Providing recent history with search results

• US 8,055,638 B2
• Filed: 12/11/2008
• Issued: 11/08/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/11/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Gradek, Michael, Schechter, Michael Austin
• Primary Examiner(s): Ali; Mohammad
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ruiz; Angelica
• Application Number:
  US12/332,996
• Publication Number:
  US 20100153427A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,062 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/705
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques

Abstract

A system, method, and medium are provided for presenting a user-interface to a user during a search session that includes information about the user'"'"'s search history during that search session. A search session is instantiated, and search queries, search results, user selections of search results, and other information is recorded. Search results pages provided to the user in response to queries include a session tracker module that displays interactive information associated with recent search queries issued by the user during the same session, such that the user can quickly recall previously issued queries and corresponding search results.

Claims

1. One or more computer-readable storage media having machine-useable instructions embodied thereon for performing a method for providing a user-interface during a user'"'"'s search session that includes information associated with the user'"'"'s search history during the session, the method comprising:

instantiating a search session associated with the user, wherein instantiating the search session comprises associating the user with a unique identifier;

receiving a first search query defined by the user, wherein the first search query comprises at least one first search term;

creating a representation of the first search query in a session log, the session log comprising a record associated with the unique identifier;

retrieving a first set of search results in response to receiving the first search query;

referencing the session log;

determining whether the record includes history information associated with the unique identifier, wherein history information comprises at least one first representation of a second search query defined by the user and at least one first representation of a second search result previously returned in response to the second search query, wherein the second search result was selected by the user; and

simultaneously providing a search results page comprising the first set of search results and a session tracker module, wherein if the record includes history information associated with the unique identifier, providing the search results page comprises displaying in the session tracker module the first representation of the second search query defined by the user and a selectable option for displaying the first representation of the second search result.

2. The media of claim 1, wherein if the record does not include history information, displaying the search results page comprises displaying the first set of search results and a blank session tracker module.

3. The media of claim 1, wherein instantiating a search session associated with the user comprises establishing a beginning time for the search session, wherein the search session is defined by a period of time between the beginning time and an ending time.

4. The media of claim 3, wherein the user is an unauthenticated user communicating via a computing device.

5. The media of claim 4, wherein the unique identifier is associated with a machine identifier corresponding to the computing device.

6. The media of claim 4, wherein instantiating a search session associated with the user comprises authenticating the user through a login process.

7. The media of claim 6, wherein the login process comprises associating the unique identifier with a personal identifier corresponding to the user.

8. One or more computer-readable storage media having machine-useable instructions embodied thereon for performing a method for providing a user-interface during a user'"'"'s search session that includes information associated with the user'"'"'s search history during the session, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of user-defined search queries during a search session associated with the user;

providing a plurality of sets of search results to the user, wherein each set of search results comprises at least one content link provided in response to one of the plurality of user-defined search queries;

receiving a selection indication from the user corresponding to at least one of the plurality of sets of search results, wherein each selection indication comprises information indicating that the user selected the at least one content link associated with the at least one set of search results;

recording history information corresponding to the search session associated with the user, wherein history information comprises time-stamped data representations of each of the plurality of queries, the plurality of sets of search results, and the selection indication;

providing a session tracker module to the user on a search results page, wherein providing the session tracker module comprises displaying visual representations of at least a portion of the history information associated with the user, and further wherein the session tracker module is displayed in a same viewable area as at least one of the plurality of sets of search results on the search results page; and

displaying a plurality of numbers in the session tracker module, each number corresponding to one of the visual representations, wherein each number indicates the number of selection indications received that correspond to the set of search results provided in response to the corresponding query.

9. The media of claim 8, wherein displaying visual representations of at least a portion of the history information comprises displaying a predetermined number of visual representations of the plurality of queries.

10. The media of claim 9, wherein the predetermined number of visual representations of the plurality of queries corresponds to the most recent queries received.

11. The media of claim 10, further comprising displaying the predetermined number of visual representations of the most recent of the plurality of queries in reverse chronological order.

12. The media of claim 9, further comprising displaying a selectable option associated with each of the plurality of numbers, wherein the selectable option comprises a toggle adapted to cause display of visual representations of the selection indications received that correspond to the set of search results provided in response to the corresponding query.

13. The media of claim 12, wherein the visual representations of the selection indications each comprise a content link to the associated content.

14. One or more computer-readable storage media having machine-useable instructions embodied thereon for performing a method for providing a user-interface during a user'"'"'s search session that includes information associated with the user'"'"'s search history during the session, the method comprising:

receiving a first user-defined search query comprising at least one first search term;

recording a time-stamped data representation of the first user-defined search query in a first history record;

storing the history record in a database;

providing a first set of search results in response to receiving the first user-defined search query, wherein the first set of search results comprises a plurality of selectable representations of content, each representation corresponding to a relevant content site that is relevant to the first user-defined search query, wherein selection of one of the representations results in automatic navigation according to an associated uniform resource locator (URL), the URL targeting the relevant content site;

recording a time-stamped data representation of each URL;

receiving a first selection indication indicating that the user has selected a first one of the plurality of selectable representations corresponding to a first relevant content site;

recording a time-stamped data representation of the first selection indication;

receiving a second user-defined query comprising at least one second search term;

providing a search results page comprising a second set of search results displayed in response to receiving the second user-defined query, wherein the search results page further comprises a selectable representation of the first user-defined search query; and

providing a selectable number indicating receipt of the first selection indication, wherein selection of the selectable number results in display of a selectable representation of the first relevant content site.

15. The media of claim 14, further comprising associating a session identifier with the user in response to receiving the first user-defined search query.

16. The media of claim 14, further comprising:

receiving a second selection indication indicating that the user has selected a second one of the plurality of selectable representations corresponding to a second relevant content site; and

recording a time-stamped data representation of the second selection indication.

17. The media of claim 16, wherein the search results page further comprises a selectable number indicating receipt of the second selection indication, wherein selection of the selectable number results in display of a selectable representation of the second relevant content site.

18. The media of claim 17, wherein each of the first and second representations of the first and second relevant content sites corresponds to the associated URL such that selection of one of the selectable representations of the first and second relevant content sites results in automatic navigation to the associated relevant content site.

19. The media of claim 14, wherein the search results page further comprises a selectable toggle option for selectively allowing recording of the time-stamped representations.