Patent Application
20150317945
The present description relates generally to a system and method, generally referred to as a system, for generating tinted glass visual effects for interface controls and elements.
It is common for users to enter a query consisting of one or more keywords and execute a search on a web page. Typically, search results are provided on a search results page that displays a list of links with titles. Individual search results may also be provided with a textual description of the linked content. In many cases, the list of results is accompanied by one or more sponsored results (i.e., search advertisements) that may be receive preferential display over unsponsored results.
Increasingly, users are executing searches on mobile devices, such as smartphones or tablets. However, the common technique of providing a list of results is not well adapted to the particular technical and use constraints of a mobile device. There is, therefore, a set of engineering problems to be solved in order to provide search results to users that are well adapted to mobile devices or mobile device interfaces to other devices (such as televisions).
Other systems, methods, features and advantages will be, or will become, apparent to one with skill in the art upon examination of the following figures and detailed description. It is intended that all such additional systems, methods, features and advantages be included within this description, be within the scope of the embodiments, and be protected by the following claims and be defined by the following claims. Further aspects and advantages are discussed below in conjunction with the description.
In one aspect or embodiment, a system stored in a non-transitory medium executable by processor circuitry is provided. The system includes interface circuitry configured to receive a search query and query processing circuitry configured to identify a content item related to the search query and to retrieve data for the content item. Image editing circuitry is communicatively coupled to the query processing circuitry. The image editing circuitry is configured to identify a display element associated with the content item from the retrieved data, dynamically generate a semi-transparent portion of the display element, and apply the semi-transparent portion of the display element to a background of an interface element. Display logic circuitry is also communicatively coupled to the interface circuitry and is configured to display, in response to the search query, the interface element as a sub-portion of the display element associated with the content item.
In another aspect or embodiment, a computer-implemented method is provided. The method includes processing, by query processing circuitry communicatively coupled to a network communications circuitry, a search query to identify search result objects associated with the search query. A search result object associated with the search query and a graphical display element related to the search result object is then received at the network communications circuitry. Image editing circuitry then processes the graphical display element for the search result object to dynamically generate a semi-transparent portion of the graphical display element. The image editing circuitry then identifies an interface element associated with the search result object and applying the semi-transparent portion of the graphical display element as a background of the interface element. And the display logic circuitry generates display logic for displaying graphical search result objects to a user including the search result object and the semi-transparent portion of the graphical display element as a background of the interface element.
In a third aspect or embodiment, a system is provided that includes a means for receiving a user search query and identifying a graphical element associated with a search result object related to the search query. The system also includes a means for generating a tinted glass visual effect for a portion of the graphical element and a means for displaying the tinted glass visual effect on the portion of graphical element as part of a graphical search result related to the search query. The system further includes a means for outputting the graphical search result to be displayed on a display of a client device.
The system and/or method may be better understood with reference to the following drawings and description. Non-limiting and non-exhaustive descriptions are described with reference to the following drawings. The components in the figures are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating principles. In the figures, like referenced numerals may refer to like parts throughout the different figures unless otherwise specified.
a illustrates entity and non-entity search result objects having tinted glass interface elements displayed on an example page view rendered by a client-side application executed on a mobile client-side device.
b illustrates partially expanded entity search result objects having tinted glass interface elements displayed on an example page view rendered by the client-side application executed on a mobile client-side device.
Subject matter will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and which show, by way of illustration, specific exemplary embodiments. Subject matter may, however, be embodied in a variety of different forms and, therefore, covered or claimed subject matter is intended to be construed as not being limited to any example embodiments set forth herein; example embodiments are provided merely to be illustrative. Likewise, a reasonably broad scope for claimed or covered subject matter is intended. Among other things, for example, subject matter may be embodied as methods, devices, components, or systems. The following detailed description is, therefore, not intended to be limiting on the scope of what is claimed.
Throughout the specification and claims, terms may have nuanced meanings suggested or implied in context beyond an explicitly stated meaning. Likewise, the phrase “in one embodiment” as used herein does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment and the phrase “in another embodiment” as used herein does not necessarily refer to a different embodiment. It is intended, for example, that claimed subject matter includes combinations of example embodiments in whole or in part.
In general, terminology may be understood at least in part from usage in context. For example, terms, such as “and”, “or”, or “and/or,” as used herein may include a variety of meanings that may depend at least in part upon the context in which such terms are used. Typically, “or” if used to associate a list, such as A, B or C, is intended to mean A, B, and C, here used in the inclusive sense, as well as A, B or C, here used in the exclusive sense. In addition, the term “one or more” as used herein, depending at least in part upon context, may be used to describe any feature, structure, or characteristic in a singular sense or may be used to describe combinations of features, structures or characteristics in a plural sense. Similarly, terms, such as “a,” “an,” or “the,” again, may be understood to convey a singular usage or to convey a plural usage, depending at least in part upon context. In addition, the term “based on” may be understood as not necessarily intended to convey an exclusive set of factors and may, instead, allow for existence of additional factors not necessarily expressly described, again, depending at least in part on context.
By way of introduction, systems and methods described herein may be utilized for implementing techniques to create tinted glass or frosted glass visual effects, referred to generally herein as “tinted glass” effects, for application to objects and elements of a user interface. In particular, various embodiments described herein may be utilized to apply a tinted glass visual effect to interface elements, including controls, action buttons, containers, and other objects, such as those that may allow a user to interact with a mobile application or mobile web experience. The tinted glass visual effect may be dynamically customized based on the target object or interface element or any sub-portion thereof that the visual effect is being applied to. In certain embodiments, customized forms of the tinted glass effect may be used as visual cues to provide an enhanced and intuitive user experience. Additionally, the tinted glass effect may advantageously be generated as a semi-transparent visual effect such that the tinted glass may be applied to one more graphical display elements, such as photographs, associated with the nature of the content item being displayed on the user interface.
In some embodiments, various methods and systems described herein may be utilized as a portion of a modular search object framework, such as those that may be used to present enhanced mobile and web-based browsing experiences to users. For instance, commonly owned U.S. patent application Ser. No. XX/XXX, filed MM/DD/YYYY, entitled ______, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, describes a modular search object framework for displaying graphical search results for entity and non-entity search results and search suggestion objects. As described further in connection with
Referring now to the figures,
The information system 100 may be accessible over the network 120 by advertiser devices, such as an advertiser client device 122 and by audience devices, such as an audience client device 124. An audience device can be a client device that presents online content, such as entity and non-entity search results, search suggestions, content, and advertisements, to a user. In various examples of such an online information system, users may search for and obtain content from sources over the network 120, such as obtaining content from the search engine server 106, the ad server 108, the ad database 110, the content server 112, the content database 114, and the modular search framework server 116. Advertisers may provide advertisements for placement on electronic properties, such as web pages, and other communications sent over the network to audience devices, such as the audience client device 124. The online information system can be deployed and operated by an online services provider, such as Yahoo! Inc.
The account server 102 stores account information for advertisers. The account server 102 is in data communication with the account database 104. Account information may include database records associated with each respective advertiser. Suitable information may be stored, maintained, updated and read from the account database 104 by the account server 102. Examples include advertiser identification information, advertiser security information, such as passwords and other security credentials, account balance information, and information related to content associated with their ads, and user interactions associated with their ads and associated content. Also, examples include analytics data related to their ads and associated content and user interactions with the aforementioned. In an example, the analytics data may be in the form of one or more sketches, such as in the form of a sketch per audience segment, segment combination, or at least part of a campaign. The account information may include ad booking information. This booking information can be used as input for determining ad impression availability.
The account server 102 may be implemented using a suitable device. The account server 102 may be implemented as a single server, a plurality of servers, or another type of computing device known in the art. Access to the account server 102 can be accomplished through a firewall that protects the account management programs and the account information from external tampering. Additional security may be provided via enhancements to the standard communications protocols, such as Secure HTTP (HTTPS) or the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). Such security may be applied to any of the servers of
The account server 102 may provide an advertiser front end to simplify the process of accessing the account information of an advertiser (such as a client-side application). The advertiser front end may be a program, application, or software routine that forms a user interface. In a particular example, the advertiser front end is accessible as a website with electronic properties that an accessing advertiser may view on an advertiser device, such as the advertiser client device 122. The advertiser may view and edit account data and advertisement data, such as ad booking data, using the advertiser front end. After editing the advertising data, the account data may then be saved to the account database 104.
