Note : Les descriptions sont présentées dans la langue officielle dans laquelle elles ont été soumises.
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USER DISTRIBUTED SEARCH RESULTS
BACKGROUND
A. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates generally to content creation, and more
specifically, to the enhancement of
user created content with search results.
B. Description of the Related Art
In an increasingly networked world, users frequently use online sources to
create and exchange
information. Email, instant messaging (IM), message boards, websites, and
blogs are all existing cornmunication
technologies through which users can create and distribute content to other
users. Frequently, in creating such
content, a user may wish to reference other online information sources. For
exaznple, a user authoring an email may
use a browser to navigate to a web page that the user would like to reference
in the email, copy the link (e.g., the
uniform resource locator (URL))1'rom the browser to a "clipboard," and then
paste the link from the clipboard into
the einail. In this manner, the user can create an email message that contains
links that are accessible by an eventual
reader of the email.
Search engines are a popular tool through which users enter a search query
describing information of
interest and receive back documents or links to documents that relate to the
search query. Frequently, when
"researching" content for an email message, IM message, message board post,
website post, or blog post, the user
may perform one or more searches using one or more search engines to locate
online documents relevant to the
content. The user may then copy a link into the document using the above-
described method of copying and
pasting a link to the document. This process for amiotating user created
content can be tedious, difficult to perform
for average users, and often results in textual links in the final content
that can be difficult to read.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to improve the above-described content
creation process.
SUMMARY
One aspect is directed to a content creation system comprising a first
interface to facilitate composition of
a message by a user; and a second interface to receive a search query, display
search results relating to the search
query, and receive selections of the search results from the user, the content
creation system automatically
incorporating, in response to the selections, at least a portion of the
selected ones of the search results into the
message in the first interface.
Additionally, the first interface and the second in.terface may be
simultaneously displayed near one
another.
Additionally, content creation system may include an email application, an
instant messaging application,
a blog post creation application, an application for posting messages to
Internet message boards, or a web site
creation application.
Additionally, the first interface may be configured to facilitate annotation
o#'the selected ones of the search
results by the user.
Additionally, the selected search result may include a map.
Additionally, the at least a portion of the selected search results that are
automatically incorporated into the
message may include an image, an address, a phone number, or a price of a
product.
Additionally, the content creation systein may further include logic to
automatically generate the search
query based on a content of the inessage.
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Additionally, the logic to automatically generate the search query may include
logic to implement entity
recognition techniques on the message.
Additionally, the logic to automatically generate the search query may
generate the search query when an
entity returned by the logic to implement entity recognition matches
predetermined criteria.
Additionally, the logic to implement entity recognition techniques may be
trained to recognize products or
locations in the message.
Additionally, the logic to inaplement entity recognition techniques may be
trained to take into account a
type of content creation system that is used by the user.
Additionally, the content creation system may further include logic to
automatically modify the search
query.
Additionally, the logic to automatically modify the search query may modify
the search query based on a
type of the content creation system.
Additionally, the logic to automatically modify the search query may modify
the search query based on
information relating to the user of the content creation system.
Additionally, the logic to automatically modify the search query may modify
the search query based on
information relating to an intended recipient of the message being created by
the user of the content creation
system.
Another aspect is directed to a method comprising providing a message
interface configured to facilitate
composition of a message by a user; receiving a search query; initiating a
search based on the search query;
receiving results of the search; displaying the results of the search in an
interface associated witli the message
interface, the displayed results of the search each including a selection
object; receiving selections of the selection
objects from the user; and associating the results of the search that
correspond to the selected ones of the selection
objects with the message in the message interface.
Additionally, the interface associated with the message interface may include
a sidebar displayed in the
message interface.
Additionally, associating results of the search that correspond to the
selected ones of the selection objects
with the message may further include autoinatically incorporating at least a
portion of the results of the search that
correspond to the selected ones of the selection objects into the message.
Additionally, initiating the search may include transmitting the search query
to a plurality of search
services, the plurality of search services returning one or more search result
types.
Additionally, the plurality of search services to which the search query is
transmitted may be selectable by
the user.
Additionally, receiving the search query may include automatically generating
the search query based on
the message.
Additionally, automatically generating a search query based on the niessage
may include generating the
search query using entity recognition techniques based on the message.
Additionally, the entity recognition techniques may be trained to recognize
products or locations in the
message.
Additionally, automatically generating the search query may include generating
the search query in
response to a triggering event.
Additionally, the triggering event may include a particular user action or
user inactivity for a period of
time.
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Additionally, the method may include automatically modifying the search query.
Additionally, automatically modifying the search query may include modifying
the search query based on
a type of a content creation system implemented by the message interface.
Additionally, automatically modifying the search query may include modifying
the search query based on
information relating to the user.
Additionally, automatically modifying the search query may include modifying
the aearch query based on
information relating to an intended recipient of the message being created by
the user.
Yet another aspect is directed to a system comprising a plurality of search
services, each of the search
services operable to receive a search request, execute a search based on the
search request to generate search results,
and transmit the search results. The system may also include a programming
object operable to receive a search
request and a search query used to implement the search request; invoke one or
more of the search services to
execute the search request; receive the search results transmitted from the
plurality of search services; display one
or more of the search results to the user; receive a selection of the one or
more of the sear.ch results; and incorporate,
in response to the received selection, at least a portion of the selected one
or more of the search results into a
message that is being composed by the user.
