In-view and out-of-view request-related result regions for respective result categories

• US 9,535,962 B2
• Filed: 09/15/2015
• Issued: 01/03/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cerence Inc.
• Original Assignee: VoiceBox Technologies Corporation (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Kennewick, Michael R. Sr.
• Primary Examiner(s): HUANG, MIRANDA M
• Application Number:
  US14/855,331
• Publication Number:
  US 20160078106A1
• Time in Patent Office: 476 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/243 Natural language query formulation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/285 Clustering or classification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9038 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

The invention relates to systems and methods of providing in-view and out-of-view request-related result regions for respective result categories. The system may facilitate result presentation by providing, in response to a user request, at least one region that is designated to initially be in-view and at least one region that is designated to initially be out-of-view where: (i) the initial in-view region comprises one or more results related to the user request and a first category; and (ii) the initial out-of-view region comprises one or more results related to the user request and the second category. A result related to a category may comprise a result related to a specific topic, a result of a specific type, a result from a specific source, or other result. A user request may comprise a query, a command, or other user request.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for providing in-view and out-of-view request-related result regions for respective results, the method being implemented on a computer system having one or more physical processors programmed with computer program instructions to perform the method, the method comprising:

receiving, by the computer system, a user request comprising a request parameter used to filter in or out one or more content items from a first information source and a second information source;

sending, by the computer system, the request parameter to the first information source to cause initiation of a first search for information;

obtaining, by the computer system, an identification of at least a first set of results from the first information source based on the initiated search;

sending, by the computer system, the request parameter to the second information source to cause initiation of a second search for information, wherein the second search is caused to be initiated prior to presentation of the first set of results;

obtaining, by the computer system, an identification of at least a second set of results from the second information source based on the initiated second search;

obtaining, by the computer system, stored prioritization criteria that indicates a ranking of the first information source with respect to the second information source, the ranking dictating whether results from the first information source or results from the second information source should be initially placed in the in-view region;

determining whether the first set of results obtained from the first search for information at the first information source or the second set of results obtained from the second search for information at the second information source should be placed in an in-view display region based on stored prioritization criteria and determining that that the other of the first set of results and second set of results should be placed in an out-of-view display region based on the stored prioritization criteria;

generating, by the computer system, a results interface that includes the in-view display region that initially includes the determined one of the first set of results obtained from the first search for information at the first information source and the second set of results obtained from the second search for information at the second information source and the out-of-view display region that initially includes the other of the first set of results and second set of results; and

providing, by the computer system, the results interface to be displayed, wherein the in-view display region is visible at a given time and the out-of-view display region is not visible at the given time.

2. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

receiving a user indication to switch content of the in-view display region; and

causing the first set of results to be taken out of the in-view display region and the second set of results to be move into the in-view display region responsive to the user indication.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the user indication comprises a swipe input detected via a touch screen display of the computer system.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set of results is associated with a first category of information and the second set of results is associated with a second category of information.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein causing the first search to be initiated comprises inputting the request parameter to a third party search engine, and wherein the first set of results comprises search results from the third party search engine.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein causing the first search to be initiated comprises searching a local storage device of the computer system.

7. The method of claim 1,

wherein causing the first search to be initiated comprises:

determining a context of the user request;

determining an intent of the user request based on the context; and

modifying the request parameter based on the determined intent.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein determining an intent of the user comprises performing natural language processing on the search input.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the stored prioritization criteria includes an in-view user preference display parameter.

10. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

causing, by the computer system, a third search for information to be initiated at a third information source using the request parameter, wherein the third search is caused to be initiated prior to presentation of the first set of results;

obtaining, by the computer system, an identification of at least a third set of results from the third information source based on the initiated third search;

determining a first priority for the first set of results based on the stored prioritization criteria;

determining a second priority for the second set of results based on the stored prioritization criteria;

determining a third priority for the third set of results based on the stored prioritization criteria; and

ordering the in-view display region containing the first set of results, the out-of-view display region containing the second set of results, and a second out-of-view display region containing the third set of results with respect to each other based on the first priority, the second priority, and the third priority.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the stored prioritization criteria comprises preference information associated with the user, history information indicating one or more prior actions of the user, the user request, or one or more prior user requests.

12. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

aggregating the first set of results and the second set of results; and

determining one or more categories of results based on the aggregated first and second set of results.

13. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

determining one or more first categories of the first set of results; and

determining one or more second categories of the second set of results, wherein the one or more first categories are the same as or different from the one or more second categories.

27. The method of claim 7, wherein the request parameter includes at least one search term, and modifying the request parameter comprises regenerating a new user request including at least one alternate search term based on the determined intent.

28. The method of claim 7, wherein modifying the request parameter includes reformulating the language of the user request.

14. A system of providing in-view and out-of-view request-related result regions for respective results, the system comprising:

a computer system having one or more physical processors programmed with computer program instructions to;

receive a user request comprising a request parameter used to filter in or out one or more content items from a first information source and a second information source;

send the request parameter to the first information source to cause a first search for information to be initiated;

obtain an identification of at least a first set of results from the first information source based on the initiated search;

send the request parameter to the second information source to cause a second search for information to be initiated, wherein the second search is caused to be initiated prior to presentation of the first set of results;

obtain an identification of at least a second set of results from the second information source based on the initiated second search;

determine whether the first set of results obtained from the first search for information at the first information source or the second set of results obtained from the second search for information at the second information source should be placed in an in-view display region based on stored prioritization criteria and determining that the other of the first set of results and second set of results should be placed in an out-of-view display region based on the stored prioritization criteria;

generate a results interface that includes the in-view display region that initially includes the determined one of the first set of results obtained from the first search for information at the first information source and the second set of results obtained from the second search for information at the second information source and the out-of-view display region that initially includes the the other of the first set of results and second set of results; and

provide the results interface to be displayed, wherein the in-view display region is visible at a given time and the out-of-view display region is not visible at the given time.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the computer system is further programmed to:

receive a user indication to switch content of the in-view display region; and

cause the first set of results to be taken out of the in-view display region and the second set of results to be move into the in-view display region responsive to the user indication.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the user indication comprises a swipe input detected via a touch screen display of the computer system.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the first set of results is associated with a first category of information and the second set of results is associated with a second category of information.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein to cause the first search to be initiated, the computer system is further programmed to:

input the request parameter to a third party search engine, and wherein the first set of results comprises search results from the third party search engine.

19. The system of claim 14, wherein to cause the first search to be initiated, the computer system is further programmed to:

search a local storage device of the computer system.

20. The system of claim 14, wherein the computer system is further programmed to:

determine a context of the user request and an intent of the user based on the user request; and

modify the request parameter based on the context of the user request and the intent of the user.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein to determine an intent of the user, the computer system is further programmed to:

perform natural language processing on the search input.

22. The system of claim 14, wherein the stored prioritization criteria includes an in-view user preference display parameter.

23. The system of claim 14, wherein the computer system is further programmed to:

cause a third search for information to be initiated at a third information source using the modified request parameter, wherein the third search is caused to be initiated prior to presentation of the first set of results;

obtain an identification of at least a third set of results from the third information source based on the initiated third search;

determine a first priority for the first set of results based on the stored prioritization criteria;

determine a second priority for the second set of results based on the stored prioritization criteria;

determine a third priority for the third set of results based on the stored prioritization criteria; and

order the in-view display region containing the first set of results, the out-of-view display region containing the second set of results, and a second out-of-view display region containing the third set of results with respect to each other based on the first priority, the second priority, and the third priority.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the stored prioritization criteria comprises preference information associated with the user, history information indicating one or more prior actions of the user, the user request, or one or more prior user requests.

25. The system of claim 14, wherein the computer system is further programmed to:

aggregate the first set of results and the second set of results; and

determine one or more categories of results based on the aggregated first and second set of results.

26. The system of claim 14, wherein the computer system is further programmed to:

determine one or more first categories of the first set of results; and

determine one or more second categories of the second set of results, wherein the one or more first categories are the same as or different from the one or more second categories.