Buffering user interaction data

• US 8,745,168 B1
• Filed: 07/10/2009
• Issued: 06/03/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/10/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Singleton, David P., Tse, Alastair
• Primary Examiner(s): Pollack, Melvin H
• Application Number:
  US12/501,051
• Time in Patent Office: 1,789 Days
• Field of Search: 709/219
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/048 Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04886 by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus

Abstract

The subject matter of this specification can be implemented in, among other things, a computer-implemented method including analyzing user interactions with search results provided on a computing device. The method further includes buffering indicators of the user interactions on the computing device. The method further includes periodically transmitting the indicators of the user interactions to a remote server.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, by a native search application on a mobile device, search results via a wireless network connection to a network;

displaying, by the native search application, a particular search result on a display of the mobile device;

receiving, by the native search application, an indication that a user has interacted with the particular search result on the display of the mobile device; and

logging, by the native search application, user interaction data in a transmission buffer, without transmitting the logged user interaction data over the network;

determining that an interaction by the user with an application other than the native search application requires additional data, other than the logged user interaction data, to be transmitted over the network; and

transmitting the buffered user interaction data and the additional data, in a single transmission, in response to the determining that the interaction requires the additional data to be transmitted.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising blocking the transmission of identifying information of the user.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising notifying the user that the transmission of identifying information of the user has been blocked.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the interaction by the user includes providing input to the application at the mobile device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the buffered user interaction data and the additional data are transmitted to a suggestion server.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the interaction data includes a string of alphanumeric characters.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising anonymizing the logged user interaction data.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable data storage medium storing computer-executable instruction that, when executed, perform actions comprising:

receiving, by a native search application on a mobile device, search results via a wireless network connection to a network;

displaying, by the native search application, a particular search result on a display of the mobile device;

receiving, by the native search application, an indication that a user has interacted with the particular search result on the display of the mobile device; and

logging, by the native search application, user interaction data in a transmission buffer, without transmitting the logged user interaction data over the network;

determining that an interaction by the user with an application other than the native search application requires additional data, other than the logged user interaction data, to be transmitted over the network; and

transmitting the buffered user interaction data and the additional data, in a single transmission, in response to the determining that the interaction requires the additional data to be transmitted.

9. The storage medium of claim 8, wherein the actions further comprise blocking the transmission of identifying information of the user.

10. The storage medium of claim 9, wherein the actions further comprise notifying the user that the transmission of identifying information of the user has been blocked.

11. The storage medium of claim 8, wherein the interaction by the user includes providing input to the application at the mobile device.

12. The storage medium of claim 8, wherein the transmitting the buffered user interaction data and the additional data is to a suggestion server.

13. The storage medium of claim 8, wherein the interaction data includes a string of alphanumeric text.

14. The storage medium of claim 8, wherein the actions further comprise anonymizing the logged user interaction data.

15. A system, comprising:

one or more computers and one or more storage devices storing instructions that are operable, when executed by the one or more computers, to cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising;

receiving, by a native search application on a mobile device, search results via a wireless network connection to a network;

displaying, by the native search application, a particular search result on a display of the mobile device;

receiving, by the native search application, an indication that a user has interacted with the particular search result on the display of the mobile device; and

logging, by the native search application, user interaction data in a transmission buffer, without transmitting the logged user interaction data over the network;

determining that an interaction by the user with an application other than the native search application requires additional data, other than the logged user interaction data, to be transmitted over the network; and

transmitting the buffered user interaction data and the additional data, in a single transmission, in response to the determining that the interaction requires the additional data to be transmitted.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise blocking the transmission of identifying information of the user.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the interaction by the user includes a providing input to the application at the mobile device.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the transmitting the buffered user interaction data and the additional data is to a suggestion server.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the interaction data includes a string of alphanumeric text.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise anonymizing the logged user interaction data.