Determining a likelihood of completion of a task

• US 9,684,627 B1
• Filed: 12/13/2013
• Issued: 06/20/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Sohn, Timothy Youngjin, Tomkins, Andrew, Umapathy, Vijay, Sar, Erwin Can
• Primary Examiner(s): Jeanty, Romain
• Application Number:
  US14/106,160
• Time in Patent Office: 1,285 Days
• Field of Search: 705 731
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/00 Digital computers in general details G06F1/00 – G06F13/00; Data processing equipment in general
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0631 Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations

Abstract

Methods and apparatus related to determining a likelihood that a task is completed. One or more task completion entities with which the user can interact to complete the task may be determined. One or more activity data indicators may be determined for a given entity of the task completion entities. The activity data indictors are indicative of the user performing the action through interaction with the given entity. User activity data may be received and compared with the activity data indicators to determine one or more matching activity data indicators of the activity data indicators that match the user activity data. A likelihood that the task is completed may be determined based on the matching activity data indicators.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

accessing, from one or more databases, a task entry of a user, the task entry including;

at least one task action identifier identifying an action to perform to complete a task, and

at least one task object identifier identifying an entity associated with the task action,

wherein the task object identifier includes an identifier for a particular store, and

wherein the task is related to purchase of an item from the particular store;

determining, based on the task object identifier, one or more task completion entities with which the user can interact to complete the task, where the one or more task completion entities include the particular store;

determining, for the particular store, one or more activity data indicators indicative of the user performing the action through interaction with the particular store;

receiving user activity data over one or more networks, the user activity data indicative of one or more of a user action via one or more computing devices of the user and at least one location of one or more of the computing devices of the user;

comparing the user activity data with the activity data indicators to determine one or more matching activity data indicators of the activity data indicators that match the user activity data;

determining a likelihood that the task is completed through interaction with the particular store based on the matching activity data indicators;

adjusting a ranking of the particular store based on the likelihood that the task is completed through interaction with the particular store;

after adjusting the ranking, and in response to user entry of a new task via one of the computing devices of the user;

determining that the new task includes a collection of task objects that include the particular store and additional stores;

providing, for presentation to the user via the one of the computing devices, a user interface that includes an identifier of the particular store based on the ranking of the particular store and that includes a selectable interface element;

in response to selection of the selectable interface element by the user via a user interface input device of the one of the computing devices, associating the particular store with the new task in a new task entry stored in one or more of the databases.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the likelihood that the task is completed includes determining the task is completed when the likelihood satisfies a threshold.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the likelihood is based on how many of the matching activity data indicators are determined.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the threshold is a threshold number of the matching activity data indicators.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the likelihood is based on scores associated with the matching activity data indicators.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the user action includes at least one of a check-in, a payment information, a telephone communication, an electronic communication, a search, navigation history, and a locational query.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the activity data indicators include a geographic location associated with the store, and the user activity that matches the geographic location data includes a location of the computing device within a threshold distance of the geographic location.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining, based on the task entry, one or more steps to perform the task, wherein the particular store is determined based on the one or more steps.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the one or more activity data indicators include data indicators indicative of completion of all of the one or more steps.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more activity data indicators include at least one activity data indicator associated with an anticipated time duration, and further including:

determining, based on the user activity data, an actual time duration associated with at least some of the user activity data;

wherein comparing the user activity data with the at least one activity data indicator includes comparing the anticipated time duration to the actual time duration.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one task object identifier is associated with a collection of entities, and the one or more task completion entities include members of the collection of entities.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein determining the likelihood that the task is completed includes determining the task is completed through interaction with the particular store, and wherein adjusting the ranking of the particular store comprises:

increasing the ranking of the particular store for the collection of task objects based on the likelihood that the task is completed.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the task action identifier identifies a collection of actions having a plurality of action members and wherein determining, for the particular store, one or more activity data indicators includes:

associating at least a first of the activity data indicators with a first action member of the action members;

associating at least a second of the activity data indicators with a second action member of the action members;

determining a ranking of the first action member for the collection of actions based on whether the first of the data indicators is one of the matching activity data indicators; and

determining a ranking of the second action member for the collection of actions based on whether the second of the data indicators is one of the matching activity data indicators.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the ranking of the first action member is for the collection of actions and the particular store and the ranking of the second action member is for the collection of actions and the particular store.

