Patent Application
20100281417
Search engines utilize many methods and techniques for providing a user with the most valuable user experience possible. Such techniques include organizing search results in a way that provides the most relevant results near the top of a list of search results such that a user can quickly find a desired result. Another technique is to provide filters that can be selected by a user for application to a group of search results. Such filters may filter the search results by context, file types, or subject matter, just to name a few. Additional filters may also be provided to further narrow a group of filtered search results.
The provision of these filters is often done by presenting links within a search results page or in a search results listing that a user may select to have a given filter applied. These links are often disregarded or go unnoticed by users because they are located in areas typically reserved for advertisements or search results with lesser relevance. Accordingly, users may be unaware of the availability of the filters and thus, the value of the filters to both users and search engine providers is lost.
Embodiments of the invention are defined by the claims below, not this Summary. A high-level overview of various aspects of the invention are provided here for that reason, to provide an overview of the disclosure, and to introduce a selection of concepts that are further described below in the Detailed Description section below. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in isolation to determine the scope of the claimed subject matter.
Embodiments of the invention are directed to methods and computer-executable instructions that allow a computing device to perform methods for providing filters for filtering context-specific search results. The filters are provided to a user via a toolbar in a browser. A list of indicators is employed by the computing device to identify when a context-specific search is initiated by a user. The indicators have filters associated with them that allow a user to filter results from the context-specific search. The computing device monitors uniform resource locator (URL) addresses to which the user navigates via the browser and identifies URLs containing an indicator. Filters associated with a URL indicator are presented to the user in association with a toolbar in the browser. A user may select one or more of the presented filters to filter or refine the search results. The filtered search results are then presented to the user.
Illustrative embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below with reference to the attached drawing figures, wherein:
The subject matter of embodiments of the present invention is described with specificity herein to meet statutory requirements. But the description itself is not intended to necessarily limit the scope of claims. Rather, the claimed subject matter might 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. Terms 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.
Embodiments of the invention describe computer-readable media and methods for providing a filters toolbar in association with a browser. A toolbar application provides a filters toolbar to present a set of filters for filtering context-specific search results. In one embodiment, computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that, when executed, cause a computing device to perform a method for providing a toolbar displayed in a browser that includes filters for filtering context-specific search results is described. An indicator that indicates a context-specific search is received. The indicator is associated with filters. A computing device monitors uniform resource locator (URL) addresses to which a browser navigates. A URL that contains an indicator is identified. The computing device presents in association with a toolbar on a computer display, a filter associated with the indicator.
In another embodiment, a computer-implemented method at a first computing device for providing a toolbar in a browser displayed on a computer display associated with the first computing device, the toolbar including filters for filtering context-specific search results is described. An indicator that indicates a context-specific search is received at the first computing device. The indicator is associated with filters. A URL address to which a browser navigates is monitored via the first computing device. A URL that contains the indicator is identified. The first computing device presents the filters associated with the indicator at a toolbar in a browser on a computer display. A selection of a filter is received at the first computing device. A filter selected from the presented filters is applied to the search results from the context-specific search. Filtered context-specific search results are presented on the computer display via the first computing device. The filtered context-specific search results result from applying the selected filter to the search results from the context-specific search.
In another embodiment, computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that, when executed, cause a computing device to perform method for providing a toolbar in a browser displayed on a computer display that includes filters for filtering context-specific search results is described. An indicator is received at a computing device that indicates a context-specific search. The indicator is associated with filters. The filters are associated with a representative image and a modifier. The modifiers include words, phrases, symbols, and codes to be used to modify a Uniform Resource Locator to apply a respective filter. A URL address to which a browser navigates is monitored via the computing device. A URL that contains the indicators is identified. A filter is presented in association with a toolbar on a computer display. The filter is associated with the indicator and is represented on the toolbar by the associated representative image. A selection of the filter is received. The filter is applied to search results from the context-specific search. Filtered context-specific search results are presented on the computer display via the computing device. The filtered context-specific search results result from application of the filter to the search results from the context-specific search. The appearance of toolbar is modified to indicate the application of the filter to the search results from the context-specific search.
