Desktop search from mobile device

• US 7,873,620 B2
• Filed: 06/29/2006
• Issued: 01/18/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Dumais, Susan T., Meek, Christopher A, Ozzie, Raymond E., Huang, Xuedong D., Hurst-Hiller, Oliver, Gates, William H. III, Griffin, Trenholme J., Flake, Gary W., Goodman, Joshua T., Horvitz, Eric J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Mofiz; Apu M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen; Cindy
• Application Number:
  US11/427,763
• Publication Number:
  US 20080005057A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,664 Days
• Field of Search: 707/3, 709/217, 709/219, 709/229
• US Class Current: 707/706
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9574 of access to content, e.g. by caching

Abstract

Content management architecture for a portable wireless device. Caching and fetching techniques are provided to improve content handling for portable devices such as cellular telephones and portable computers. A search component automatically performs searches as a background process, and potentially desired content is received and cached by a content storing component to be available in the future when and if needed, mitigating latency associated with slow download speeds, refresh rates, and other system and/or network impediments. Content from background search results can be trickled into the device as part of the background process so as not to burden system resources for other processes. As part of memory management, aged and/or low priority or low interest content can be selectively removed or archived to increase available cache or memory space, as well as to maintain relevant content within the device. A presentation component facilitates presentation of the pre-stored content.

Claims

1. A wireless device comprising:

a search component implemented by a processor of the wireless device that;

anticipatorily initiates an automated search of content as a background process on the wireless device in anticipation of user interest in a subject of the search;

obtains search results in response to the automated search of content;

determines an impact of obtaining the content corresponding to the search results on performance of one or more processes running on the wireless device; and

obtains the content corresponding to the search results in a manner that does not significantly affect the performance of the one or more processes running on the wireless device when a determination is made that the impact of obtaining the content does not significantly affect the performance of the one or more processes running on the wireless device;

a content storing component that stores the content that is obtained corresponding to the search results; and

a presentation component that retrieves and presents a subset of the stored content.

2. The wireless device of claim 1, wherein the wireless device is a cellular telephone, the search component of which automatically performs the search on an intranet in response to a change in intranet information.

3. The wireless device of claim 1, wherein the presentation component presents the search results in response to user interaction that includes at least one of a change in user state, user context, or a user preference.

4. The wireless device of claim 1, wherein the automated search of content includes searching content of a computing device in wireless communication with the wireless device.

5. The wireless device of claim 1, further comprising an environment component that senses environmental conditions in which the device is located, and based on the environmental conditions, the search component initiates the search for an anticipated subject of interest based upon the environmental conditions.

6. The wireless device of claim 1, further comprising a context component that includes a geolocation system for determining a geographic location of the device, and based on a direction of movement of the wireless device, the search component initiates the automated search for an anticipated subject of interest.

7. The wireless device of claim 1, further comprising a filter component that filters content of the search results based on a user preference, the user preference being determined based upon logs of user interaction with content previously downloaded to the wireless device.

8. The wireless device of claim 1, further comprising a tracking component that tracks and logs at least one of a system parameter, user interaction data, and an event, and infers a search query therefrom, the results of which are cached by the content storing component.

9. The wireless device of claim 1, further comprising a machine learning and reasoning component that employs a probabilistic and/or statistical-based analysis to prognose or infer initiation of the search by the search component.

10. A method implemented on a wireless device, comprising:

employing a processor to execute computer executable instructions stored in a memory to perform the following operations;

initiating a search of content of a computing device in wireless communication with the wireless device, wherein the search is executed by a search component stored in the memory of the wireless device and executed by the processor of the wireless device as a background process on the wireless device based on triggering data;

assessing resource capabilities of the wireless device;

controlling one or more parameters of the background process based on the resource capabilities;

caching the content in a storage on the wireless device; and

accessing the content from the storage for display based on user information;

wherein the content searched and cached is of shorter presentation duration when the wireless device is in motion than when the wireless device is stationary.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising discarding the content from the storage based on detected user location.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the assessing includes determining a burden of the background process on one or more currently-running device processes executing on the processor of the wireless device.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising utilizing the content retrieved from the computing device for conducting a remote search of information on a network.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising scanning for local information that indicates intentions of a user.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the initiating is performed in response to triggering data that indicates a change in a geographic location of the wireless device.

16. The method of claim 10, further comprising filtering search results of the search of the computing device based on at least one of user preferences and merchant information.

17. The method of claim 10, further comprising automatically transmitting a document of the search results to a remote location.

18. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

connecting the wireless device to the computing device via a wireless connection when the wireless device is brought within range of the computing device; and

searching the content of the computing device via the wireless device as the background process while the wireless device is within range of the computing device.

19. A wireless device comprising:

a display for displaying information to a user;

a transceiver for sending and receiving wireless communications;

a processor in operative communication with the display and the transceiver, and coupled to a storage media of the wireless device;

a trigger component, maintained on the storage media and executed on the processor, to initiate, on the wireless device, a search of a computing device based upon an occurrence of an event in which the wireless device is brought within range of the computing device;

a search component, maintained on the storage media and executed on the processor, to search a desktop of the computing device as a background process executed by the wireless device based on the occurrence of the event and further based on determining an effect of the background process on one or more disparate processes executing on the wireless device;

a storing component to receive and store results of the search in the storage media of the wireless device;

a presentation component to present a portion of the results on the display of the wireless device.