Presenting results from multiple search engines

• US 9,589,033 B1
• Filed: 10/14/2013
• Issued: 03/07/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/14/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Stark, Jeffrey David, Kuscher, Alexander Friedrich, Jitkoff, John Nicholas
• Primary Examiner(s): Syed, Farhan
• Application Number:
  US14/053,535
• Time in Patent Office: 1,240 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques

Abstract

Systems and methods for presenting search results from multiple sources are provided. In some aspects, a search query is received. The search query is provided to multiple search engines. Multiple search results corresponding to the search query are received from the multiple search engines. The multiple search results are sorted according to an order. At least a portion of the multiple search results are presented. The presented search results are selected based on the order.

Claims

1. A method for presenting search results, the method comprising:

receiving, within an interface for enabling access to a plurality of applications at a computing device, a search query;

providing the search query to a plurality of search engines, wherein each of the plurality of search engines searches a corresponding data store, and wherein the plurality of search engines comprise at least a search engine for searching local files, a search engine for searching local applications, and a search engine for searching applications in an application store;

receiving, from the plurality of search engines, a plurality of search results corresponding to the search query;

sorting the plurality of search results, wherein a first portion of the sorted search results includes at least a threshold number of search results from each of the plurality of search engines providing search results, and a second portion of the sorted search results includes a remainder of the search results from the plurality of search engines aggregated and sorted according to an order based on a ranking score for the plurality of search results; and

presenting, at the computing device, the first portion and the second portion of the sorted search results, wherein, when a search result of the first portion of the sorted search results corresponds to a launchable application, the search result is associated with an actionable user interface element, and the actionable user interface element enables launching of the launchable application.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of search engines further comprise:

a search engine for searching contents of local applications, a search engine for searching contents of applications in the application store, a web search engine, and a search engine within a local application.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the interface for enabling access to the plurality of applications comprises an application launcher of the computing device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the search query comprises a zero query, and wherein the plurality of search results are selected based on stored information related to the computing device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the search query comprises one or more characters.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein each search engine in at least a portion of the plurality of search engines has a corresponding application.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of applications comprise hosted applications and packaged applications.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform one or more operations, the one or more operations comprising:

receiving one or more user interactions with a search input box within an interface for enabling access to a plurality of applications;

providing the one or more user interactions with the search input box to a plurality of search engines, wherein the plurality of search engines comprise at least a search engine for searching local files, a search engine for searching local applications, and a search engine for searching applications in an application store;

receiving, within a predetermined amount of time after providing the one or more user interactions to the plurality of search engines, search results from the plurality of search engines; and

sorting the received search results, wherein a first portion of the sorted search results includes at least a threshold number of search results from each of the plurality of search engines providing search results, and a second portion of the sorted search results includes a remainder of the search results from the plurality of search engines aggregated and sorted according to an order based on a ranking score for the received search results, and wherein, when a search result of the sorted search results corresponds to a launchable application, the search result is presented with an actionable user interface element, and the actionable user interface element enables launching of the launchable application.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the one or more user interactions with the search input box comprise a selection of the search input box.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the received search results are selected based on stored information related to the computer.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the one or more user interactions with the search input box comprise one or more keystrokes while the search input box is selected.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein providing the one or more user interactions with the search input box to the plurality of search engines comprises:

providing, via a launcher search application programming interface (API), the one or more user interactions with the search input box to the plurality of search engines, wherein the predetermined amount of time is specified by the launcher search API.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein a portion of the plurality of search engines are associated with corresponding applications, and wherein the corresponding applications comprise one or more of a local file application, a photograph application, a music player application, or a social networking application.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the search input box is associated with an application launcher.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the plurality of applications comprise hosted applications and packaged applications.

16. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

a memory comprising instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform one or more operations, the one or more operations comprising;

presenting an application launcher user interface element, the application launcher user interface element comprising a search input box;

receiving one or more user interactions with the search input box;

providing the one or more user interactions with the search input box to a plurality of search engines, wherein the plurality of search engines comprise at least a search engine for searching local files, a search engine for searching local applications, and a search engine for searching applications in an application store;

receiving, within a predetermined amount of time after providing the one or more user interactions to the plurality of search engines, search results from the plurality of search engines;

sorting the received search results, wherein a first portion of the sorted search results includes at least a threshold number of search results from each of the plurality of search engines providing search results, and a second portion of the sorted search results includes a remainder of the received search results from the plurality of search engines aggregated and sorted according to an order based on a ranking score for the received search results; and

presenting, within the application launcher user interface element, the first portion and the second portion of the sorted search results, wherein, when a search result of the first portion of the sorted search results corresponds to a launchable application, the search result is associated with an actionable user interface element, and the actionable user interface element enables launching of the launchable application.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the one or more user interactions with the search input box comprise a selection of the search input box.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the received search results are selected based on stored information related a computing device that includes the one or more processors and the memory.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the one or more user interactions with the search input box comprise one or more keystrokes while the search input box is selected.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein providing the one or more user interactions with the search input box to the plurality of search engines comprises:

providing, via a launcher search application programming interface (API), the one or more user interactions with the search input box to the plurality of search engines, wherein the predetermined amount of time is specified by the launcher search API.