Selecting and presenting content relevant to user input

• US 9,361,381 B2
• Filed: 03/17/2014
• Issued: 06/07/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/04/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Agarwal, Ashish, Baratloo, Arash, Chamandy, Nicholas, Ma, Qicheng, Raghunathan, Vivek, So, Chiu Wah Kelvin, Tull, Alice S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Hung
• Application Number:
  US14/215,202
• Publication Number:
  US 20140201181A1
• Time in Patent Office: 813 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3322 using system suggestions G06F16/3325 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/274 Converting codes to words; Guess-ahead of partial word inputs

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media are provided. An example method includes receiving user input in a control, for example, one associated with a search engine. The user input includes a series of input characters that when completed would form a completed user request. The method further includes, while receiving the user input, evaluating the characters to identify completions for the completed request. The method further includes identifying, by one or more processors, a content item associated with the one or more completions and identifying display data associated with the content item for transmission to the user along with one or more completions in response to receiving the user input.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

determining, by one or more data processing apparatus and for a prefix that represents a portion of a search query, one or more completions that yield a completed search query when combined with the prefix;

identifying one or more content items for the one or more completions;

receiving, through a search engine input field presented at a user device, user input including the prefix;

identifying, by one or more data processing apparatus and based on the user input, the one or more content items for the one or more completions;

determining, based at least in part on display specifications of the user device, a visual format for a given content item from the one or more identified content items, wherein a first visual format presents a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) on a same line as other information in the given content item, and a second visual format presents the URL on a different line than the other information; and

providing, by one or more data processing apparatus and prior to a completed search query being specified by the user input, the given content item with instructions that cause the given content item to be presented according to the determined visual format and at a display location corresponding to the one or more completions for which the given content item was identified.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining that the prefix matches a portion of a first or second search term of the one or more completions.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining one or more completions that yield a completed search query when combined with the prefix comprises identifying the one or more completions based, at least in part, on a frequency of previously performed searches that included the one or more completions.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining one or more completions that yield a completed search query when combined with the prefix comprises determining a likelihood that a particular one of the one or more completions is being input based, at least in part, on the prefix.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the given content item comprises providing instructions that cause presentation of the given content item in an augmented form of the display location along with one or more completions.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing data that cause the one or more completions to be presented prior to a completed search query being specified by the user input.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying one or more content items for the one or more completions comprises identifying one or more content items that are distributed based on criteria matching at least one of the completions.

8. A system, comprising:

a data storage device; and

one or more data processing apparatus that interact with the data storage device and execute instructions that cause the one or more data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising;

determining, for a prefix that represents a portion of a search query, one or more completions that yield a completed search query when combined with the prefix;

identifying one or more content items for the one or more completions;

receiving, through a search engine input field presented at a user device, user input including the prefix;

identifying, based on the user input, the one or more content items for the one or more completions;

determining, based at least in part on display specifications of the user device, a visual format for a given content item from the one or more identified content items, wherein a first visual format presents a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) on a same line as other information in the given content item, and a second visual format presents the URL on a different line than the other information; and

providing, prior to a completed search query being specified by the user input, the given content item with instructions that cause the given content item to be presented according to the determined visual format and at a display location corresponding to the one or more completions for which the given content item was identified.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the instructions cause the one or more data processing apparatus to perform operations further comprising determining that the prefix matches a portion of a first or second search term of the one or more completions.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein determining one or more completions that yield a completed search query when combined with the prefix comprises identifying the one or more completions based, at least in part, on a frequency of previously performed searches that included the one or more completions.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein determining one or more completions that yield a completed search query when combined with the prefix comprises determining a likelihood that a particular one of the one or more completions is being input based, at least in part, on the prefix.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein providing the given content item comprises providing instructions that cause presentation of the given content item in an augmented form of the display location along with one or more completions.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the instructions cause the one or more data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising providing data that cause the one or more completions to be presented prior to a completed search query being specified by the user input.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein identifying one or more content items for the one or more completions comprises identifying one or more content items that are distributed based on criteria matching at least one of the completions.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more data processing apparatus, cause the one or more data processing to perform operations comprising:

determining, for a prefix that represents a portion of a search query, one or more completions that yield a completed search query when combined with the prefix;

identifying one or more content items for the one or more completions;

receiving, through a search engine input field presented at a user device, user input including the prefix;

identifying, based on the user input, the one or more content items for the one or more completions;

determining, based at least in part on display specifications of the user device, a visual format for a given content item from the one or more identified content items, wherein a first visual format presents a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) on a same line as other information in the given content item, and a second visual format presents the URL on a different line than the other information; and

providing, prior to a completed search query being specified by the user input, the given content item with instructions that cause the given content item to be presented according to the determined visual format and at a display location corresponding to the one or more completions for which the given content item was identified.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions cause the one or more data processing apparatus to perform operations further comprising determining that the prefix matches a portion of a first or second search term of the one or more completions.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein determining one or more completions that yield a completed search query when combined with the prefix comprises identifying the one or more completions based, at least in part, on a frequency of previously performed searches that included the one or more completions.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein determining one or more completions that yield a completed search query when combined with the prefix comprises determining a likelihood that a particular one of the one or more completions is being input based, at least in part, on the prefix.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein providing the given content item comprises providing instructions that cause presentation of the at least one content item in an augmented form of the display location along with one or more completions.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein identifying one or more content items for the one or more completions comprises identifying one or more content items that are distributed based on criteria matching at least one of the completions.