Additionally, the programming object may be further operable to automatically
modify the received search
query based on information relating to the user.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THB DRAWINGS
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of
this specification, illustrate
one or more embodiments of the invention and, together witlz the description,
explain the invention. In the
drawings,
Figs. lA-1 C are diagrams providing a conceptual overview of concepts relating
to user distributed search
results;
Fig. 2 is a diagram of an exemplary system in which concepts consistent with
the principles of the
invention may be implemented;
Fig. 3 is an exemplary diagram of a client or server illustrated in Fig. 2;
k'ig. 4 is a flow chart illustrating exemplary operations consistent with user
distributed search;
Fig. 5 is a diagram of an exemplary email interface;
Fig. 6 is a diagram illustrating an exeinplary email message that was
annotated to include a search result
from a local search engine;
Fig. 7 is an exemplary interface illustrating application of user distributed
search to a message board
environment;
Fig. 8 is an exemplary interface illustrating application of user distributed
search to an instant messaging
conversation;
Fig. 9 is an exemplary interface illustrating application of user distributed
search to a blog authoring tool;
Fig. 10 is a diagram illustrating exemplary components in a user distributed
search system;
Fig. 11 is a flow chart illustrating additional exemplary operations
consistent with user distributed search;
Fig. 12 is an exemplary interface illustrating application of user distributed
search in which search results
are automatically obtained;
Fig. 13 is a flow chart illustrating additional exemplary operations
consistent with user distributed search;
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Fig. 14 is an exemplary email interface illustrating refinement of search
queries; and
Fig. 15 is a flow chart illustrating additional exemplary operations
consistent with user distributed search.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
The following detailed description refers to the accompanying d3rawings. The
detailed description does not
limit the invention.
OVERVIEW
Implementations consistent with the principles of the invention relate to
allowing users to distribute search
results (possibly including advertisements) to those with whom they
communicate. The scarch results can be easily
distributed by the user via a simple interface that allows the search results
to be added to the user's content with a
single mouse click (or other intuitive gestures or commands). ln, some
implementations, the search results may be
automatically formatted when being included into the user's content to create
a high quality link within the content.
Figs. 1A-1C are diagrams providing a conceptual overview of concepts described
herein. In this example,
assume that a user ("Arthur") is responding to an email from a friend ("Mark")
requesting inforination about a
caniera lens. Fig. 1 A is a diagram illustrating aii exemplary email 110 in
which Arthur responds with a short text
message informing Mark that the lens he was telling Mark about is the "100min
F 2.$." Email 110 exemplifies a
typical user email responding to a question. Fig. 1B is a diagram illustrating
an another exemplary email, labeled as
email 120, in which Arthur responds with the same message informing Mark
ot'the lens about which he was telling
Mark. Additionally, in email 120, Arthur pastes a link 125 into email 120 that
references a review of the lens. As
can be seem by the text of link 125, link 125 is a textually long link that
contains a number of terrns that convey
little information and are probably meaningless to Mark. Email 120 exemplifies
a another typical user email
responding to a question.
Fig. 1C is a diagram illustrating an exemplary email 130 in which Arthur
responds to Mark's email using
tools described herein. In contrast to emails 110 and 120, email 130 may
include, in addition to the same textual
response 135 from Arthur to Mark, a number of links and/or content 140 that
were inserted by Arthur when creating
the email. Links/content 140 may be information that was automatically
generated by the email program used by
Arthur in response to Arthur entering a search query such as "Canon100mm macro
lens." As shown, links/content
140 include two images 141, two links 142 returned from a general web search
engine, an advertisement 143
returned from an advertisement search engine, and a link 144 to a local
company that was generated in response to a
searoh performed by a local search engine. Arthur may have chosen, to use each
of links/content 140 by, for
example, a single mouse click on a graphical button associated with each of
the results of the search query.
As can be appreciated from Figs. lA-1 C, the workflow illustrated by emails
110 and 120 is sub-optimal for
both the reader and the email author. In contrast, email 130 (Fig. 1C) would
likely be considered a "higher fidelity"
communication than either email 110 or 120. Email 130 includes a nuinber of
links to documents that are
themselves easily read and that were explicitly selected by the author of the
email.
SYSTE-M OVERVIEW
Fig. 2 is a diagram of an exemplary system 200 in which concepts consistent
with the principles ol'the
invention may be iniplemented. System 200 may include inultiple clients 210
that can connect to servers, such as
servers 220-A, 220-B or 230, via a network 240. Network 240 may include a
local area networic (LAN), a wide
area network (WAN), a telephone network, such as the Public Switched Telephone
Network (PSTN), an intranet,
the lnternet, or a combination of networks. Two clients 210 and three servers
220-A, 220-B and 230 are illustrated
as connected to network 240 for simplicity. In practice, there may be more
clients and/or servers. Also, in some
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instances, a client may perform one or more functions of a server and a server
may perform one or more functions
of a client.
A client 2 10 may include a device, such as a personal computer, a lap top
computer, a wireless telephone, a
personal digital assistant (PDA), or another type of computation or
coinrnunication device. Users of clients 210
may access or receive information from servers 220-A, 220-B or 230.
Clients 210 may include software, such as a web browser 215, for interacting
with network 240. Browser
programs are well known and are widely available in the art. When browsers or
browser programs are discussed
herein, these terins are intended to refer to any program that allows a user
to browse documents (e.g., web
documents), regardless of whether the browser program is a stand alone program
or an embedded program, such as
a browser program included as part of an operating system.
