Location-based and alter-ego queries

• US 9,892,200 B2
• Filed: 08/19/2014
• Issued: 02/13/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/18/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Original Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Inventors: Hale, Tyler James, Payne, Brian William, Tariff, Gregory, Souza, Veronica, Norman, Christopher, Katz, Michael Ari
• Primary Examiner(s): Weber, Joy M
• Application Number:
  US14/463,432
• Publication Number:
  US 20150082183A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,274 Days
• Field of Search: 715738, 715741
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications

Abstract

A user at a geographical location may submit a search query and receive results responsive to the search query. The search results provided to the user may be based on the user'"'"'s geographical location. The search results may also be based on one or more attributes of the user or an alter ego. The alter ego may be an individual user or another type of entity, such as a group or a business. A user at a geographical location submitting an alter-ego search query may see the results that would be presented to the alter ego if the alter ego were at the geographical location. Each user'"'"'s interests may be selected through an interest-selection interface, automatically generated as the user interacts with search results, dynamically generated as a user follows or likes search results, or otherwise determined.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

determining a location of a client device associated with a first user;

presenting on the client device a first user interface for selecting a criterion to localize search results;

responsive to the client device receiving a selection of alter egos of the first user as the criterion, presenting on the client device a second user interface for selecting an alter ego from a plurality of available alter egos to determine search results relevant to the alter ego when the alter ego is located at the location of the client device, wherein one or more of the plurality of available alter egos are associated with at least a second user that is different from the first user;

responsive to the client device receiving a selection of the second user as the alter ego, presenting on the client device a third user interface for selecting a user interest from a plurality of available user interests to determine search results relevant to the user interest;

responsive to the client device receiving a selection of a first user interest as the user interest, generating by and transmitting from the client device a search query based on the location of the client device, the alter ego, and the first user interest; and

responsive to the client device receiving first search results relevant to the search query, presenting on the client device a fourth user interface for interacting with the first search results.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the alter ego is a friend of the first user on a social network.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of available user interests include interests associated with items tagged by the alter ego.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first user interface comprises a plurality of buttons corresponding to the plurality of available alter egos.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the search query is further based on a predetermined distance.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising determining the predetermined distance based on user information.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the alter ego is a group to which the second user belongs.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the plurality of available user interests are determined based on votes from members of the group.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the group is determined based on at least one of an interest, an age, a gender, an income level, or an education level.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the plurality of available user interests are determined based on items liked by a user.

11. A system, comprising:

at least one processor; and

memory including instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to perform operations comprising;

determining a location of a first user;

presenting a first user interface for selecting a criterion to localize search results;

responsive to receiving a selection of alter egos of the first user as the criterion, presenting a second user interface for selecting an alter ego from a plurality of available alter egos to determine search results relevant to the alter ego when the alter ego is located at the location of the first user, wherein one or more of the plurality of available alter egos are associated with a second user that is different from the first user;

responsive to receiving a selection of the second user as the alter ego, presenting a third user interface for selecting a user interest from a plurality of available user interests to determine search results relevant to the user interest;

responsive to receiving a selection of a first user interest as the user interest, generating and transmitting a search query based on the location of the first user, the alter ego, and the first user interest; and

in response to receiving first search results relevant to the search query, presenting a fourth user interface for interacting with the first search results.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the alter ego is a friend of the first user on a social network.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the plurality of available user interests include interests associated with items tagged by the alter ego.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the search query is further based on a predetermined distance.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise determining the predetermined distance based on user information.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the alter ego is a group to which the second user belongs.

17. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a system, cause the system to perform operations comprising:

determining a location of a first user;

presenting a first user interface for selecting one or more criteria to localize search results;

responsive to receiving a selection of alter egos of the first user as the one or more criteria, presenting a second user interface for selecting one or more alter egos from a plurality of available alter egos to determine search results relevant to the one or more alter egos when the one or more alter egos are located at the location of the first user, wherein one or more of the plurality of available alter egos are associated with a second user that is different from the first user;

responsive to receiving a selection of the second user as the alter ego, presenting a third user interface for selecting a user interest from a plurality of available user interests to determine search results relevant to the user interest;

responsive to receiving a selection of a first user interest as the user interest, generating and transmitting a search query based on the location of the first user, the alter ego, and the first user interest; and

in response to receiving first search results relevant to the search query, presenting a fourth user interface for interacting with the first search results.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the first user interface comprises a plurality of buttons corresponding to the plurality of available alter egos.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the alter ego is a group to which the second user belongs, and wherein the group is determined based on at least one of an interest, an age, a gender, an income level, or an education level.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the plurality of available user interests are determined based on items liked by a user.