Combined web browsing and searching

• US 8,150,869 B2
• Filed: 03/17/2008
• Issued: 04/03/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/17/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Herri, Gunawan, Jamil, Faisal R
• Primary Examiner(s): LE, HUNG D
• Application Number:
  US12/050,131
• Publication Number:
  US 20090234811A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,478 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/768
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation

Abstract

Context information for a user of a device is identified and is used to identify a set of keywords based at least in part on a current Web page being displayed and one or more previous Web pages displayed for the user. The set of keywords and/or information regarding previous searches are used to identify a set of query terms. The set of query terms are displayed as part of a user interface. Additionally, a user selection of a search preview option can be received while displaying a Web page. In response to receiving the user selection of the search preview option, a user-entered query term is sent to a search engine. Search results based on the query term are received from the search engine, and both the search results and the Web page are displayed concurrently in a same window.

Claims

1. A method implemented in a device, the method comprising:

in response to a Web page being browsed to or navigated to;

identifying context information for a user of the device, the context information including information for at least one of the Web page browsed to or navigated to, previous Web pages accessed by the user, links selected by the user for Web page navigation, or a browsing pattern of the user;

using the context information to identify a set of keywords based at least in part on a current Web page being displayed and one or more of the previous Web pages displayed for the user in a current Web browsing session, the context information being used to identify the set of keywords in response to a determination that the one or more previous Web pages are related to the current Web page being displayed; and

using the set of keywords and at least one of previous searches by the user current popular searches by other users to identify a set of query terms; and

displaying one or more query terms of the identified set of query terms as part of a user interface of the device; and

displaying the current Web page concurrently with search results of a query based on the one or more query terms in the user interface of the device.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, the displaying comprising displaying the identified set of query terms in a drop-down menu, corresponding to a search box, displayed as part of the user interface of the device.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a user selection of one of the set of query terms;

displaying the selected one of the set of query terms in the search box; and

sending the selected one of the set of query terms to a search engine in response to user selection of a search option.

4. A method as recited in claim 1, the context information comprising a current geographical location of the device.

5. A method as recited in claim 1, the information for the previous Web pages accessed by the user comprising keywords from the previous Web pages accessed by the user.

6. A method as recited in claim 1, the using the set of keywords to identify the set of query terms further comprising using an expansion method so that the set of query terms includes keywords in addition to the set of keywords.

7. A method as recited in claim 1, the using the set of keywords to identify the set of query terms further comprising using a category method to identify one or more general categories that the set of keywords are part of, and including the one or more general categories in the set of query terms.

8. A method as recited in claim 1, the using the set of keywords to identify the set of query terms further comprising using a sibling method to identify one or more query terms that share some but not all of the set of keywords, and including the one or more query terms in the set of query terms.

9. A method as recited in claim 1, the using the set of keywords to identify the set of query terms further comprising using an inference method to identify one or more query terms that are assumed to be desired by the user based on one or more other keywords entered by the user.

10. A method as recited in claim 1, the using the set of keywords to identify the set of query terms further comprising using an intersection method to identify common keywords among multiple Web pages accessed by the user, and including the common keywords in the set of query terms.

11. One or more computer-readable storage media devices comprising instructions that are executable and, responsive to executing the instructions, a computing device:

navigates to a Web page being browsed or navigated to;

identifies context information for a user of the computing device, the context information including information for at least one of the Web page browsed to or navigated to, previous Web pages accessed by the user, links selected by the user for Web page navigation, or a browsing pattern of the user;

uses the context information to identify a set of keywords based at least in part on a current Web page being displayed and one or more of the previous Web pages H displayed for the user in a current Web browsing session, the context information being used to identify the set of keywords in response to a determination that the one or more previous Web pages are related to the current Web page being displayed;

uses the set of keywords and at least one of previous searches by the user or current popular searches by other users to identify a set of query terms;

displays one or more query terms of the identified set of query terms as part of a user interface of the computing device; and

displays the current Web page concurrently with search results of a query based on the one or more query terms in the user interface of the computing device.

12. One or more computer-readable storage media devices as recited in claim 11, further comprising additional instructions that are executable and, responsive to executing the additional instructions, the computing device uses an expansion method so that the set of query terms includes keywords in addition to the set of keywords.

13. One or more computer-readable storage media devices as recited in claim 11, further comprising additional instructions that are executable and, responsive to executing the additional instructions, the computing device uses a category method to identify one or more general categories that the set of keywords are part of, and includes the one or more general categories in the set of query terms.

14. One or more computer-readable storage media devices as recited in claim 11, further comprising additional instructions that are executable and, responsive to executing the additional instructions, the computing device uses a sibling method to identify one or more of the query terms that share some but not all of the set of keywords, and includes the one or more query terms in the set of query terms.

15. One or more computer-readable storage media devices as recited in claim 11, further comprising additional instructions that are executable and, responsive to executing the additional instructions, the computing device uses an inference method to identify one or more of the query terms that are assumed to be desired by the user based on one or more other keywords entered by the user.

16. One or more computer-readable storage media devices as recited in claim 11, further comprising additional instructions that are executable and, responsive to executing the additional instructions, the computing device uses an intersection method to identify common keywords among multiple Web pages accessed by the user, and includes the common keywords in the set of query terms.

17. A computing device comprising:

at least a memory and a processor to implement a query term generation module and, responsive to a Web page being browsed or navigated to, the query term generation module is configured to;

identify context information for a user of the computing device, the context information including information for at least one of the Web page browsed to or navigated to, previous Web pages accessed by the user, links selected by the user for Web page navigation, or a browsing pattern of the user;

use the context information to identify a set of keywords based at least in part on a current Web page being displayed and one or more of the previous Web pages displayed for the user in a current Web browsing session, the context information being used to identify the set of keywords in response to a determination that the one or more previous Web pages are related to the current Web page being displayed;

use the set of keywords and at least one of previous searches by the user or current popular searches by other users to identify a set of query terms;

a display device configured to;

display one or more query terms of the identified set of query terms as part of a user interface; and

display the current Web page concurrently with search results of a query based on the one or more query terms in the user interface.

18. A computing device as recited in claim 17, wherein the context information comprises a current geographical location of the computing device.

19. A computing device as recited in claim 17, wherein the information for the previous Web pages accessed by the user comprises prior keywords from the previous Web pages accessed by the user.

20. A computing device as recited in claim 17, wherein the query term generation module is further configured to use at least one of:

an expansion method to include keywords in the set of query terms in addition to the set of keywords;

a category method to identify one or more general categories that the set of keywords are part of;

a sibling method to identify one or more of the query terms that share some but not all of the set of keywords;

an inference method to identify one or more of the query terms that are assumed to be desired by the user based on one or more other keywords entered by the user;

or

an intersection method to identify common keywords among multiple Web pages accessed by the user.