Nonstandard locality-based text entry

• US 8,972,444 B2
• Filed: 06/30/2005
• Issued: 03/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Baluja, Shumeet, Kamvar, Maryam, Gil, Elad
• Primary Examiner(s): Perveen, Rehana
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hoffler, Raheem
• Application Number:
  US11/173,702
• Publication Number:
  US 20060230350A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,533 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/771
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/334 Query execution G06F16/335 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0237 using prediction or retrieval techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/242 Dictionaries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/274 Converting codes to words; Guess-ahead of partial word inputs
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 7/01 Probabilistic graphical models, e.g. probabilistic networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72445 for supporting Internet browser applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/10 including a GPS signal receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/70 methods for entering alphabetical characters, e.g. multi-tap or dictionary disambiguation methods for entering alphabetical characters per se G06F3/0237

Abstract

A computer-implemented method of providing text entry assistance data includes receiving at a system location information associated with a user, receiving at the system information indicative of predictive textual outcomes, generating dictionary data using the location information, and providing the dictionary data to a remote device.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of providing text entry assistance data, comprising:

receiving, at a computing system, location information identifying a location and associated with a first user of a first remote data processing device;

receiving, at the computing system, predictive information indicative of predictive textual outcomes, wherein the predictive textual outcomes include text having characters determined to be characters likely to be entered by a user but that have not yet been received from the user;

generating, using the computing system, dictionary data personalized for the first user using the location information and the predictive information, wherein the dictionary data is personalized to target the location identified by the location information; and

providing the personalized dictionary data from the computing system to the first remote data processing device, wherein the first remote data processing device is different than and remote from the computing system, and

wherein the personalized dictionary data is operable to be used by the first remote data processing device to provide textual suggestions that include content that the first user has not yet provided to the first remote data processing device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the received predictive information characterizes search requests made by a plurality of remote searchers.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the personalized dictionary data provided to the first remote data processing device comprises a plurality of terms with a corresponding plurality of predictive weightings.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the location information is indicative of the location of the first remote data processing device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the personalized dictionary data to the first remote data processing device comprises transmitting the personalized dictionary data to a mobile phone.

6. The method of claim 2, further comprising receiving, at the computing system, user preferences of the plurality of remote searchers that are used in searching based on the search requests.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein generating the dictionary data comprises producing data related to the location of the first remote data processing device.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein at least a portion of the personalized dictionary data is operable to provide names of places near the location of the first remote data processing device as the textual suggestions.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein at least a portion of the personalized dictionary data is operable to provide common query data from other users near the location of the first remote data processing device as the textual suggestions.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the personalized dictionary data is provided from the computing system to the first remote data processing device in response to a request from the first remote data processing device.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein:

the request comprises a search request; and

the personalized dictionary data is provided along with results responsive to the search request.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising compressing the personalized dictionary data using the computing system before providing the personalized dictionary data to the first remote data processing device.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the personalized dictionary data comprises supplemental data for addition to a preexisting dictionary.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a search request at the computing system from the first remote data processing device;

generating a search result responsive to the received search request using the computing system; and

providing the search result along with the personalized dictionary data from the computing system to the first remote data processing device.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the personalized dictionary data comprises data from documents relating to the search result.

16. The method of claim 4, wherein the personalized dictionary data includes data corresponding to one or more areas in a proximity of the user location.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the data corresponding to one or more areas in the proximity of the user location comprises location names.

18. A data collection and distribution system implemented on one or more data processing devices, the system comprising:

a request processor to receive data requests from remote client data processing devices;

a local search engine to search for information that concerns a locale and that is responsive to the data requests in response to receipt of the data requests;

a dictionary generator to produce data entry dictionary information personalized to the locale for use by the remote client data processing devices in disambiguating input entered into the remote client data processing devices, predicting further input to be entered into the remote client data processing devices, or both; and

a response formatter to receive the information responsive to the data requests from the local search engine and the data entry dictionary information from the dictionary generator and to format both the information responsive to the data requests and the data entry dictionary information for provision to the remote client data processing devices.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein:

the request processor is operable to receive information indicative of a user location; and

the locale is the user location.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein:

the local search engine is operable to extract information indicative of a user location from the data requests; and

the locale is the user location.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein the dictionary generator comprises a concurrence rater that calculates predicted concurrence scores for a plurality of objects.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the plurality of objects comprises a plurality of terms that may be entered by a user in generating a data request.

23. The system of claim 21, further comprising an object selector to identify objects in a document for submission to the concurrence rater.

24. The system of claim 20, wherein the information for use by the one or more clients includes data entry dictionary information corresponding to one or more areas in the proximity of the user location.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the data entry dictionary information corresponding to one or more areas in the proximity of the user location comprises location names of locations in the one or more areas in the proximity of the user location.

26. A communication device comprising:

a transceiver to receive and transmit information, wherein the transmitted information includes information indicative of a location of the communication device;

a vocabulary repository containing

terms into which ambiguous information entered by a user of the communication device can be resolved, and

occurrence data information characterizing the probability that the terms are an intended resolution of ambiguous information entered by the user of the communication device, wherein the occurrence data information reflects an impact of the user location on the probability that the terms are the intended resolution; and

a disambiguation engine to resolve the ambiguous information that has been entered by the user of the communication device into a probable resolution by identifying possible resolutions and applying the occurrence data information to the possible resolutions.

27. The device of claim 26, further comprising a positioning system used to obtain the information indicative of the location of the communication device.

28. The device of claim 26, wherein a user inputs the information indicative of the location of the communication device.

29. The device of claim 26, wherein preferences of a user determine what information is contained in the vocabulary repository.

30. The device of claim 26, wherein selected terms are eliminated from the vocabulary repository when occurrence data information indicates that the probability that the selected terms are an intended resolution has reached a certain threshold.

31. The communication device of claim 26, wherein the occurrence data information reflects usage practices by members of a demographic group on the probability that the terms are the intended resolution.

32. An apparatus comprising:

a data processing device that is portable by a human user, the data processing device comprising;

a wireless transmitter;

a collection of input elements;

a main text disambiguation dictionary containing common terms that are generally used;

a supplemental text disambiguation dictionary containing personalized terms that are updated from time to time and that target a current location of the data processing device, wherein the supplemental text disambiguation dictionary is

a) stored as part of the main text disambiguation dictionary or

b) stored separately from the main text disambiguation dictionary;

an integration module configured to integrate updated personalized terms received over the wireless transmitter into the supplemental text disambiguation dictionary; and

a disambiguation engine configured to analyze input entered over the input elements and to apply rules to the entered input to generate suggestions for disambiguating the entered input, predicting further input to be entered, or both, wherein the disambiguation engine relies on the main text disambiguation dictionary and the supplemental text disambiguation dictionary to generate the suggestions.

33. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the personalized terms of the supplemental text disambiguation dictionary comprise names of entities in the vicinity of the current location of the data processing device.

34. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the personalized terms of the supplemental text disambiguation dictionary comprise travel-related terms.

35. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the supplemental text disambiguation dictionary further contains ratings characterizing the priority of the personalized terms based on the current location of the data processing device.

36. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the supplemental text disambiguation dictionary further comprising an adjustment mechanism configured to increase and decrease the ratings based on the current location of the data processing device.

37. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the supplemental text disambiguation dictionary comprises entries that are flagged indicating that the entries are temporary.

38. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the data processing device comprises:

a clock measuring time since an entry was entered into the supplemental text disambiguation dictionary; and

a deletion mechanism configured to delete the entry in response to a running of a time period after the entry was entered into the supplemental text disambiguation dictionary.