Surfacing applications based on browsing activity

• US 9,519,726 B2
• Filed: 06/16/2011
• Issued: 12/13/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Kumar, Amit, Mahajan, Milind
• Primary Examiner(s): SOMERS, MARC S
• Application Number:
  US13/161,792
• Publication Number:
  US 20120323898A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,007 Days
• Field of Search: 707/708, 707/723, 705/14.54, 705/14.73
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/955 using information identifiers, e.g. uniform resource locators [URL]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement

Abstract

Applications are surfaced to a user during browsing without requiring a specific search by the user. The applications can be selected for surfacing to the user based on the network address entered into the address bar of a browser, the content of the page corresponding to the network address, or a combination thereof. Applications may be selected for surfacing based on a partial address entered into the address bar and/or based on the web page content that is currently visible in the browser display.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for surfacing one or more applications based on browsing activity, the method comprising:

receiving one or more characters corresponding to characters detected in a browser address bar that have a network address format, wherein the browser address bar comprises less than a full network address;

matching one or more applications with at least one keyword extracted from the one or more characters;

transmitting an identification of the one or more matched applications in response to receiving the one or more characters;

displaying one or more surfaced applications including the one or more matched applications, an application of the one or more surfaced applications being displayed with a first viewable area of a document;

changing the first viewable area of the document to a second viewable area of the document that includes a content portion not visible in the first viewable area;

in response to the changing of the first viewable area, identifying that the content portion corresponds to the application;

modifying a manner of display of the displayed application based on the identifying that the content portion corresponds to the application, the modified manner of display comprising display of the displayed application in the second viewable area of the document.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein receiving one or more characters corresponding to characters detected in a browser address bar comprises receiving at least one keyword extracted from the one or more characters.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising extracting one or more keywords from the one or more characters, the one or more applications being matched with the at least one keyword extracted from the one or more keywords.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein matching one or more applications with at least one keyword comprises:

identifying an extracted keyword containing a last character relative to a direction of text flow;

expanding the identified extracted keyword with one or more additional characters to generate a plurality of expanded keywords; and

matching an application based on one or more non-identified extracted keywords and an expanded keyword selected from the plurality of expanded keywords.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, comprising completing the full network address, wherein the full network address comprises a uniform resource identifier or an internationalized resource identifier having a registered scheme.

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

selecting an address template having a format that corresponds to the network address format, the address template including one or more template fields; and

extracting the at least one keyword corresponding to the one or more template fields from the received one or more characters.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein matching the one or more applications with the at least one keyword comprises:

comparing the at least one keyword with keywords in an application keyword index;

ranking applications based on said comparing; and

selecting at least one of the applications having a ranking greater than a ranking threshold as an application that matches the network address.

8. A system for surfacing one or more applications as a function of search results, the system comprising:

a processor and an associated memory containing computer executable instructions, the processor executing the instructions to provide;

an application identification component that receives a plurality characters having a network address format, the plurality of characters corresponding to a document location, and to transmit an identification of a matched application in response to receiving the one or more characters;

an application component including;

a selection component to select the matched application based on matching the application from an application manifest with at least one keyword extracted from the plurality of characters and at least one keyword extracted from a document associated with the document location;

a rendering component to;

display the matched application in an application display area separate from a document display area displaying the associated document based on the identification; and

a characteristic-matching component to identify content corresponding to the one or more matched applications in the associated document;

the rendering component further to modify a manner of display of the displayed matched application based on the identified content becoming visible in the document display area, the modified manner of display comprising displaying the matched application in a different display area than the application display area.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the matched application is assigned to at least one of a plurality of categories selected from official applications, contextual applications, recommended applications, and related applications.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the matching comprises:

detecting an entity based on the extracted keywords; and

selecting one or more applications based on the detected entity.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the selection component further assigns a recommended category to the application based on an application popularity score.

12. A computer-implemented method for surfacing one or more applications as a function of search results, the method comprising:

detecting a plurality of characters in a browser address bar, the plurality of characters having a network address format;

displaying a first viewable area of a document in a document display area, the document associated with a document location corresponding to the detected plurality of characters;

forwarding the detected plurality of characters to a search engine;

receiving an indication of a first identification of one or more surfaced applications that are at least matched with content in the associated document;

displaying the one or more surfaced applications that include at least one link corresponding to a matched application of the one or more applications based on the first identification, wherein a manner of display of the at least one link is in an application display area separate from the document display area comprising the first viewable area;

displaying in the document display area a second viewable area of the associated document that includes a content portion not present in the first visible area;

in response to the displaying of the second viewable area, identifying that extracted keywords located within the content portion of the second viewable area of the associated document in a second identification correspond to the matched application;

modifying the displayed one or more surfaced applications based on the extracted keywords being identified as corresponding to the matched application, wherein the manner of display of the at least one link corresponding to the matched application is modified to display the at least one link in the document display area.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the displaying the second viewable area of the associated document comprises displaying a document portion that is made visible after translation of the document along a direction.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein the document is translated along a direction in response to a user input.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein no content of the first viewable area is displayed during display of the second viewable area.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein the content portion is related to an entity, the entity-related content not being visible during display of the first portion of the associated document.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, further comprising:

detecting characters corresponding to a partial network address in the browser address bar;

extracting one or more keywords from the partial network address; and

displaying at least one preliminary link corresponding to a received identification of an application based on a match of the keywords extracted from the partial network address,

wherein the detected one or more characters in the browser address bar include the characters corresponding to the partial network address, and wherein said displaying the one or more surfaced applications that include the at least one link corresponding to the matched application further comprises removing the display of the preliminary link.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein detecting one or more characters in a browser address bar comprises detecting the one or more characters in a browser address bar prior to display of the first portion of the associated document, the method further comprising:

extracting one or more keywords from the one or more characters in the browser address bar;

displaying at least one preliminary link corresponding to a received identification of an application based on a match of the keywords extracted from one or more characters in the browser address bar, and

extracting at least one additional keyword from the associated document after display of the first portion of the associated document, the at least one additional keyword corresponding to content that is part of the displayed first portion,

wherein said displaying the one or more surfaced applications that include the at least one link corresponding to the matched application further comprises removing the display of the preliminary link.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein modifying the displayed one or more surfaced applications comprises changing a display location for the at least one link.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein modifying the displayed one or more surfaced applications comprises including another link in the displayed one or more surfaced applications in addition to the at least one link.