Referring now to the drawings in general and initially to
Embodiments of the invention may be described in the context of computer code or machine-useable instructions, including computer-executable instructions such as program modules, being executed by a computer or other machine, such as a personal data assistant or other handheld device. Generally, program modules including routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc., refer to code that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Embodiments of the invention may be practiced in a variety of system configurations, including hand-held devices, consumer electronics, specialty computing devices, etc. Embodiments of the invention may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote-processing devices that are linked through a communications network.
With continued reference to
The computing device 100 typically includes a variety of computer-readable media. By way of example, and not limitation, computer-readable media may comprises Random Access Memory (RAM); Read Only Memory (ROM); Electronically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM); flash memory or other memory technologies; compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical or holographic media; magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, carrier wave or any other medium that can be used to encode desired information and be accessed by computing device 100.
The memory 112 includes computer-storage media in the form of volatile and/or nonvolatile memory. The memory 112 may be removable, non-removable, or a combination thereof. Exemplary hardware devices include solid-state memory, hard drives, optical-disc drives, etc. The computing device 100 includes one or more processors that read data from various entities such as the memory 112 or the I/O components 120. The presentation component(s) 116 present data indications to a user or other device. Exemplary presentation components include a display device, speaker, printing component, vibrating component, etc.
The I/O ports 118 allow the computing device 100 to be logically coupled to other devices including the I/O components 120, some of which may be built in. Illustrative components include a microphone, joystick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner, printer, wireless device, etc.
Embodiments of the invention employ a browser application (hereinafter “browser”). The browser is any available browser application capable of navigating to, interacting with, and displaying webpages on the Internet, World Wide Web, a private network, or other network such as, for example and not limitation, Internet Explorer® from Microsoft® Corporation of Redmond, Wash. or Mozilla FireFox® from Mozilla® Corporation of Mountain View, Calif.
Turning now to
As is most applicable to embodiments of the invention,
A context-specific search narrows the search results returned by a search engine based on a context selected by a user. Contexts include for example, and not limitation, images, videos, news, and products. Where for example, a context-specific search based on the context of images returns only images, a context-specific search based on videos returns only video or audio-video files, a context-specific search based on news returns only news articles, news-related web pages and the like, and a context-specific search based on products returns only offers for sales of products, product sales web pages, deals on products for sales, and the like.
Contexts might also include any other category, subject matter, search result type, search result format, or search result characteristic by which search results returned by a search engine in response to a search query may be narrowed or filtered, such as for example and not limitation, health, spaces, cashback, maps, local, and web. For example, a context-specific search based on health might only return related health articles, healthcare providers, healthcare products, and the like, a context-specific search based on spaces returns personal web pages or spaces of other users, a context-specific search based on cashback returns incentivized offers for sale of items, a context-specific search based on maps returns maps, directions, aerial images, and the like for a searched location, and a context-specific search based on local returns only local listings of businesses, people, and the like near a user's physical location. Additionally, a context-specific search based on web (or a non-context specific web search) returns general search results listings as are known in the art along with one or more filters that are indicated by the search terms of the search query (described more fully below).
For example, where a user wishes to find images of a baseball player he or she might search for the player by entering the player's name into a search engine. In response the search engine returns search results for the query that include links to web pages, images, videos, audio recordings, and advertisements, and the like. The user may then narrow or filter the search results by selecting the context-specific link 224 for a context-specific search for images. In response, the search engine may run the query again or filter the previous search results such that only search results comprising images are provided in a context-specific search results web page (as shown and described with respect to
In an embodiment, the invention may be implemented as a plug-in or add-on (hereinafter “plug-in”) to an existing application. The existing application may include, by way of example and not limitation, a browser application or a toolbar application. In such embodiments, the plug-in may be installed into memory on a computing device such that it is integrated into the functionalities of the existing application.
