User interface having a search preview

• US 7,752,237 B2
• Filed: 03/15/2006
• Issued: 07/06/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Ray, Ethan
• Primary Examiner(s): Jalil; Neveen Abel
• Assistant Examiner(s): Vu; Bai D
• Application Number:
  US11/276,813
• Publication Number:
  US 20070220447A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,574 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/805
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9574 of access to content, e.g. by caching
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/972 Access to data in other repository systems, e.g. legacy data or dynamic Web page generation

Abstract

A user interface having a search preview is described. In an implementation, one or more characters are received that are input via a search portion of a user interface. When a cursor is positioned proximally to one of a plurality of services in the user interface after the one or more characters are received, a preview is displayed of a search performed using the received one or more characters with the selected said service.

Claims

1. A method of search preview on a user interface, the method comprising:

initiating interaction with one of a plurality of services accessible via a service provider;

displaying a search portion of the user interface, the search portion being configured to interact with a search service and a display of data;

receiving one or more characters input via the search portion of the user interface;

determining that a cursor is positioned proximally to a representation of one of the plurality of services in the user interface after the one or more characters are received, wherein the representation of one of the plurality of services is selected from a group consisting of;

email service;

instant messaging service;

Internet search service;

image search service;

web log service;

ecommerce service; and

news service,

in response to determining that the cursor is positioned proximally to the representation of the email service, displaying an overlay comprising;

a folders pane configured to display a plurality of folders representing email storage locations;

an email preview pane configured to display a preview of email;

in response to determining that the cursor is positioned proximally to the representation of the image search service, displaying the overlay including a selection of images based on the received one or more characters input via the search portion of the user interface;

in response to determining that the cursor is positioned proximally to the representation of one of the plurality of services, displaying the overlay within the user interface comprising;

a list of most relevant search term suggestions and actions associated with the one of the plurality of services containing the received one or more characters, a search performed using the received one or more characters and one of the plurality of services positioned proximally to the cursor;

a list of services, the list of services comprising services other than the one of the plurality of services positioned proximally to the cursor, the list of services displayed based on a determined relevancy;

the determined relevancy performed as one or more characters are received;

refining the displayed overlay as each additional character is entered via the search portion; and

in an event the cursor is re-positioned proximally to the representation of a second service of the plurality of services, changing the overlay to present results associated with the second service, based on the received one or more characters and the second service of the plurality of services positioned proximally to the re-positioned cursor, the changing occurring while still maintaining an interaction with the one of the plurality of services.

2. The method as described in claim 1, further comprising displaying the list of services in the overlay of the user interface in response to receipt of an initial character via the search portion.

3. The method as described in claim 1, further comprising providing an indication of the relative relevancy of the representations of the plurality of services being displayed comprises bolding a representation of the service.

4. The method as described in claim 1, wherein in response to determining that the cursor is positioned proximally to the representation of the image service, displaying the overlay including the selection of most relevant images based on the received one or more characters input via the search portion of the user interface.

5. A method for providing a search preview in a user interface, the method comprising:

outputting the user interface for display, the user interface configured to interact with a search service, the user interface comprising;

a menu bar including drop-down menus of commands;

an address bar configured to receive and display current network addresses from which the user interface receives content;

a service bar portion comprising a list of available search services;

a search portion configured to receive one or more characters used to perform a search; and

an overlay comprising;

a list of search term suggestions based on the received one or more characters; and

an other list of search services;

when one or more characters are received via the search portion, displaying on the overlay the other list of search services based upon a relative relevancy of a particular search service to the one or more characters received via the search portion;

selecting one of the available search services listed in the service bar portion of the user interface, and providing an indication of the selected one of the available search services;

searching the selected one of the available search services using the received one or more characters; and

displaying the list of search term suggestions having the one or more characters, wherein;

the displayed list is refined as each character is entered via the search portion; and

in an event a second search service in the service bar portion of the user interface is selected, searching the selected second search service while maintaining the interaction with the previously selected one of the available search services, and using the received one or more characters, displaying the list of search term suggestions having the one or more characters, and refining the displayed list as each character is entered via the search portion.

6. The method as described in claim 5, wherein the list of search term suggestions is not displayed until an initial character is received.

7. The method as described in claim 5, wherein the other list of search services is displayed after an initial character is received.

8. The method as described in claim 5, wherein

the one or more search term suggestions are selectable to cause an Internet search to be performed.

9. The method as described in claim 8, wherein at least one search term suggestion is not a search query that was stored previous to the one or more characters by a client device that performs the outputting and the displaying.

10. The method as described in claim 8, wherein:

the search term suggestions do not include Uniform Resource Locators (URLs); and

the Internet search performed using the one or more search term suggestions produces a search result having URLs.

11. The method as described in claim 5, wherein the overlay provides an indication of the selected one of the services comprises bolding a representation of the service in the service bar portion of the user interface.

12. One or more computer-readable storage media comprising computer executable instructions that, when executed, direct a computer to output a user interface that includes:

a search portion configured to accept one or more characters;

a service bar configured to interact with services, the service bar includes presentations of a plurality of services available from a service provider over a network, wherein each representation is configured to display a preview of a search performed using the accepted one or more characters by a respective service when a cursor is positioned proximally to the representation; and

an overlay hat includes a list of search term suggestions based on the accepted one or more characters and an other list of representations of services, the other list of representations displayed based on a determined relevancy, and at least one representation is displayed with indicia which indicates a relative relevancy of the at least one representation over at least one other representation;

wherein when the cursor is re-positioned proximally to the representation of a second service in the service bar, the overlay changes to present results associated with the second service, based on the accepted one or more characters and the second service positioned proximally to the re-positioned cursor, without leaving the interaction with the respective service.

13. One or more computer-readable storage media as described in claim 12, wherein:

the representations are output with the search portion when the user interface displays data from each service; and

the search portion is output in conjunction with each service.

14. One or more computer-readable storage media as described in claim 12, wherein the computer executable instructions further configure the user interface to output one or more search term suggestions based on the one or more characters when the search portion is displayed in conjunction with a particular service that is configured as an Internet search service.

15. One or more computer-readable storage media as described in claim 14, wherein the one or more search term suggestions are selectable to cause an Internet search to be performed.

16. One or more computer-readable storage media as described in claim 12, wherein the search portion is displayable proximally to the representations in the service bar portion of the user interface.

17. One or more computer-readable storage media as described in claim 12, wherein the representation is displayed with indicia comprising a value which indicates the relative relevancy of the representation over another representation.

18. One or more computer-readable storage media as described in claim 12, wherein the overlay provides an indication of the selected one of the services comprises bolding a representation of the service in the service bar portion of the user interface.

19. One or more computer-readable storage media as described in claim 12, wherein the representations displayed in the other list of services do not include the representation of the respective service in the service bar currently displaying the preview of the search performed using the accepted one or more characters.