Intelligent results using an assistant

• US 9,075,867 B2
• Filed: 01/31/2013
• Issued: 07/07/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/18/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Mehanna, Lara, Hasan, Shawkat, Vandermolen, Harmannus, Campbell, Gerald
• Primary Examiner(s): Swearingen, Jeffrey R
• Application Number:
  US13/756,262
• Publication Number:
  US 20130144876A1
• Time in Patent Office: 887 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2453 Query optimisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2455 Query execution
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24553 of query operations
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3322 using system suggestions G06F16/3325 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/274 Converting codes to words; Guess-ahead of partial word inputs
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols

Abstract

Information may be presented to a user by using a first application to receive a character stream of one or more noncompletion characters. The noncompletion characters indicate that additional characters may be received. The character stream is exchanged with a host that analyzes the character stream to generate results that are responsive to the user'"'"'s predicted interest. Results are received and displayed so that the user may select one of the results to launch a code segment related to the selected result.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a character stream of non-completion characters input by a user;

analyzing, using at least one processor, the character stream with an assistant;

initiating a search wherein the search relates to the analysis of the character stream; and

displaying one or more search results prior to input of a completion character by the user.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising determining a predicted meaning of the character stream.

3. The method as recited in claim 2, further comprising performing the search using the predicted meaning of the character stream.

4. The method as recited in claim 2, further comprising performing the search using the character stream and the predicted meaning of the character stream.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising expanding the search based on the analysis of the character stream.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising modifying the search based on the analysis of the character stream.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising filtering the search results based on the analysis of the character stream.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the completion character is a carriage return.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including a set of instructions that, when executed, cause at least one processor to perform steps comprising:

receiving a character stream of non-completion characters input by a user;

analyzing the character stream with an assistant;

initiating a search wherein the search relates to the analysis of the character stream; and

displaying one or more search results prior to input of a completion character by the user.

10. The computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 9, further comprising instructions that, when executed, cause at least one processor to perform the step of determining a predicted meaning of the character stream.

11. The computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 10, further comprising instructions that, when executed, cause at least one processor to perform the step of performing the search using the predicted meaning of the character stream.

12. The computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 10, further comprising instructions that, when executed, cause at least one processor to perform the step of performing the search using the character stream and the predicted meaning of the character stream.

13. The computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 9, further comprising instructions that, when executed, cause at least one processor to perform the step of modifying the search based on the analysis of the character stream.

14. The computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 13, further comprising instructions that, when executed, cause at least one processor to perform the step of expanding the search based on the analysis of the character stream.

15. The computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 13, further comprising instructions that, when executed, cause at least one processor to perform the step of filtering the search results based on the analysis of the character stream.

16. The computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 13, wherein the completion character is a carriage return.

17. A method comprising:

receiving, at a server, a character stream of non-completion characters input by a user at a client computing device;

analyzing, using at least one processor, the character stream with an assistant;

generating a plurality of search results based on the analysis of the character stream; and

sending the plurality of search results to the client computing device prior to input of a completion character by the user at the client computing device.

18. The method as recited in claim 17, further comprising determining a predicted meaning of the character stream.

19. The method as recited in claim 17, wherein generating the plurality of search results comprises generating one or more search results related to a predicted meaning of the character stream.

20. The method as recited in claim 17, further comprising deriving an alternative character stream.

21. The method as recited in claim 20, further comprising:

generating one or more search results using the alternative character stream; and

updating the plurality of search results to include the one or more search results generated from the alternative character stream.

22. The method as recited in claim 17, further comprising:

receiving one or more additional non-completion characters input by the user at the client computing device;

updating the character stream of non-completion characters with the one or more additional non-completion characters;

analyzing the updated character stream with the assistant;

generating a plurality of updated search results based on the analysis of the updated character stream; and

sending the plurality of updated search results to the client computing device prior to input of a completion character by the user at the client computing device.

23. The method as recited in claim 17, wherein the client computing device is a mobile device.

24. The method as recited in claim 23, wherein the mobile device is a personal digital assistant.

25. The method as recited in claim 18, wherein the mobile device is a wireless phone.

26. The method as recited in claim 25, wherein the wireless phone is running a micro-browser application on a reduced operating system.

27. The method as recited in claim 17, wherein the completion character is a carriage return.

28. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including a set of instructions that, when executed, cause at least one processor to perform steps comprising:

receiving a character stream of non-completion characters input by a user at a client computing device;

analyzing the character stream with an assistant;

generating a plurality of search results based on the analysis of the character stream; and

sending the plurality of search results to the client computing device prior to input of a completion character by the user at the client computing device.

29. The computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 28, further comprising instructions that, when executed, cause at least one processor to perform the step of determining a predicted meaning of the character stream.

30. The computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 29, wherein generating the plurality of search results comprises generating one or more search results related to the predicted meaning of the character stream.

31. The computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 28, further comprising instructions that, when executed, cause at least one processor to perform the steps of:

receiving one or more additional non-completion characters input by the user at the client computing device;

updating the character stream of non-completion characters with the one or more additional non-completion characters;

analyzing the updated character stream with the assistant;

generating a plurality of updated search results based on the analysis of the updated character stream; and

sending the plurality of updated search results to the client computing device prior to input of a completion character by the user at the client computing device.

32. The computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 28, further comprising instructions that, when executed, cause at least one processor to perform the step of deriving an alternative character stream.

33. The computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 32, further comprising instructions that, when executed, cause at least one processor to perform the steps of:

generating one or more search results from the alternative character stream; and

updating the plurality of search results to include the one or more search results generated from the alternative character stream.

34. The computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 28, wherein the completion character is a carriage return.