Methods and systems for information capture and retrieval

• US 20050234848A1
• Filed: 06/30/2004
• Published: 10/20/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Wang, Niniane, Lawrence, Stephen R., Ionescu, Mihai Florin, Marmaros, David, Khan, Omar Habib
• Granted Patent: US 7,725,508 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9532 Query formulation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results

Abstract

Systems and methods that identify and extract information from articles are described. In one embodiment, a search engine implements a method comprising capturing an event in real time upon the occurrence of the event, wherein the event comprises a user interaction with an article on a client device, wherein the article is capable of being associated with at least one of a plurality of client applications, determining if the event should be indexed, and if the event should be indexed, indexing the event and storing the event and at least a portion of content associated with the article.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

capturing an event in real time upon the occurrence of the event, wherein the event comprises a user interaction with an article on a client device, wherein the article is capable of being associated with at least one of a plurality of client applications;

determining if the event should be indexed; and

if the event should be indexed, indexing the event and storing the event and at least a portion of content associated with the article.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising updating a current user state based at least in part on the event.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the event comprises event data.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the event is captured and expressed in the form of a pre-defined event schema.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein user interaction with an article comprises loading an article.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein user interaction with an article comprises saving an article.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein user interaction with an article comprises viewing an article.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein user interaction with an article comprises updating the metadata of an article.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein updating the metadata of an article comprises book-marking an article.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein updating the metadata of an article comprises printing an article.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein updating the metadata of an article comprises deleting an article.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein updating the metadata of an article comprises moving an article.

13. A method, comprising:

capturing a plurality of events occurring on a client device, wherein each event is associated with at least one of a plurality of client applications, wherein at least some of the events are captured in real time upon the occurrence of the event;

indexing and storing at least some of the events, wherein the events that are indexed and stored have an associated article;

receiving a search query; and

locating relevant articles from events relevant to the search query.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising generating a search result set from the relevant articles.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the search query is entered by a user.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the search query is automatically generated based on a current user state.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the current user state is determined at least in part by at least one real-time event.

18. The method of claim 13, further comprising locating network articles relevant to the search query.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising generating a search result set from the relevant articles and network articles.

20. A method, comprising:

capturing a plurality of real-time events in real time upon the occurrence of the real-time events, wherein each real-time event comprises a user interaction with an article on a client device, wherein the article is capable of being associated with at least one of a plurality of client applications;

capturing a plurality of historical events that occurred in the past, wherein each historical event comprises a user interaction with an article on a client device, wherein the article is capable of being associated with at least one of a plurality of client applications, wherein real-time events and historical events are events;

determining for each event, if the event should be indexed; and

if the event should be indexed, indexing the event and storing the event and at least a portion of content associated with the article.

21. A method, comprising:

capturing an event in real time upon the occurrence of the event, wherein the event comprises a user interaction with an article on a client device, wherein the article is capable of being associated with at least one of a plurality of client applications;

updating a current user state based at least in part on the event; and

indexing the event and storing the event and at least a portion of content associated with the article.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the event is a real-time event.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the event is a historical event.

24. A method comprising:

capturing a plurality of events occurring on a client device, wherein each event is associated with at least one of a plurality of client applications;

indexing and storing at least some of the events, wherein the events that are indexed and stored have an associated client article;

indexing a plurality network articles;

receiving a search query; and

locating relevant client articles and network articles based at least in part on the search query.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein at least some of the events are real-time events and are captured in real-time.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the search query is implicitly generated based at least in part on at least one real-time event.

27. A computer-readable medium containing program code, comprising:

program code for capturing an event in real time upon the occurrence of the event, wherein the event comprises a user interaction with an article on a client device, wherein the article is capable of being associated with at least one of a plurality of client applications;

program code for determining if the event should be indexed; and

program code for if the event should be indexed, indexing the event and storing the event and at least a portion of content associated with the article.

28. The computer-readable medium of claim 27, further comprising program code for updating a current user state based at least in part on the event.

29. The computer-readable medium of claim 27, wherein the event comprises event data.

30. The computer-readable medium of claim 27, wherein the event is captured and expressed in the form of a pre-defined event schema.

31. The computer-readable medium of claim 27, wherein user interaction with an article comprises loading an article.

32. The computer-readable medium of claim 27, wherein user interaction with an article comprises saving an article.

33. The computer-readable medium of claim 27, wherein user interaction with an article comprises viewing an article.

34. The computer-readable medium of claim 27, wherein user interaction with an article comprises updating the metadata of an article.

35. The computer-readable medium of claim 34, wherein updating the metadata of an article comprises book-marking an article.

36. The computer-readable medium of claim 34, wherein updating the metadata of an article comprises printing an article.

37. The computer-readable medium of claim 34, wherein updating the metadata of an article comprises deleting an article.

38. The computer-readable medium of claim 34, wherein updating the metadata of an article comprises moving an article.

39. A computer-readable medium containing program code, comprising:

program code for capturing a plurality of events occurring on a client device, wherein each event is associated with at least one of a plurality of client applications, wherein at least some of the events are captured in real time upon the occurrence of the event;

program code for indexing and storing at least some of the events, wherein the events that are indexed and stored have an associated article;

program code for receiving a search query; and

program code for locating relevant articles from events relevant to the search query.

40. The computer-readable medium of claim 39, further comprising program code for generating a search result set from the relevant articles.

41. The computer-readable medium of claim 39, wherein the search query is entered by a user.

42. The computer-readable medium of claim 39, wherein the search query is automatically generated based on a current user state.

43. The computer-readable medium of claim 42, wherein the current user state is determined at least in part by at least one real-time event.

44. The computer-readable medium of claim 39, further comprising program code for locating network articles relevant to the search query.

45. The computer-readable medium of claim 44, further comprising generating a search result set from the relevant articles and network articles.

46. A computer-readable medium containing program code, comprising:

program code for capturing a plurality of real-time events in real time upon the occurrence of the real-time events, wherein each real-time event comprises a user interaction with an article on a client device, wherein the article is capable of being associated with at least one of a plurality of client applications;

program code for capturing a plurality of historical events that occurred in the past, wherein each historical event comprises a user interaction with an article on a client device, wherein the article is capable of being associated with at least one of a plurality of client applications, wherein real-time events and historical events are events;

program code for determining for each event, if the event should be indexed; and

program code for if the event should be indexed, indexing the event and storing the event and at least a portion of content associated with the article.

47. A computer-readable medium containing program code, comprising:

program code for capturing an event in real time upon the occurrence of the event, wherein the event comprises a user interaction with an article on a client device, wherein the article is capable of being associated with at least one of a plurality of client applications;

program code for updating a current user state based at least in part on the event; and

program code for indexing the event and storing the event and at least a portion of content associated with the article.

48. The computer-readable medium of claim 47, wherein the event is a real-time event.

49. The computer-readable medium of claim 47, wherein the event is a historical event.

50. A computer-readable medium containing program code comprising:

program code for capturing a plurality of events occurring on a client device, wherein each event is associated with at least one of a plurality of client applications;

program code for indexing and storing at least some of the events, wherein the events that are indexed and stored have an associated client article;

program code for indexing a plurality network articles;

program code for receiving a search query; and

program code for locating relevant client articles and network articles based at least in part on the search query.

51. The computer-readable medium of claim 50, wherein at least some of the events are real-time events and are captured in real-time.

52. The computer-readable medium of claim 51, wherein the search query is implicitly generated based at least in part on at least one real-time event.