Patent Application
20190130041
When using a search engine, each query requires computing resources to be expended to provide sets of results for that query. As users explore a topic, searches may be expanded, refined, or changed, which requires more resources to be expended to provide those results as each query changes how the search engine views the context of the search. In addition to using significant computing resources, this often leaves users frustrated with the inability of the search engine to produce tailored results.
This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description section. This summary is not intended to identify all key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.
A helix search interface is provided herein to reduce user frustration in the search process and to reduce the computing resources expended in providing relevant search results to the user in the course of a series of searches (i.e., a search series). Users are provided with search elements that may be combined with text queries to refine, expand, or shift their searches while maintaining the context of prior searches in a search series.
The helix search interface provides a search experience that tailors itself to the user's search patterns. A blank canvas is often the most difficult place to start; the user has to know how to ask a given question and may not know how to refine the query. By providing suggested topics/areas and sub-intents within these topics, the helix search interface jump-starts the user into browsing for things in way that the user might not have known how to ask, and with fewer mis-steps in the querying processes; reducing the number of non-responsive queries made in a string of searches and thus saving computing resources and bandwidth.
Additionally, small form factors such as mobile devices are difficult to type into—while this is still supported, the helix search interface provides a simple alternate way to find search results without having to type. Results expand from a prior search user interface element. The results are presented as icons to represent categories in which further search may be possible as well as cards representing the results for the search. As users select the result elements, the helix search interface is updated to show new search results (including further categories and direct results) that are based on a selected result element and that expand from the selected result element. As more results are returned, older result elements are removed from display within the helix user interface and new elements are presented for display.
The users may navigate forward in a search series, as described above, until card-producing results are selected and presented for display, the users quit the search process, or the users select a central element, in which case the search process navigates backwards. When navigating backwards, the last selection of a result element is “undone” and the user interface is reverted to show the previously presented user interface; allowing users to reformulate their searches without having to change the context leading up to that point in the search.
Examples are implemented as a computer process, a computing system, or as an article of manufacture such as a device, computer program product, or computer readable medium. According to an aspect, the computer program product is a computer storage medium readable by a computer system and encoding a computer program comprising instructions for executing a computer process.
The details of one or more aspects are set forth in the accompanying drawings and description below. Other features and advantages will be apparent from a reading of the following detailed description and a review of the associated drawings. It is to be understood that the following detailed description is explanatory only and is not restrictive of the claims.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this disclosure, illustrate various aspects. In the drawings:
The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the following description refers to the same or similar elements. While examples may be described, modifications, adaptations, and other implementations are possible. For example, substitutions, additions, or modifications may be made to the elements illustrated in the drawings, and the methods described herein may be modified by substituting, reordering, or adding stages to the disclosed methods. Accordingly, the following detailed description is not limiting, but instead, the proper scope is defined by the appended claims. Examples may take the form of a hardware implementation, or an entirely software implementation, or an implementation combining software and hardware aspects. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense.
A helix search interface is provided herein to reduce user frustration in the search process and to reduce the computing resources expended in providing relevant search results to the user in the course of a series of searches (i.e., a search series). Users are provided with search elements that may be combined with text queries to refine, expand, or shift their searches while maintaining the context of prior searches in a search series.
The helix search interface provides a search experience that tailors itself to the user's search patterns. A blank canvas is often the most difficult place to start; the user has to know how to ask a given question and may not know how to refine the query. By providing suggested topics/areas and sub-intents within these topics, the helix search interface jump-starts the user into browsing for things in way that the user might not have known how to ask, and with fewer mis-steps in the querying processes; reducing the number of non-responsive queries made in a string of searches and thus saving computing resources and bandwidth.
Additionally, small form factors such as mobile devices are difficult to type into—while this is still supported, the helix search interface provides a simple alternate way to find search results without having to type. Results expand from a prior search user interface element. The results are presented as icons to represent categories in which further search may be possible as well as cards representing the results for the search. As users select the result elements, the helix search interface is updated to show new search results (including further categories and direct results) that are based on a selected result element and that expand from the selected result element. As more results are returned, older result elements are removed from display within the helix user interface and new elements are presented for display.
The users may navigate forward in a search series, as described above, until card-producing results are selected and presented for display, the users quit the search process, or the users select a central element, in which case the search process navigates backwards. When navigating backwards, the last selection of a result element is “undone” and the user interface is reverted to show the previously presented user interface; allowing users to reformulate their searches without having to change the context leading up to that point in the search.
