generating search criteria for a search by modifying the search parameters using information from the characterized current context; and
receiving from one or more information sources search results for the search criteria. - View Dependent Claims (47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67)
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68. One or more computer-readable media containing instructions that when executed cause a computing device to perform a method comprising:
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sensing information about a current physical environment of a user that is external to a computing device of the user;
using the sensed information about the current physical environment to automatically characterize a current context of the user;
receiving one or more search parameters identified by the user for a search request;
automatically augmenting the received search parameters with additional information from the characterized current context;
receiving information from one or more information sources that satisfies the augmented search parameters; and
providing at least some of the received information to the user.
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69. A method for providing information to a user that is automatically identified as being appropriate for the user based at least in part on a current context of the user, the method comprising:
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repeatedly monitoring a current environment of a user and using information from the monitoring to automatically characterize a current context of the user; and
when an indication is received of a type of information of interest to the user, automatically augmenting the indication of the type of information with additional information from the characterized current context;
receiving information from one or more information sources that satisfies the augmented information type indication; and
providing at least some of the received information to the user. - View Dependent Claims (70)
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Specification