Clients 210 may also include a local content creation component 218. Local
content creation component
218 may include one or more software applications designed to assist the user
in generating content. For example,
in the context of email, local content creation component 218 inay include an
email application for composing,
sending, and reading email. In the context of instant messaging, local content
creation component 218 may include
a client IM program for composing, sending, and reading instant messages. In
alternate implementations, local
content creation component 218 may be embodied as other content creation
applications, such as applications
designed to assist users in creating blog posts, designing or editing web
sites, or posting to message boards.
In some situations, users of clients 210 may create content using networked
applications using server 230
in place of or as a supplement to using local content creation components 218.
More particularly, server 230 may
include content creation component 235, which may provide content creation
services to clients 210. Por example,
server 230 may provide email services to clients 210, such as by providing a
web interface through which users of
clients 210 can compose, send, and read email messages using browsers 215. In
the context of instant messaging,
content creatioii component 235 may be a server side portion of the IM
application and may interact with a client-
side IM application embodied by local content creation component 218. ln
alternate implementations, content
creation component 235 may be embodied as other network-based content creation
applications, such as
applications designed to assist users in creating blog posts, designing or
editing web sites, or posting to message
boards.
In the implementation shown, servers 220-A and 220-B may generally provide
network services, such as
search services, to clients 210 or to server 230 via network service
components 225-A and 225-B. For example,
network service component 225-A may include a search engine designed to index
documents, such as web pages,
connected to network 240. In this implementation, in response to search
queries received from clients or other
servers in system 200, network service component 225-A may return links to
documents determined by network
service component 225-A to be relevant to the search query. Network service
coinponeflts 225, as well as being
general web search engines, may be specialized web search engines, such as,
for example, search engines that return
general web search results, image search results, video search results, local
search results, geographic search results,
product search results, listing search results, email search results, blog
search results, message group search results,
news search results, digitized content search results, local network search
results (e.g. desktop search or corporate
network search), or advertisements. The operation of search engines are luiown
in the art and will not be described
further herein. Additionally, in some iinplementations, the search results
inay include a history of previous search
results viewed by tE1e user. In other words, a user may select to see a
history of his/her search results.
In some implementations, one or more of network service components 225 may
provide advertisements.
For example, assume that network service component 225-B of server 220-B is an
advertisement server. Server
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220-B may receive requests from other servers or from clients for
advertisements. The advertiseinents returaned by
server 220-B to the requesting server or client may be advertisements that are
relevant to a search query, document,
or other data.
Although illustrated as single devices in Fig. 2, each of servers 220-A, 220-B
and 230 may be
implemented as, for example, a single computing device or as multiple
distributed computing devices. Also, in
some implementations, the functionality of multiple servers, such as servers
220-B and 230, may be combined as a
single server or a single group of distributed computing devices.
EXEMPLARY COMPUTING
DEVICE ARCHITECTURE
Fig. 3 is an exemplary diagram of a computing device 300, such as one of
clients 210 or servers 220 or
230. Computing device 300 may include a bus 310, a processor 320, a main
memory 330, a read only memory
(ROM) 340, a storage device 350, an input device 360, an output device 370,
and a communication interface 380.
Bus 310 may iaiclude a path that permits communication among the components of
computing device 300.
Processor 320 may include any type of processor, microprocessor, or processing
logic that interprets and
executes instructions. Main memory 330 may include a random access memory
(RAIV!) or another type of dynamic
storage device that may store information and instructions for execution by
processor 320. ROM 340 may include a
ROM device or another type of static storage device that may store static
information and instructions for use by
processor 320. Storage device 350 may include a magnetic and/or optical
recording medium and its corresponding
drive.
Input device 360 may include a mechanism that permits a user to input
information to computing device
300, such as a keyboard, a mouse, a pen, voice recognition and/or biometric
mechanisms, etc. Output device 370
may include a conventional mechanism that outputs information to the user,
including a display, a printer, a
speaker, etc. Communication interface 380 may include any transceiver-like
mechanism that enables computing
device 300 to communicate with other devices and/or systems. For example,
coinmunication interface 380 may
include mechanisms for communicating with another device or system via a
network, such as network 240.
Network service coinponents 225 and content creation component 235 in servers
220-A, 220-B and 230,
respectively, may be implemented in software and stored in a computer-readable
medium, such as memory 330. A
computer-readable medium may be defined as one or more physical or logical
memory devices and/or carrier
waves.
The software instructions defining network service components 225 and content
creation component 235
may be read into memory 330 from another computer-readable medium, such as
data storage device 350, or from
another device via communication interface 380. The software instructions
contained in memory 330 cause
processor 320 to perform processes that will be described later.
Alternatively, hardwired circuitry may be used in
place of or in combination with software instructions to implement processes
consistent with the present invention.
Thus, implementations consistent with the principles of the invention are not
limited to any specific combination of
hardware circuitry and software.
USER DISTRIBUTED SEARCH RESULTS
Consistent with an aspect of the invention, users generating content, such as
content created with one or
both of content creation coanponent 235 or local content creation component
218, may easily incorporate search
results and/or advertisements into their content creation workflow.
Incorporation of search results and/or
advertisements in the manner described herein will be referred to as user
distributed search (UDS).
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Fig. 4 is a flow chart illustrating exemplary operations consistent with UDS.
A user may begin by opening
a content creation application for the type ocontent that the user desires to
create (act 401). For the exeznplary
operations shown in p'ig. 4, assume that the user is composing an email using
a web-based email application. That
is, assume content creation coinponent 235 provides web-based email services
to the user via a browser 215.