The helix search interface tailors categories presented in the search series based on the user's prior search patterns. An initial request for the helix search interface may be populated with categories that are deemed of global or regional interest, but as the user selects (or does not select) various categories, the position in which those categories are listed will change and the level of search refinement at which they are displayed will also change. For example, if a user is identified as being uninterested in searches related to an “International News” category initially presented, it may be replaced with another category, such as “Weather”, “Local News”, or a frequently-accessed sub-category from a lower level of search refinement (e.g., a given sport sub-category from the “Sports” category) that is promoted “upward” into a particular level of search refinement.
The user device 110 and the search engine server 120 are illustrative of a multitude of computing systems including, without limitation, desktop computer systems, wired and wireless computing systems, mobile computing systems (e.g., mobile telephones, netbooks, tablet or slate type computers, notebook computers, and laptop computers), hand-held devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, minicomputers, printers, and mainframe computers. The hardware of these computing systems is discussed in greater detail in regard to
While the user device 110 and the search engine server 120 are shown remotely from one another for illustrative purposes, it should be noted that several configurations of one or more of these devices hosted locally to another illustrated device are possible, and each illustrated device may represent multiple instances of that device. Various servers and intermediaries familiar to those of ordinary skill in the art may lie between the component systems illustrated in
Of the plurality of search elements 210 displayed in
In the illustrated example, the remaining search elements 210 are displayed concentrically around the one search element 210 and belong to a second level of search refinement that represent various categories by which the search engine may be queried. From the top, and described in clockwise order, search elements 210 having a question mark icon, a person icon, a weather icon, a dumbbell icon, a graph icon, a radio icon, a document icon, and a gear icon are displayed in a location surrounding the one search element 210 illustrated with the magnifying glass icon. As additional levels of search refinement are determined based on user selection of the search elements 210, search elements 210 associated with higher levels of search refinement will be added to the user interface 200 to maintain the context of the search series, such as in
Each search element 210 belonging to the second or higher level of search refinement is associated with a distinct category that can be used with or independently of any text in the text entry box 220 to query the search engine. For example, the search element 210 illustrated with the gear icon may be related to a “products” category, whereas the search element 210 illustrated with the dumbbell icon may be related to a “sports” category. When a user selects a search element 210, the search engine is queried according to the category associated with the search element 210 (and any text in the text entry box 220) and one or more results are returned to the user device 110. In various aspects, the results include categorized results and uncategorized results. As used herein, categorized results refer to results that have additional subcategories and content for a user to explore, such as is shown in
In various aspects, the search engine may return all of the results to the user device 110 to determine whether the results include distinct subcategories, and how to organize those subcategories, or the search engine may determine and return the subcategories as the categorized results to the user device 110. Results may be grouped into categories (or left uncategorized) based on similar keywords, number of results, similar hosts for the results, “freshness” of a topic that is new or trending, etc. As user search patterns are learned, the categories into which results are grouped may be adjusted and certain categories included or excluded from the categorized results. Search elements 210 associated with search categories belonging to a second level of search refinement that are presented initially in response to a request for a search UI 200 may be based on previous user searches, pre-defined categories set on the user device 110, or by the search engine based on text included in the text entry box 220.
For example, when tailoring the categories based on the user's search patterns, the historically unused categories may be demoted from a higher level of search refinement to a lower level, and be replaced with other categories based on global, local, or user-historic interest. For example, a search element 210 for “Celebrity News” may go unselected by a user for a predetermined number of searches, and may be removed from the search UI 200. In various aspects, the removal of the search element 210 for “Celebrity News” may cause the remaining search elements 210 to be re-organized or re-distributed for display in the search UI 200. In other aspects, the removal of the search element 210 for “Celebrity News” may cause another category to be substituted for “Celebrity News”, in the search element 210, such as, a frequently accessed sub-category. For example, if the user consistently selects a “Sports” category and then selects an “NFL” sub-category thereof, then the “NFL” sub-category maybe promoted to replace the unused category of “Celebrity News”.
