Search interface for mobile devices

• US 7,873,356 B2
• Filed: 06/16/2006
• Issued: 01/18/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Flynt, David Wayne, Lin, Lee Chuan, Agnetta, Bryan T., Howard, Dane M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Phu; Sanh D
• Application Number:
  US11/424,720
• Publication Number:
  US 20070067272A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,677 Days
• Field of Search: 455/418, 455/564, 455/566, 455/550, 707/3
• US Class Current: 455/418
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2748 by matching character strings
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72403 with means for local support of applications that increase the functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/7243 with interactive means for internal management of messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72469 for operating the device by selecting functions from two or more displayed items, e.g. menus or icons
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/74 with voice recognition means voice activated dialling H04M1/271; voice recognition algorithms G10L15/00

Abstract

The subject disclosure pertains to systems and methods for providing a user interface for mobile devices. The user interface can include a search function that utilizes user input to search multiple software applications and data sources. Content can be retrieved and presented to a user without requiring the user to navigate to the underlying application or sources supplying the content. The applications or content sources can be local to the mobile device or remotely located, such as an Internet site. One or more types of data can be retrieved and presented to a user based upon the user input. Search results can be displayed and dynamically updated as additional user input is obtained.

Claims

1. A system for providing a user interface to obtain content from a plurality of software applications accessible by a mobile device, comprising:

an interface component for entering a search query into the mobile device, the interface component comprising a key representing multiple characters;

a search component that receives input generated upon activation of the key and initiates a search based at least in part upon mapping the input to the multiple characters represented by the key; and

a display component that renders a view of the results of the search on a display screen of the mobile device, the results comprising at least two different matches having a first and a second of the multiple characters respectively.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a result component that receives the results of the search and organizes the results of the search into a plurality of result groups based at least in part upon data type.

3. The system of claim 2, the plurality of result groups are managed as a circular list and the view of the results of the search includes a list view of one of the plurality of result groups.

4. The system of claim 3, further comprising:

a pivot component that manages navigation among the plurality of result groups.

5. The system of claim 1, the results of the search include at least one result item and at least one task associated with the result item.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a keyword component for managing at least one keyword that constitutes a shortcut search term when initiating a search for content associated with the at least one keyword.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the interface component is a keypad of the mobile device and the at least one key represents a number and a plurality of letters of an alphabet.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the search is directed at retrieving results containing a) the number or b) at least one of the plurality of letters.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the interface component further comprises an additional key representing multiple characters, wherein the multiple characters of the additional key are different than the multiple characters of the at least one key;

and further wherein the search component is configured to initiate the search based on combining the multiple characters of the at least one key and the multiple characters of the additional key.

10. A method of searching a plurality of content sources accessible from a mobile device for content, comprising:

entering a search criterion into the mobile device;

initiating a search of the plurality of content sources based at least in part upon the search criterion;

generating a set of data requests as a function of the search and distributing each data request in the set of data requests to an associated data supplier component;

receiving in the mobile device, a plurality of search results;

sorting the search results into a plurality of categories;

associating the plurality of categories with a corresponding plurality of icons;

rendering on a display screen of the mobile device, a first view containing results pertaining to a first category;

displaying in the first view, a search result control bar showing at least some of the plurality of icons; and

providing focus upon a first icon to indicate that the search results currently displayed on the display screen belongs to the first category corresponding to the first icon.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

generating an alternate search based at least in part upon an alternate interpretation of the search criterion.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

searching a plurality of keywords based upon the search criterion, each of the plurality of keywords is associated with content; and

incorporating the result of the keyword search into the at least one result from the search.

13. The method of claim 10, the plurality of content sources includes a source remote from the mobile device.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the first view is limited solely to results pertaining to the first category, and additional results are viewable by clicking on additional icons in the search result control bar.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the search result control bar is displayed in a horizontal viewing format and navigating through the plurality of icons is carried out by operating upon a pivot control to sequentially move the plurality of icons in a horizontal direction.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein sequentially moving the plurality of icons in a horizontal direction comprises moving the plurality of icons in a continuous loop inside the search result control bar.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein entering a search criterion comprises activating a first key that represents multiple characters, and wherein initiating the search comprises mapping the multiple characters of the first key into a plurality of searches each of which is directed at acquiring search results containing at least one of the multiple characters.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the first key represents a number and a plurality of letters of an alphabet.

19. A system for obtaining content from a plurality of software applications, comprising:

means for executing a plurality of processes on a processor, the plurality of processes provided via a plurality of means, including;

means for detecting activation of a first key, wherein the first key represents multiple characters;

means for mapping the multiple characters into multiple search queries;

means for receiving a data supplier component from each of the plurality of software applications onto a content manager, each data supplier component capable of retrieving data from an underlying data store in a corresponding software application;

means for registering a set of data categories and tasks associated with each of the plurality of software applications onto the content manager;

means for initiating a search of the plurality of applications based at least in part upon the multiple search queries, the content manager generating a set of data requests as a function of the search and distributing each data request in the set of data requests to an associated data supplier component;

means for obtaining search results; and

means for displaying a view of the search results.

20. The system of claim 19, further comprising:

means for managing a plurality of shortcuts, each of the plurality of shortcuts provides access to content; and

means for searching the plurality of shortcuts and returning shortcut results with the search results.