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

• US 8,396,888 B2
• Filed: 11/24/2010
• Issued: 03/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/04/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• 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:
  US12/954,274
• Publication Number:
  US 20110137881A1
• Time in Patent Office: 839 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 does not include a query that was generated by a user of the mobile computing device and that is for a search engine system;

identifying, by the server system, a group of search areas that correspond to the geographical location, at least one of the search areas in the group being geographically nested in at least one other of the search areas;

scoring, by the server system, particular ones of the search areas in the group, wherein scoring the particular ones of the search areas in the group is based, at least in part, on (i) a speed at which the mobile computing device is traveling, (ii) a direction in which the mobile computing device is traveling, or (iii) an accuracy of one or more determinations of geographical location;

selecting, by the server system, the search area that is most-relevantly scored among the search areas in the group;

submitting, by the server system and to the search engine system, information associated with the selected search area;

receiving, by the server system and from the search engine system, a search result that is most-relevantly ranked for the selected search area; and

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

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the request is an HTTP request for resources, and

the server system selects the search area and receives the search result without using a query that was generated by a user of the mobile computing device and that is for the search engine system.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein:

each of the particular ones of the search areas in the group of search areas is assigned a different descriptive phrase of one or more human-understandable language words, and

the information associated with the selected search area includes the descriptive phrase that is assigned to the selected search area.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the search result does not correspond to content that identifies a location using geographical coordinates.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one of the search areas in the group is completely geographically nested in the at least one other of the search areas.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one of the search areas in the group is partially geographically nested in the at least one other of the search areas.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein scoring the particular ones of the search areas in the group is based, at least in part, on a speed at which the mobile computing device is traveling or a direction in which the mobile computing device is traveling.

25. The method of claim 1, wherein scoring the particular ones of the search areas in the group is based, at least in part, on an accuracy of the one or more determinations of geographical location.

26. The method of claim 1, wherein scoring the particular ones of the search areas in the group is based, at least in part, on user interaction with search results that have been generated using the search areas.

27. The method of claim 1, wherein the search result has been selected from a plurality of search results by the search engine system, the plurality of search results having been identified as search results by a search engine crawler that traverses websites and identifies web site content.

7. 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 that does not include a query that was generated by a user of the mobile computing device and that is for a search engine system, so as to cause the server system to;

(i) identify a group of search areas that correspond to the geographical location, at least one of the search areas in the group being geographically nested in at least one other of the search areas,

(ii) score particular ones of the search areas in the group, wherein scoring the particular ones of the search areas in the group is based, at least in part, on (i) a speed at which the mobile computing device is traveling, (ii) a direction in which the mobile computing device is traveling, or (iii) an accuracy of one or more determinations of geographical location,

(iii) select the search area that is most-relevantly scored among the search areas in the group,

(iv) submit, to the search engine system, information associated with the selected search area, and

(v) receive, from the search engine system, 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 received search result; and

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

8. The method of claim 7, wherein:

the content is displayed in a web page,

the displayed content identifies a physical venue, and

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

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the web page displays, in addition to the content that identifies a physical venue:

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

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

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

10. The method of claim 8, wherein 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 the 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.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving user input, using the user-selectable option, that changes the selected search area to another search area in the group 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 received search result with a display of content for the second search result.

12. The method of claim 11, 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.

13. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

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 the search engine system; and

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

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.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein:

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

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

15. The method of claim 14, 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.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the received 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.

17. A computer-implemented system for providing location-based information, the system comprising:

a search area determiner, executable by one or more processors, that is configured to receive a geographical location of a requesting computing device and a request for content that does not include a query that was generated by a user of the requesting computing device and that is for a search engine system, identify a group of search areas that correspond to the geographical location, at least one of the search areas in the group being geographically nested in at least one other of the search areas, score particular ones of the search areas in the group, and select the search area that is most-relevantly scored among the search areas in the group, wherein scoring the particular ones of the search areas in the group is based, at least in part, on (i) a speed at which the requesting computing device is traveling, (ii) a direction in which the requesting computing device is traveling, or (iii) an accuracy of one or more determinations of geographical location; and

a search engine, executable by one or more processors, that is configured to determine a search result that is most-relevantly ranked for a query that includes the selected search area, and to provide content representing the determined search result to the requesting computing device, so as to cause the requesting computing device to display the content that represents the determined search result.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein:

the display of the content that represents the determined search result includes a selectable graphical interface element, and

user-selection of the graphical interface element causes the requesting computing device to navigate to a display of additional content that represents the determined search result.

19. The system of claim 18, further comprising:

a search area weighter, executable by one or more processors, to modify scores that are assigned to each of the particular ones of the search areas in the group, wherein the scores for each of the particular ones of the search areas are used in the selection of the search area by the search area determiner.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the search area weighter modifies the score for the selected search area in response to a user-selection of the selectable graphical interface element that is for the determined search result.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein:

the display of additional content for the determined search result includes a display of a selectable graphical interface element for at least another search area in the group other than the selected search area, and

the search area weighter modifies the weight for the other search area in response to user selection of the graphical interface element for the other search area.

22. The system of claim 17, wherein the query does not include text that was input by a user of the requesting computing device.

23. The system of claim 17, wherein:

the search engine determines the search result in response to a selection of a particular interface element,

the particular interface element is used to submit from a computing device to the search engine a query that was defined by user content provided using a query input text box, and

the selection of the particular interface element is performed when the query input text box has not been provided user content.