Patent Application
20070067268
Not applicable.
Not applicable.
In recent years, computer users have become more and more reliant upon computers to store and present a wide range of content including news, research, and entertainment. For example, the Internet, through its billions of Web pages, provides a vast and quickly growing library of information and resources.
In order to find desired content, computer users often make use of search utilities. For example, Internet search engines are well known in the art, and commonly known commercial engines include those provided by Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft Network (MSN™). In response to a user's search query, an Internet search engine will generally provide search results that list various Web pages that may contain desired content. Alternatively, search engines may use data other than Web pages to serve queries from end-users. For example, a search utility may traverse structured data including sports scores, movie show times, TV guide, weather and stock data. In some instances, structured data is utilized to give the answer to the user's query rather than a list of Web page links. For example, for the query “weather boston”, the current weather of Boston, Mass. is presented.
Despite the many capabilities of conventional search engines, deficiencies still exist in the art. For example, the underlying logic used by a conventional search engine in serving results is typically unavailable to the users. As a result, the user is not aware of how the search engine interprets queries, and the user is not capable of intelligently revising a query to more efficiently search the data. Further, search engines today do not provide insight into the structure of the available data, i.e., the categories of content being searched. Consequently, the user is not informed what data is available and, thus, cannot choose desired categories. Given these deficiencies, the user is often forced to attempt multiple search queries and/or to sift through irrelevant material before finding an acceptable answer. Accordingly, there is a need for improved techniques for providing search capabilities to a user.
The present invention meets the above needs and overcomes one or more deficiencies in the prior art by providing a system and method for facilitating navigation of stored information. In one embodiment, a user interface configured to receive a search input is provided. This interface may optionally be provided via the Internet. In response to receipt of a search input, a data store is accessed. The data store may contain various information elements, and each of these elements may be tagged with one or more terms categorizing the information element. These categorizing terms, for example, may describe various properties of the information element. Information elements are selected as potential answers to the search input, and the categorizing terms associated with these potential answers are displayed in the user interface. It should be noted that this Summary is provided to generally introduce the reader to one or more select concepts described below in the Detailed Description in a simplified form. This Summary is not intended to identify key and/or required features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.
The present invention is described in detail below with reference to the attached drawing figures, wherein:
The subject matter of the present invention is described with specificity to meet statutory requirements. However, the description itself is not intended to limit the scope of this patent. Rather, the inventors have contemplated that the claimed subject matter might also be embodied in other ways, to include different steps or combinations of steps similar to the ones described in this document, in conjunction with other present or future technologies. Moreover, although the term “step” may be used herein to connote different elements of methods employed, the term should not be interpreted as implying any particular order among or between various steps herein disclosed unless and except when the order of individual steps is explicitly described. Further, the present invention is described in detail below with reference to the attached drawing figures, which are incorporated in their entirety by reference herein.
The present invention provides improved systems and methods for facilitating navigation of information stored in a data store. The invention may be described in the general context of computer-executable instructions, such as program modules, being executed by a computer. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc., that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Moreover, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the invention may be practiced with a variety of computer-system configurations, including hand-held devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable-consumer electronics, minicomputers, mainframe computers, and the like. Any number of computer-systems and computer networks are acceptable for use with the present invention. The invention may be practiced in distributed-computing environments where tasks are performed by remote-processing devices that are linked through a communications network. In a distributed-computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote computer-storage media including memory storage devices. The computer-useable instructions form an interface to allow a computer to react according to a source of input. The instructions cooperate with other code segments to initiate a variety of tasks in response to data received in conjunction with the source of the received data.
The present invention may be implemented with a search engine capable of searching text and/or content. Those skilled in the art will recognize that the present invention may be implemented with any number of searching utilities. For example, an Internet search engine or a data store search engine may include the aspects of the present invention. These search engines are well known in the art, and commercially available engines share many similar processes.
The method 200, at a step 204, accesses a data store in response to receipt of a search input. The data store may contain a variety of structured (i.e. named) information elements. It should be noted that any type of content may be stored in the data store and that a variety of data stores or multiple data stores may be utilized by the present invention. In one embodiment, the data store receives the structured data from various knowledge-based entities. For example, the data store may receive real-time information such as sports scores, weather or news from these entities.