Also, audience analytics, impressions delivered, impression availability, and segments may be viewed in real time using the advertiser front end. The advertiser front end may be a client-side application, such as a client-side application running on the advertiser client device. A script and/or applet (such as a script and/or applet) may be a part of this front end and may render access points for retrieval of the audience analytics, impressions delivered, impression availability, and segments. In an example, this front end may include a graphical display of fields for selecting an audience segment, segment combination, or at least part of a campaign. The front end, via the script and/or applet, can request the audience analytics, impressions delivered, and impression availability for the audience segment, segment combination, or at least part of a campaign. The information can then be displayed, such as displayed according to the script and/or applet.
The search engine server 106 and/or the modular search framework server 116 may be one or more servers. Alternatively, the search engine server 106 and/or the modular search framework server 116 may be a computer program, instructions, or software code stored on a computer-readable storage medium that runs on one or more processors of one or more servers. The search engine server 106 and/or the modular search framework server 116 may be accessed by audience devices, such as the audience client device 124 operated by an audience member over the network 120. Access may be through graphical access points. For example, query entry box (such as the query entry box 212 illustrated in
Besides a search query, the audience client device 124 can communicate interactions with a search result and/or a search suggestion, such as interactions with a sub-GUI associated with the search result appearing on the same page view as the search result. Such interactions can be communicated to the search engine server 106, the modular search framework server 116, and/or the analytics server 118, for example. The search engine server 106 and/or the modular search framework server 116 locates matching information using a suitable protocol or algorithm and returns information to the audience client device 124, such as in the form of search suggestions, entity search results, and non-entity search results. An example of non-entity search results can include a list of webpage search results. Webpage search results may include a link to a corresponding webpage and a short corresponding blurb and/or text scraped from the webpage. The search engine server 106 and/or the modular search framework server 116 may receive the user interaction information, that can include search queries, from an audience device, and send corresponding information to the ad server 108 and/or the content server 112, and the ad server 108 and/or the content server 112 may serve corresponding ads and/or search results, but with more in-depth details or accompanying GUIs and sub-GUI for interacting with subject matter associated with ads, entity search results, and/or non-entity search results. The information inputted and/or outputted by these devices may be logged in data logs and communicated to the analytics server 118 for processing, over the network 120. The analytics server 118 can provide analyzed feedback for affecting future serving of content. For example, the analytics server 118 can provide feedback for affecting serving of ads, search suggestions, entity search results, non-entity search results, and respective GUIs and sub-GUIs (including modular portions of a GUI, such as GUI elements discussed in connection with elements 308, 310, 312, and 318 of
The search engine server 106 and/or the modular search framework server 116 may be designed to help users and potential audience members find information located on the Internet or an intranet. In an example, the search engine server 106 and/or the modular search framework server 116 may also provide to the audience client device 124 over the network 120 an electronic property, such as a web page and/or entity tray, with content, including search results, information matching the context of a user inquiry, links to other network destinations, or information and files of information of interest to a user operating the audience client device 124, as well as a stream or web page of content items and advertisement items selected for display to the user. This information provided by the search engine server 106 and/or the modular search framework server 116 may also be logged, and such logs may be communicated to the analytics server 118 for processing, over the network 120. Once processed into corresponding analytics data, the analytics server 118 can provide analyzed feedback for affecting future serving of content. For example, the analytics server 118 can provide feedback for affecting serving of ads, search suggestions, entity search results, non-entity search results, and respective GUIs and sub-GUIs included with and/or associated with the ads, search suggestions, entity search results, and non-entity search results.
The search engine server 106 and/or the modular search framework server 116 may enable a device, such as the advertiser client device 122, the audience client device 124, or another type of client device, to search for files of interest using a search query, such as files associated with entity trays. Typically, the search engine server 106 and/or the modular search framework server 116 may be accessed by a client device via servers or directly over the network 120. The search engine server 106 and/or the modular search framework server 116 may include a crawler component, an indexer component, an index storage component, a search component, a ranking component, a cache, a user or group profile storage component, an entity storage component, a logon component, a user or group profile builder, an entity builder, and application program interfaces (APIs), such as APIs corresponding with the modular search framework. The search engine server 106 and/or the modular search framework server 116 may be deployed in a distributed manner, such as via a set of distributed servers, for example. Components may be duplicated within a network, such as for redundancy or better access.
The ad server 108 operates to serve advertisements to audience devices, such as the audience client device 124. An advertisement may include text data, graphic data, image data, video data, or audio data. Advertisements may also include data defining advertisement information that may be of interest to a user of an audience device. The advertisements may also include respective audience targeting information or ad campaign information, such as information on audience segments and segment combinations. An advertisement may further include data defining links to other online properties reachable through the network 120, such as entity trays and other types of properties related to entity trays. Also, an entity GUIs and other types of properties (such as entity trays and sub-GUIs related to entity trays) may be or include an advertisement. The aforementioned audience targeting information and the other data associated with an ad may be logged in data logs and such logs may be communicated to the analytics server 118 for processing. Once processed into corresponding analytics data, the analytics server 118 can provide analyzed feedback for affecting future serving of content. For example, the analytics server 118 can provide feedback for affecting serving of ads, search suggestions, entity search results, non-entity search results, and respective GUIs and sub-GUIs included with and/or associated with the ads, search suggestions, entity search results, and non-entity search results.
For online service providers, advertisements may be displayed on electronic properties resulting from a user-defined search based, at least in part, upon search terms. Advertising may be beneficial to users, advertisers or web portals if displayed advertisements are relevant to audience segments, segment combinations, or at least parts of campaigns. Thus, a variety of techniques have been developed to determine corresponding audience segments or to subsequently target relevant advertising to audience members of such segments. For example user interests, user intentions, and targeting data related to segments or campaigns may be may be logged in data logs and such logs may be communicated to the analytics server 118 for processing. Once processed into corresponding analytics data, the analytics server 118 can provide analyzed feedback for affecting future serving of content. For example, the analytics server 118 can provide feedback for affecting serving of ads, search suggestions, entity search results, non-entity search results, and respective GUIs and sub-GUIs included with and/or associated with the ads, search suggestions, entity search results, and non-entity search results.
One approach to presenting targeted advertisements includes employing demographic characteristics (such as age, income, sex, occupation, etc.) for predicting user behavior, such as by group. Advertisements may be presented to users in a targeted audience based, at least in part, upon predicted user behavior. The aforementioned targeting data, such as demographic data and psychographic data, may be logged in data logs and such logs may be communicated to the analytics server 118 for processing. Once processed into corresponding analytics data, the analytics server 118 can provide analyzed feedback for affecting future serving of content. For example, the analytics server 118 can provide feedback for affecting serving of ads, search suggestions, entity search results, non-entity search results, and respective GUIs and sub-GUIs included with and/or associated with the ads, search suggestions, entity search results, and non-entity search results.
Another approach includes profile-type ad targeting. In this approach, user or group profiles specific to a respective user or group may be generated to model user behavior, for example, by tracking a user's path through a website or network of sites, and compiling a profile based, at least in part, on entity GUIs (such as modular components of an entity card), web pages, and advertisements ultimately delivered. A correlation may be identified, such as for user purchases, for example. An identified correlation may be used to target potential purchasers by targeting content or advertisements to particular users. The aforementioned profile-type targeting data may be logged in data logs and such logs may be communicated to the analytics server 118 for processing. Once processed into corresponding analytics data, the analytics server 118 can provide analyzed feedback for affecting future serving of content. For example, the analytics server 118 can provide feedback for affecting serving of ads, search suggestions, entity search results, non-entity search results, and respective GUIs and sub-GUIs included with and/or associated with the ads, search suggestions, entity search results, and non-entity search results.
Yet another approach includes targeting based on content of an electronic property requested by a user, such as content of an entity GUI (such as a module component of an entity card) or webpage requested by a user. Advertisements may be placed on an electronic property or in association with other content that is related to the subject of the advertisements. The relationship between the content and the advertisement may be determined in a suitable manner. The overall theme of a particular electronic property may be ascertained, for example, by analyzing the content presented therein. Moreover, techniques have been developed for displaying advertisements geared to the particular section of the article currently being viewed by the user. Accordingly, an advertisement may be selected by matching keywords, and/or phrases within the advertisement and the electronic property. The aforementioned targeting data may be logged in data logs and such logs may be communicated to the analytics server 118 for processing. Once processed into corresponding analytics data, the analytics server 118 can provide analyzed feedback for affecting future serving of content. For example, the analytics server 118 can provide feedback for affecting serving of ads, search suggestions, entity search results, non-entity search results, and respective GUIs and sub-GUIs included with and/or associated with the ads, search suggestions, entity search results, and non-entity search results.
