Pushing suggested search queries to mobile devices

• US 9,223,826 B2
• Filed: 02/25/2013
• Issued: 12/29/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Peiris, Keith L., Deng, Peter
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, CAM LINH T
• Application Number:
  US13/776,469
• Publication Number:
  US 20140244661A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,037 Days
• Field of Search: 707/723, 707/748, 707/767
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/243 Natural language query formulation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3322 using system suggestions G06F16/3325 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/90324 using system suggestions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method includes receiving an indication of a location of a mobile-client system of a user, determining an intent of the user based on the location of the user, generating one or more suggested queries based on the determined intent of the user; and transmitting a notification to the mobile-client system of the user that includes one or more of the suggested queries.

Claims

1. A method comprising, by a computing device:

receiving an indication of a first location of a mobile-client system of a first user associated with an online social network, the online social network storing a social graph comprising a plurality of nodes and a plurality of edges connecting the nodes;

determining an intent of the first user based at least on the first location;

generating one or more suggested queries based on the intent of the first user, wherein each suggested query is a structured query comprising references to one or more nodes and one or more edges of the social graph;

transmitting, responsive to receiving the indication of the first location, a notification to the mobile-client system of the first user, wherein the notification comprises one or more of the suggested queries, each suggested query being selectable by the first user to retrieve one or more search results corresponding to the suggested query, the one or more search results corresponding to one or more nodes of the plurality of nodes, respectively;

receiving an indication the first user has selected one of the suggested queries; and

transmitting, responsive to receiving the indication of the selection, a plurality of search results to the mobile-client system of the first user corresponding to the selected suggested query, the one or more search results corresponding to one or more nodes of the plurality of nodes, respectively, each node being connected to one of the nodes referenced in the selected suggested query by one of the edges referenced in the selected suggested query.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising calculating a score for each of the generated suggested queries, wherein the transmitted notification comprises one or more suggested queries having a score greater than a threshold score.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein calculating the score for each of the generated suggested queries is based on a number of possible search results corresponding to the suggested query.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the notification is one or more of a SMS message, a MMS message, an email message, a banner notification, a pop-up notification, an in-app notification, a cloud-to-device notification, or any combination thereof.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more suggested queries are natural-language queries generated by a context-free grammar model.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first location is based on one or more of a global position system (GPS) signal, a Wi-Fi signal, or a cellular radio signal.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving from the first user a selection of one of the suggested queries.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising generating one or more search results corresponding to the suggested query selected by the first user.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the intent of the first user is further based on a search history associated with the first user.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the intent of the first user is further based on a current time associated with the first user.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the intent of the first user is further based on feedback from the first user.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the intent of the first user if further based on a social-graph affinity associated with the first user.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the feedback from the first user comprises data indicating an interest of the first user for particular queries or query-types.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

accessing the social graph, each of the edges between two of the nodes representing a single degree of separation between them, the nodes comprising;

a first node corresponding to the first user, the first user being associated with an online social network; and

a plurality of second nodes that each correspond to a concept or a second user associated with the online social network, each second node being associated with a second location.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein determining the intent of the first user is further based on the proximity of the first user to one or more concepts or second users associated with one or more second locations, the proximity of the first user being based on the distance between the first location of the first user and the second locations of one or more second locations.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein determining the intent of the first user is further based on a degree of separation in the social graph between the first node and one or more second nodes.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the one or more suggested queries are based on natural-language strings generated by a context-free grammar model.

18. One or more computer-readable non-transitory storage media embodying software that is operable when executed to:

receive an indication of a first location of a mobile-client system of a first user associated with an online social network, the online social network storing a social graph comprising a plurality of nodes and a plurality of edges connecting the nodes;

determine an intent of the first user based at least on the first location;

generate one or more suggested queries based on the intent of the first user, wherein each suggested query is a structured query comprising references to one or more nodes and one or more edges of the social graph;

transmit, responsive to receiving the indication of the first location, a notification to the mobile-client system of the first user, wherein the notification comprises one or more of the suggested queries, each suggested query being selectable by the first user to retrieve one or more search results corresponding to the suggested query, the one or more search results corresponding to one or more nodes of the plurality of nodes, respectively;

receive an indication the first user has selected one of the suggested queries; and

transmit, responsive to receiving the indication of the selection, a plurality of search results to the mobile-client system of the first user corresponding to the selected suggested query, the one or more search results corresponding to one or more nodes of the plurality of nodes, respectively, each node being connected to one of the nodes referenced in the selected suggested query by one of the edges referenced in the selected suggested query.

19. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

a memory coupled to the processors comprising instructions executable by the processors, the processors operable when executing the instructions to;

receive an indication of a first location of a mobile-client system of a first user associated with an online social network, the online social network storing a social graph comprising a plurality of nodes and a plurality of edges connecting the nodes;

determine an intent of the first user based at least on the first location;

generate one or more suggested queries based on the intent of the first user, wherein each suggested query is a structured query comprising references to one or more nodes and one or more edges of the social graph;

transmit, responsive to receiving the indication of the first location, a notification to the mobile-client system of the first user, wherein the notification comprises one or more of the suggested queries, each suggested query being selectable by the first user to retrieve one or more search results corresponding to the suggested query, the one or more search results corresponding to one or more nodes of the plurality of nodes, respectively;

receive an indication the first user has selected one of the suggested queries; and

transmit, responsive to receiving the indication of the selection, a plurality of search results to the mobile-client system of the first user corresponding to the selected suggested query, the one or more search results corresponding to one or more nodes of the plurality of nodes, respectively, each node being connected to one of the nodes referenced in the selected suggested query by one of the edges referenced in the selected suggested query.