Internet visualization system and related user interfaces

• US 7,873,904 B2
• Filed: 01/10/2008
• Issued: 01/18/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/13/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Chen, Zheng, Chen, Weizhu, Wang, Min, Zhang, Benyu, Wang, Jian
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong; Don
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen; Kim T
• Application Number:
  US11/972,073
• Publication Number:
  US 20080256444A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,104 Days
• Field of Search: 715/715, 715/757
• US Class Current: 715/715
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2216/03 Data mining

Abstract

Systems and methods are described for an Internet visualization system and related user interfaces. In one implementation, the system analyzes Internet search logs to determine most popular search queries across the world at a current time. A user interface displays a keyword of each of the most popular queries in a single visual display that relates each query to a geographical location of greatest popularity. The system can also filter queries according to demographics. In one implementation the user interface provides a 3-dimensional Internet visualization that adopts an ocean or seascape theme. The ocean floor displays a map of the world, and query bubbles rise from geographical locations on the map. The size and duration of each query bubble denotes the relative popularity of a given query.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

obtaining Internet search log data;

analyzing the Internet search log data to find most popular queries over multiple locations at a current time;

displaying a set of the most popular queries on a user interface with a three dimensional visualization, the displaying including;

displaying each popular query in relation to a location associated with the popular query;

displaying a relative magnitude of a popularity of each query;

displaying changes in the popularity of each query over time; and

displaying changes in the set of the most popular queries over time,

wherein the three dimensional visualization is configured to show relationships between the location associated with the popular query, the relative magnitude of the popularity of each query, the changes in the popularity of each query over time, and the changes in the set of the most popular queries over time.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining, analyzing, and displaying are executed in real-time or near real-time.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the analyzing further includes correlating different types of information from the search log data to provide users an integrated view of current web search activities, wherein the different types of information include:

geographic origins of queries, demographics of Internet users submitting each query, most popular queries for a given geographical region or demographic category, clicked-on links associated with each query, and/or displayed pages of the clicked-on links.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein displaying a set of the most popular queries on a user interface includes presenting the queries according to a visual theme, and presenting related information according to the visual theme, wherein the related information includes the locations associated with each query, the relative magnitude of the popularity of each query, the changes in the popularity of each query over time, and the changes in the set of the most popular queries over time.

5. The method as recited in claim 4, wherein the visual theme comprises an ocean visual theme or a seascape visual theme.

6. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein displaying the set of most popular queries according to an ocean visual theme includes:

displaying a map of at least part of the world on the ocean floor;

displaying each popular query as a variable-size bubble in ocean water;

displaying a life cycle of each popular query as a movement of each respective bubble toward the surface of the ocean water; and

displaying a popularity of each bubble as a dynamically changing relative size of each bubble.

7. The method as recited in claim 6, further comprising depicting the visual theme in the user interface as a 3-dimensional section of an ocean, wherein 2-dimensional views from a side or a top of the 3-D section of the ocean are user selectable.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein displaying each popular query includes making each displayed popular query an active hyperlink to a list of URLs associated with the popular query, wherein user-selecting the displayed popular query initiates a display of most popular URLs associated with the user-selected popular query.

9. The method as recited in claim 8, further comprising making each popular URL an active hyperlink to a web page associated with the URL, wherein user-selecting a displayed URL initiates a display of the web page associated with the URL.

10. The method as recited in claim 9, further comprising presenting a slideshow of the web pages associated with the URLs and presenting user controls for operating the slideshow.

11. An Internet visualization system, comprising:

a computing device;

an Internet visualization framework to run on the computing device, including;

an input to receive Internet search logs;

a query analyzer to determine most popular search queries across the world at a current time;

a user interface to portray at least a keyword of each of the most popular search queries across the world in a single three-dimensional graphical visual display;

wherein the user interface relates each popular query to a geographical location where the popular query has greatest popularity;

wherein the user interface shows a relative popularity of each popular query; and

wherein the user interface shows dynamically changing popularity of each popular query over time,

the user interface configured to show correlations between the geographical location where the popular query has greatest popularity, the relative popularity of each popular query, and the dynamically changing popularity of each popular query over time.

12. The Internet visualization system as recited in claim 11, wherein the user interface portrays the most popular search queries across the world as a 3-dimensional visual display of Internet activity;

and

wherein 2-dimensional views of the top and sides of the 3-D visual display are user-selectable.

13. The Internet visualization system as recited in claim 11, wherein the user interface portrays the most popular search queries across the world as a 3-dimensional visual display that has a water, ocean, seascape, or aquarium visual theme.

14. The Internet visualization system as recited in claim 13, wherein the user interface portrays the most popular search queries across the world as a 3-dimensional visual display that has an ocean visual theme, wherein the user interface:

displays a geographical map on an ocean floor;

displays each popular query as a variable-size bubble in ocean water;

displays a life cycle of each popular query as a movement of each respective bubble toward the surface of the ocean water; and

displays a popularity of each bubble as a dynamically changing relative size of each bubble.

15. The Internet visualization system as recited in claim 11, further comprising criteria filters included in the query analyzer to determine most popular queries according to various criteria.

16. The Internet visualization system as recited in claim 15, wherein the criteria filters include a geographical location filter and/or a demographics filter, wherein the demographics filter selects queries by gender, age, nationality, organization, interests, income, profession, hobbies, shopping habits, and/or web pages linked to.

17. The Internet visualization system as recited in claim 11, further comprising a URL manager to provide display of a list of URLs associated with each displayed popular query.

18. The Internet visualization system as recited in claim 17, wherein the user interface provides display of a web page associated with each URL and user-controls for invoking each web page and transitioning between different web pages.