Presenting user activity timeline in a colloquial style

• US 10,681,155 B1
• Filed: 01/12/2016
• Issued: 06/09/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 01/13/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Sanz, Gerard, Huebscher, Markus Cedric, McSorley, Jana, Maguire, John, Wernli, Dino, Basol, Selen, Maria, Johannes Gerardus, Little, Dorington George
• Primary Examiner(s): Pitaro, Ryan F
• Application Number:
  US14/993,892
• Time in Patent Office: 1,610 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/447 Temporal browsing, e.g. timeline
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/955 using information identifiers, e.g. uniform resource locators [URL]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

To generating a presentation of user activities occurring over a period of time, location history data that indicates multiple locations a user visited, along with the respective visit times, is received from the user. Using the location history data, a continuous event that begins on a first calendar day and ends on a second calendar day is determined. A representation of the first calendar day as a colloquial day is generated, where the colloquial day includes the entire event, and where the colloquial day at least partially overlaps with the calendar day but does no coincide with the calendar day. The colloquial day is displayed via a user interface.

Claims

1. A method for generating an interactive presentation of user activities occurring over a period of time, the method comprising:

receiving, by one or more processors, location history data that indicates a plurality of locations the user visited and respective visit times;

receiving, via a user interface, a selection of a first calendar day;

in response to the selection, determining, by the one or more processors using the location history data, a continuous event that begins on the first calendar day and ends on a second calendar day;

generating, by the one or more processors, a representation of the first calendar day as a first colloquial day and the second calendar day as a second colloquial day, wherein the first colloquial day includes a plurality of events and ends with the entire continuous event, and the second colloquial day begins after the continuous event, wherein the first colloquial day at least partially overlaps with the first calendar day but does not coincide with the first calendar day; and

displaying, by the one or more processors, the first colloquial day via the user interface, including providing an interactive timeline in which the events are individually selectable to view and/or edit event information.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the one or more processors, a first time when the user woke up;

determining, by the one or more processors, a second time when the user went to sleep; and

determining, by the one or more processors, when the first colloquial day begins and ends using the first time and the second time.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

identifying, by the one or more processors, one or more places at which the user can sleep;

wherein determining when the first colloquial day begins and ends includes further using the identified one or more places at which the user can sleep.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein identifying the one or more places at which the user can sleep includes determining, by the one or more processors, one or more of (i) a location of a user home or (ii) a location of a business that offers overnight accommodation.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein a length of the first colloquial day does not correspond to a length of a calendar day.

6. The method of claim 1, generating, the representation of the first calendar day includes determining, for at least one of the locations the user visited, a semantic representation of the location, wherein the semantic representation includes a name of a business.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the one or more processors, when the first colloquial day ends using a latest start time of any visits to a place where the user can sleep, including;

determining whether the latest start time is within a predetermined interval of time, and

if the latest start time is within the predetermined interval of time, setting a time when the first colloquial day ends to the latest start time.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the representation of the first calendar day as the first colloquial day includes:

determining, by the one or more processors, a time zone in which the user was located during at least a portion of the first calendar day; and

adjusting, by the one or more processors, a time when the first colloquial day begins in view of the determined time zone.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the user interface includes a screen, the method further comprising:

displaying a digital map in a first portion of a screen;

in response to a user scrolling through the events on the interactive timeline, moving a marker corresponding to a location of the current selected event to an appropriate location on the digital map.

10. A method for generating a presentation of user activities occurring over a period of time, the method comprising:

receiving, by one or more processors, location history data that indicates a plurality of locations the user visited and respective visit times;

receiving, via a user interface, a selection of a calendar day;

in response to the selection, determining, by the one or more processors using the location history data, events that demarcate boundaries of a colloquial day that at least partially overlaps with the calendar day but does not coincide with the calendar day, each of the determined events associated with only one colloquial day; and

displaying, by the one or more processors, an interactive presentation of the colloquial day via a user interface, wherein the interactive presentation of the colloquial day includes indications of a plurality of events that occurred during the colloquial day, wherein the indications are individually selectable to view and/or edit event information.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein determining the events that demarcate the boundaries of the colloquial day includes identifying a place the user likely slept and determining whether the user visited the place within a predetermined period of time.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein determining the events that demarcate the boundaries of the colloquial day includes:

identifying a continuous event that begins on a first calendar day and ends on a second calendar day, and

associating an entirety of the continuous event with the first calendar day without associating any portion of the continuous event with the second calendar day.

13. A system comprising:

one or more processors;

a user interface;

a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing thereon instructions which, when executed on the one or more processors, cause the system to;

receive location history data that indicates a plurality of locations the user visited and respective visit times,

receive, via the user interface, a selection of a first calendar day,

in response to the selection, determine, using the location history data, a continuous event that begins on the first calendar day and ends on a second calendar day,

generate a representation of the first calendar day as a first colloquial day and the second calendar day as a second colloquial day, wherein the first colloquial day includes a plurality of events including the entire continuous event and the second colloquial day excludes the continuous event, and wherein the first colloquial day at least partially overlaps with the first calendar day but does not coincide with the first calendar day, and

display the first colloquial day via the user interface, including provide an interactive timeline in which the events are individually selectable to view and/or edit event information.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the instructions further cause the system to:

determine a first time when the user woke up;

determine a second time when the user went to sleep; and

determine when the colloquial day begins and ends using the first time and the second time.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the instructions further cause the system to:

identify one or more places at which the user can sleep;

wherein determining when the first colloquial day begins and ends includes further using the identified one or more places at which the user can sleep.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein a length of the first colloquial day does not correspond to a length of a calendar day.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein to generate the representation of the first calendar day, the instructions cause the system to determine, for at least one of the locations the user visited, a semantic representation of the location, wherein the semantic representation includes a name of a business.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein the instructions cause the system to determine when the first colloquial day ends using a latest start time of any visits to a place where the user can sleep, including determine whether the latest start time is within a predetermined interval of time, and

if the latest start time is within the predetermined interval of time, set a time when first colloquial day ends to the latest start time.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein to generate the representation of the first calendar day as the first colloquial day, the instructions cause the system to:

determine a time zone in which the user was located during at least a portion of the first calendar day; and

adjust a time when the first colloquial day begins in view of the determined time zone.