15. A system including memory and one or more processors operable to execute instructions stored in memory, comprising instructions to:

access a task entry of a user from one or more databases, the task entry including;

at least one task action identifier identifying a collection of actions to perform to complete a task, the collection of actions having a plurality of action members, and

at least one task object identifier identifying an entity associated with the task action;

determine, based on the task object identifier, one or more task completion entities with which the user can interact to complete the task;

determine, for a given entity of the one or more task completion entities, one or more activity data indicators indicative of the user performing the action through interaction with the given entity,

wherein the instructions to determine, for the given entity, one or more activity data indicators include instructions to;

associate at least a first of the activity data indicators with a first action member of the action members;

associate at least a second of the activity data indicators with a second action member of the action members;

receive user activity data, the user activity data indicative of one or more of a user action via one or more computing devices of the user, and at least one location of one or more of the computing devices of the user;

compare the user activity data with the activity data indicators to determine one or more matching activity data indicators of the activity data indicators that match the user activity data;

determine a ranking of the first action member for the collection of actions based on whether the first of the data indicators is one of the matching activity data indicators;

determine a ranking of the second action member for the collection of actions based on whether the second of the data indicators is one of the matching activity data indicators;

in response to user entry of a new task via one of the computing devices of the user;

determine the new task includes the task action identifier that identifies the collection of actions;

provide, for presentation to the user via the one of the computing devices, a user interface that includes an identifier of the first action member based on the ranking of the first action member and that includes a selectable interface element;

in response to selection of the selectable interface element by the user via a user interface input device of the one of the computing devices, associate the first action member with the new task in a new task entry stored in one or more databases.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the at least one task object identifier is associated with a collection of entities, and the one or more task completion entities include members of the collection of entities.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the given entity is a member of the collection of entities, and the instructions further include instructions to:

determine a ranking of the given entity for the collection of entities based on the likelihood that the task is completed.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the given entity is a member of the collection of entities, wherein the instructions to determine the likelihood that the task is completed include instructions to determine the task is completed, and the instructions further include instructions to:

increase a ranking of the given entity for the collection of entities based on the likelihood that the task is completed.

19. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions executable by a processor, the instructions including instructions to:

access, from one or more databases, a task entry of a user, the task entry including;

at least one task action identifier identifying an action to perform to complete a task, and

at least one task object identifier identifying an entity associated with the task action,

wherein the task object identifier includes an identifier for a particular store, and

wherein the task is related to purchase of an item from the particular store;

determine, based on the task object identifier, one or more task completion entities with which the user can interact to complete the task, where the one or more task completion entities include the particular store;

determine, for the particular store, one or more activity data indicators indicative of the user performing the action through interaction with the particular store;

receive user activity data over one or more networks, the user activity data indicative of one or more of a user action via one or more computing devices of the user, and at least one location of one or more of the computing devices of the user;

compare the user activity data with the activity data indicators to determine one or more matching activity data indicators of the activity data indicators that match the user activity data;

determine a likelihood that the task is completed through interaction with the particular store based on the matching activity data indicators;

adjust a ranking of the particular store based on the likelihood that the task is completed through interaction with the particular store;

after adjusting the ranking, and in response to user entry of a new task via one of the computing devices of the user;

determine that the new task includes a collection of task objects that include the particular store and additional stores;

provide, for presentation to the user via the one of the computing devices, a user interface that includes an identifier of the particular store based on the ranking of the particular store and that includes a selectable interface element;

in response to selection of the selectable interface element by the user via a user interface input device of the one of the computing devices, associate the particular store with the new task in a new task entry stored in one or more of the databases.