Method and system for incrementally selecting and providing relevant search engines in response to a user query
First Claim
1. A user-interface method of incrementally providing fully qualified links to a set of relevant search engines, the method comprising:
- identifying a set of search engines and associating each search engine of the set with at least one descriptive category to which the subject matter of the corresponding search engine relates;
providing a database containing a collection of potential full queries, each potential full query associated in said database with at least one descriptive category;
receiving a partial search query entered on a keypad by a user;
after each keypress received from the user, inferring a set of potential full queries intended by the user, based at least in part on the partial search query;
selecting a subset of the identified search engines that are relevant to the inferred full queries based on comparing the inferred full queries with the descriptive categories associated with the search engines, wherein the selecting the subset of relevant search engines is further based on the descriptive categories associated with the provided potential full queries; and
for each of the selected search engines, providing a fully qualified link designed to directly launch a search for a relevant query string using the search engine.
11 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and systems for incrementally selecting and providing relevant search engines in response to a user query. A method of incrementally selecting and providing relevant search engines is based in part on identifying a set of search engines associated with corresponding metadata, receiving a partial search query entered by the user of a device, inferring after each user keypress a set of potential full queries intended by the user, using the potential full queries and the search engine metadata to identify a set of relevant search engines, and for each of these search engines, providing a direct link to launch a relevant query in the search engine. The user input may be either ambiguous, or erroneous, and may be entered using an input-constrained device.
-
Citations
20 Claims
-
1. A user-interface method of incrementally providing fully qualified links to a set of relevant search engines, the method comprising:
-
identifying a set of search engines and associating each search engine of the set with at least one descriptive category to which the subject matter of the corresponding search engine relates; providing a database containing a collection of potential full queries, each potential full query associated in said database with at least one descriptive category; receiving a partial search query entered on a keypad by a user; after each keypress received from the user, inferring a set of potential full queries intended by the user, based at least in part on the partial search query; selecting a subset of the identified search engines that are relevant to the inferred full queries based on comparing the inferred full queries with the descriptive categories associated with the search engines, wherein the selecting the subset of relevant search engines is further based on the descriptive categories associated with the provided potential full queries; and for each of the selected search engines, providing a fully qualified link designed to directly launch a search for a relevant query string using the search engine. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
-
-
11. A user-interface system for incrementally providing fully qualified links to a set of relevant search engines, the system comprising:
computer memory comprising instructions in computer readable form that when executed cause a computer system to; identify a set of search engines and associate each search engine of the set with at least one descriptive category to which the subject matter of the corresponding search engine relates; provide access to a database containing a collection of potential full queries, each potential full query associated in said database with at least one descriptive category; receive a partial search query entered on a keypad by a user; infer, after each keypress received from the user, a set of potential full queries intended by the user, based at least in part on the partial search query; select a subset of the identified search engines that are relevant to the inferred full queries based on comparing the inferred full queries with the descriptive categories associated with the search engines, wherein the selecting the subset of relevant search engines is further based on the descriptive categories associated with the provided potential full queries; and provide, for each of the selected search engines, a fully qualified link designed to directly launch a search for a relevant query string using the search engine. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
Specification