Scenario-adaptive input method editor

• US 9,378,290 B2
• Filed: 12/20/2011
• Issued: 06/28/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Scott, Matthew Robert, Hou, Huihua, Liu, Weipeng, Wei, Hao, Che, Chiwei, Changuion, Byron Huntley, Xu, Weijiang, Chen, Xi
• Primary Examiner(s): BHARGAVA, ANIL K
• Application Number:
  US13/331,023
• Publication Number:
  US 20130159920A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,652 Days
• Field of Search: 715/780, 715/816, 715/817
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 first user interface of a first computer application;

determining a first scenario of the first computer application that the IME is to input the one or more candidates into;

determining a query input by the user into a user interface of the IME;

determining, based on the first scenario of the first computer application and the query, first scores for different types of input candidates, each first score indicating a likelihood that a respective type of input candidate is associated with a context of the first scenario and the query;

determining, based at least in part on the first scores, a desired first type of input candidate from the types of input candidates to be presented at the user interface of the IME;

identifying or generating a first set of input candidates at least partly based on a first relevancy of individual input candidates of the first set of input candidates to the first scenario, the query, and the desired first type of input candidate;

presenting the first set of input candidates via the user interface of the IME;

receiving a first selection of at least one input candidate of the first set of input candidates;

inputting the selected at least one input candidate into the first user interface of the first computer application, the first computer application being separate from the IME;

determining that the user has entered the query into the user interface of the IME to input one or more second input candidates into a second user interface of a second computer application, the second computer application being separate from the first computer application and the IME;

determining a second scenario of the second computer application that the IME is to input the one or more second candidates into;

determining, based on the second scenario of the second computer application and the query, second scores for different types of input candidates, each second score indicating a likelihood that a respective type of input candidate is associated with a context of the second scenario and the query; and

presenting based at least in part on the second scores, a second set of input candidates via the user interface of the IME, wherein at least one input candidate of the second set of input candidates is not included in the first set of input candidates.

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

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

collecting data relating to previous input of the user associated with the first application; and

analyzing the collected data to determine the scenario application.

4. A method as recited in claim 3, wherein the data further comprises data relating to a user history associated with scenario of the first computer application.

5. A method as recited in claim 3, wherein the data comprises a context of the query in view of contents displayed at the first user interface.

6. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the desired type of input candidate comprises at least one of a text candidate or a rich candidate.

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

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

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

using the input search engine to identify the first set of input candidates.

8. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the presenting further comprises presenting the first set of input candidates including text candidates and rich candidates at the user interface of the IME, the user interface of the IME being separate from the first user interface of the first computer application.

9. A method as recited in claim 8, wherein the user interface of the IME includes a text candidate window and a rich candidate window;

and

the presenting further comprises;

presenting the text candidates in the text candidate window; and

presenting the rich candidates in the rich candidate window.

10. One or more computer storage media having stored thereupon a plurality of computer executable instructions that, when executed by 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 first input candidates into a first user interface of a first computer application;

determining a first scenario of the first computer application that the IME is to input the one or more candidates into;

determining a query input by the user into a user interface of the IME;

determining, based on at least one of the first scenario of the input of the user or the query input by the user, scores for different types of input candidates, each score indicating a likelihood that a respective type of input candidate is associated with a context of the scenario and the query;

determining, based at least in part on the scores, a desired type of input candidate from the types of input candidates to be presented at the user interface of the IME;

identifying or generating a first set of rich candidates at least partly based on a relevancy of individual rich candidates of the first set of rich candidates to the scenario, the desired type of input candidate, and the query;

transmitting at least one rich candidate of the first set of rich candidates for use by the user interface of the first computer application, the first computer application being separate from the IME;

determining that the user has entered the query into the user interface of the IME to input one or more second input candidates into a second user interface of a second computer application, the second computer application being separate from the first computer application and the IME;

determining a second scenario of the second computer application that the IME is to input the one or more second candidates into;

determining, based on the second scenario of the second computer application and the query, second scores for different types of input candidates, each second score indicating a likelihood that a respective type of input candidate is associated with a context of the second scenario and the query; and

presenting based at least in part on the second scores, a second set of rich candidates via the user interface of the IME, wherein at least one rich candidate of the second set of rich candidates is not included in the first set of rich candidates.

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

12. One or more computer storage medium as recited in claim 10, wherein the identifying or generating the first set of rich candidates includes transforming a first rich candidate of the first set of rich candidates into a file type that is compatible with the first computer application.

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

finding different sources of individual rich candidates of the first set of rich candidates; and

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

14. One or more computer storage medium as recited in claim 10, wherein the identifying or generating comprises using web services to search for one or more rich candidates by using the scenario and the query 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 the user to a web service;

accessing the web service by using the authentication credential;

searching information stored at the web service based on the one or more queries to identify individual rich candidates of the first set of candidates.

16. One or more computer storage medium as recited in claim 10, further comprising presenting the first set of 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 the one or more modules, the one or more modules including;

a user interface of an IME that receives a query from a user;

a collection component that collects data, the data comprising;

first data relating to a first scenario of a first computer application to which the user is to input one or more input candidates,

a first context of the query in view of contents displayed at a first user interface of the first computer application,

second data relating to a second scenario of a second computer application to which the user is to input one or more input candidates, and

a second context of the query in view of contents displayed at a second user interface of the second computer application;

an analysis component that analyzes the collected data to determine scores for different types of input candidates, each score indicating a likelihood that a rich candidate is associated with the first context or the second context, and to determine, based in part on the scores;

a desired first type of input candidate to request in association with the first computer application, and

a desired second type of input candidate to request in association with the second computer application, the desired first type of input candidate being one of a text candidate or a rich candidate;

a selection component that selects;

a first scenario-tuned and type-specific input candidate engine from an engine pool based on the query, the first scenario, and the determined first desired type of input candidate to identify a first set of input candidates, and

a second scenario-tuned and type-specific input candidate engine from an engine pool based on the query, the second scenario, and the determined second desired type of input candidate to identify a second set of input candidates; and

a presentation component that;

displays the first set of input candidates at the user interface of the IME,

receives a first selection of at least a first input candidate of the first set of input candidates,

based at least in part on the first selection, transmits the first input candidate to a first user interface of the first computer application, the user interface of the IME being separate from the first user interface of the first computer application,

displays the second set of input candidates at the user interface of the IME, wherein at least one input candidate of the second set of input candidates is not included in the first set of input candidates,

receives a second selection of at least a second input candidate of the second set of input candidates, and

based at least in part on the second selection, transmits the second input candidate to a second user interface of the second computer application, the user interface of the IME being separate from the second user interface of the second computer application.

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 one or more scenario-tuned text candidate input candidate engines having a scenario-tuned language model and a scenario-tuned lexicon, the one or more scenario-tuned rich candidate input candidate engines 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 query is received and the first set of input candidates and the second set of 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 query is received and the first set of input candidates and the second set of input candidates are presented.