Content creation component 235 may provide a graphical interface that includes
a UDS section (act 402).
Fig. 5 is a diagram of an exeinplary email interface 500. Email interface 500
may include fields such as "To:" field
502, "Subject:" field 504, and message field 506 in which the user may compose
an email message in a typical
manner. Additionally, in this implementation, interface 500 includes a UDS
sidebar 510. In some implementations,
UDS sidebar 510 may be presented as a graphical window, toolbar, or other
element of interface 500 that the user
can selectably display or hide from view. As shown, UDS sidebar 510 includes a
search query field 520 and a
number o#'search result sections 522-528. In this example, search result
sections 522-528 include: image result
section 522, local search result section 524, general web search result
section 526, and advertisement result section
528. A selectable graphical button, such as arrows 530 may allow the user to
hide or view each of search result
sections 522-528. As shown, results in local search result section 524 ("local
results") are hidden while search
result sections 522, 526, and 528 are selected to show search results. In some
implementations, the user of the
email application may be able to customize which of the search results
sections are shown in UDS sidebar 510.
The user may, at some point while composing the email, enter a search query
into search query field 520
(act 403). In some implemenÃations, instead of the user manually entering a
seaxch, search queries may be
automatically generated and/or executed, such as by generating search queries
based on content entered by the user,
or semi-automatically generated and/or executed, such as by allowing searches
to be performed when a user
"hovers" over a word or selection with a graphical pointing device (act 403).
In response, content creation
component 235 may transmit the search query to each of the appropriate network
service components 235. In this
example, content creation component 235 may transmit the search query to three
network service components 235,
respectively implementing an image search engine, a local web search engine,
and a general web search engine.
Content creation component 235 may also transmit the search query to aziother
network search component 235 that
implements an advertisement server. The search results returned from each of
these four "search objects" may then
be shown to the user (act 404). In some implementations, the user may select
one of the search results to view the
underlying document in a separate browser window.
As illustrated in the example of Fig. 5, the user entered the search query
"Canon Macro Lens" into search
query field 520. The returned search results include a number of images 540
related to this search, a number of
relevant web sites 542 related to the search, and an advertisement 544 related
to the search. Each of the returned
search results may include a link or other graphical selection object that
allows the user to select the search result
for inclusion in to the message being composed. In this implementation, a
"save" link 550 is shown below each of
the search results.
The user may decide to include one or more of the search results in the email
(act 405). The user may do
so by simply selecting the appropriate save link 550, which causes content
creation component 235 to copy the
corresponding search result into the email. In response, content creation
component 235 may write the selected
results to the email, such as to the message field 506 of the email (act 406).
As shown, in this example, the user has
selected two images 560, two general web results 561, an advertisement 562,
and a local search result 563, for
inclusion in the email being composed. In one implementation, the results may
be automatically placed below
message field 506 in the email. In other implementations, content creation
component 235 may allow the user to
control the placement of the results in the email, such as by graphically
dragging different results to different
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positions in the email. For example, a user may, by dragging a search result
over an image or other portion of text,
cause the image or other portion of text to become anchor text for the link
that refers to the search results. Content
creation component 235 may allow the user to implement other editorial
controls, such as providing the user with
the ability to annotate search results or to add an indication of the search
query that was used to generate the search
result.
In some implementations, in addition to content creation component 235 writing
the selected results to the
email, the content creation component may additionally copy the selected
results to other locations, such as an
operating system's "clipboard." Whether results are also copied to the
clipboard may be a user selectable option.
The user may then, if desired, paste the results into other applications.
The user may continue to edit the content, enter or refine search queries, and
select results for the content
until the user is ready to send or post the content (acts 407 and 408). In the
example, of Fig. 5, the user may enter a
"send email" command when the user is ready to send the email. The email, when
received by the recipient, inay
appear as email 130 (Fig. I. C). The recipient of the email may be able to
conveniently view the web pages
corresponding to the links by selecting the links. The links underlying the
image search results, in particular, may
take the user to the web page at which the image is hosted.
As can be seen from Fig. 5, the selected results 560-563, in contrast to links
that are typically pasted into
emails between users, such as link 125 (Fig. IB), are fornnatted in a visually
appealing manner and thus provide a
higher quality content tlzan typical links that a user would normally paste
into content (e.g., such as link 125 of Fig.
1B). More specifically, the links relating to the search results inay, as
shown in Figs. IC and 5, include the actual
link to the search result, a short snippet of text that may be selected based
on terms in the search query, and the
dornain corresponding to the returned result. Additionally, the user may
select chosen results via a simple process,
such as by a single mouse click on a link 550 or by a "drag and drop"
selection operation associated with link 550,
thus providing even relatively unsophisticated coinputer users wittl the
ability to enhance their content with search
results.
Fig. 6 is a diagram.illustrating an exemplary einail message that was
annotated using UDS to include a
search result to a local search engine. In this example, email message 600 is
an email message relating to a book
club meeting. The sender of the email message is informing the other members
of the book club that the meeting
location has changed to a local restaurant ("Cafe Del Sol.") To support this
message, the sender has added two
search results from a local search engine. The first, result 602, refers to a
web page that discusses the restaurant.
The second, result 604, links to a local search engine result web page 610
that includes a map 615 showing the
location of the restaurant. As illustrated in this example, a user can quickly
add links to valuable information to an
email, such as a link to a map of a location referred to in the email. In some
implementations, instead of a search
result being a link to a map, the search result nzay be a map image that is
sent inline with the email message, another
type of image, an address, a phone number, or a price of a product that is
sent inline with the email message.
