Relevancy sorting of user's browser history

• US 8,131,731 B2
• Filed: 12/27/2007
• Issued: 03/06/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Vaughan, Christopher M., Wallace, Oliver, Yeung, Carlos, Gupta, Amit, Marle, Christophe
• Primary Examiner(s): Breene, John E
• Assistant Examiner(s): PHILLIPS, III, ALBERT M
• Application Number:
  US11/964,952
• Publication Number:
  US 20090171930A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,531 Days
• Field of Search: 707/722, 707/767, 707/748
• US Class Current: 707/748
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/955 using information identifiers, e.g. uniform resource locators [URL]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation

Abstract

Various embodiments provide a Web browser that employs a relevancy algorithm to make an educated guess as to the likelihood of a user'"'"'s intended destination when the user begins to enter text into a browser'"'"'s address bar. In one or more embodiments, the relevancy algorithm employs various parameters and assigns weights to the parameters to arrive at a collection of suggestions to provide to the user. By using various rules, associated weightings, and the relevancy algorithm, relevant suggestions can be provided to a user to facilitate their navigation activities.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

maintaining metadata associated with browser-accessible items, wherein the metadata includes;

a title associated with an item, a URL associated with an item, a last date an item was visited by a user, frequency with which an item has been visited by a user, and whether or not an item was selected from a list;

assigning numerical weights to the metadata to represent how important a particular piece of metadata is in respect to total relevance of maintained metadata;

processing weighted metadata using a relevancy algorithm;

receiving a user action associated with accessing one or more items; and

responsive to receiving the user action, presenting one or more suggestions based upon the user action and an output of the relevancy algorithm, wherein presenting comprises displaying the one or more suggestions grouped according to types of suggestions, wherein individual types of suggestions are associated with a different user action related to the browser that caused an associated suggestion to be presented.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the user action inputs text into a Web browser user interface.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the Web browser user interface comprises an address bar into which the text has been typed.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the user action comprises accessing a drop down menu associated with a Web browser.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the drop down menu is provided in connection with a browser'"'"'s address bar.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the metadata further includes a date an item was last modified.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the metadata further includes one or more of the following:

an unread count associate with an item, whether the user typed an entire string associated with an item, how a user interacted with the page, tags or key words associated with an item, and whether a term provided by the user was used in a full text search.

8. One or more computer-readable storage media comprising computer-readable instructions which, when executed, implement a method comprising:

maintaining metadata associated with browser-accessible items, wherein the metadata includes one or more of;

a title associated with an item, a URL associated with an item, a last date an item was visited by a user, frequency with which an item has been visited by a user, or whether or not an item was selected from a list;

assigning numerical weights to the metadata to represent how important a particular piece of metadata is in respect to total relevance of maintained metadata;

processing weighted metadata using a relevancy algorithm;

receiving a user action associated with accessing one or more items; and

responsive to receiving the user action, presenting suggestions based upon the user action and an output of the relevancy algorithm, wherein the suggestions are grouped in accordance with different types, wherein at least one of the suggestions utilizes different parameters for the relevancy algorithm than another of the one or more suggestions based, at least in part, on the type of suggestion.

9. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 8, wherein one type includes an URL type.

10. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 8, wherein one type includes a history type.

11. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 8, where in one type includes a favorites type.

12. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 8, wherein one type includes an RSS type.

13. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 8, wherein types comprise an URL type, a history type, a favorites type, and an RSS type.

14. A system comprising:

one or more computer-readable storage media;

computer readable instructions embodied on the one or more computer-readable storage media which, when executed, provide a Web browser configured to implement a method comprising;

maintaining metadata associated with browser-accessible items, wherein the metadata includes;

a title associated with an item, a URL associated with an item, a last date an item was visited by a user, frequency with which an item has been visited by a user, and whether or not an item was selected from a list;

assigning numerical weights to the metadata to represent how important a particular piece of metadata is in respect to total relevance of maintained metadata;

processing weighted metadata using a relevancy algorithm;

receiving a user action associated with accessing one or more items; and

responsive to receiving the user action, presenting one or more suggestions based upon the user action and an output of the relevancy algorithm, wherein presenting comprises displaying the one or more suggestions grouped according to types of suggestions, wherein individual types of suggestions are associated with a different user action related to the browser that caused an associated suggestion to be presented.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the user action inputs text into a Web browser user interface.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the Web browser user interface comprises an address bar into which the text has been typed.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the user action comprises accessing a drop down menu associated with a Web browser.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the drop down menu is provided in connection with a browser'"'"'s address bar.

19. The system of claim 14, wherein the metadata further includes a date an item was last modified.

20. The system of claim 14, wherein the metadata further includes one or more of the following:

an unread count associate with an item, whether the user typed an entire string associated with an item, how a user interacted with the page, tags or key words associated with an item, and whether a term provided by the user was used in a full text search.