The ad server 108 includes logic and data operative to format the advertisement data for communication to a user device, such as an audience member device. The ad server 108 is in data communication with the ad database 110. The ad database 110 stores information, including data defining advertisements, to be served to user devices. This advertisement data may be stored in the ad database 110 by another data processing device or by an advertiser. The advertising data may include data defining advertisement creatives and bid amounts for respective advertisements and/or audience segments. The aforementioned ad formatting and pricing data may be logged in data logs and such logs may be communicated to the analytics server 118 for processing. Once processed into corresponding analytics data, the analytics server 118 can provide analyzed feedback for affecting future serving of content. For example, the analytics server 118 can provide feedback for affecting serving of ads, search suggestions, entity search results, non-entity search results, and respective GUIs and sub-GUIs included with and/or associated with the ads, search suggestions, entity search results, and non-entity search results.
The advertising data may be formatted to an advertising item that may be included in a stream of content items and advertising items provided to an audience device. The formatted advertising items can be specified by appearance, size, shape, text formatting, graphics formatting and included information, which may be standardized to provide a consistent look and feel for advertising items in the stream. Such a stream may be included in or combined with an entity GUI (such as an entity tray). Also, a related entity GUI can include a similar appearance, size, shape, text formatting, graphics formatting and included information to provide a consistent look and feel between the entity GUI and the stream. Additionally, aforementioned formatting data may be logged in data logs and such logs may be communicated to the analytics server 118 for processing. Once processed into corresponding analytics data, the analytics server 118 can provide analyzed feedback for affecting future serving of content. For example, the analytics server 118 can provide feedback for affecting serving of ads, search suggestions, entity search results, non-entity search results, and respective GUIs and sub-GUIs included with and/or associated with the ads, search suggestions, entity search results, and non-entity search results.
Further, the ad server 108 is in data communication with the network 120. The ad server 108 communicates ad data and other information to devices over the network 120. This information may include advertisement data communicated to an audience device. This information may also include advertisement data and other information communicated with an advertiser device, such as the advertiser client device 122. An advertiser operating an advertiser device may access the ad server 108 over the network to access information, including advertisement data. This access may include developing advertisement creatives, editing advertisement data, deleting advertisement data, setting and adjusting bid amounts and other activities. This access may also include a portal for interacting with, viewing analytics associated with, and editing parts of entity GUIs (such as module components of an entity card) the advertiser at least partially controls or owns. The ad server 108 then provides the ad items and/or entity GUIs to other network devices, such as the modular search framework server 116, the analytics server 118, and/or the account server 102, for classification (such as associating the ad items and/or entity GUIs with audience segments, segment combinations, or at least parts of campaigns). This information can be used to provide feedback for affecting serving of ads, search suggestions, entity search results, non-entity search results, and respective GUIs and sub-GUIs included with and/or associated with the ads, search suggestions, entity search results, and non-entity search results.
The ad server 108 may provide an advertiser front end to simplify the process of accessing the advertising data of an advertiser. The advertiser front end may be a program, application or software routine that forms a user interface. In one particular example, the advertiser front end is accessible as a website with electronic properties that an accessing advertiser may view on the advertiser device. The advertiser may view and edit advertising data using the advertiser front end. After editing the advertising data, the advertising data may then be saved to the ad database 110 for subsequent communication in advertisements to an audience device.
The ad server 108, the content server 112, or any other server described herein may be one or more servers. Alternatively, the ad server 108, the content server 112, or any other server described herein may be a computer program, instructions, and/or software code stored on a computer-readable storage medium that runs on one or more processors of one or more servers. The ad server 108 may access information about ad items either from the ad database 110 or from another location accessible over the network 120. The ad server 108 communicates data defining ad items and other information to devices over the network 120. The content server 112 may access information about content items either from the content database 114 or from another location accessible over the network 120. The content server 112 communicates data defining content items and other information to devices over the network 120. Content items and the ad items may include any form of content included in ads, search suggestions, entity search results, non-entity search results, and respective GUIs and sub-GUIs included with and/or associated with the ads, search suggestions, entity search results, and non-entity search results.
The information about content items may also include content data and other information communicated by a content provider operating a content provider device, such as respective audience segment information and possible links to entity search results, trays, and other types of entity GUIs. A content provider operating a content provider device may access the content server 112 over the network 120 to access information, including the respective segment information, entity search result information, and entity GUI information. This access may be for developing content items, editing content items, deleting content items, setting and adjusting bid amounts and other activities, such as associating content items with audience segments, segment combinations, or at least parts of campaigns. A content provider operating a content provider device may also access the analytics server 118 over the network 120 to access analytics data. Such analytics may help focus developing content items, editing content items, deleting content items, setting and adjusting bid amounts, and activities related to distribution of the content, such as distribution of content via entity search results and GUIs (such as modular components of an entity card).
The content server 112 may provide a content provider front end to simplify the process of accessing the content data of a content provider. The content provider front end may be a program, application or software routine that forms a user interface. In a particular example, the content provider front end is accessible as a website with electronic properties that an accessing content provider may view on the content provider device. The content provider may view and edit content data using the content provider front end. After editing the content data, such as at the content server 112 or another source of content, the content data may then be saved to the content database 114 for subsequent communication to other devices in the network 120, such as devices administering entity search results and GUIs.
The content provider front end may be a client-side application, such as a client-side application running on the advertiser client device or the audience client device, respectively. A script and/or applet, such as the script and/or applet, may be a part of this front end and may render access points for retrieval of impression availability data (such as the impression availability data), and the script and/or applet may manage the retrieval of the impression availability data. In an example, this front end may include a graphical display of fields for selecting audience segments, segment combinations, or at least parts of campaigns. Then this front end, via the script and/or applet, can request the impression availability for the audience segments, segment combinations, or at least parts of campaigns. The analytics can then be displayed, such as displayed according to the script and/or applet. Such analytics may also be used to provide feedback for affecting serving of ads, search suggestions, entity search results, non-entity search results, and respective GUIs and sub-GUIs included with and/or associated with the ads, search suggestions, entity search results, and non-entity search results
The content server 112 includes logic and data operative to format content data for communication to the audience device. The content server 112 can provide content items or links to such items to the analytics server 118 and/or the modular search framework server 116 for analysis or associations with entities, respectively. For example, content items and links may be matched to data and circuitry, such as entity data and circuitry and even module circuitry and data (e.g., module circuitry 810 in
The content data may be formatted to a content item that may be included in a stream of content items and advertisement items provided to an audience device. The formatted content items can be specified by appearance, size, shape, text formatting, graphics formatting and included information, which may be standardized to provide a consistent look and feel for content items in the stream. Such a stream may be included in or combined with an entity GUI (such as modular components of an entity card). Also, a related entity GUI can include a similar appearance, size, shape, text formatting, graphics formatting and included information to provide a consistent look and feel between the entity GUI and the stream. Additionally, aforementioned formatting data may be logged in data logs and such logs may be communicated to the analytics server 118 for processing. Once processed into corresponding analytics data, the analytics server 118 can provide analyzed feedback for affecting future serving of content. For example, the analytics server 118 can provide feedback for affecting serving of ads, search suggestions, entity search results, non-entity search results, and respective GUIs and sub-GUIs included with and/or associated with the ads, search suggestions, entity search results, and non-entity search results.
In an example, the content items may have an associated bid amount that may be used for ranking or positioning the content items in a stream of items presented to an audience device. In other examples, the content items do not include a bid amount, or the bid amount is not used for ranking the content items. Such content items may be considered non-revenue generating items. The bid amounts and other related information may be logged in data logs and such logs may be communicated to the analytics server 118 for processing. Once processed into corresponding analytics data, the analytics server 118 can provide analyzed feedback for affecting future serving of content. For example, the analytics server 118 can provide feedback for affecting serving of ads, search suggestions, entity search results, non-entity search results, and respective GUIs and sub-GUIs included with and/or associated with the ads, search suggestions, entity search results, and non-entity search results.