ADVERTISEMENTS
In some implementations, content creators that place advertisement links in
their content may be given
some form of credit if the reader of the advertisement selects the
advertisement linlc.. The credit can be monetary or
take some other form. Because of the high likelihood that an advertisement
incorporated by a content creator into
their content is relevant and/or likely to be viewed by the reader, a number
of different business models are
possible. For example, advertisers may be charged a premium or charged based
on a different rate scale for
advertisements distributed via UDS.
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ADDITIONAL EXEMPLARY IMPLEMENTATIONS
OF UDS
The above descÃiption of UDS was primarily in the context of sending email
content. As previously
mentioned, UDS can be applied equally well to other forms of content creation.
Figs. 7-9 illustrate other additional
applications of UDS.
Fig. 7 is an exemplary interface illustrating application of UDS to a message
board environment. A web
message board can generally be defined as a facility on the web for holding
discussions. Message boards are
typically organized into topics in which users post messages relating to the
appropriate topic.
In Fig. 7, an exemplary message board interface 700 is presented to a user,
such as an interface presented
through a browser 215. As shown in interface 700, a first user has posted a
message 710 asking for advice relating
to a crank for a bicycle. A second user responds with a message 715 . Through
UDS, the poster supplements
message 715 with a number of search results 720. The search results 720
include images 725 of the cranks under
discussion, an advertisement 730 for a bicycle store mentioned in message 715,
a link 735 to a web site of the
company that produces the cranks, and a link 740 pointing to a local
distributor of the cranks. Tllrough UDS, the
user responding to message 710 was able to effectively supplement the text of
message 715 with links that he
specifically selected as being relevant to the topic under discussion.
p'ig. 8 is an exemplary interface illustrating application of UDS to an
instant messaging conversation.
Instant messaging can generally be defined as the act of instantly
conimunicating-between two or more people over
a network such as the Internet.
In Fig. 8, an exemplary instant messaging interface 800 is presented to a
user, such as an interface
presented by a local content creation component 218 (e.g., an IM client)
executing at a client 210. Instant
messaging interface 800 includes a message display portion 810 through which
transmitted instant messages are
displayed, a messaging area 820 in which users may enter messages that they
are going to transmit, and UDS
inteÃfacc 830. In this exainple, the two participants in tEie conversation
(Mark and Cindy) are discussing possible
vineyards to visit. Through UDS, each user has selectively augmented their
messages with links relating to the
particular vineyard under discussion. In this manner, UDS interface 830 can
enhance the quality of the instant
messaging conversation by, for example, allowing users to both search from
within IM interface 800 and easily
share selected linlcs from the search with other users.
Fig. 9 is an exemplary interface illustrating application of UDS to a blog
authoring tool. A blog (shortened
form of weblog or web log) is a website in which items are posted on a regular
basis and generally displayed in
reverse chronological order.
In Fig. 9, an exemplary interface 900 of a blog authoring tool presented to a
user, such as a web based blog
authoring tool implemented by content creation component 235 or a locally
executed blog authoring tool
implemented by local content creation component 218. Interface 900 may include
a blog authoring section 910 in
which a blogger may enter and edit blog posts. UDS interface 920 allows the
blogger to enter search queries and
receive search results in a manner similar to UDS sidebar 510 (Fig. 5). Search
results selected by the blogger may
be displayed in result section 930 of interface 900. When the blogger is ready
to publish the post, "publish post"
button 940 may cause the text entered by the blogger in section 910 and the
search results selected by the blogger in
result section 930 to both be published as a single blog post to the blogger's
blog.
ADDITIONAL DETAILS OF AN EXEMPLARY IMPLEMENTATION
OF THE UDS
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It can be recognized that the UDS described above can be irnplemented usizig a
number of different
programming and hardware technologies. A high-level description of one
exemplary ina.plezn.en.tation will now be
given.
Fig. 10 is a diagram illustrating exemplary components in a UDS system. As
shown in Fig. 10, a client
210 communicates with UDS engine 1037 at application server 230, which may in
turn communicate with search
services 1040-A through 1040-N at one or more servers 220. In this
implementation, portions of the content
application, such as an email application, may be a web-based application that
is transmitted to browser 215 on an
on-demand basis. At browser 215, the email application may include, for
example, a JavaScript object 1016 that
interfaces with a user interface portion 1017 to provide the final user
interface that is displayed in browser 215
based on, for example, HTMT. (hyper-text markup language) and CSS (cascading
style sheets) data supplied from
JavaScript application 1016.
User interface portion 1017 and JavaScript object 1016 together act to reduce
the start-stop start-stop
nature of'traditional browser-based web applications, as JavaScript object
1016 adds a client-side layer that can
handle many of the user interactions with user interface portion 1017. Instead
of loading a web page at the start of a
user session, browser 215 may load JavaScript application 1016 from server 230
(or, alternatively, from a local
cache). JavaScript object 1016 may be responsible for both rendering the
interface the user sees and
comrra.unicating with content creation component of server 230 on the user's
behalf.
JavaScript object 1016 may be a dynamically configured object that allows for
dynamic selection of which
network serviees, such as which search services 1040, to use. JavaScript
object 1016 may implement a number of
different functions at client 210. For example, JavaScript object 1016 may
allow the interface to be positioned
where desired in the client display. Additionally, JavaScript object 1016 may
implement a search control object
that limits search results to a small number of highly relevant results per
search. The search control object may
atmotate each search result with an element that, when clicked, allows the
user to save the search result to the
content creation interface.