The text entry box 220 is an optional element of the search UI 200; a user may explore content and navigate a search series with or without entering text for submission to the search engine server 120 and its hosted search engine. For example, the group of search elements 210 that belong to the second level of search refinement may be provided as starting points for searches on trending or popular topics that the search engine server 120 has identified from other users over a period of time. In another example, further illustrating the foregoing examples, a user who selects a search element 210 associated with products and has input “Acme” in the text entry box 220 may be provided search results related to the products offered by Acme Incorporated, whereas a user who selects the search element 210 associated with products without text in the text entry box 220 may be provided with search results related to products offered by several companies (including or excluding those from Acme Incorporated) that have been noted as being popular searches within the last d days or h hours.
In aspects where the keyword search element 210 is affected by an actively positioned second search element 210, a blank space or a search element 210 associated with a “null” category may be displayed in association with the other search elements 210 so that the user may select to perform a keyword search without applying a category to affect a text query or the results returned.
In some aspects, when the user selects a search element 210 associated with a category (e.g., via a tap gesture) instead of positioning that search element 210 into a position to affect a keyword search element 210 and selecting the keyword search element 210, any text in the text entry box 220 will be ignored, and results that are trending or popular for the selected category will be returned.
The order, position, and composition of the third-level search elements 210 may be based on a global or regional popularity of the subcategories of the selected send-level search refinement category (in this example, sports) or a learned pattern of searching for the specific user. For example, based on the greater popularity of baseball-related searches compared to tennis-related searches in the user's region, the search element 210 associated with baseball is presented closer to the search element 210 for sports, to improve the user experience and efficiency in navigating the search series. Continuing the example, the search element 210 associated with hockey may also be presented in proximity to the sports search element 210 based on the user's prior search history for hockey-related items regardless of whether hockey is popular in the region in which the user is located.
Depending on the amount of screen real estate allocated for the search UI 200 on the user device 110, it may not be possible to display all of search elements 210. Therefore when the search elements 210 exceed the available display space, the search elements 210 are helically shifted for display, such that the search element 210 of the lowest level of search refinement currently displayed is removed from display and the search elements 210 of the next-highest currently-displayed level of search refinement are also removed from display, except for the actively selected search element 210 of that level, which is displayed in the location vacated by the lowest level search element 210. The other search elements 210 are reposition to occupy the vacated location of the search elements 210 of the next-lower level of search refinement until the search elements 210 belonging to the highest level of search refinement can be displayed on the user device 110.
In the illustrated example: the sports search element 210 has replaced the keyword search element 210; the search elements 210 belonging to the third level of search refinement (“tennis”, “basketball”, “baseball”, etc.) have replaced the search elements 210 belonging to the second level of search refinement (“sports”, “finance”, “products”, etc.); and the search elements 210 belonging to the fourth level of search refinement (“Rules”, “Teams”, “Results”, etc.) have replaced the search elements 210 belonging to the third level of search refinement (“tennis”, “basketball”, “baseball”, etc.).
Also illustrated in
In addition or instead of helically shifting the search elements 210 to provide additional display space for the new search elements 210, the existing search elements 210 may be reduced in size compared to their earlier display. For example, the search elements 210 belonging to the first and second levels of search refinement are shown at a first size in
The helical shift of search elements 210 displayed on the user device 110 provides an improvement to the computing device providing the user interface as well as addressing the computer-centric problem of how to display data in a limited space. The users interfaces described herein are directed to addressing at least this problem by removing the oldest elements of the search series from display, but allowing navigation back to those elements to refine or redefine the search series, thus freeing up display area for the presentation of additional information in an easily navigable format.
As will be noted, both
Additionally, the search elements 210 associated with “NASCAR”, “F1”, and “Equipment” are presented with associated informational icons 230, that indicate that if the user were to select those search elements 210, additional categorized results would be presented to the user for exploration. As will be appreciated, in other aspects the search elements 210 associated with “Horse”, “5K”, “Marathon”, “Tickets”, and “Sailing” may be associated with informational icons 230 (in addition to or instead of the search elements 210 associated with “NASCAR”, “F1”, and “Equipment”) to indicate that if the user were to select those search elements 210, uncategorized results would be presented to the user for exploration, as is discussed in regard to
Although the examples given in relation to
The first content card 300a also includes an explore control 320 and a dismiss control 330 that, when selected by the user, will respectively signal the helix interface engine 130 to further explore the uncategorized content or dismiss the first content card 300a and return to the search UI 200 that produced the first content card 300a (in the given example, sixth search UI 200f, presented in
In various aspects, the user may submit commands via gesture or voice to explore or dismiss the content card 300. For example, a user may “swipe” left or right to dismiss the content card 300, or a user may “swipe” up or down to explore the uncategorized content in new and previously presented content cards 300.