With reference now to
The indicators include keywords or patterns of words, symbols, phrases, codes, or syntax that are contained in uniform resource locator (URL) addresses of context-specific search result web pages. The indicators are useable by the toolbar application to identify web pages that are context-specific search result web pages. In an embodiment, the one or more indicators are provided as a list of indicators and other associated data described below. In another embodiment, the list is received from a provider or publisher of the toolbar application via a network connection therewith. In another embodiment, the list of indicators is a configuration file and may be written in an extensible markup language (XML). Additionally, the list of indicators may be updated via a network connection with a publisher or provider of the toolbar application or via one or more portable computer-readable media. Such updates may add, remove, or change any of the data contained in the list as is necessary to provide the toolbar application with a current list of indicators and related data. The updating process is automatically controlled by another application charged with responsibility to check for and retrieve updates for applications, or updates can be retrieved by a user or other application.
The list of indicators includes for each indicator at least one filter, a representative image for each filter, and one or more modifiers for applying the filter. The filters each provide a way of filtering, narrowing, categorizing, or otherwise sorting context-specific search results. The filters are context specific in that the filters are useful in filtering the types of search results returned by a particular context-specific search. For example, filters for a context-specific search for images are applicable to filtering images based on properties or characteristics of images, but may not necessarily be useful for application with a context-specific search for news articles. As such, the filters are only associated with indicators of context-specific search results for which the filters are applicable. In an embodiment, one or more of the filters is useable and applicable to more than one specific context.
Representative images are provided for each filter to serve as visual representations of the filters that can be displayed in the filters toolbar to represent the filter to a user. The images can be any available image, icon, drawing, or graphic suitable to represent the filter or characteristics of the filter to a user. In an embodiment, an address or memory location is provided in the list of indicators from which the images may be retrieved.
The modifiers include one or more words, phrases, symbols, codes, or syntax that are appended to, integrated into, or that modify a URL for the context-specific search results web page in order to apply a selected filter. In an embodiment, the modifiers indicate a memory location from which to retrieve the filter.
In embodiments, the list of indicators may also include a text string for each filter. The text string comprises a title, phrase, or statements describing a corresponding filter. If desired, text string may be displayed as a “tool tip” to provide the user with information about the filter. The user may access the tool tip for viewing by various methods such as hovering a mouse cursor over a filter image on the filters toolbar or by providing a right-click selection of the filter image on the filters toolbar, among other methods. In an embodiment, an address or memory location is provided from which the text string may be retrieved.
With continued reference to
At 306, the toolbar application identifies a URL as containing an indicator from the list. The toolbar application then determines filters, images, modifiers, and/or text strings that are associated with the identified indicator from the list. The filters are presented to a user by the toolbar application on a filters toolbar, as indicated at 308. A filters toolbar is depicted in
With reference to
As described above, the filters toolbar 402 displays representative images 404 of filters that are applicable to further filter, narrow, or sort the context-specific search results images 408 based on one or more characteristics. The filters presented in the filters toolbar 402 are based on any available characteristic of context-specific search results that might allow a user to meaningfully narrow a group of context-specific search results 408. For example, the filters of the filters toolbar 402 include filters based on size of the image 410, image aspect ratio or orientation 412 (e.g., portrait, landscape, or other), color 414 (e.g., black and white, color, sepia, etc.), style 416 (e.g., photograph, illustration), and face 418 (e.g., including a face, a head and shoulders, or other).
A user may select a desired filter 410-418 from the filters toolbar 402 by providing an input such as a click from a mouse cursor 420, among other methods. In an embodiment, the user selects multiple filters 410-418 from the filters toolbar 402. The toolbar application identifies the appropriate modifiers from the indicators list for the selected filters and integrates them into the URL for the context-specific search results web page. The browser is directed to the modified URL thereby applying the filter to the context-specific search results and displaying filtered context-specific search results 508 as depicted in
As depicted in
Referring now to
The set of filters are presented to the user along with one or more context-specific search results that are displayed by a browser. At 610, a selection of one or more of the filters presented to the user in the filters toolbar is received. The selection is provided by the user via a click of a mouse, a keyboard shortcut, or by any other available means. Upon receiving the selection, the toolbar application accesses the list of indicators to determine one or more modifiers that are necessary to apply the one or more filters. The modifiers associated with each of the selected filters are appended to the URL of the context-specific search results web page and the browser is directed to the URL address by the toolbar application to apply the filters to the context-specific search results, as indicated at 612. Alternatively, in another embodiment, the toolbar application identifies another application, program, macro, or other functionality to filter the context-specific search results. The filtered context-specific search results are then presented to the user by the browser, as indicated at 614.
