Information presentation system
First Claim
1. A method performed by servers comprising and/or cooperating with a search engine, the method for providing search results to a user, the method comprising:
- with at least one processor;
accessing a first data store storing a plurality of user contexts for respective users of the search engine;
selecting a context for the user, the context comprising information specifically about the user;
accessing a collection of pre-defined task models, each pre-defined task model comprising respective criteria and comprising respective attributes that are independent of any user and of any query and that characterize a data set, wherein the pre-defined task model specifies one or more data set operations to be performed on a given data set to which the predefined task model is being applied, each of the data set operations comprising a rule, a constraint, or a calculation, and when generating or modifying the given data the data set operations are performed to generate or modify the given data set ;
automatically selecting from among the collection of pre-defined task models, based on a user context associated with the user, a plurality of task models, the plurality of task models selected based on their respective criteria being satisfied by the context, the plurality of task models including at least one task model that has a plurality of associated goals;
receiving a search string inputted or selected by the user using a client device communicating through a network with the servers or the search engine;
performing a search, via the search engine, for the search string using the selected task models and goals to generate respective data sets that are specific to the search string and the user; and
providing, via the network, to the client device, indicia of the data sets, such that at the client device the user is enabled to interact with the indicia to alternately display the data sets.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An information presentation system that identifies information of interest to a user based on identifying tasks that may be relevant to the user given the user'"'"'s current context. The user may be presented with an option to select from among relevant tasks and/or goals of completing the task. For each selected task and goal, the system may generate one or more sets of items that are relevant to completing the task. The user may be presented with the option to select from among the sets of items or to navigate among the sets of items. Such a system may be used to provide an easy-to-use interface on a portable computing device to support shopping applications.
36 Citations
17 Claims
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1. A method performed by servers comprising and/or cooperating with a search engine, the method for providing search results to a user, the method comprising:
with at least one processor; accessing a first data store storing a plurality of user contexts for respective users of the search engine; selecting a context for the user, the context comprising information specifically about the user; accessing a collection of pre-defined task models, each pre-defined task model comprising respective criteria and comprising respective attributes that are independent of any user and of any query and that characterize a data set, wherein the pre-defined task model specifies one or more data set operations to be performed on a given data set to which the predefined task model is being applied, each of the data set operations comprising a rule, a constraint, or a calculation, and when generating or modifying the given data the data set operations are performed to generate or modify the given data set ; automatically selecting from among the collection of pre-defined task models, based on a user context associated with the user, a plurality of task models, the plurality of task models selected based on their respective criteria being satisfied by the context, the plurality of task models including at least one task model that has a plurality of associated goals; receiving a search string inputted or selected by the user using a client device communicating through a network with the servers or the search engine; performing a search, via the search engine, for the search string using the selected task models and goals to generate respective data sets that are specific to the search string and the user; and providing, via the network, to the client device, indicia of the data sets, such that at the client device the user is enabled to interact with the indicia to alternately display the data sets. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. An information-presentation system, comprising:
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one or more servers, each server comprising a respective processor, storing a context associated with a user, the context comprising information about context of the user derived from user interaction with a search engine, the context obtained from a plurality of contexts of respective users; the one or more servers storing a plurality of pre-defined task models, each pre-defined task model comprising respective criteria and comprising attributes that are independent of any user and of any query and that characterize a data set, wherein the pre-defined task model comprises a set of equations or a set of inequalities, and, when generating a given data set, the generating comprises solving the set of equations or the set of inequalities for the given data set; the one or more servers storing a mapping, the mapping defining associations between each of a plurality of patterns of data within the contexts and the task models, respectively; the one or more servers applying the mapping to the context to identify, by applying the patterns of data to the context, target task models applicable to the user based on the context; the one or more servers generating data sets based on the target task models, respectively, by using each target task model to search, via a search engine, for items corresponding to a search term inputted by the user; the one or more servers; sending, to a user-interface device, indicia of the target task models; receiving, from the user-interface device, user selections of the target task models; responsive to receiving the selections corresponding to the target task models, sending to the user-interface device, to be displayed thereon, the data sets generated by the search engine that correspond to the selected task models, respectively. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method of enabling a computing device to present information to a user, the method comprising:
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obtaining information identifying the user, and selecting, from a plurality of contexts of respective users, according to the information identifying the user, a context corresponding to the user; accessing a plurality of pre-defined tasks, each pre-defined task comprising respective criteria and comprising attributes that are independent of any user and of any query and that characterize a data set, each pre-defined task further comprising operations configured to generate or modify arbitrary data sets; providing the context to an information retrieval system, and receiving from the information retrieval system an indication of target tasks, the target tasks selected from among the pre-defined tasks according to the context and the criteria of the tasks; providing a first user interface comprising indicia of the target tasks, and receiving user interactions with the first user interface that select tasks from among the target tasks; providing indications of the selected tasks to the information retrieval system, and in response receiving data sets from the information-retrieval system, the data sets generated by execution of the selected tasks according to a search term inputted by the user, the data sets completing the selected tasks; and providing a second user interface identifying the data sets as completing the selected tasks, the second user interface comprising control elements with which the user may selectively display, one at a time, different of the data sets. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17)
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Specification