Presenting related searches on a toolbar

• US 9,298,851 B2
• Filed: 05/06/2011
• Issued: 03/29/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/06/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Nierenberg, Julie
• Primary Examiner(s): Ruiz, Angelica
• Application Number:
  US13/102,514
• Publication Number:
  US 20120284293A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,789 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3329 Natural language query formulation or dialogue systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/90324 using system suggestions

Abstract

Computer-readable media and computerized methods for automatically presenting keyword(s) within a search box of a toolbar are provided. The methods involve detecting a navigation action invoked by a user of a web browser and pulling from the web browser a uniform resource locator (URL) targeted by the navigation action. The targeted URL is compared against a manifest of suggested search terms to determine a match. When there exists suggested search term(s) that correspond with the URL, keyword(s) are selected from the suggested search term(s) for presentation within the search box. When no suggested search terms are found to correspond with the URL, the search box is left empty. Generally, a first search service is responsible for enabling the user to visit an online location associated with the URL, while a second search service is responsible for managing content within the search box of the toolbar.

Claims

1. One or more computer storage hardware devices having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that, is executed, perform a method for surfacing one or more suggested search terms within a search box of a toolbar, the method comprising:

receiving information that describes an online web location;

extracting a uniform resource location (URL) of a website that a user is currently visiting corresponding to the online web location;

determining the one or more suggested search terms directly from the URL, wherein the one or more suggested search terms enable performance of related searches;

selecting at least one keyword from the one or more suggested search terms, wherein selecting the at least one keyword from the one or more suggested search terms comprises

(a) identifying the at least one keyword as being most relevant to the web-location information, and

(b) caching a remainder of the one or more suggested search terms for access by a user at the toolbar; and

presenting the at least one selected keyword within the search box of the toolbar for selection by a user to initiate at least one of the related searches,

wherein presenting the at least one selected keyword within the search box of the toolbar comprises

(a) displaying the at least one selected keyword within the search box for a predefined period of time, and

(b) upon expiration of the predefined period of time, replacing within the search box the at least one selected keyword with a first candidate from the remainder of the one or more suggested search terms.

2. The one or more computer storage hardware devices of claim 1, wherein determining the one or more suggested search terms comprises calling a backend application programming interface (API) with the URL.

3. The one or more computer storage hardware devices of claim 2, wherein determining the one or more suggested search terms further comprises receiving the one or more suggested search terms related to the URL from the backend API.

4. The computer system of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving an indication of a user-initiated selection at the toolbar; and

rendering a menu that lists the remainder of the one or more suggested search terms.

5. The one or more computer storage hardware devices of claim 1, wherein the online web location represents a web page of a website to which a user has presently navigated.

6. The one or more computer storage hardware devices of claim 5, the method further comprising employing a first search engine, operated by a first web-search service, to navigate the user to the website.

7. The one or more computer storage hardware devices of claim 6, the method further comprising employing a second search engine, operated by a second web-search service, to manage content presented within the search box of the toolbar.

8. The one or more computer storage hardware devices of claim 6, wherein the online web location represents a search results page that is retrieved in response to a user-initiated query submitted to the first search engine.

9. The one or more computer storage hardware devices of claim 1, wherein presenting the at least one selected keyword within the search box of the toolbar further comprises:

displaying the first candidate from the remainder of the one or more suggested search terms within the search box for a predefined period of time; and

upon expiration of the predefined period of time, replacing within the search box the first candidate from the remainder of the one or more suggested search terms with a second candidate from the remainder of the one or more suggested search terms.

10. The one or more computer storage hardware devices of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving an indication of a user-initiated selection at the toolbar; and

rendering a menu that lists the remainder of the one or more suggested search terms.

11. The one or more computer storage hardware devices of claim 10, wherein receiving an indication of a user-initiated selection at the toolbar comprises detecting a single click-action directed at the search box.

12. The one or more computer storage hardware devices of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving an indication of a user-initiated selection at the toolbar; and

allowing the user to edit the at least one selected keyword prior to entry as a query.