In various aspects, when a user selects to explore the content cards 300, the content cards 300 are displayed in a larger area of the available display space than when first presented to the user to decide whether to explore or dismiss the content cards 300. As illustrated in
The results content 310 displayed in the second content card 300b is related to the results content 310 displayed in the first content card 300a, and may be selected for display based on a relevancy to the search query, a popularity of the content, a frequency of search for the particular content shown in the content card 300, a sponsorship of the content, or user selection of particular content within an earlier content card 300. For example, under the “popular marathons” content provided in the second content card 300b, three content items 340a-c (collectively, content items 340) are shown for marathons in “Boston,” “Berlin,” and “London,” that the user can select to provide a third content card 300c, as is shown in
At OPTIONAL OPERATION 420, query text is received (e.g., via a text entry box 220) for use in the search interface. In various aspects, the helix search interface can receive and ignore text for a query; receive and use text in a query; or perform a query without receiving text. In some aspects, a user may provide text via manual entry (e.g., a hardware or software keyboard) or via voice entry in conjunction with a speech-to-text application.
Proceeding to OPERATION 430, input to a search element 210 is received. In various aspects, the input is received as a tap, click, double-tap, double-click, press, selection gesture, or the like of an indicated search element 210.
The search engine is queried at OPERATION 440 according to the search element 210 that was selected at OPERATION 430, any previously selected search elements 210 in the search series, and (optionally) any text provided to further refine the query. In various aspects, the search engine is hosted by a search engine server 120 remotely located from the user device 110 and is queried accordingly via a request transmitted via an Internet Protocol (IP) network. In other aspects, the search engine is hosted locally by the user device 110 for searching for documents, programs, and settings local to the user device 110 and the query is handled by an Application Program Interface (API) to interact with the local search engine.
At DECISION 450 it is determined whether the results provided by the search engine to the query submitted at OPERATION 440 are categorized results, resulting in a new, higher level of search refinement to be displayed in the search UI 200, or uncategorized results, resulting in a content card 300 for the uncategorized content being displayed.
In response to determining at DECISION 450 that the results include categorized results, method 400 proceeds to OPERATION 460, where the search UI 200 is updated to display new search elements 210 associated with the categorized results. The categorized results are associated with new search elements 210 in a higher level of search refinement than the search element 210 selected at the prior execution of OPERATION 430. As will be appreciated, if the newly added search elements 210 cannot be displayed concurrently with the previously displayed search elements 210, due to display space limitations or preferences, the display of search elements 210 will be helically shifted, such that search elements 210 in the updated search UI 200 will be displayed in the location occupied by the search elements 210 of the next lower level of search refinement in the non-updated search UI 200. Method 400 then returns to OPERATION 410 where the updated search UI 200 is displayed on the user device 110.
In response to determining at DECISION 450 that the results include uncategorized results, method 400 proceeds to OPERATION 470, where the search UI 200 is removed from the display device of the user device 110 and a content card 300 related to the uncategorized content is displayed.
Method 400 then proceeds to DECISION 480, where input to the content card 300 is received and it is determined whether the input indicates that the user wishes to dismiss the content card 300 or to further explore the uncategorized content. In various aspects, the input includes the selection of controls (e.g., buttons) integrated into the content card 300, physical or virtual controls provided by the user device 110 (e.g., an escape key, a back button, an enter key, a scroll wheel), or gestures (e.g., swipe left/right to dismiss, swipe up/down to explore).
When it is determined at DECISION 480 that the user has signaled to dismiss the content card 300, the content card 300 is removed from display and method 400 returns to OPERATION 410, where the search UI 200 is again displayed. Depending on user settings, a time between initial display of the content card 300 and its dismissal, and whether the uncategorized content was explored prior to dismissing the content card 300, the search UI 200 displayed when returning to OPERATION 410 may be an initial search UI 200 or the search UI 200 as shown prior to displaying the content card(s) 300 for the uncategorized content.