The aforementioned servers and databases may be implemented through a computing device. A computing device may be capable of sending or receiving signals, such as over a wired or wireless network, or may be capable of processing or storing signals, such as in memory as physical memory states, and may, therefore, operate as a server. Thus, devices capable of operating as a server may include, as examples, dedicated rack-mounted servers, desktop computers, laptop computers, set top boxes, integrated devices combining various features, such as two or more features of the foregoing devices, or the like.
Servers may vary widely in configuration or capabilities, but generally, a server may include a central processing unit and memory. A server may also include a mass storage device, a power supply, wired and wireless network interfaces, input/output interfaces, and/or an operating system, such as Windows Server, Mac OS X, UNIX, Linux, FreeBSD, or the like.
The aforementioned servers and databases may be implemented as online server systems or may be in communication with online server systems. An online server system may include a device that includes a configuration to provide data via a network to another device including in response to received requests for page views, entity search results and GUIs (such as entity trays), or other forms of content delivery. An online server system may, for example, host a site, such as a social networking site, examples of which may include, without limitation, Flicker, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or a personal user site (such as a blog, vlog, online dating site, etc.). Such sites may be integrated with the framework via the modular search framework server 116. An online server system may also host a variety of other sites, including, but not limited to business sites, educational sites, dictionary sites, encyclopedia sites, wikis, financial sites, government sites, etc. These sites, as well, may be integrated with the framework via the modular search framework server 116.
An online server system may further provide a variety of services that may include web services, third-party services, audio services, video services, email services, instant messaging (IM) services, SMS services, MMS services, FTP services, voice over IP (VOIP) services, calendaring services, photo services, or the like. Examples of content may include text, images, audio, video, or the like, which may be processed in the form of physical signals, such as electrical signals, for example, or may be stored in memory, as physical states, for example. Examples of devices that may operate as an online server system include desktop computers, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-type or programmable consumer electronics, etc. The online server system may or may not be under common ownership or control with the servers and databases described herein.
The network 120 may include a data communication network or a combination of networks. A network may couple devices so that communications may be exchanged, such as between a server and a client device or other types of devices, including between wireless devices coupled via a wireless network, for example. A network may also include mass storage, such as a network attached storage (NAS), a storage area network (SAN), or other forms of computer or machine readable media, for example. A network may include the Internet, local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), wire-line type connections, wireless type connections, or any combination thereof. Likewise, sub-networks, may employ differing architectures or may be compliant or compatible with differing protocols, and may interoperate within a larger network, such as the network 120.
Various types of devices may be made available to provide an interoperable capability for differing architectures or protocols. For example, a router may provide a link between otherwise separate and independent LANs. A communication link or channel may include, for example, analog telephone lines, such as a twisted wire pair, a coaxial cable, full or fractional digital lines including T1, T2, T3, or T4 type lines, Integrated Services Digital Networks (ISDNs), Digital Subscriber Lines (DSLs), wireless links, including satellite links, or other communication links or channels, such as may be known to those skilled in the art. Furthermore, a computing device or other related electronic devices may be remotely coupled to a network, such as via a telephone line or link, for example.
The advertiser client device 122 includes a data processing device that may access the information system 100 over the network 120. The advertiser client device 122 is operative to interact over the network 120 with any of the servers or databases described herein. The advertiser client device 122 may implement a client-side application for viewing electronic properties and submitting user requests. The advertiser client device 122 may communicate data to the information system 100, including data defining electronic properties and other information. The advertiser client device 122 may receive communications from the information system 100, including data defining electronic properties and advertising creatives. The aforementioned interactions and information may be logged in data logs and such logs may be communicated to the analytics server 118 for processing. Once processed into corresponding analytics data, the analytics server 118 can provide analyzed feedback for affecting future serving of content. For example, the analytics server 118 can provide feedback for affecting serving of ads, search suggestions, entity search results, non-entity search results, and respective GUIs and sub-GUIs included with and/or associated with the ads, search suggestions, entity search results, and non-entity search results.
In an example, content providers may access the information system 100 with content provider devices that are generally analogous to the advertiser devices in structure and function. The content provider devices provide access to content data in the content database 114, for example.
The audience client device 124 includes a data processing device that may access the information system 100 over the network 120. The audience client device 124 is operative to interact over the network 120 with the search engine server 106, the ad server 108, the content server 112, and the analytics server 118, and the modular search framework server 116. The audience client device 124 may implement a client-side application for viewing electronic content and submitting user requests. A user operating the audience client device 124 may enter a search request and communicate the search request to the information system 100. The search request is processed by the search engine and search results are returned to the audience client device 124. The aforementioned interactions and information may be logged in data logs and such logs may be communicated to the analytics server 118 for processing. Once processed into corresponding analytics data, the analytics server 118 can provide analyzed feedback for affecting future serving of content. For example, the analytics server 118 can provide feedback for affecting serving of ads, search suggestions, entity search results, non-entity search results, and respective GUIs and sub-GUIs included with and/or associated with the ads, search suggestions, entity search results, and non-entity search results.
In other examples, a user of the audience client device 124 may request data, such as a page of information from the online information system 100. The data instead may be provided in another environment, such as a native mobile application, TV application, or an audio application. The online information system 100 may provide the data or re-direct the browser to another source of the data. In addition, the ad server may select advertisements from the ad database 110 and include data defining the advertisements in the provided data to the audience client device 124. The aforementioned interactions and information may be logged in data logs and such logs may be communicated to the analytics server 118 for processing. Once processed into corresponding analytics data, the analytics server 118 can provide analyzed feedback for affecting future serving of content. For example, the analytics server 118 can provide feedback for affecting serving of ads, search suggestions, entity search results, non-entity search results, and respective GUIs and sub-GUIs included with and/or associated with the ads, search suggestions, entity search results, and non-entity search results.
The advertiser client device 122 and the audience client device 124 operate as a client device when accessing information on the information system 100. A client device, such as the advertiser client device 122 and the audience client device 124 may include a computing device capable of sending or receiving signals, such as via a wired or a wireless network. For example, a network may enable RF or wireless type communication via one or more network access technologies, such as Global System for Mobile communication (GSM), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), General Packet Radio Services (GPRS), Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE), 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE Advanced, Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Bluetooth, 802.11b/g/n, or the like. A wireless network may include virtually any type of wireless communication mechanism by which signals may be communicated between devices, such as a client device or a computing device, between or within a network, or the like.
A client device may, for example, include a desktop computer or a portable device, such as a cellular telephone, a smart phone, a display pager, a radio frequency (RF) device, an infrared (IR) device, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a handheld computer, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a set top box, a wearable computer, an integrated device combining various features, such as features of the foregoing devices, or the like. In the example of
A client device, such as the advertiser client device 122 and the audience client device 124, may include or may execute a variety of operating systems, including a personal computer operating system, such as a Windows, iOS or Linux, or a mobile operating system, such as iOS, Android, or Windows Mobile, or the like. A client device may include or may execute a variety of possible applications, such as a client software application enabling communication with other devices, such as communicating messages, such as via email, short message service (SMS), or multimedia message service (MMS), including via a network, such as a social network, including, for example, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Flickr, or Google+, to provide only a few possible examples. A client device may also include or execute an application to communicate content, such as, for example, textual content, multimedia content, or the like. A client device may also include or execute an application to perform a variety of possible tasks, such as browsing, searching, playing various forms of content, including locally or remotely stored or streamed video, or video games. The foregoing is provided to illustrate that claimed subject matter is intended to include a wide range of possible features or capabilities. At least some of the features, capabilities, and interactions with the aforementioned may be logged in data logs and such logs may be communicated to the analytics server 118 for processing. Once processed into corresponding analytics data, the analytics server 118 can provide analyzed feedback for affecting future serving of content. For example, the analytics server 118 can provide feedback for affecting serving of ads, search suggestions, entity search results, non-entity search results, and respective GUIs and sub-GUIs included with and/or associated with the ads, search suggestions, entity search results, and non-entity search results.
Also, the disclosed methods and systems may be implemented at least partially in a cloud-computing environment, at least partially in a server, at least partially in a client device, or in any combination thereof.
