Query formation and modification

• US 9,507,879 B2
• Filed: 01/02/2014
• Issued: 11/29/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/02/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Adobe Inc.
• Original Assignee: Adobe Systems Incorporated (Adobe Inc.)
• Inventors: Badimon, Mathieu Ren
• Primary Examiner(s): Leroux, Etienne
• Assistant Examiner(s): Glasser, Dara J
• Application Number:
  US14/146,607
• Publication Number:
  US 20150186551A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,062 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/90332 Natural language query formulation or dialogue systems

Abstract

Query formation and modification techniques are described. In one or more embodiments, a query is received that is formed in a text field as a phrase in a human-readable language that includes a visual indicator that represents a missing term that is a subject of the query. Based on the query, a defined database is searched, and one or more modified versions of the phrase are presented that replace the visual indicator with a respective result of the searching. In addition, one or more options are presented that are selectable to automatically complete the phrase as a sentence in the human-readable language.

Claims

1. One or more computer readable storage media storing instructions that, responsive to execution by a computing device, cause the computing device perform operations comprising:

receiving via a text field a query formed as a phrase in a human-readable language, the query including a visual indicator representing a missing term in the phrase that is a subject of the query;

causing a result of the query to be displayed in the text field by replacing the visual indicator in the text field with the result of the query;

receiving a selection of a portion of the query that does not include the visual indicator;

responsive to receiving the selection of the portion of the query, presenting multiple options that are selectable to change at least one term of the selected portion to create a modified version of the query; and

responsive to detecting a cursor hovering over one of the multiple options, automatically replacing the result of the query with a modified result that corresponds to the one of the multiple options.

2. The one or more computer readable storage media of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise searching a defined database responsive to the selection of the portion of the query to identify the multiple options.

3. The one or more computer readable storage media of claim 1, wherein the phrase comprises a sentence.

4. The one or more computer readable storage media of claim 1, wherein the visual indicator comprises a non-text character that represents a request for particular data.

5. The one or more computer readable storage media of claim 1, wherein the visual indicator includes at least one of punctuation, a symbol, or an alphanumeric character.

6. The one or more computer readable storage media of claim 1, further comprising presenting an image proximate to the portion of the query, the image visually representing at least one characteristic of the portion of the query.

7. The one or more computer readable storage media of claim 1, wherein the phrase includes at least one of a subject, a verb, or a context.

8. The one or more computer readable storage media of claim 1, wherein:

multiple modified versions of the phrase are presented responsive to selection of an additional portion of the phrase that includes the visual indicator; and

the multiple modified versions of the phrase are each presented with a different respective result of the query that is modified based on a respective modified version of the phrase.

9. A method comprising:

receiving via a text field a query formed as a phrase in a human-readable language, the query including a visual indicator representing a missing term in the phrase that is a subject of the query;

displaying a result of the query in the text field by replacing the visual indicator in the text field with the result of the query;

receiving a selection of a portion of the query that does not include the visual indicator;

responsive to receiving the selection of the portion of the query, presenting multiple options that are selectable to change at least one term of the selected portion to create a modified version of the query; and

responsive to detecting a cursor hovering over one of the multiple options, automatically replacing the result of the query with a modified result that corresponds to the one of the multiple options.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising searching a defined database responsive to the selection of the portion of the query to identify the multiple options.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the phrase comprises one of a sentence or a clause.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the visual indicator comprises a non-text character that represents a request for particular data.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the visual indicator includes at least one of punctuation, a symbol, or an alphanumeric character.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising presenting an image proximate to the portion of the query, the image visually representing at least one characteristic of the portion of the query.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the phrase includes at least one of a subject, a verb, or a context.

16. A system comprising:

at least one processor; and

a query module including instructions executable by the at least one processor to perform operations including;

receiving via a text field a query formed as a phrase in a human-readable language, the query including a visual indicator representing a missing term in the phrase that is a subject of the query;

causing a result of the query to be displayed in the text field by replacing the visual indicator in the text field with the result of the query;

receiving a selection of a portion of the query that does not include the visual indicator;

responsive to receiving the selection of the portion of the query, presenting multiple options that are selectable to change at least one term of the selected portion to create a modified version of the query; and

responsive to detecting a cursor hovering over one of the multiple options, automatically replacing the result of the query with a modified result that corresponds to the one of the multiple options.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise searching a defined database responsive to the selection of the portion of the query to identify the multiple options.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the phrase comprises a sentence.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the visual indicator comprises a non-text character that represents a request for particular data.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein:

multiple modified versions of the phrase are presented responsive to selection of an additional portion of the phrase that includes the visual indicator; and

the multiple modified versions of the phrase are each presented with a different respective result of the query that is modified based on a respective modified version of the phrase.