The data in the data store may be tagged with categorizing terms (or metadata) that describes the data by, for example, revealing various aspects of the data. In one embodiment, a portion of the categorizing terms may be inserted by the knowledge-based entities, while a portion may be inserted by the party in control of the data store. Any type of information may be stored as the categorizing terms. For example, a data element may have categorizing terms indicating that the underlying data relates to a restaurant in Houston, Tex. By utilizing this information, the element may be categorized as (1) a restaurant, (2) a location in Houston, and (3) a restaurant in Houston. The categorizing terms may take on any format or hierarchy. For example, the terms may include a set of key words describing the data. In this example, the ordering of the key words may be unimportant. Alternately, the categorizing terms may be arranged in accordance with a structure. As an example, categorizing terms associated with restaurants may dictate that the data be arranged as an array of strings indicating particular facts about the underlying data. This array may be [restaurant name; location; telephone number; type of food]. As will be subsequently discussed, the structure of the categorizing terms may be leveraged by search operations traversing the stored data.
At a step 206, the method 200 uses the categorizing terms to select information elements as potential answers to the search input. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the method 200 may use any number of search utilities or heuristics to select information elements responsive to the search input. For example, using the search terms contained in the search input, the method 200 may seek each element having categorizing terms matching at least a portion of the search terms. As potential results are considered, the method 200 may use a relevancy ranking heuristic to determine which information elements should be selected. Such search techniques and relevant rankings are well known in the art, and the present invention is not limited to a particular search algorithm.
After the potential answers are selected, the method 200, at a step 208, displays a user interface containing a listing of the categorizing terms associated with the potential answers. This interface may be provided on a variety of devices such as a mobile handheld device and/or a mobile phone. As previously discussed, the categorizing terms are descriptive of the underlying data and, thus, provide insight into the various types of available data responsive to the search. For example, a search query may be “Michael Jordan”. Instead of returning web-pages about Michael Jordan, the method 200 will display categories of information such as statistics, biography, previous teams or video clips. Of course, each of these categories of information will have one or more associated information elements selected in response to the search query. The user interface may display only a sub-set of the categorizing information, and the information may be ranked in the interface by relevance.
At a step 210, the method 200 updates the listing of the categorizing terms in response to alteration of the search input. The alteration may be any change to the currently entered search input. The alteration, for example, may be the addition or removal of search terms. In one embodiment, the updating of the listing includes re-accessing the data store and re-selecting potential answers. Such updating may be done when any letter in the search input is changed or added. Returning to the “Michael Jordan” search query example, a user entering this query may be interested in Jordan's points-per-game average in the 1995-1996 season. When presented with the available information categories, the user may select to alter the query to “Michael Jordan statistics”. Response to this alteration, the method 200 may select each item of information in the data store having categorizing terms indicating that the underlying element relates to Jordan's statistics. From this listing, the user may select the category “Michael Jordan statistics points-per-game” and obtain the desired information. Thus, the interface allows the user to intelligently revise the search query and to zoom-in upon a desired piece of data. Similarly, the interface allows for efficient navigation of the available data by providing categorical listings responsive to a search query. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that this interface may provide a variety of information revealing the types of data available and relevant to a given search input.
A search engine component 308 is also included in the system 300. The search engine component 308 may be configured to access the data store and to select information elements as potential answers to a user's search input. In one embodiment, the search engine component 308 utilizes only the categorizing terms associated with the information elements to select the potential answers. For example, by comparing the search terms with the categorizing information, the search engine component 308 may identify which information elements are the most likely to answer the user's query. Those skilled in the art will recognize that various search utilities exist in the art and that the present invention may utilize any number of these known search techniques.
The system 300 also includes a user computer 302 which is connected to an interface component 306 via a network 304. The user computer may be the user computer 10 of
After the search engine component 308 selects potential answers to the search input, the interface component 306 may be configured to display a listing of the categorizing terms stored along with the potential answers. As the categorizing terms indicate the content of the underlying information, the user is able to see the types of information available in the data store 310. Further, the user can recognize the manner in which the search engine component 308 has interpreted the search input. If displeased with the presented categorizing terms, the user may revise the search input to alter the presented categories. Once the user recognizes a category matching a desired answer, the user may select to view the underlying information elements associated with this category. In one embodiment, the listing of the categorizing terms is automatically updated in response to alteration of the search input. In this embodiment, after any change or addition to the search input, the search engine component 308 re-queries the data store 310 and updates the selected potential answers. Then, the interface provided by the interface component 306 presents the categorizing terms associated with the selected potential answers. Those skilled in the art will recognize that, by automatically updating the listing of categorizing terms, the system 300 provides interactive feedback allowing the user to navigate amongst the available information elements.