In one example, if the user were shown the sixth search UI 200f prior to selecting to view a content card 300a for marathon information, as shown in content card 300a in
When it is determined at DECISION 480 that the user has signaled to further explore the content presented the content card 300, method 400 proceeds to OPERATION 490 where the search engine is queried to provide additional uncategorized content in an additional content card 300. Depending on the input received at DECISION 480, the query to the search engine may be for a next piece of content of the uncategorized content or may be for a specific type of content of the uncategorized content.
For example, a user viewing a content card 300 for Paris, France may be presented with result content 310 comprising a brief overview of the city and several landmarks (e.g., the Eifel Tower, the Louvre, the Champs Elysees). If the user were to signal an exploration of the uncategorized content by scrolling/gesturing for additional content, the search engine may provide an additional content card 300 related to the history of Paris, whereas if the user were to signal an exploration of the uncategorized content by selecting one of the landmarks, an additional content card 300 related to the selected landmark would be provided by the search engine.
Once the search engine has returned additional content in response to the command for additional uncategorized content, method 400 returns to OPERATION 470, where the additional content is displayed as part of a content card 300. Depending on the screen real estate available for displaying content cards 300, the earlier-provided content cards 300 may be scrolled upward, condensed, or removed from display to allow the display of the new content card 300. As will be appreciated, a user may return to a previously displayed content card 300 in a series of content cards 300 by navigating backwards (e.g., scrolling upwards when scrolling downwards provides new content cards 300, selecting condensed content cards 300).
Method 400 may conclude when a user provides a command to dismiss the search functionality.
While implementations have been described in the general context of program modules that execute in conjunction with an application program that runs on an operating system on a computer, those skilled in the art will recognize that aspects may also be implemented in combination with other program modules. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, components, data structures, and other types of structures that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types.
The aspects and functionalities described herein may operate via a multitude of computing systems including, without limitation, desktop computer systems, wired and wireless computing systems, mobile computing systems (e.g., mobile telephones, netbooks, tablet or slate type computers, notebook computers, and laptop computers), hand-held devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, minicomputers, and mainframe computers.
In addition, according to an aspect, the aspects and functionalities described herein operate over distributed systems (e.g., cloud-based computing systems), where application functionality, memory, data storage and retrieval and various processing functions are operated remotely from each other over a distributed computing network, such as the Internet or an intranet. According to an aspect, user interfaces and information of various types are displayed via on-board computing device displays or via remote display units associated with one or more computing devices. For example, user interfaces and information of various types are displayed and interacted with on a wall surface onto which user interfaces and information of various types are projected. Interaction with the multitude of computing systems with which implementations are practiced include, keystroke entry, touch screen entry, voice or other audio entry, gesture entry where an associated computing device is equipped with detection (e.g., camera) functionality for capturing and interpreting user gestures for controlling the functionality of the computing device, and the like.
As stated above, according to an aspect, a number of program modules and data files are stored in the system memory 504. While executing on the processing unit 502, the program modules 506 (e.g., helix interface engine 130) perform processes including, but not limited to, one or more of the stages of the method 400 illustrated in
According to an aspect, the computing device 500 has one or more input device(s) 512 such as a keyboard, a mouse, a pen, a sound input device, a touch input device, etc. The output device(s) 514 such as a display, speakers, a printer, etc. are also included according to an aspect. The aforementioned devices are examples and others may be used. According to an aspect, the computing device 500 includes one or more communication connections 516 allowing communications with other computing devices 518. Examples of suitable communication connections 516 include, but are not limited to, radio frequency (RF) transmitter, receiver, and/or transceiver circuitry; universal serial bus (USB), parallel, and/or serial ports.
The term computer readable media, as used herein, includes computer storage media. Computer storage media include volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information, such as computer readable instructions, data structures, or program modules. The system memory 504, the removable storage device 509, and the non-removable storage device 510 are all computer storage media examples (i.e., memory storage.) According to an aspect, computer storage media include RAM, ROM, electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other article of manufacture which can be used to store information and which can be accessed by the computing device 500. According to an aspect, any such computer storage media are part of the computing device 500. Computer storage media do not include a carrier wave or other propagated data signal.
According to an aspect, communication media are embodied by computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data in a modulated data signal, such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism, and include any information delivery media. According to an aspect, the term “modulated data signal” describes a signal that has one or more characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal. By way of example, and not limitation, communication media include wired media such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, radio frequency (RF), infrared, and other wireless media.
