Activity assistant

• US 9,098,606 B1
• Filed: 12/21/2011
• Issued: 08/04/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Chau, Stephen, Szybalski, Andrew T., Lafon, Stephane, Frome, Andrea Lynn, Morrison, Jerry Howard, Prothro, Derek, Nguyen, Huy
• Primary Examiner(s): Uddin, Mohammed R
• Application Number:
  US13/333,990
• Time in Patent Office: 1,322 Days
• Field of Search: 707/802, 707/791, 707/733, 707/999.007
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/34 Recording or statistical evaluation of computer activity, e.g. of down time, of input/output operation ; Recording or statistical evaluation of user activity, e.g. usability assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24575 using context
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/288 Entity relationship models
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

Disclosed herein are methods and systems that relate to an “activity assistant” that provides users with dynamically-selected “activities” that are intelligently tailored to the user'"'"'s world. The subject technology receives the one or more global parameters of one or more selected activities. The subject technology further receives the one or more account-specific parameters of a selected user account. For the selected user account, and for each of the one or more selected activities, the subject technology: (a) determines one or more signals based at least in part on one or more of the global parameters of the selected activity and one or more of the account-specific parameters of the selected user account, and (b) uses the determined signals as a basis for determining an importance of the selected activity for the selected user.

Claims

1. A method performed by a computing device, the method comprising:

receiving one or more global parameters of one or more selected activities from a global activity database that comprises data defining a plurality of activities, wherein the data for each activity comprises one or more global parameters;

receiving one or more account-specific parameters of a selected user account from a user-account database including data for each of a plurality of user accounts;

for the selected user account, and for each of the one or more selected activities;

(a) evaluating one or more relationships between one or more of the global parameters of the selected activity and one or more of the account-specific parameters of the selected user account, wherein the selected activity has been created using another user account;

(b) determining one or more signals based at least in part on the evaluated relationships, wherein each signal provides an indication of importance of the selected activity to the selected user account and the one or more global parameters include a parameter designating the selected activity as one of a public activity, a private activity, or a private shared activity; and

(c) using the determined one or more signals as a basis for determining an importance of the selected activity for a user associated with the selected user account; and

providing for display the one or more selected activities in an arrangement that is based at least in part on the importance of the one or more selected activities relevant to one another.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the data for a given one of the user accounts:

(i) comprises one or more account-specific parameters, and (ii) identifies any of the plurality of activities that are associated with the given account.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more account-specific parameters include data indicating one or more user-specific parameters or one or more user-specific signals.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the one or more user-specific parameters include plans regarding an activity.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the one or more user-specific parameters include a history of the user related to the plans regarding the activity.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the one or more user-specific parameters include time constraints based on user preferences.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein the one or more user-specific parameters include preferences that modify the one or more global parameters.

8. The method of claim 3, wherein the one or more user-specific signals include a signal indicating a mood of the user.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the signal indicating the mood of the user affects an indication of importance of an activity to the user.

10. The method of claim 3, wherein the one or more user-specific signals include a signal indicating an interest of the user in one or more types of activities.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the public activity is viewable by one or more users other than the user that created the activity.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the one or more users other than the user that created the activity are notified when the user adds the activity.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the user that created the activity specifies a subset of the one or more users that are notified.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the private activity is only viewable by the user that created the activity.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the private shared activity is viewable by the user that created the activity and one or more other users specified by the user.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the relationships include one or more indications of similarities between the one or more of the global parameters of the selected activity and the one or more of the account-specific parameters of the selected user account.

17. A computer-based system comprising:

a global activity database comprising data that defines a plurality of activities, wherein the data for each activity comprises one or more global parameters;

a user-account database comprising data for each of a plurality of user accounts, wherein the data for a given one of the user accounts;

(i) comprises one or more account-specific parameters and (ii) identifies any of the plurality of activities that are associated with the given account; and

one or more servers each including at least one processor, wherein the one or more servers are communicatively coupled to the global activity database and the user-account database, and the one or more servers are configured, for a selected user account, to;

for each of one or more selected activities;

(a) evaluate one or more relationships between one or more of the global parameters of the selected activity and one or more of the account-specific parameters of the selected user account, wherein the selected activity has been created using another user account;

(b) determine one or more signals based at least in part on the evaluated relationships, wherein each signal is indicative of importance of the selected activity to a user associated with the selected user account, and the one or more global parameters include a parameter designating the selected activity as one of a public activity, a private activity, or a private shared activity; and

(c) use the determined one or more signals as a basis to determine an importance of the selected activity for a user associated with the selected user account; and

cause a graphical display to display the one or more selected activities in an arrangement that is based at least in part on the importance of the selected activities relevant to one another.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the one or more account-specific parameters include data indicating one or more user-specific parameters or one or more user-specific signals.

19. An article of manufacture including a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, having stored thereon program instructions that, upon execution of the program instructions by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

accessing and retrieving data from a global activity database that comprises data defining a plurality of activities, wherein the data for each activity comprises one or more global parameters, wherein the one or more global parameters include a parameter for designating an activity as one of a public activity, a private activity, or a private shared activity;

accessing and retrieving data from a user-account database including data for each of a plurality of user accounts, wherein the data for a given one of the user accounts;

(i) comprises one or more account-specific parameters and (ii) identifies any of the plurality of activities that are associated with the given user account;

for a selected user account;

for each of one or more selected activities;

(a) evaluating one or more relationships between one or more of the global parameters of the selected activity and one or more of the account-specific parameters of the selected user account, wherein the selected activity has been created using another user account;

(b) determining one or more signals based at least in part on the evaluated relationships, wherein each signal is indicative of importance of the selected activity to a user associated with the selected user-account, and

(c) using the determined one or more signals as a basis for determining an importance of the selected activity for a user associated with the selected user account; and

providing for display the one or more selected activities in an arrangement that is based at least in part on the importance of the one or more selected activities relevant to one another.