Only a portion of the categorizing terms may be shown. For example, the categorizing terms may be stored in an hierarchical format in which each subsequent term provides a more precise characterization of the underlying data. Returning to the Britney Spears example, a user may desire to see a particular Britney Spears music video, and thus, may select the category “britney spears music videos” as indicated by a selection box 408. Responsive to this selection, a new listing of categories may be presented by providing the title of each of the Britney Spears music videos in the database. Thus, by iteratively presenting the various levels of categorizing information, the category presentation area 406 may allow the user to zoom-in on desired subject matter. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that this functionally will not only aid a user in finding an answer to a specific inquiry, but will also permit efficient navigation of related subject matter. For example, though the user desired to see only a specific music video, by presenting them with a listing of all of Britney Spears' music videos, they may also view the related video content.
The listing presented in the category presentation area 406 may be ranked for relevance, and additional information may be displayed with each of the listings. For example, an indication of the popularity or relevance of the category may be presented. The listing may inform the user of how likely a category may answer the user's query. By providing a confidence measure, the interface 400 may suggest the most-likely answers to the users. For example, for the query “weather boston”, the category presentation area 406 may indicate that the most-likely answer to the user's query is the current weather condition in Boston, Mass., while historical weather data may have low confidence indicators.
The interface 400 also includes a second display area 410 in which the current answer to a query is presented. The current answer may be the underlying information element(s) associated with a selected category listing. The selected category listing may be chosen by the user or may be selected automatically based on, for example, a relevancy ranking. Any aspect or preview of the underlying information elements may be presented in the second display area 410. For example, the selection box 408 indicates selection of the category “britney spears music videos”. Responsive to this selection, the screen area 412 presents information related to this category. For example, the screen area 412 may provide a listing of all Britney Spears' music videos in the data store. The screen area 412 may also display the underlying information elements associated with the selected category listing. Accordingly, the user may browse the underlying information to select items of interest.
The method 500, at a step 504, generates a listing of answer categories in response to the search input, and, at a step 506, the method 500 displays this listing of answer categories to the user. Each of the answer categories correspond to one or more elements of information in a data store, and these elements of information are selected as potential answers to the search input. As previously set forth, a data store may store various elements of information along with characterizing terms indicating the content of the elements. In response to a search input, the method 500 may search the characterizing terms to select the elements of information that potentially answer the search input. In the end, the characterizing terms associated with these selected elements are used to generate the displayed answer categories.
At a step 508, the method 500 determines whether additional search inputs have been received. Additional search inputs may be any change to the input or may be any additional search terms. In one embodiment, the addition, removal or alteration of a single character in the search input will be deemed an additional search input.
When an additional search input is received, the method 500 repeats the steps 504 and 506. Accordingly, after each change to the search input, a revised listing of answer categories is presented to the user. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, by updating the listed answer categories after each additional search input, the user is provided real-time feedback allowing for intelligent revisions to the search input and for efficient navigation of the available information elements.
Once no more additional search inputs are received, the method 500 receives a user selection of one of the listed categories at a step 510. Responsive to this input, the method 500 may display the underlying information associated with the listed categories. When more than one element of information is associated with the selected category, the user may be presented with additional information about the elements. In one embodiment, after selection of a category, the user is presented a listing of sub-categories of the selected category. The user is thus able to zoom-in on a desired answer.
At a step 512, the method 500 displays a selected element of information to the user. Any presentation of the information may be appropriate. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that, as the user arrives at this answer through an iterative process of refining the search input and by selecting categories of interest, the answer presented at the step 512 may provide information of significance to the user.
Alternative embodiments and implementations of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which it pertains upon review of the specification, including the drawing figures. Accordingly, the scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims rather than the foregoing description.
