Automatic continued search

• US 9,390,150 B1
• Filed: 09/04/2015
• Issued: 07/12/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/04/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Champaneria, Amay Nitin, Brewin, Frederick Peter, Raghunathan, Vivek, Lakshminarayanan, Karthik, Chennapragada, Aparna, Srikant, Ramakrishnan, Gupta, Vineet, Lischeske, Carl, Manjunatha, Mahesh Keralapura, Au, Carolyn, Guha, Ramanathan, Kolluri, Ravi, Bellver, Pablo, Panesar, Kiran, Dai, Andrew
• Primary Examiner(s): Tarcza, Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): Dunn, Alex C
• Application Number:
  US14/845,994
• Time in Patent Office: 312 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/23 Updating
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2423 Interactive query statement specification based on a database schema
• 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 16/29 Geographical information databases
• 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: G06Q 10/025 Coordination of plural reservations, e.g. plural trip segments, transportation combined with accommodation

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for providing travel-related information for a location to a user based on activity indications of the user that are related to the location. The location may be determined based on a set of one or more related activity indications and a travel-related score may be determined for the location that is indicative of likelihood that the user has interest in travelling to the location. The user may be provided the travel-related information for the location based on the travel-related score.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method, comprising:

identifying a plurality of computer-based activity indications of a user, each of the activity indications associated with one or more entities;

identifying a set of the activity indications from the plurality of activity indications based on one or more of the entities associated with the activity indications of the set;

determining a location based on one or more of the entities associated with the activity indications of the set;

determining a score for the location based on a familiarity measure indicative of familiarity of the user with one or more of the entities of the activity indications of the set, wherein the score is indicative of likelihood that the user has interest in the location;

determining one or more information indications, wherein each of the information indications identifies information related to the location;

identifying a user interface activity indication that is initiated by a computing device of the user and that is unrelated to a search query submission by the user; and

providing the information indications for display on the computing device based on the score satisfying a threshold and in response to the user interface activity indication.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein a plurality of the information indications are determined and provided for display on the computing device, and further comprising:

providing a general information indication related to the location based on the score, wherein the general information indication indicates the location and the presence of additional information related to the location; and

identifying a user selection of the general information indication via the computing device;

wherein providing the plurality of the information indications is in response to identifying the user selection of the general information indication.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the information indications include one or more of:

a snippet from and a link to a document, directions, and a point of interest suggestion.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein a plurality of the information indications are determined and provided for display on the computing device, and wherein determining the plurality of the information indications comprises:

identifying a plurality of documents related to the location;

ranking the documents;

selecting one or more of the documents based on the ranking; and

determining one or more of the plurality of the information indications of the collection based on the selected one or more of the documents.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 4, wherein ranking the documents is based on at least one of the activity indications of the set of activity indications.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 4, wherein ranking the documents is based on the determined location.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein an activity type of a given activity indication of the activity indications of the set is a search query and wherein determining the score includes determining an activity time of the given activity indication based on a submission time of the search query and determining the score based on comparing the activity time with a current time.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the score is more indicative of user interest when the familiarity measure is a first value than when the familiarity measure is a second value, wherein the first value is less indicative than the second value of familiarity of the user with the one or more entities of the activity indications of the set.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein an activity type of a given activity indication of the activity indications is a search query.

10. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein an activity type of a given activity indication of the activity indications is a web page access.

11. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, from one or more of the activity indications, a time indicative of when the user has interest in traveling to the location;

wherein determining the score for the location is further based on the time.

12. A system comprising:

non-transitory memory storing instructions;

one or more hardware processors operable to execute the instructions stored in the memory, wherein the instructions comprise instructions to;

identify a plurality of computer-based activity indications of a user, each of the activity indications associated with one or more entities;

identify a set of the activity indications from the plurality of activity indications based on one or more of the entities associated with the activity indications of the set;

determine a location based on one or more of the entities associated with the activity indications of the set;

determine a score for the location based on a familiarity measure indicative of familiarity of the user with one or more of the entities of the activity indications of the set, wherein the score is indicative of likelihood that the user has interest in the location;

determine one or more information indications, wherein each of the information indications identifies information related to the location;

identify a user interface activity indication that is initiated by a computing device of the user and that is unrelated to a search query submission by the user; and

provide the information indications for display on the computing device based on the score satisfying a threshold and in response to the user interface activity indication.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein a plurality of the information indications are determined and provided for display on the computing device, and wherein the instructions further comprise instructions to:

provide a general information indication related to the location based on the score, wherein the general information indication indicates the location and the presence of additional information related to the location; and

identify a user selection of the general information indication via the computing device;

wherein the instructions to provide the information indications for display on the computing device include instructions to provide the plurality of the information indications in response to identifying the user selection of the general information indication.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the information indications include one or more of:

a snippet from and a link to a document, directions, and a point of interest suggestion.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein a plurality of the information indications are determined and provided for display on the computing device, and wherein the instructions to determine the plurality of the information indications include instructions to:

identify a plurality of documents related to the location;

rank the documents;

select one or more of the documents based on the ranking; and

determine one or more of the plurality of the information indications of the collection based on the selected one or more of the documents.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the instructions to rank the documents include instructions to rank the documents based on at least one of the activity indications of the set of activity indications.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein an activity type of a given activity indication of the activity indications of the set is a search query and wherein the instructions to determine the score include instructions to determine an activity time of the given activity indication based on a submission time of the search query and determine the score based on comparing the activity time with a current time.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein the score is more indicative of user interest when the familiarity measure is a first value than when the familiarity measure is a second value, wherein the first value is less indicative than the second value of familiarity of the user with the one or more entities of the activity indications of the set.

19. The system of claim 12, wherein an activity type of a given activity indication of the activity indications is one of:

a search query and a web page access.

20. The system of claim 12, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions to:

determine, from one or more of the activity indications, a time indicative of when the user has interest in traveling to the location;

wherein the instructions to determine the score for the location include instructions to determine the score based on the time.

21. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing computer instructions executable by a processor to perform a method comprising:

identifying a plurality of computer-based activity indications of a user, each of the activity indications associated with one or more entities;

identifying a set of the activity indications from the plurality of activity indications based on one or more of the entities associated with the activity indications of the set;

determining a location based on one or more of the entities associated with the activity indications of the set;

determining a score for the location based on a familiarity measure indicative of familiarity of the user with one or more of the entities of the activity indications of the set, wherein the score is indicative of likelihood that the user has interest in the location;

determining one or more information indications, wherein each of the information indications identifies information related to the location;

identifying a user interface activity indication that is initiated by a computing device of the user and that is unrelated to a search query submission by the user; and

providing the information indications for display on the computing device based on the score satisfying a threshold and in response to the user interface activity indication.