In some implementations, TavaScript object 1016 may be an object that is
designed to be easily integrated
into existing web-based JavaScript applications, thus providing a convenient
application programniing interface
(API) through which programmers can incorporate UDS into their programs.
UDS engine 1037 may provide an interface with JavaScript object 1016. In
response to JavaScript object
1016, UDS interface may annotate search requests, perform searches through
appropriate search seivices 1040-A
through 1040-N, and serialize results of the searches. Search services 1040-A
through 1040-N may return search
results, such as general web-based search results, image results, etc., or
return relevant advertisements, in response
to requests from UDS engine 1037.
AUTOMATED GENERATION OF SEARCH R1aSUI.,TS
In the UDS described above, search results were primarily described as being
obtained based on a search
query entered by the user. In alternate implementations, the UDS may
automatically generate search queries and
perform potential searches using automatically generated search queries.
Referring back to Fig. 4, in act 403, a search query may be entered by a user
or automatically generated.
Fig. 11 is a diagram illustrating additional details that may be associated
with act 403. In particular, as shown in
p'ig. 11, a search query may be generated based on a search query received
frona a user (act 1101) or based on the
automatic generation of a search query (acts 1102 - 1104).
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In act 1101, a search query may be received from a user. As previously
mentioned, this act may be based
on a user typing a search query into a search query field, such as search
query field 520. Alteniatively, in some
implementations, instead of the user typing a search query, the user may
select search terms in other ways, such as
by "hovering" over a word or selection with a graphical pointing device
Instead of waiting for a user to provide a search query, the UDS may
automatically generate search queries
based on, for example, entity recognition techniques performed using the
content entered by the user or content
otherwise associated with content creation application 218/235 (act 1102).
Entity recognition techniques are
generally known in the art, and may include, for example, techniques designed
to recognize entities such as
products, places, organizations, or any other entities that tend to be
subjects of searches. The entity recognition
techniques can be based on linguistic grammar models or statistical inodels.
In one possible implernentation, the
entity recognition techniques may be particularly adopted to locate terms that
correspond to commercial products or
terms that define an address, such as a postal address.
If an entity is recognized in act 1102 that is detercnined to be relevant
enough for a search to be executed,
the entity may be submitted as a search query to the appropriate network
service components 225 (acts 1103 and
1104). In some implementations, if multiple entities are received they anay be
combined and submitted as a single
search query, submitted as multiple separate search queries, or filtered to
remove less relevaait entities before
combining the remaining entities as a search query. In some implementations,
the UDS system may only submit
the determined entity to certain ones of the network service components 225
based on the type of entity. For
example, an address inay be submitted to a mapping or local search network
service component, while a
commercial product may be submitted to a shopping network service component
and an advertisement network
service component. Referring back to Fig. 4, the returned search results may
then be shown in the UDS interface
and, as previously described, potentially selected by the user and
incorporated into the content being created by the
user (acts 405-407).
In some implementations, the entity recognition techniques may additionally
take into account context
relating to the particular content creation component 218/235 or state of the
content creation component 218/235
that is being used by the user. For example, entity recognition techniques
applied to a message board content
creation component may be biased to look for terms in the content that relate
to the topic o#'the message board. As
another example, entity recognition techniques applied to a blog authoring
tool may be biased to look for terms in
the content that relate to the general topic of the blog (e.g., if the blog is
a computer software blog, the entity
recognition techniques may be biased to locate terms relating to computer
software).
Acts 1102-1104 may be performed in real-time (or near real-time) as the user
is typing or otherwise editing
content. In this way, potentially relevaiit search results can be dynamically
updated and shown to the user without
interrupting the workflow of the user. In other iinplementations, acts 1102-
1104 may be performed in response to a
trigger event. Possible examples of such triggering events iriclude: a user
opening a composition interface, such as
when the user selects a "reply" button in an email interface, or the user
initiating a spell check operation (or other
operation); user inactivity for a set period of time, such as when a period of
time elapses in which content creation
application 218/235 does not receive input from the user.
Fig. 12 is aii exemplary interface 1200 illustrating application of user
distributed search in which search
results are automatically obtained. InteÃface 1200 is an email interface that
is similar to email interface 500 (Fig. 5).
In particular, interface 1200 may include "To:" field 502, "Subject:" field
504, and message field 506 in which the
user may compose an email message in a typical manner. Additionally, interface
1200 may include selected search
results 560 through 563, as described previously.
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In contrast to the example shown in Fig. 5, however, in whach. UDS sidebar 510
provides user-selectable
search results, UDS sidebar 1210 may include multiple sidebars, shown in
interface 1200 as an auto-generated
results section (sidebar) 1211 and a user-generated results section (sidebar)
1212. User-generated results section
1212 may function similarly to UDS sidebar 510. That is, a user may enter
search queries in search box 1220 and
view results of the search in one or more search resiults sections 1222 and
1224.
Auto-generated results section 1211 may include search results that are
generated automatically by the
UDS (acts 1102 - 1104). The results may be generated in-real time or in near
real-time by the UDS system as the
user creates content (e.g., by typing content). Auto-generated results section
1211 may include a search query
section 1240, in which the search query that was autoinatically generated by
the UDS (act 1102) is shown, and a
search result portion 1245. Search result portion 1245 may include search
results for the automatically generated
query that is shown in search query section 1240. In this example, search
result portion 1245 includes an image
result section 1246 and general web search result section 1247. Graphical
arrow buttons may allow the user to hide
or view each of the search result sections. As shown, results in image result
section 1246 ("image results") are
hidden while general web search result section 1247 is selected to show search
results.