13. The one or more computer storage hardware devices of claim 12, wherein receiving an indication of a user-initiated selection at the toolbar comprises detecting a multiple click-action directed at the search box.

14. A computerized method, implemented at a processing unit, for automatically providing a user with one or more suggested search terms, the method comprising:

extracting a uniform resource locator (URL) of a website that a user is currently visiting from a web-browsing application;

performing a comparison of the URL itself against a manifest that lists URLs having associated search terms in order to retrieve the one or more suggested search terms that enable performance of related searches, and wherein performing the comparison comprises;

(a) inspecting entries within the manifest with regard to the URL, wherein the entries within the manifest are preselected URLs;

(b) when an entry of the manifest corresponds with the URL, designating the entry as the one or more suggested search terms and selecting at least one keyword from the one or more suggested search terms, wherein selecting the at least one keyword from the one or more suggested search terms comprises

1) identifying the at least one keyword as being most relevant to the web-location information, and

2) caching a remainder of the one or more suggested search terms for access by a user at a toolbar; and

(c) when no entries of the manifest correspond with the URL, returning a null set that indicates no suggested search terms are to be displayed; and

presenting the at least one keyword within a search box of the toolbar, the at least one keyword being selectable by the user, wherein the toolbar is surfaced at a user interface display upon invoking the web-browsing application, wherein presenting the at least one selected keyword within the search box of the toolbar comprises

(a) displaying the at least one selected keyword within the search box for a predefined period of time, and

(b) upon expiration of the predefined period of time, replacing within the search box the at least one selected keyword with a first candidate from the remainder of the one or more suggested search terms.

15. The computerized method of claim 14, further comprising maintaining the search box void of content upon the null set being returned.

16. The computerized method of claim 14, wherein presenting the at least one keyword within the search box of the toolbar comprises accompanying the at least one keyword with visual effects that draw the user'"'"'s attention to the at least one keyword.

17. The computerized method of claim 14, wherein extracting the URL of the website that the user is currently visiting from a web-browser application comprises:

recognizing a user-initiated selection of a destination link on a search-results page; and

employing the URL associated with the destination link or indicia of a document targeted by the destination link as the URL that the user is currently visiting.

18. The computerized method of claim 14, further comprising:

receiving an indication of a user-initiated selection at the toolbar; and

rendering a menu that lists the remainder of the one or more suggested search terms.

19. A computer system capable of discovering and presenting one or more suggested search terms within a toolbar is provided, the computer system comprising a computer storage medium having a plurality of computer software components embodied thereon that are executed by a processor, the computer software components comprising:

a web-browsing application to receive a user-initiated selection directed to a destination link that initiates navigation to a web location;

a first search engine, operated by a first web-search service, to navigate the user to the web-location targeted by a uniform resource locator (URL); and

a second search engine, operated by a second web-search service, to manage content presented within a search box of the toolbar;

wherein managing content comprises;

(a) from the URL itself of a website that the user is currently visiting, determining one or more suggested search terms that enable performance of related searches;

(b) selecting at least one keyword from the one or more suggested search terms, wherein the at least one selected keyword is ranked as being of highest relevance to the URL itself of the website that the user is currently visiting in comparison to a remainder of the one or more suggested search terms;

(c) caching a remainder of the one or more suggested search terms for access by a user at the toolbar; and

(d) presenting the at least one selected keyword within the search box of the toolbar, the at least one selected keyword being selectable by the user, wherein presenting the at least one selected keyword within the search box of the toolbar comprises

1) displaying the at least one selected keyword within the search box for a predefined period of time, and

2) upon expiration of the predefined period of time, replacing within the search box the at least one selected keyword with a first candidate from the remainder of the one or more suggested search terms.

20. The computer system of claim 19, wherein determining the one or more suggested search terms further comprises extracting the one or more suggested search terms directly from the URL itself of the website that the user is currently visiting.