With reference now to
Upon selecting one of the available links, one or more additional fields or address components are appended to the URL of the search query by the search engine. The additional fields and address components direct the browser and/or search engine to execute the search query again as a context-specific search. The toolbar application determines that a context-specific search is executed by identifying one or more of the additional fields or address components of the URL as comprising an indicator that is included in the list of indicators, as indicated at 706.
At 708, the toolbar application determines filters that are associated with the identified indicator and presents the filters to the user on a filters toolbar. The filters toolbar is animated to provide the impression that the filters toolbar pops out or scrolls out of the browser window in order to draw the user's attention to the filters toolbar.
The filters toolbar also displays tool tips to a user to provide information about each of the presented filters. The user access the tool tips by providing an input to the toolbar application via the filters toolbar, such as for example and not limitation hovering a mouse cursor over the filters toolbar or by providing a right click from a mouse at one of the filter images in the filters toolbar. In response the toolbar application presents via the filters toolbar, a short text window to display the tool tip. The presented text is provided to the toolbar application in the list of indicators wherein each filter has an associated text string. Alternatively, the list of indicators might provide a file location from which the text string for the tool tip may be retrieved. The tool tip provides the user with a short explanation of the type of filter that is represented by a given image on the filters toolbar among other information that may be conveyed.
At 710, the user determines that they wish to have one or more of the filters presented on the filters toolbar applied to the context-specific search results and the user's selection of the desired filters is received by the toolbar application at the filters toolbar.
To apply the one or more filters, the toolbar application determines modifiers for each of the one or more selected filters from the list of indicators. The modifiers are added, appended, or otherwise integrated into the URL of the context-specific search results web page to modify the URL and to direct the browser and/or search engine to re-execute the search query and apply the filters to the search results, as indicated at 712.
Filtered context-specific search results are presented, as indicated at 714. The toolbar application modifies the filters toolbar to indicate to the user which filters have been applied to the context-specific search results, as indicated at 716. The user may then select a search result as is known in the art or may provide further inputs to the toolbar application to remove a filter or to apply additional filters. The filters toolbar remains visible on the browser until the browser is navigated away from the context-specific search results webpage at which point the filters toolbar is replaced by another browser filters toolbar or is merely removed from view. The replacement of the filters toolbar is animated similarly to the animation provided for presenting the filters toolbar and provides an audio file that is played to a user.
In another embodiment, the toolbar application also presents one or more related links via an icon in the filters toolbar through which a user can access the related links. The toolbar application identifies related links based on one or more of the search query terms supplied to the search engine by the user and an identified context-specific search. The related links may be provided in the list of indicators, or the toolbar application or the search engine may execute an additional search as a background process to obtain a listing of related searches from another networked computing device.
In another embodiment, the toolbar application provides dynamically generated filters based on a list of indicators and one or more search query terms. Such filters are determined based on one or more of the context of the search and the subject matter of the search query, among others. The list of indicators received by the toolbar application includes indicators that indicate search query terms for which dynamically generated filters can be generated. For example, a user may provide a search query comprising “Chief's Football.” The toolbar application identifies in a manner similar to that described above that one or more filters are available based on the search term “football” and presents those filters in the filters toolbar. Such filters might include for example and not limitation, teams, players, tickets, and memorabilia, among others. In another embodiment, the indicators indicate a web search via a search engine that is not based on the context of the search. In such an embodiment, one or more of the search query terms may be identified as an indicator that indicates one or more filters are available.
Many different arrangements of the various components depicted, as well as components not shown, are possible without departing from the scope of the claims below. Embodiments of our technology have been described with the intent to be illustrative rather than restrictive. Alternative embodiments will become apparent readers of this disclosure after and because of reading it. Alternative means of implementing the aforementioned can be completed without departing from the scope of the claims below. Certain features and subcombinations are of utility and may be employed without reference to other features and subcombinations and are contemplated within the scope of the claims.
