User interface and geo-parsing data structure

• US 8,271,562 B2
• Filed: 04/21/2010
• Issued: 09/18/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Dharmarajan, Baskaran, Jacobs, Jay C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong, Leslie
• Application Number:
  US12/764,276
• Publication Number:
  US 20100205207A1
• Time in Patent Office: 881 Days
• Field of Search: 707/755, 707/758, 707/999.101, 707/999.107, 707/744, 707918-920, 701/450, 701/410, 701/446, 717168-173
• US Class Current: 707/920
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2272 Management thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/205 Parsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0203 Market surveys; Market polls
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0205 Location or geographical consideration
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0625 Directed, with specific intent or strategy

Abstract

A method to allocate memory, in response to application requests, for a compact data structure having location data and a trailer section is provided. The trailer section of the compact data structure is checked to determine an offset for listings and indices representing the location data. Upon determining the offset, the listings and indices are loaded into memory and responses to the application requests are generated by utilizing the listings and indices stored in the memory.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method to provide selections that complete partial address information, the method comprising:

receiving the partial address information at a graphical user interface having a set of fields for geographic locations, wherein the partial address information completes less than all of the fields included in the set of fields;

parsing the partial address information to determine missing portions of the partial address information;

locating in a compact data structure offsets to address information corresponding to the missing portions, wherein the compact data structure organizes geographic location information and comprises;

a trailer section specifying at least a version and an offset to location data, wherein the trailer section allows the plurality of applications to access the data structure, and the version allows one or more data sources to update the data structure;

a body section having the location data represented by a plurality of offset count pairs; and

a header section providing metadata to the plurality of applications; and

generating, for selective display, a set of options that includes the address information corresponding to the missing portions that complete a subset of the set fields in the graphical user interface and restricts the set of options to a number of potential addresses that complete the partial address information.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising validating the partial address information.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising completing the fields of the missing information based on user selections that complete the partial address received at the graphical user interface.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising restricting states and zip codes selectively displayed in a zip code field and a state field of the missing information to states and zip codes related to a city included in the partial address information.

5. The method according to claim 4, further comprising restricting cities and states selectively displayed in a state field and a city field of the missing information to cities and states related to a zip code included in the partial address information.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the compact data structure is memory-mapped.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of applications read at least one of the plurality of offset-count pairs to determine a location of a list of cities in the data structure, and a number of cities in the list of cities.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the compact data structure is dynamic.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the data structure is organized to optimize reference locality.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein updating the compact data structure appends data after the trailer section.

11. A method to allocate memory for a data structure having address information the method comprising:

receiving, by one or more computer processors, an application request;

checking, by the one or more computer processors, a trailer portion of the data structure;

retrieving, by the one or more computer processors, an offset to a set of lists and indices from the trailer portion of the data structure;

wherein at least one of the indices included in the set of list and indices is a sparse index and the data structure organizes geographic location information and comprises;

a trailer section specifying at least a version and an offset to location data, wherein the trailer section allows the plurality of applications to access the data structure, and the version allows one or more data sources to update the data structure,

a body section having the location data represented by a plurality of offset count pairs, and

a header section providing metadata to the plurality of applications;

loading, by the one or more computer processors, the set of lists and indices into memory; and

processing, by the one or more computer processors, the application request with the set of lists and indices to generate a response, wherein processing the application request with the set of lists and indices to generate a response further comprises;

utilizing a divide and conquer strategy to search the sparse index; and

generating, for selective display, a set of options that includes address information corresponding to missing portions that complete a subset of a set fields in a graphical user interface associated with the application and restricts the set of options to a number of potential addresses that complete partial address information in the graphical user interface.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein retrieving the offset to the set of lists and indices from the trailer portion of the data structure further comprises:

determining whether an application-specific index exists in the data structure, and when the application-specific index exists, retrieving the application-specific index in addition to the set of lists and indices.

13. The method according to claim 11, wherein the application request is an auto-complete, validation, or driving direction request.

14. The method according to claim 11, wherein the set of list and indices provides offset-count pairs that represent location data.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein the location data includes cities, roads, or points of interest.

16. A computer-readable storage medium, storing computer usable instructions configured to perform a method for providing selections that complete partial address information for a plurality of applications, the method comprising:

receiving an application request having the partial address information at a graphical user interface having a set of fields for geographic locations, wherein the partial address information completes less than all of the fields included in the set of fields

accessing a data structure comprising;

a trailer section specifying at least a version and an offset to location data, wherein the trailer section allows the plurality of applications to access the data structure, and the version allows one or more data sources to update the data structure,

a body section having the location data represented by a plurality of offset-count pairs, and

a header section providing metadata to the plurality of applications; and

generating, for selective display, based on the location data a set of options that includes address information corresponding to the missing portions that complete a subset of the set fields in the graphical user interface for the plurality of applications and restricts the set of options to a number of potential addresses that complete partial address information in the graphical user interface.

17. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 16, wherein the plurality of applications read at least one of the plurality of offset-count pairs to determine a location of a list of cities in the data structure, and a number of cities in the list of cities.

18. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 16, wherein the data structure is dynamic, stored in a compressed format, organized to optimize reference locality, and updated by appending data after the trailer section.