Associating a task completion step of a task with a related task of the same group of similar tasks

• US 9,183,039 B2
• Filed: 11/26/2013
• Issued: 11/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/26/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Sar, Erwin Can, Sohn, Timothy Youngjin, Tomkins, Andrew
• Primary Examiner(s): Puente, Emerson
• Assistant Examiner(s): WU, BENJAMIN C
• Application Number:
  US14/090,716
• Publication Number:
  US 20150150014A1
• Time in Patent Office: 714 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/00 Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/46 Multiprogramming arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/466 Transaction processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/48 Program initiating; Program switching, e.g. by interrupt
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06316 Sequencing of tasks or work

Abstract

Methods and apparatus related to associating a task completion step with one or more tasks. A task group is determined based on similarity between the tasks of the task group, a task completion step of one of the tasks of the task group is identified, and one or more of the other tasks of the task group are associated with the task completion step. In some implementations, the task group is determined based on similarity between entities that are associated with the tasks of the task group. In some implementations, the task group is determined based on textual representations that are associated with the tasks of the task group.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method, comprising:

identifying a plurality of tasks, wherein one or more of the tasks are identified from one or more databases;

determining a task group of the tasks based on similarity between tasks of the task group;

determining an associated task of the tasks of the task group, wherein the associated task is associated with a task completion step;

identifying an unassociated task of the task group based on the unassociated task being non-associated with the task completion step of the associated task;

associating the task completion step of the associated task with the unassociated task; and

storing the association between the unassociated task and the task completion step.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein similarity between the tasks of the task group is determined based on a task similarity measurement between the associated task and the other tasks of the task group.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein similarity between the tasks of the task group is determined based on determining a template similarity measurement for each of the tasks of the task group, wherein the template similarity measurement for a given task is based on conformity between the given task and a task template.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the tasks includes a task objective.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein a given task objective includes a task action and a task object.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the similarity measurement for a given task of the tasks is based on an action similarity measurement between the task action of the given task and the task action of one or more other tasks of the task group.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the similarity measurement for a given task of the tasks is based on an object similarity measurement between the task object of the given task and the task object of one or more other tasks of the task group.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein each of the task objectives of the tasks includes a textual representation of the task objective, and wherein the similarity measurement for a given task of the tasks is based on similarity between the textual representation of the given task and the textual representation of one or more of the other tasks of the task group.

9. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

identifying a second associated task of the tasks of the task group, wherein the second associated task is associated with a second task completion step, wherein the second associated task is unique from the associated task; and

determining a task completion step similarity measurement, wherein the task completion step similarity measurement is indicative of similarity between the associated task completion step and the second associated task completion step, and wherein the similarity of the second associated task with the tasks of the task group is based on the task completion step similarity measurement.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the task completion step includes a first completion action and a first completion object, wherein the second task completion step includes a second completion action and a second completion object.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein determining the task completion step similarity measurement includes determining a similarity between the first completion action and the second completion action.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein determining the task completion step similarity measurement includes determining a similarity between the first completion object and the second completion object.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the unassociated task is received from a remote computing device.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising providing the task completion step to the remote computing device as a suggested completion step for the unassociated task.

15. A system including memory and one or more processors operable to execute instructions in memory, comprising instructions to:

identify a plurality of tasks, wherein one or more of the tasks are identified from one or more databases;

determine a task group of the tasks based on similarity between tasks of the task group;

determine an associated task of the tasks of the task group, wherein the associated task is associated with a task completion step;

identify an unassociated task of the task group based on the unassociated task being non-associated with the task completion step of the associated task;

associate the task completion step of the associated task with the unassociated task; and

store the association between the unassociated task and the task completion step.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein similarity between the tasks of the task group is determined based on a task similarity measurement between the associated task and the other tasks of the task group.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein similarity between the tasks of the task group is determined based on determining a template similarity measurement for each of the tasks of the task group, wherein the template similarity measurement for a given task is based on conformity between the given task and a task template.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein each of the tasks includes a task objective.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein a given task objective includes a task action and a task object.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the similarity measurement for a given task of the tasks is based on an action similarity measurement between the task action of the given task and the task action of one or more other tasks of the task group.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the similarity measurement for a given task of the tasks is based on an object similarity measurement between the task object of the given task and the task object of one or more other tasks of the task group.

22. The system of claim 16, wherein the instructions further include instructions to:

identify a second associated task of the tasks of the task group, wherein the second associated task is associated with a second task completion step, and wherein the second associated task is unique from the associated task; and

determine a task completion step similarity measurement, wherein the task completion step similarity measurement is indicative of similarity between the associated task completion step and the second associated task completion step, and wherein the similarity of the second associated task with the tasks of the task group is based on the task completion step similarity measurement.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the task completion step includes a first completion action and a first completion object, wherein the second task completion step includes a second completion action and a second completion object.

24. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing at least one program configured for execution by at least one processor of a computer system, the at least one program comprising instructions to:

identify a plurality of tasks, wherein one or more of the tasks are identified from one or more databases;

determine a task group of the tasks based on similarity between tasks of the task group;

determine an associated task of the tasks of the task group, wherein the associated task is associated with a task completion step;

identify an unassociated task of the task group based on the unassociated task being non-associated with the task completion step of the associated task;

associate the task completion step of the associated task with the unassociated task; and

store the association between the unassociated task and the task completion step.