SCENARIO-ADAPTIVE INPUT METHOD EDITOR

• US 20130159920A1
• Filed: 12/20/2011
• Published: 06/20/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Scott, Matthew Robert, Hou, Huihua, Liu, Weipeng, Wei, Hao, Che, Chiwei, Changuion, Byron Huntley, Xu, Weijian, Chen, Xi
• Granted Patent: US 9,378,290 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/780
• 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 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/274 Converting codes to words; Guess-ahead of partial word inputs

Abstract

An input method editor (IME) described herein couples scenarios of the input of the user with specific network services to offer more relevant and richer candidates for higher input productivity. Data relating to a computer application in which the input candidates are to be input and/or context relating to a user-submitted query is collected and analyzed to determine a scenario. The input candidates may include text candidates and rich candidates. The IME may select a scenario-tuned and type specific engine to identify the text candidates and/or rich candidates. The scenario-tuned text candidate engines leverage scenario-tuned language models and lexicons, and the scenario-tuned rich candidate engines leverage scenario-relevant web services, such as image, mapping, and video search, when available and appropriate.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining that a user is using an input method editor (IME) to input one or more input candidates into a user interface of a computer application;

determining a scenario of an input of the user;

determining one or more queries input by the user into a user interface of the IME;

determining a desired type of input candidate to be presented at the user interface of the IME at least partly based on the scenario; and

identifying or generating the one or more input candidates at least partly based on their relevancies to the scenario, the queries, and the desired type of input candidates.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising ranking the one or more input candidates at least partly based on their relevancies to the scenario.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein determining the scenario of the input of the user comprises:

collecting data relating to the scenario of the input of the user; and

analyzing the collected data to determine the scenario of the input of the user.

4. A method as recited in claim 3, wherein the data comprise data relating to a scenario of the computer application to which the user is to input the input candidates.

5. A method as recited in claim 3, wherein the data comprise a context of the queries in view of contents displayed at a user interface of the computer application.

6. A method as recited in claim 1, the desired type of input candidate comprises a text candidate, a rich candidate, or both of a text candidate and a rich candidate.

7. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the identifying comprises:

identifying an engine pool, the engine pool including a plurality of input search engines, each input search engine being preset to search a specific type of input candidate applicable to a specific scenario;

selecting an input search engine preset for the specific type of input candidate applicable to the specific scenario; and

using the input search engine to identify the input candidates.

8. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising presenting the input candidates including both text candidates and rich candidates at the user interface of the IME.

9. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the user interface includes a text candidate window and a rich candidate window;

and the presenting comprises;

presenting the text candidates in a text candidate window; and

presenting the rich candidates in a rich candidate window.

10. One or more computer storage media having stored thereupon a plurality of computer executable instructions that, when executed a processor, causes the processor to perform operations comprising:

determining that a user is using an input method editor (IME) to input one or more input candidates into a user interface of a computer application;

determining a scenario of an input of the user;

determining one or more queries input by the user into a user interface of the IME;

determining that a desired type of input candidate to be presented at the user interface of the IME includes one or more rich candidates; and

identifying or generating the rich candidates at least partly based on their relevancies to the scenario and the queries.

11. One or more computer storage medium as recited in claim 10, wherein the rich candidates include an image, a video, or an address book entry.

12. One or more computer storage medium as recited in claim 10, wherein the rich candidates include an optimal representation form of an input candidate in view of the scenario.

13. One or more computer storage medium as recited in claim 10, wherein the identifying comprises:

finding different sources of the rich candidates; and

representing the different sources in the user interface for the user to view rich candidates from each source.

14. One or more computer storage medium as recited in claim 10, wherein the identifying comprises using web services to search rich candidates by using the scenario and queries as parameters.

15. One or more computer storage medium as recited in claim 10, wherein the identifying or generating comprises:

storing an authentication credential of a user to a web service;

accessing the web service by using the authentication credential;

searching information stored at the web service based on the queries to identify the rich candidates.

16. One or more computer storage medium as recited in claim 10, further comprising presenting the rich candidates in an embedded web browser using a hypertext markup language (HTML) 5.0 format.

17. A system comprising:

memory storing one or more modules;

one or more processors operably coupled to the memory to execute one or more modules, the one or more modules including;

a user interface that receives one or more queries from a user;

a collection component that collects data relating to a scenario of an input of the user, the data including data relating to a scenario of a computer application to which the user is to input one or more input candidates and a context of the queries in view of contents displayed at a user interface of the computer application;

an analysis component that analyzes the collected data to determine a desired type of input candidate to request and the scenario, the type of input candidates including a text candidate and a rich candidate;

a selection component that selects a scenario-tuned and type-specific input candidate engine from an engine pool based on the queries, the scenario, and the determined desired type of input candidates to identify the input candidates; and

a presentation component that displays the identified input candidates at the user interface.

18. The system as recited in claim 17, wherein the engine pool includes one or more scenario-tuned text candidate input candidate engines and one or more scenario-tuned rich candidate engines, the scenario-tuned text candidate input candidate engine having a scenario-tuned language model and a scenario-tuned lexicon, the scenario-tuned rich candidate input candidate engine including a web service for the scenario.

19. The system as recited in claim 17, where in the engine pool is separate from a client device where the queries are received and input candidates are presented.

20. The system as recited in claim 17, where in the engine pool is located at a client device where the queries are received and input candidates are presented.