According to an aspect, one or more application programs 650 are loaded into the memory 662 and run on or in association with the operating system 664. Examples of the application programs include phone dialer programs, e-mail programs, personal information management (PIM) programs, word processing programs, spreadsheet programs, Internet browser programs, messaging programs, and so forth. According to an aspect, helix interface engine 130 is loaded into memory 662. The system 602 also includes a non-volatile storage area 668 within the memory 662. The non-volatile storage area 668 is used to store persistent information that should not be lost if the system 602 is powered down. The application programs 650 may use and store information in the non-volatile storage area 668, such as e-mail or other messages used by an e-mail application, and the like. A synchronization application (not shown) also resides on the system 602 and is programmed to interact with a corresponding synchronization application resident on a host computer to keep the information stored in the non-volatile storage area 668 synchronized with corresponding information stored at the host computer. As should be appreciated, other applications may be loaded into the memory 662 and run on the mobile computing device 600.
According to an aspect, the system 602 has a power supply 670, which is implemented as one or more batteries. According to an aspect, the power supply 670 further includes an external power source, such as an AC adapter or a powered docking cradle that supplements or recharges the batteries.
According to an aspect, the system 602 includes a radio 672 that performs the function of transmitting and receiving radio frequency communications. The radio 672 facilitates wireless connectivity between the system 602 and the “outside world,” via a communications carrier or service provider. Transmissions to and from the radio 672 are conducted under control of the operating system 664. In other words, communications received by the radio 672 may be disseminated to the application programs 650 via the operating system 664, and vice versa.
According to an aspect, the visual indicator 620 is used to provide visual notifications and/or an audio interface 674 is used for producing audible notifications via the audio transducer 625. In the illustrated example, the visual indicator 620 is a light emitting diode (LED) and the audio transducer 625 is a speaker. These devices may be directly coupled to the power supply 670 so that when activated, they remain on for a duration dictated by the notification mechanism even though the processor 660 and other components might shut down for conserving battery power. The LED may be programmed to remain on indefinitely until the user takes action to indicate the powered-on status of the device. The audio interface 674 is used to provide audible signals to and receive audible signals from the user. For example, in addition to being coupled to the audio transducer 625, the audio interface 674 may also be coupled to a microphone to receive audible input, such as to facilitate a telephone conversation. According to an aspect, the system 602 further includes a video interface 676 that enables an operation of an on-board camera 630 to record still images, video stream, and the like.
According to an aspect, a mobile computing device 600 implementing the system 602 has additional features or functionality. For example, the mobile computing device 600 includes additional data storage devices (removable and/or non-removable) such as, magnetic disks, optical disks, or tape. Such additional storage is illustrated in
According to an aspect, data/information generated or captured by the mobile computing device 600 and stored via the system 602 are stored locally on the mobile computing device 600, as described above. According to another aspect, the data are stored on any number of storage media that are accessible by the device via the radio 672 or via a wired connection between the mobile computing device 600 and a separate computing device associated with the mobile computing device 600, for example, a server computer in a distributed computing network, such as the Internet. As should be appreciated such data/information are accessible via the mobile computing device 600 via the radio 672 or via a distributed computing network. Similarly, according to an aspect, such data/information are readily transferred between computing devices for storage and use according to well-known data/information transfer and storage means, including electronic mail and collaborative data/information sharing systems.
Implementations, for example, are described above with reference to block diagrams and/or operational illustrations of methods, systems, and computer program products according to aspects. The functions/acts noted in the blocks may occur out of the order as shown in any flowchart. For example, two blocks shown in succession may in fact be executed substantially concurrently or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality/acts involved.
The description and illustration of one or more examples provided in this application are not intended to limit or restrict the scope as claimed in any way. The aspects, examples, and details provided in this application are considered sufficient to convey possession and enable others to make and use the best mode. Implementations should not be construed as being limited to any aspect, example, or detail provided in this application. Regardless of whether shown and described in combination or separately, the various features (both structural and methodological) are intended to be selectively included or omitted to produce an example with a particular set of features. Having been provided with the description and illustration of the present application, one skilled in the art may envision variations, modifications, and alternate examples falling within the spirit of the broader aspects of the general inventive concept embodied in this application that do not depart from the broader scope.