Not all of the depicted components in
a shows search query text “tom” entered in to a search query box 212, such as via a native keyboard (not displayed). Alternatively, the text may be inputted through a voice command or other form of user input provided by the mobile application and/or native operating system. Upon entering of “tom” into the search query box 212 search suggestions and/or search results may be automatically generated, such as by query processing circuitry on mobile client device 200, and displayed on the display 202 within section 206b. For example, upon entering “tom” into the search query box 212, but before clicking on the search execution button 214, search topic suggestions may appear, such as search suggestions 220-234. A user may select one of these suggestions, which causes execution of a query using the respective text displayed with the suggestion. In this example, search suggestions appear as cards rendered by display logic circuitry on display 202.
Also, upon entering “tom” into the box 212, actual search results may appear, such as search results associated with a specific entity, such as a particular person, place, or thing. In this example, the entity search results include search results 220, 222, 224, 226, and 228. The results for these entities appear as cards. Similarly, non-entity search results 230 and search suggestions 232, 234 may also be displayed in display portion 206b in response to the user search query. In this example, non-entity search results include webpage results related to the search query. Similarly, search suggestions 232, 234 include dynamically generated suggestions, such as based on historical browsing data for the user or other similar users. The search result objects 232-234 may be displayed when execute search button 214 is pressed, or may be displayed and updated in real-time as the user is entering a search query in the search query box 212.
In either scenario, the search result cards may have different color and textural schemes, and may include schemes associated with a photograph or other graphical element, such as a photograph bled out onto a card. The search result card objects may also include tinted glass visual effects dynamically generated based on those graphical elements and color and textural schemes. These visual features provide visual cues to a user and allow the user to quickly distinguish between a graphical search result card or object, such as an entity search result card, and a search suggestion or non-entity card. Where a search is actually executed, and search results are displayed (such as in sections 206b of
In some embodiments, these search suggestion cards may have a similar color and texture scheme, and the scheme may be simple, such as one solid color or a spectrum of colors with in a range of a full spectrum of colors. For example, the suggestion cards may each be various shades of blue. In alternative embodiments, one or more system circuitry components may allow the application or mobile browser to distinguish between general search results, search suggestion objects, entity search results, and non-entity search results, or any combination thereof. For example, although other schemes are imagined within the spirit and scope of the present description, one color scheme may display general search results and suggestions as cards having a plain or static color background. Content for cards associated with entity and/or non-entity search results, on the other hand, may be processed using image editing circuitry and displayed using the tinted glass feature, such as described further in connection with
As illustrated in
In other embodiments, the color scheme for the tinted glass may be dynamically generated by processing a photographic or graphical element associated with the entity to select a color tint value based on the color palette of the graphical element. For example,
In addition, in some embodiments, backdrops may be modified to display the graphical element as a semi-transparent background having a similar tinted glass feel. For example, entity card 242 has modified backdrop 256 having an enlarged graphical element 254. In this example, the tinted glass effect has been applied to graphical element as a modified backdrop has been created to use as the entire background of entity card 242. The semi-transparent nature of the tinted glass visual effect allows the graphical element 254 to be partially visible under the tinted or frosted glass features, which is illustrated by the diagonal fill lines A similar process could be used to generate enlarged graphical elements for all or some of the entity cards 236, 238, 240, 242. Likewise, the tinted glass effect may apply to the entire background of the entity card as well as form a semi-transparent layer over the smaller graphical elements displayed for entity cards 236, 238, and 240. In either scenario, the user is able to preview an image associated with the entity card along with the alphanumeric text displayed on the card but also receive visual cues from the tinted glass visual effect. In addition to providing an enhanced search experience, these features may allow a user to quickly and efficiently navigate the displayed search results.
Referring now to
Referring back to
Similarly, the GUI may contain other modules implemented by their respective circuitry such as a mapping module implemented by maps circuitry to generate and the display map section 312, a “more” module to generate and display a button 310 allowing the user to search for additional information related to the entity, a photograph module to generate and display a related photograph section 318, and so forth. The information that appears in the GUI modules may be scraped information, information from a content database, information selected by a party that is responsible for editing the information, information selected by machine learning, or any combination thereof. Such information may include most sought out information for the selected entity. Most sought out information may be gathered from online search logs and other logs pertaining to web browsing.
For each of the modules displayed and rendered by the system circuitry, the system may utilize the image editing circuitry to identify display and graphical elements and to generate tinted glass effects for backdrops, buttons, controls, and other interface elements in a similar manner as described in connection with
Likewise, the tinted glass visual effect can be employed individually for some or all modular elements that are displayed on the GUI. As shown in
The user may enter a search query term in search text field 404 and select execute search query button 406. Similar as in mobile applications, the search results for the search query may be displayed as entity and non-entity search result objects, generic search result objects, and/or search suggestion objects. Entity search result objects, such as entity results 410, 412, and 416 may modified backdrops 420, 422, and 424, respectively. The backdrops may be modified using the tinted glass feature based on a respective color palette associated with each entity result. As described in connection with
As depicted in
Referring now to
At block 508, the framework circuitry may be communicatively coupled to one or more module circuits and entity circuit and may retrieve information for the content items (e.g., persons, places, and things) related to any entity search results. At block 510, various circuitry of the module circuitry, such as summary circuitry or maps circuitry, may process the retrieved information for the content items to generate GUI elements for displaying information and graphical elements to the user. Also at block 510, image editing circuitry may identify any graphical or display elements associated with the content items and the entity search result object. For example, for each content item associated with an entity search result object, the image editing circuitry may identify a graphical display element to be displayed as a background on a collapsed view of a card, a graphical display element to be displayed as a related photograph on a partially expanded view of a card, and/or multiple graphical display elements to display as a sub-portion of one or more modular components on a fully expanded card view.
At block 512, for one or more of the graphical display element identified in block 510, image editing circuitry may generate a tinted glass sub-portion of the display element associated with the content item related to the entity search result. For example, the image editing circuitry may generate a tinted glass visual effect as described further in connection with
At block 516, the tinted glass sub-portion of the graphical display element is added to the graphical display elements that are displayed in each module. The tinted glass sub-portion may be applied as a background of an interactive object or element of a user interface, such as a button or control. For example, a module may have one or more interactive or actionable interface elements, such as the “Summary” or “More” described in connection with the summary module of
Referring now to
Returning to block 606, if an entity content item is not identified in the search query, system circuitry, such as search suggestion circuitry or webpage search result circuitry, will execute the search query on non-entity search databases, which, in some embodiments, may include one or more of content database 114, module search framework database 116, or account database 104 described connection with
At block 616, system circuitry, such as image editing circuitry or entity search result and configuration circuitry, determines whether there are any graphical elements associated with the entity or non-entity objects. The graphical elements may comprise images or photographs associated with the content item, such as portrait, album cover, or promotional photographic, or may comprise other graphical elements retrieved from one or more databases over a network, such as maps of a geographic region associated with the entity or non-entity object. At block 622, if a graphical element is identified, the system circuitry, such as image editing circuitry, may analyze the color of the graphical element to determine a color tint value. For example, the image editing circuitry may identify a predominate color in the image, or may be identify a category associated with the graphical element and identify a pre-determined category color to be used as the color tint value for the graphical element. At block 624, the image editing circuitry will generate a tinted glass sub-portion of the graphical element, such as by using the process described in connection in
At block 628, the system circuitry, such as the module circuitry, may determine whether there are additional modules that are being displayed for the search result object. If the system circuitry identifies additional modules for the search result object, the system proceeds to be block 630 to determine whether there are any additional graphical elements for the additional modules that require a tinted glass visual effect. If there are additional graphical elements, the system repeats blocks 622, 624, 626, and 628 until there are no more graphical elements requiring a tinted glass visual effect. If there are not graphical elements requiring a tinted glass effect at blocks 630 or 616, the system proceeds to block 618. At block 618, the system may determine a default color tint value for the search result object. In some embodiments, the system may select a default tint color based on the category of the search result object, such as whether the object is an “Actor,” “Book,” “Business,” “TV Series,” or any number of similar categories of search result objects. In other embodiments, the system may not select a tint color value or apply a tinted glass visual effect, for example, if the search result object is a search suggestion or unrecognized search object result. If a tint color is selected, the system generates a tinted glass effect for the search result object at block 620.