Whether auto-generated search results section 1211 and/or user-generated
search results section 1212 is
displayed in interface 1200 may be configurable by the user. In the example of
interface 1200, search results
sections 1211 and 1212 include "close" buttons 1250 and 1251, respectively,
which may operate to remove the
respective results sections 1211 or 1212 from the UDS interface. With,these
buttons, the user may disable auto-
generation of search queries.
Search results sections 1211 and 1212, in addition to being closeable by the
user, may include an option to
allow the search results sections to be detached from interface 1200. In other
words, the user may be able to cause
search results sections 1211 and 1212 to become a separate window within a
graphical interface.
In altemate implementations, instead of presenting an interface to the user
that includes multiple sidebars
as shown in interface 1200, the UDS may present a single sidebar to the user
tlzrough which both manually entered
search queries and automatically generated search queries are shown to the
user. For example, the UDS system
may autoinatically generate search queries and display the results to the user
as long as the user does not manually
enter a search query. When the user manually enters a search query, the system
may refrain from automatically
generating further search queries. Also, the user may be able to disable the
automated portion of the search
generation.
Further, in some alternate implementations, the UDS may automatically generate
search queries as
described above but may not automatically submit the search queries to network
service components 325. Instead,
the UDS may, for example, display the search queries in search query section
1240. The user, if interested in the
automatically generated search query, may submit it to one or more of the
network service components 225.
REFINEMENT OF UDS SEARCI-I RESULTS
With the UDS system described above, search results were presented to the user
based on a search query
entered by the user or automatically generated based on entity recognition
techniques. In alternate implementations,
the search results or search queries may be further refined by the LTDS system
before being shown to the user.
Referring back to Fig. 4, in act 403, a search query may be entered by a user
or automatically generated.
In response, content creation component 235 may transmit the search query to
each of the appropriate network
service components 235 and the search results returned from each of the
network seivice components may then be
shown to the user (act 404).
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Fig. 13 is a flow chart illustrating additional exemplary operations that may
be associated with act 404.
The search query obtained in act 403 may be refined by the UDS system (act
1302). In general, the UDS may
refine the search query by modifying the search query with the goal of
increasing the relevancy of the search
results. Refining a search query does not necessarity imply that the search
query is narrowed to return fewer search
results; in some situations, a refined search query may return more search
results than the original search query. In
one implementation, the search query may be refined to include additional
information relating to the particular type
of content creation application 218/235. For instance, if content creation
application 2I8/235 is an application
designed to facilitate posts to a message board, content creation application
218/235 inay automatically add terms to
the search query that relate to the topic of the message board. When a user is
adding a post to the message board
"rec.bicycles.tech," for example, the UDS system may modify user entered UDS
search queries (or automatically
generated UDS search queries) to include terms relating to the rnessage board,
such as by adding the terms
"bicycle" or "gear," etc. In some implementations, whether the UDS system adds
terms to refine a search query
may be based on the specificity of the received search query. For example, if
the received search query contains
many terms or if it contains terms that are relatively uncomrnon, the UDS may
refrain from additionally narrowing
the search query, while a search query that is determined by the UDS to be
particularly broad may be refined.
In addition to refining searcli queries to iilclude additional inforination
relating to the particular type of
content creation application 218/235, search queries may be refined based on
particular users of the content creation
application 218/235 or based on users to whom messages are addressed that are
created with content creation
application 218/235 (act 1302).
As an example of refining search queries based on the users of the content
creation application 218/235 or
based on users to whom messages are addressed, consider the exemplary email
message illustrated in Fig. 14. In
email message 1400, the sender of the email message is informing the recipient
of the email of a local restaurant
("Cafe Del Sol") at which they are to meet. To support this message, the
sender has added search results 1460 from
a local search engine that were selected from local results 1445. In
implementations consistent with aspects of the
invention, the search results may be based on search queries that were
automatically refined to include references to
the locations of the sender of the email message or the recipient of the email
message. For example, local search
result 1461 may link to a local search engine result web page that includes a
map showing the location of the
restaurant relative to the location of the recipient of the email message. The
location of the email recipient may be
known from information entered by the recipient when signing up for an email
account if the recipient of the email
message is using the same enzail platform as the sender. As another example,
local search results 1445 may include
search results based on multiple local searches, such as a local search
refined based on the sender's location and a
local search refined based on the recipient's location.
As another example of refining search queries based on the users of content
creation application 218/235,
the UDS system may generate an explicit or implicit profile of the user and
use the profile when refining the search
results. The profile may be based on, for example, past searches by the user
or explicit profile or preference
information entered by the user.
As yet another example of refining search queries, the UDS system may refine
search queries by
modifying individual terins within the search queries, such as by adding
synonyms of terms already in the search
query, by stemming terms already in the search query, or by substituting or
suggesting spelling corrections to terms
in the search query.
The search query refined in, act 1302 may be submitted to the appropriate
network service components (act
1303). The search results received back from the network search components may
then be presented to the user
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(acts 1304 and 1305). Certain of these search results, such as search results
1445, for example, may be selected by
the user and included in the document, as previously described.
