Location-based searching using a search area that corresponds to a geographical location of a computing device

• US 8,386,514 B2
• Filed: 09/30/2011
• Issued: 02/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/04/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Cheng, Tak Keung, von Behren, James R.
• Primary Examiner(s): SYED, FARHAN M
• Application Number:
  US13/251,077
• Publication Number:
  US 20120023088A1
• Time in Patent Office: 515 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/774
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications

Abstract

In general, the subject matter described in this specification can be embodied in methods, systems, and programs for providing location-based information. A geographical location of a mobile computing device is received at a server system. A request for content is received at the server system and from the mobile computing device. A search area that corresponds to the geographical location is selected by the sever system. The search area is selected from among a collection of search areas that correspond to the geographical location. At least one of the search areas in the collection is geographically nested within at least one other of the search areas. A search result that is most-relevantly ranked for the selected search area is determined by the server system. Content that represents the determined search result is provided by the server system and for receipt by the mobile computing device.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for providing location-based information, the method comprising:

receiving, at a server system, a geographical location of a mobile computing device;

receiving, at the server system and from the mobile computing device, a request for content, wherein the request is an HTTP request for resources, wherein the request does not include a query (i) that was generated by a user of the mobile computing device and (ii) that is for a search engine system;

selecting, by the server system, a search area that corresponds to the geographical location, the search area selected from among a collection of search areas that correspond to the geographical location, at least one of the search areas in the collection being completely geographically nested within at least one other of the search areas, wherein each of the search areas in the collection of search areas is assigned a different descriptive phrase of one or more human-understandable language words;

determining, by the server system, a search result that is most-relevantly ranked for the selected search area, wherein determining the search result includes submitting to a search engine system a query that includes the descriptive phrase that is assigned to the selected search area, wherein the server system selects the search area and determines the search result without using a query (i) that was generated by a user of the mobile computing device and (ii) that is for a search engine system; and

providing, by the server system and for receipt by the mobile computing device, content that represents the determined search result.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the determined search result does not correspond to content that identifies a location using geographical coordinates.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein another at least one of the search areas in the collection is partially geographically nested within at least the one other of the search areas.

4. A computer-implemented method for providing location-based information, the method comprising:

determining, by a mobile computing device, a geographical location of the mobile computing device;

providing, by the mobile computing device and for receipt by a server system that is remote from the mobile computing device, the geographical location;

transmitting, by the mobile computing device and for receipt by the server system, a request for content, so as to cause the server system to;

(i) select a search area that corresponds to the geographical location, the search area being selected from among a collection of search areas that correspond to the geographical location, at least one of the search areas in the collection being completely geographically nested within at least one other of the search areas, and

(ii) determine a search result that is most-relevantly ranked for the selected search area;

receiving, by the mobile computing device and from the server system, content that represents the determined search result; and

displaying, by the mobile computing device, the content that represents the determined search result, wherein;

the content is displayed in a web page,

the displayed content identifies a physical venue,

the web page does not include a display of content that represents another search result and that identifies another physical venue, and

the web page displays, in addition to the content that identifies a physical venue;

(i) a search box for receiving textual user input that defines a search query,

(ii) a search button for receiving user input to submit to a search engine system the search query,

(iii) an indication of the selected search area, and

(iv) a user-selectable option for changing the selected search area.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the web page displays, in addition to the content that identifies a physical venue:

(v) a voice query input button for receiving user input to submit to a search engine system a voice query.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

receiving user input, using the user-selectable option, that changes the selected search area to another search area in the collection of search areas;

receiving, by the mobile computing device and in response to the user input changing the search area, content that represents a second search result that has been determined to be most-relevantly ranked for the other search area; and

replacing the displayed content for the determined search result with a display of content for the second search result.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

in response to receiving the user input changing the search area, modifying a score for the other search area so that the other search area is more-relevantly scored with respect to the search area than before the modifying of the score of the other search area, the score for the other search area being used in selection of one of the search area and the other search area for display in the web page.

8. A computer-implemented method for providing location-based information, the method comprising:

determining, by a mobile computing device, a geographical location of the mobile computing device;

providing, by the mobile computing device and for receipt by a server system that is remote from the mobile computing device, the geographical location;

displaying, by the mobile computing device, a first webpage that includes;

(i) a search box for receiving textual user input defining a search query, and

(ii) a search button for receiving user input that submits the search query that was input in the search box to a search engine system; and

receiving user input selecting the search button when the search box has not received user input defining a search query;

transmitting, by the mobile computing device and for receipt by the server system, a request for content, so as to cause the server system to;

(i) select a search area that corresponds to the geographical location, the search area being selected from among a collection of search areas that correspond to the geographical location, at least one of the search areas in the collection being geographically nested within at least one other of the search areas, and

(ii) determine a search result that is most-relevantly ranked for the selected search area, wherein the transmitted request for content that represents a search result is transmitted by the mobile computing device in response to receiving the user input selecting the search button;

receiving, by the mobile computing device and from the server system, content that represents the determined search result; and

displaying, by the mobile computing device, the content that represents the determined search result.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein:

the received content that represents the determined search result includes a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) that the determined search result identifies, and

displaying the content that represents the determined search result includes displaying a second web page that is identified by the URI.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the second web page is displayed by the mobile computing without receiving user input subsequent to receiving the user input selecting the search button.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the determined search result that identifies the URI is selected from a collection of search results that identify URIs of web pages that are hosted by a variety of different information providers.

12. A system, comprising:

one or more programmable processors; and

one or more computer-readable devices having instructions thereon, the instructions, when executed by the one or more programmable processors, cause the performance of actions that include;

receiving a geographical location of a mobile computing device;

receiving, from the mobile computing device, a request for content, wherein the request is an HTTP request for resources, wherein the request does not include a query (i) that was generated by a user of the mobile computing device and (ii) that is for a search engine system;

selecting a search area that corresponds to the geographical location, the search area selected from among a collection of search areas that correspond to the geographical location, at least one of the search areas in the collection being completely geographically nested within at least one other of the search areas, wherein each of the search areas in the collection of search areas is assigned a different descriptive phrase of one or more human-understandable language words;

determining a search result that is most-relevantly ranked for the selected search area, wherein determining the search result includes submitting to a search engine system a query that includes the descriptive phrase that is assigned to the selected search area, wherein the server system selects the search area and determines the search result without using a query (i) that was generated by a user of the mobile computing device and (ii) that is for a search engine system; and

providing, by the server system and for receipt by the mobile computing device, content that represents the determined search result.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the determined search result does not correspond to content that identifies a location using geographical coordinates.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein another at least one of the search areas in the collection is partially geographically nested within at least the one other of the search areas.