After generating the tinted glass effect for the search result object or deciding one is not necessary at block 620 or determining that there are no additional modules at block 628, the system proceeds to block 632. At block 632, the system circuitry, such as the module circuitry, framework circuitry, and/or entity circuitry assembles the graphical search result objects for entities and non-entities results, including the information for any related modules for entity search results. At block 634, the graphical search result objects are returned to the client device over the network by the processing circuitry and the network communications circuitry.
Referring now to
At block 706, the image editing circuitry may adjust the color saturation of the selected sub-portion of the graphical element. For example, in some embodiments the image editing circuitry may adjust a color feature of the selected-sub-portion to adjust the saturation to a level of 20-60%. At block 708, the image editing circuitry may apply a Gaussian blur to the selected sub-portion of the graphical element. For example, in some embodiments, the image editing circuitry may apply a 10-30 pixel Gaussian blur to the selected sub-portion. At block 710, the image editing circuitry may optionally identify functional interface elements of the user interface associated with the search result object. The identified functional interface elements may include interactive or actionable buttons, controls, containers, and other objects, such as the search result objects themselves. At block 712, the image editing circuitry may mask the sub-portion of the graphical element as a layer of the functional element or object, such that the features of the graphical element, whether it be an image or the underlying color palette, are visible as a portion of the functional display element or object. At block 714, a layer of tint is created for the functional display element or object using the color tint value determined in block 622. The layer of tint provides a dynamic color hue to the tinted or frosted glass visual effect that resembles the original graphical element. At block 716, the image editing circuitry may adjust the transparency of the tint layer and/or the duplicated sub-portion of the graphical element. For example, in some embodiments the image editing circuitry may adjust the opacity of the graphical element to 20-80% such that features of the underlying graphical element may appear to be discernable through the saturated and blurred sub-portion.
The precise percentage by which the opacity, blur, and tint of graphical element is adjusted in blocks 706, 708, 716, 722, and 724 may depend on an analysis of the graphical element. For example, in one embodiment, the image may divided into a number of zones. Each zone may be analyzed as a histogram of data presenting information showing the various color features of that zone, such as contrast, brightness, hue, and saturation. If a section of the graphical element is determined have a high brightness value, then the tint, blur, and saturation may be darkened to optimize readability and aesthetic presentation. Similarly, if one or more sections of the graphical element have a high contrast value within a visually complex region of the graphical element, the ting, blur, and saturation would be adjusted to optimize readability and aesthetic presentation. Each of these determinations can be done dynamically and on per-image basis. The number or operations and adjustments that need to be done may change based on the nature of the graphical element at issue. At block 718, the modified functional element or object is added to the display logic for the graphical search result object and/or a modular component thereof by the display logic circuitry and eventually displayed to the user on the user device interface.
Similarly, if the system proceeded to block 618 an analogous process may be used to generate tinted glass for any non-entity search results or search suggestions requiring a tinted glass visual effect. As described further in
Throughout the present description, reference is made to a number of system circuits and processors. A person having ordinary skill in the art would recognize that the referenced circuitry are non-limiting examples and that in some embodiments other or additional system circuits may be used as part of the module search framework, or that certain steps and circuitry may be combined as part the same system circuits or a combination of one or more of the referenced circuits.
The system includes network communications circuitry 806 and framework circuitry 808. The network communications circuitry 806 and the framework circuitry are communicatively coupled by circuitry. In this disclosure, circuitry may include circuits connected wirelessly as well as circuits connected by hardware, such as wires. The network communications circuitry 806 may be configured to communicatively couple the system to the client device 801 over the network 120. This for example allows an entity card or graphical search result object section provided by the server 800 to be displayed by a client-side application installed on the client device 801.
The framework circuitry 808 includes module circuitry 810, entity circuitry 812, inter-module interface circuitry 814, inter-entity interface circuitry 816, and inter-framework interface circuitry 818. The inter-module interface circuitry 814 may be configured to communicatively couple any of various module circuitry of module circuitry 810. For example, this circuitry 814 may at least communicatively couple entity GUI module circuitry, such as tray module circuitry 820, to one or more other circuitry of the module circuitry 810.
The inter-framework interface circuitry 818 may be configured to communicatively couple at least one entity circuitry of the entity circuitry 812 to any one of the plurality of module circuitry in the module circuitry 810, such as coupling any one of the entity circuitry to the tray module circuitry 820. For the example entity sections illustrated in
Also, in such an example, the interactive section may include a plurality of moveable visual objects with information relevant to the corresponding entity. Also, in such an example, the plurality of moveable visual objects may be moveable within the interactive entity section.
These moveable objects and associated functionality can be provide by various module circuitry and even various entity circuitry interoperating by the coupling provided by the inter-framework interface circuitry 818. In an example, the moveable visual objects may be cards, such as condensed, semi-expanded, or fully expanded card or graphical search result objects. Also, the cards or graphical search result objects may have rounded corners as depicted in
Also, beneficial functionality, such as movement by an object of the plurality of moveable objects being seamless without unintentional visual artifacts, can be due to close coupling of the various circuitry of the framework circuitry 808. Additionally, close coupling between client-side circuitry of the framework circuitry installed on the client device 801 and native operating system circuitry of the client device, circuitry of a client-side application installed on the client device, or both, can facilitate beneficial functionality as well. Code can be communicated from the server 800 to the client device 801, which provides addition and configuration of the client-side circuitry of the framework circuitry for the client device.
The inter-entity interface circuitry 816 may be configured to communicatively couple at least one of the plurality of entity circuitry to one or more other of the plurality of entity circuitry, of the entity circuitry 812. The inter-entity interface circuitry 816 is communicatively coupled to the inter-module interface circuitry 814 by the inter-framework interface circuitry 818. These interconnections can provide a basis for the linking between entities or graphical search result objects as illustrated in
The module circuitry 810 includes various module circuitry, such as the tray module circuitry 820. Other examples of module circuitry within the module circuitry 810 can include entity search result circuitry, search suggestion circuitry, non-entity search result circuitry (such as webpage search result circuitry), maps circuitry, image editing circuitry, and much more. Such circuitry can provide the various structures and operations illustrated in
The tray circuitry 820 may include the summary circuitry, the tray configuration circuitry that may include the tray GUI configuration circuitry, and the “more” circuitry associated with the “more” GUI depicted in
The entity search result circuitry 822 may provide various functionality and structure associated with retrieving and displaying entity search results, such as the entity search results or graphical search result objects depicted in
Additionally, image editing circuitry 838 may be communicatively coupled to any of the aforementioned circuitry via inter-module interface circuitry 814. Image editing circuitry 838 can process any graphical image elements retrieved from any of the aforementioned circuitry in order to generate tinted glass visual effects as described in connection with
The entity circuitry 812 includes various types of entity circuitry, including people circuitry 830, place circuitry 832, and thing circuitry 834. The people circuitry 830 includes individual circuitry for each particular person that can be identified as an entity by the framework. A particular person can be an actual living person or a person who has passed away. Well-known people, who are often searched online, such as celebrities, may be automatically inputted into the framework and hence circuits generated for those people automatically. Less known people, such as a regular Joe starting a small business, may submit an application for a circuit to be generated for themselves or a business and/or product they wish to market through the framework. A particular person can also be a character in a fictional work. For fictional characters, there may be a plurality of entities for a known character. For example, the character Supermom may have an entity circuit for each entered iteration of the Supermom character inputted into the framework, such as a plurality of Supermoms from the different Supermom movies and television series, and a plurality of Supermoms from the different versions of the Supermom Comic Book. A person entity becomes identifiable when a corresponding entity has been submitted and accepted by the framework. At that point, a circuit can be generated for that person entity. The front end for the modular search framework server 116 can facility entry of entities, such as people entities.
The place circuitry 832 includes individual circuitry for each particular location that can be identified as an entity by the framework. A particular location can be an address, a global positioning point, an actual location not having an address, or combination thereof. Actual locations not having an address can be submitted through an application process, such as an obscure park. Locations that are commonly searched without an address can be automatically inputted into the system as circuits, such as a national park. In other words, well-known places, which are often searched online, such as landmarks, government administrated parks, cities, countries, and even well-known bodies of water, may be automatically inputted into the framework and hence circuits generated for those places automatically. Less known places, such as an ordinary parking lot without an address, may be submitted via an application for a circuit to be generated for that place. Businesses and products may be marketed through a place entity, for example. Places can be any geographic entity, whether that entity is fictional, non-fictional, still in existence, historical, or some combination thereof. For fictional places, there may be a plurality of entities for a known fictional place. For example, each iteration of Atlantis used in fictional works may have its own entity circuit. A place entity becomes identifiable when a corresponding entity has been submitted and accepted by the framework. At that point, a circuit can be generated for that place entity. The front end for the modular search framework server 116 can facility entry of entities, such as place entities.
