User interface and geo-parsing data structure

• US 9,558,177 B2
• Filed: 01/10/2014
• Issued: 01/31/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Dharmarajan, Baskaran, Jacobs, Jay C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong, Leslie
• Application Number:
  US14/152,210
• Publication Number:
  US 20140289235A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,117 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2272 Management thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/205 Parsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0203 Market surveys; Market polls
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0205 Location or geographical consideration
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0625 Directed, with specific intent or strategy

Abstract

A method to allocate memory, in response to application requests, for a compact data structure having location data and a trailer section is provided. The trailer section of the compact data structure is checked to determine an offset for listings and indices representing the location data. Upon determining the offset, the listings and indices are loaded into memory and responses to the application requests are generated by utilizing the listings and indices stored in the memory.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method to provide selections that complete partial address information, the method comprising:

receiving a request including the partial address information at a graphical user interface having a set of fields for geographic locations, wherein the partial address information completes less than all of the fields included in the set of fields;

parsing the partial address information to determine missing portions of the partial address information;

locating, in a compact data structure, offsets to address information corresponding to the missing portions, wherein the compact data structure organizes geographic location information and includes a header section, a trailer section and a body section, wherein the header section provides metadata to a plurality of applications, the trailer section specifies at least the offsets allowing the plurality of applications to access the data structure and a version allowing one or more data sources to update the data structure, and the body section having the address information represented by a plurality of offset count pairs, wherein the offsets to address information specifies the location in the compact data structure where the address information corresponding to the missing portions of the partial address information from the request is stored, and wherein the compact data structure is updated periodically to update the version and the offsets to address information; and

generating, for selective display, a set of options that includes the address information corresponding to the missing portions that complete a subset of the set of fields in the graphical user interface and restricts the set of options to a number of potential addresses that complete the partial address information.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising validating the partial address information.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising completing the fields of the missing information based on user selections that complete the partial address received at the graphical user interface.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising restricting states and zip codes selectively displayed in a zip code field and a state field of the missing information to states and zip codes related to a city included in the partial address information.

5. The method according to claim 3, further comprising restricting cities and states selectively displayed in a state field and a city field of the missing information to cities and states related to a zip code included in the partial address information.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the compact data structure is memory-mapped.

7. A computing device having processors and memories, wherein the memories store a compact data structure and computer executable instructions:

the compact data structure is configured to organize geographic location information and includes a trailer section specifying at least a version and an offset to location data, wherein the trailer section allows a plurality of applications to access the data structure, and the version allows one or more data sources to update the data structure, a body section having the location data represented by a plurality of offset count pairs, and a header section providing metadata to the plurality of applications,

the computer-executable instructions when executed by a processor configure the computing device to provide selections that complete partial address information by further configuring the computing device to;

provide an application request having partial address information;

render a graphical user interface having a set of fields for geographic locations, wherein the partial address information from the application request completes less than all of the fields included in the set of fields;

update the graphical user interface by generating, for selective display based on the location data stored in the compact data structure, a set of options that includes address information corresponding to missing portions that complete a subset of the set fields in the graphical user interface,

wherein the offset to the location data specifies the location in the compact data structure where the address information corresponding to the missing portions of the partial address information from the request is stored, and

wherein at least the version and the offset to the location data of the compact data structure are periodically updated.

8. The computing device of claim 7, wherein the location data includes cities, roads, or points of interest.

9. The computing device of claim 7, wherein the set of options is restricted to a number of potential addresses that complete partial address information from the application request.

10. The computing device of claim 7, wherein the instructions executing on the computing device configure the computing device to read at least one of the plurality of offset-count pairs to determine a location of a list of cities in the data structure, and a number of cities in the list of cities.

11. The computing device of claim 7, wherein the compact data structure is in a compressed format.

12. The computing device of claim 7, wherein the compact data structure is organized to optimize reference locality.

13. The computing device of claim 7, wherein updating the compact data structure appends data after the trailer section.

14. A computing system comprising:

a processor; and

computer storage memory having computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the processor, configure the computing system to;

receive from a graphical user interface, a request including the partial address information at a graphical user interface having a set of fields for geographic locations, wherein the partial address information completes less than all of the fields included in the set of fields;

parse the partial address information to determine missing portions of the partial address information;

locate, in a compact data structure, offsets to address information corresponding to the missing portions, wherein the compact data structure organizes geographic location information and includes a header section, a trailer section and a body section, wherein the header section provides metadata to a plurality of applications, the trailer section specifies at least the offsets to address information allowing the plurality of applications to access the data structure and a version allowing one or more data sources to update the data structure, and the body section having the address information represented by a plurality of offset count pairs, wherein the offsets to address information specifies the location in the compact data structure where the address information corresponding to the missing portions of the partial address information from the request is stored, and wherein the compact data structure is updated periodically to update the version and the offsets to address information; and

generate, for selective display, a set of options that includes the address information corresponding to the missing portions that complete a subset of the set of fields in the graphical user interface and restricts the set of options to a number of potential addresses that complete the partial address information.

15. The system of claim 14, further comprising the system configured to validate the partial address information.

16. The system of claim 14, further comprising the system configured to complete the fields of the missing information based on user selections that complete the partial address received at the graphical user interface.

17. The system of claim 14, further comprising the system configured to restrict states and zip codes selectively displayed in a zip code field and a state field of the missing information to states and zip codes related to a city included in the partial address information.

18. The system of claim 16, further comprising the system configured to restrict cities and states selectively displayed in a state field and a city field of the missing information to cities and states related to a zip code included in the partial address information.

19. The system of claim 14, wherein the compact data structure is memory-mapped.