Fig. 15 is a flow chart illustrating additional exemplary operations that may
be associated with act 404
consistent with an alternative embodiment. The search query obtained in act
403 may be submitted to the
appropriate network service components 225 by content creation component
218/235 (act 1502). The search
results may be received by content creation component 218/235 (act 1503). The
received search results may be
refined by content creatioii cornponent 218/235 by, for example, ranking the
search results or filtering the search
results (act 1504). This refinement may be performed with the goal of
increasing the relevancy of the search results
presented to the user. In general, refining search results will refer to
modifying or reevaluating the relevance order
of the search results. Typically, search results that are higher in the
relevance order are the results that are presented
to the user first or presented most prominently to the user.
In one implementation, additional inforin.ation relating to the particular
type of content creation application
218/235 may be used to refine the search results. For instance, if content
creation component 218/235 is an
application designed to facilitate posts to a niessage board and the
particular message board being posted-to is the
message board "rec.bicycles.tech," content creation application 235 may refine
the search results by ranking the
results to emphasize results that are more relevant to bicycles or removing
(filtering) results that are not related to
bicycles.
In another possible implementation, the search results may be refined based on
infoi-mation relating to the
user of content creation application 218/235 or based on information relating
to the intended recipients of the
content. As an example of this, consider a profile created by or for the user
that includes areas of interest of the
user. The profile may be used as a basis to re-rank the search results. In
other possible implementations, other
information, such as, for a message board post, geographic information that is
relevant to the message board post,
may be used to refine the search results.
The refined search results may then be presented to a user (act 1505).
ADDITIONAL CONCEPTS
The user selection of search results when creating content may provide an
indication that the selected
search results are relevant to the search query. For example, the search
results selected by a user may be used as
part of a reputation network. In geiieral, a reputation network in some way
quantifies the reputation or score of
users as to their expertise in certain categories or topics. In the context of
UDS, if a particular user incorporates a
large nunlber of search results into content and the search results are
frequently selected by readers of the content,
this may be an indication that the user is an "expert" in the topic relating
to the content, and his reputation score for
the topic may be increased. This application may be particularly relevant to
content applications such as message
boards, where the message boards are typically categorized by topic.
More generally, regarding reputation, the gesture of selecting a result may be
feed back into the system to
impact, for example, raw result ranking, raw value of an advertisement, raw
reputation of a user perforniing a
selection, or raw reputation of an application using UDS. These raw reputation
results can be used, for example, to
modify a docum.ont or advertisement ranking used by the underlying search
engines.
Advertisements presented through UDS may, in particular, represent
advertisements that have a higher
likelihood of click through and may therefore be more valuable to the
advertiser. These advertisements may, for
example, cost more than or be provided on different terms than other
advertisements. In some implementations, the
revenue or other benefit derived from advertisements selected by the content
creator may be in some way shared
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with the content creator. In some situations, the fact that an advertisement
is selected by an end user may be used in
some way to modify a reputation of the content creator that selected the
advertisement.
Additionally, in some implementations, content with search results selected by
a user may be additionally
automatically modified or supplemented, such as by adding additional links to
advertisements or products that are
determined to be relevant to the selected search results. As an example of
this, consider an advertisement for a
merchant included in an email message by the author of the email message. It
may be desirable to include an
additional advertisement from the merchant in the email, stich as an
advertisement relating to an offer for free
shipping from the merchant. These additional or follow-on advertisements may
be displayed within the message
itself or as advertisements presented to the user via a different channel. For
example, if the recipient of the email
message is viewing the email message using a web-based email application, the
follow-on advertisement may be
displayed outside of the message itself, such as in a portion of the browser
that the web-based email application
normally uses to present advertisements to its users.
Additionally, in some implementations, tEie UDS search query field, such as
search query field 520 (Fig.
5), instead of causing searches to be executed through network service
components (e.g., network search engines),
may perforni other types of local or network search. For example, the search
query may alternatively or
additionally be submitted to a local (e.g., a desktop) search service or to a
search service integrated in the content
creation application. For example, a network email content creation
application may include a search service that
allows a user to search previously sent or received emails. In this situation,
the TJDS search query field may
additionally use the search services of the content creation application.
CONCLUSION
The foregoing description of exemplary embodiments of the invention provides
illustration and
description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to
the precise forn disclosed.
Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or
may be acquired from practice of the
invention.
Moreover, while series of acts have been described with regard to Figs. 4, 11,
13, and 15 the order of the
acts may be varied in otller implementations consistent with the inventioji.
Moreover, non-dependent acts may be
implemented in parallel.
It will also be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that aspects of
the invention, as described above,
may be implemented in many different forms of software, firmware, and hardware
in the implementations
illustrated in the figures. The actual software code or specialized control
hardware used to implement aspects
consistent with the principles of the invention is not limiting of the
invention. Thus, the operation and behavior of
the aspects of the invention were described without reference to the specific
software code - it being understood
that one of ordinary skill in the art would be able to design software and
control hardware to implement the aspects
based on the description herein.
Further, certain portions of the invention may be implemented as "logic" or a
"component" that performs
one or more functions. This logic may include hardware, such as an application
specific integrated circuit or a field
programmable gate array, software, or a combination of 1lardware and software.
No element, act, or instruction used in the description of the invention
should be construed as critical or
essential to the invention unless explicitly described as such. Also, as used
herein, the article "a" is intended to
include one or more items. Where only one item is intended, the term "one" or
similar language is used. Further,
the phrase "based on" is intended to mean "based, at least in part, on" unless
explicitly stated otherwise.