The thing circuitry 832 includes individual circuitry for each particular thing that can be identified as an entity by the framework. A particular organization, product, service, named organism, (such as a pet or famous circus animal), can be a thing entity. Thing entities can overlap with places entities and fictional character entities, for example, a geographic location like the dark side of the moon may be a thing as well. Also, for example, the Witch of Oyo may be a thing entity (such as a movie entity), and a character entity, such as the Witch of Oyo the character in the original movie production. Also, there may several iterations of a thing. To continue with the Witch of Oyo theme, there may be several well-known productions of this movie in a live theatre format. Well-known things, which are often searched online, such as movies, mass manufactured products, and a large companies, may be automatically inputted into the framework and hence circuits generated for those places automatically. Less known things, such as a new product developed by an ordinary Joe, may be submitted via an application for a circuit to be generated for that thing. Services and products may be marketed through a thing entity, for example. Things can be almost any unambiguous thing that can be claimed. Rules for what can be claimed or what is considered ambiguous are beyond the scope of this application. Things can be fictional, non-fictional, still in existence, historical, or some combination thereof. A thing entity becomes identifiable when a corresponding entity has been submitted and accepted by the framework. At that point, a circuit can be generated for that thing entity. The front end for the modular search framework server 116 can facility entry of entities, such as thing entities.
The each particular person, place, or thing circuitry of the entity circuitry 812 can include and provide respective data models for gathering, maintaining, and entering information on that corresponding entity. These data models can also act as an interface for data requested various operations provided by the module circuitry 810. Each particular entity circuitry may also include logic for facilitating operations between the various module circuitry of the circuitry 810 and databases storing information on entities. In other words, these entity circuitry may act a middleware between functions and data. Regarding the example fully expanded entity screen in
Returning to
The network 120 may be or include a peer-to-peer network. A peer-to-peer (or P2P) network may employ computing power or bandwidth of network participants in contrast with a network that may employ dedicated devices, such as dedicated servers, for example; however, some networks may employ both as well as other approaches. A P2P network may typically be used for coupling nodes via an ad hoc arrangement or configuration. A peer-to-peer network may employ some nodes capable of operating as both a “client” and a “server.”
The network 120 may be or include a social network. The term “social network” refers generally to a network of individuals, such as acquaintances, friends, family, colleagues, or co-workers, coupled via a communications network or via a variety of sub-networks. Potentially, additional relationships may subsequently be formed as a result of social interaction via the communications network or sub-networks. A social network may be employed, for example, to identify additional connections for a variety of activities, including, but not limited to, dating, job networking, receiving or providing service referrals, content sharing, creating new associations, maintaining existing associations, identifying potential activity partners, performing or supporting commercial transactions, or the like.
A social network may include individuals with similar experiences, opinions, education levels or backgrounds. Subgroups may exist or be created according to user profiles of individuals, for example, in which a subgroup member may belong to multiple subgroups. An individual may also have multiple “1:few” associations within a social network, such as for family, college classmates, or co-workers.
An individual's social network may refer to a set of direct personal relationships or a set of indirect personal relationships. A direct personal relationship refers to a relationship for an individual in which communications may be individual to individual, such as with family members, friends, colleagues, co-workers, or the like. An indirect personal relationship refers to a relationship that may be available to an individual with another individual although no form of individual to individual communication may have taken place, such as a friend of a friend, or the like. Different privileges or permissions may be associated with relationships in a social network. A social network also may generate relationships or connections with entities other than a person, such as companies, brands, or so-called ‘virtual persons.’ An individual's social network may be represented in a variety of forms, such as visually, electronically or functionally. For example, a “social graph” or “socio-gram” may represent an entity in a social network as a node and a relationship as an edge or a link.
In accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure, the methods described herein may be implemented by software programs executable by a computer system. Further, in an exemplary, non-limited embodiment, implementations can include distributed processing, component/object distributed processing, and parallel processing. Alternatively, virtual computer system processing can be constructed to implement one or more of the methods or functionality as described herein.
The network environment 120 may be configured or operable for multi-modal communication which may occur between members of a social network. Individuals within one or more social networks may interact or communication with other members of a social network via a variety of devices. Multi-modal communication technologies refers to a set of technologies that permit interoperable communication across multiple devices or platforms, such as cell phones, smart phones, tablet computing devices, personal computers, televisions, SMS/MMS, email, instant messenger clients, forums, social networking sites (such as Facebook, Twitter, or Google+), or the like.
As described, the search engine server 106 and/or the modular search framework server 116 may include a crawler component, an indexer component, an index storage component, a search component, a ranking component, a cache, a user or group profile storage component, an entity storage component, a logon component, a user or group profile builder, an entity builder, and application program interfaces (APIs), such as APIs corresponding with the modular search framework. A search engine may enable a device, such as a client device, to search for files of interest using a search query. Typically, a search engine may be accessed by a client device via one or more servers. A search engine may be deployed in a distributed manner, such as via a set of distributed servers, for example. Components may be duplicated within a network, such as for redundancy or better access.
A crawler may be operable to communicate with a variety of content servers, typically via network. In some embodiments, a crawler starts with a list of URLs to visit, which may be referred to as a seed list. As the crawler visits the URLs in the seed list, it may identify some or all the hyperlinks in the page and add them to a list of URLs to visit, which may be referred to as a crawl frontier. URLs from the crawler frontier may be recursively visited according to a set of policies. A crawler typically retrieves files by generating a copy for storage, such as local cache storage. A cache may refer to a persistent storage device. A crawler may likewise follow links, such as HTTP hyperlinks, in the retrieved file to additional files and may retrieve those files by generating copy for storage, and so forth. A crawler may therefore retrieve files from a plurality of content servers as it “crawls” across a network.
An indexer may be operable to generate an index of content, including associated contextual content, such as for one or more databases, which may be searched to locate content, including contextual content. An index may include index entries, wherein an index entry may be assigned a value referred to as a weight. An index entry may include a portion of the database. In some embodiments, an indexer may use an inverted index that stores a mapping from content to its locations in a database file, or in a document or a set of documents. A record level inverted index contains a list of references to documents for each word. A word level inverted index additionally contains the positions of each word within a document. A weight for an index entry may be assigned. For example, a weight, in one example embodiment may be assigned substantially in accordance with a difference between the number of records indexed without the index entry and the number of records indexed with the index entry.
The term “Boolean search engine” refers to a search engine capable of parsing Boolean-style syntax, such as may be used in a search query. A Boolean search engine may allow the use of Boolean operators (such as AND, OR, NOT, or XOR) to specify a logical relationship between search terms. For example, the search query “college OR university” may return results with “college,” results with “university,” or results with both, while the search query “college XOR university” may return results with “college” or results with “university,” but not results with both.
In contrast to Boolean-style syntax, “semantic search” refers a search technique in which search results are evaluated for relevance based at least in part on contextual meaning associated with query search terms. In contrast with Boolean-style syntax to specify a relationship between search terms, a semantic search may attempt to infer a meaning for terms of a natural language search query. Semantic search may therefore employ “semantics” (e.g., science of meaning in language) to search repositories of various types of content.
Search results located during a search of an index performed in response to a search query submission may typically be ranked. An index may include entries with an index entry assigned a value referred to as a weight. A search query may comprise search query terms, wherein a query term may correspond to an index entry. In an embodiment, search results may be ranked by scoring located files or records, for example, such as in accordance with number of times a query term occurs weighed in accordance with a weight assigned to an index entry corresponding to the query term. Other aspects may also affect ranking, such as, for example, proximity of query terms within a located record or file, or semantic usage, for example. A score and an identifier for a located record or file, for example, may be stored in a respective entry of a ranking list. A list of search results may be ranked in accordance with scores, which may, for example, be provided in response to a search query. In some embodiments, machine-learned ranking (MLR) models are used to rank search results. MLR is a type of supervised or semi-supervised machine learning problem with the goal to automatically construct a ranking model from training data.
In one embodiment, as an individual interacts with a software application, e.g., an instant messenger or electronic mail application, descriptive content, such in the form of signals or stored physical states within memory, such as, for example, an email address, instant messenger identifier, phone number, postal address, message content, date, time, etc., may be identified. Descriptive content may be stored, typically along with contextual content. For example, how a phone number came to be identified (e.g., it was contained in a communication received from another via an instant messenger application) may be stored as contextual content associated with the phone number. Contextual content, therefore, may identify circumstances surrounding receipt of a phone number (e.g., date or time the phone number was received) and may be associated with descriptive content. Contextual content, may, for example, be used to subsequently search for associated descriptive content. For example, a search for phone numbers received from specific individuals, received via an instant messenger application or at a given date or time, may be initiated.
Content within a repository of media or multimedia, for example, may be annotated. Examples of content may include text, images, audio, video, or the like, which may be processed in the form of physical signals, such as electrical signals, for example, or may be stored in memory, as physical states, for example. Content may be contained within an object, such as a Web object, Web page, Web site, electronic document, or the like. An item in a collection of content may be referred to as an “item of content” or a “content item,” and may be retrieved from a “Web of Objects” comprising objects made up of a variety of types of content. The term “annotation,” as used herein, refers to descriptive or contextual content related to a content item, for example, collected from an individual, such as a user, and stored in association with the individual or the content item. Annotations may include various fields of descriptive content, such as a rating of a document, a list of keywords identifying topics of a document, etc.
A profile builder may initiate generation of a profile, such for users of an application, including a search engine, for example. A profile builder may initiate generation of a user profile for use, for example, by a user, as well as by an entity that may have provided the application. For example, a profile builder may enhance relevance determinations and thereby assist in indexing, searching or ranking search results. Therefore, a search engine provider may employ a profile builder, for example. A variety of mechanisms may be implemented to generate a profile including, but not limited to, collecting or mining navigation history, stored documents, tags, or annotations, to provide a few examples. A profile builder may store a generated profile. Profiles of users of a search engine, for example, may give a search engine provider a mechanism to retrieve annotations, tags, stored pages, navigation history, or the like, which may be useful for making relevance determinations of search results, such as with respect to a particular user.
Advertising may include sponsored search advertising, non-sponsored search advertising, guaranteed and non-guaranteed delivery advertising, ad networks/exchanges, ad targeting, ad serving, and/or ad analytics. Various monetization techniques or models may be used in connection with sponsored search advertising, including advertising associated with user search queries, or non-sponsored search advertising, including graphical or display advertising. In an auction-type online advertising marketplace, advertisers may bid in connection with placement of advertisements, although other factors may also be included in determining advertisement selection or ranking Bids may be associated with amounts advertisers pay for certain specified occurrences, such as for placed or clicked-on advertisements, for example. Advertiser payment for online advertising may be divided between parties including one or more publishers or publisher networks, one or more marketplace facilitators or providers, or potentially among other parties.
Some models may include guaranteed delivery advertising, in which advertisers may pay based at least in part on an agreement guaranteeing or providing some measure of assurance that the advertiser will receive a certain agreed upon amount of suitable advertising, or non-guaranteed delivery advertising, which may include individual serving opportunities or spot market(s), for example. In various models, advertisers may pay based at least in part on any of various metrics associated with advertisement delivery or performance, or associated with measurement or approximation of particular advertiser goal(s). For example, models may include, among other things, payment based at least in part on cost per impression or number of impressions, cost per click or number of clicks, cost per action for some specified action(s), cost per conversion or purchase, or cost based at least in part on some combination of metrics, which may include online or offline metrics, for example.
A process of buying or selling online advertisements may involve a number of different entities, including advertisers, publishers, agencies, networks, or developers. To simplify this process, organization systems called “ad exchanges” may associate advertisers or publishers, such as via a platform to facilitate buying or selling of online advertisement inventory from multiple ad networks. “Ad networks” refers to aggregation of ad space supply from publishers, such as for provision en masse to advertisers.
For web portals like Yahoo!, advertisements may be displayed on web pages resulting from a user-defined search based at least in part upon one or more search terms. Advertising may be beneficial to users, advertisers or web portals if displayed advertisements are relevant to interests of one or more users. Thus, a variety of techniques have been developed to infer user interest, user intent or to subsequently target relevant advertising to users.
One approach to presenting targeted advertisements includes employing demographic characteristics (e.g., age, income, sex, occupation, etc.) for predicting user behavior, such as by group. Advertisements may be presented to users in a targeted audience based at least in part upon predicted user behavior(s).
Another approach includes profile-type ad targeting. In this approach, user profiles specific to a user may be generated to model user behavior, for example, by tracking a user's path through a web site or network of sites, and compiling a profile based at least in part on pages or advertisements ultimately delivered. A correlation may be identified, such as for user purchases, for example. An identified correlation may be used to target potential purchasers by targeting content or advertisements to particular users.
An “ad server” comprises a server that stores online advertisements for presentation to users. “Ad serving” refers to methods used to place online advertisements on websites, in applications, or other places where users are more likely to see them, such as during an online session or during computing platform use, for example.
During presentation of advertisements, a presentation system may collect descriptive content about types of advertisements presented to users. A broad range of descriptive content may be gathered, including content specific to an advertising presentation system. Advertising analytics gathered may be transmitted to locations remote to an advertising presentation system for storage or for further evaluation. Where advertising analytics transmittal is not immediately available, gathered advertising analytics may be stored by an advertising presentation system until transmittal of those advertising analytics becomes available.
While the computer-readable medium as described or set forth in the appended claim may be described as a single medium, the term “computer-readable medium” may include a single medium or multiple media, such as a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers that store one or more sets of instructions. The term “computer-readable medium” may also include any medium that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying a set of instructions for execution by a processor or that cause a computer system to perform any one or more of the methods or operations disclosed herein. The “computer-readable medium” may be non-transitory, and may be tangible.
Note that dedicated hardware implementations, such as application specific integrated circuits, programmable logic arrays and other hardware devices, can be constructed to implement one or more of the methods described herein. Applications that may include the apparatus and systems of various embodiments can broadly include a variety of electronic and computer systems. One or more embodiments described herein may implement functions using two or more specific interconnected hardware modules or devices with related control and data signals that can be communicated between and through the modules, or as portions of an application-specific integrated circuit. Accordingly, the present system encompasses software, firmware, and hardware implementations.
The illustrations of the embodiments described herein are intended to provide a general understanding of the structure of the various embodiments. The illustrations are not intended to serve as a complete description of all of the elements and features of apparatus and systems that utilize the structures or methods described herein. Many other embodiments may be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewing the disclosure. Other embodiments may be utilized and derived from the disclosure, such that structural and logical substitutions and changes may be made without departing from the scope of the disclosure. Additionally, the illustrations are merely representational and may not be drawn to scale. Certain proportions within the illustrations may be exaggerated, while other proportions may be minimized. Accordingly, the disclosure and the figures are to be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive.
One or more embodiments of the disclosure may be referred to herein, individually and/or collectively, by the term “invention” merely for convenience and without intending to voluntarily limit the scope of this application to any particular invention or inventive concept. Moreover, although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, it should be appreciated that any subsequent arrangement designed to achieve the same or similar purpose may be substituted for the specific embodiments shown. This disclosure is intended to cover any and all subsequent adaptations or variations of various embodiments. Combinations of the above embodiments, and other embodiments not specifically described herein, will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewing the description.
The Abstract of the Disclosure is provided to comply with 37 C.F.R. §1.72(b) and is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. In addition, in the foregoing Detailed Description, various features may be grouped together or described in a single embodiment for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure. This disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments require more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive subject matter may be directed to less than all of the features of any of the disclosed embodiments. Thus, the following claims are incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claim standing on its own as defining separately claimed subject matter.
The above disclosed subject matter is to be considered illustrative, and not restrictive, and the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications, enhancements, and other embodiments, which fall within the true spirit and scope of the present invention. Thus, to the maximum extent allowed by law, the scope of the present invention is to be determined by the broadest permissible interpretation of the following claims and their equivalents, and shall not be restricted or limited by the foregoing detailed description. While various embodiments of the invention have been described, it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that many more embodiments and implementations are possible within the scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not to be restricted except in light of the attached claims and their equivalents.
