COLLECTION AND USE OF SIDE INFORMATION IN VOICE-MEDIATED MOBILE SEARCH

1 . A method of performing a search originating from a mobile device, the method comprising:

receiving a signal from the mobile device that includes a representation of an utterance from a user of the mobile device, wherein the utterance includes a search request;

using speech recognition software to convert the search request into a text search request;

extracting side information contained within the received signal, wherein the side information is represented implicitly within the received signal;

using the extracted side information to assign the user of the mobile device to a user category;

sending the text search request and the user category to one or more content providers;

receiving from the one or more content providers content that is responsive to the text search request and the user category; and

sending search results to the mobile device, wherein the search results are based on the received content from the one or more content providers.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

sending the recognized text search request to one or more advertising providers;

receiving from the one or more advertising providers advertisements that are based at least in part on the sent text search request; and

sending at least one of the advertisements from the one or more advertising providers to the mobile device.

3 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising:

sending the user category to the one or more advertising providers; and

receiving from the one or more advertising providers content that is based at least in part on the sent user category.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the user category includes a gender of the user.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the user category includes an age range of the user.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the user category includes an accent of the user.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the user category includes a dialect of the user.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the user category includes an emotional state of the user.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the side information includes information about an environment in which the user is operating the mobile device.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the environment is one of the set consisting of the inside of a vehicle, a quiet location, a noisy location, and a shared workplace.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the content received from the one or more content providers includes a plurality of items and the method further comprises determining a degree of responsiveness of each of the items, the degree of responsiveness being based at least in part on the user category.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the plurality of items are ranked, the rank of each item being based on its degree of responsiveness, and the search results include a ranked list of the plurality of items.

13 . The method of claim 11 , wherein a subset of the plurality of items is selected, the subset including items having a degree of responsiveness greater than a threshold degree of responsiveness, and the search results include the subset of items.

14 . A method of performing a search originating from a mobile device, the method comprising:

receiving a signal from the mobile device that includes a representation of an utterance from a user of the mobile device, wherein the utterance includes a search request;

using speech recognition software to convert the spoken search request into a text search request;

extracting side information contained within the received signal, wherein the side information is represented implicitly within the received signal;

using the extracted side information to assign the user of the mobile device to a user category;

sending the text search request to one or more content providers;

sending the text search request and the user category to one or more advertising providers;

receiving from the one or more content providers search results, the search results including a plurality of items that are responsive to the text search request;

receiving from the one or more advertising providers one or more advertisements that are based at least in part on the text search request and on the user category; and

sending at least one of the plurality of items and at least one of the advertisements to the mobile device.

15 . A server system comprising a processor system and a memory system, the memory system including instructions which, when executed on the processor system cause the server system to:

receive a signal from a mobile device that includes a representation of an utterance from a user of the mobile device, wherein the utterance includes a search request;

recognize the search request within the utterance;

convert the recognized search request into a text search request;

extract side information contained within the received signal, wherein the side information is represented implicitly within the received signal;

use the extracted side information to assign the user of the mobile device to a user category;

send the text search request and the user category to one or more content providers;

receive from the one or more content providers content that is responsive to the text search request and the user category; and

send search results to the mobile device, wherein the search results are based on the received content from the one or more content providers.

16 . The server system of claim 15 , wherein the stored instructions further cause the server system to:

send the recognized text search request to one or more advertising providers;

receive from the one or more advertising providers advertisements that are based at least in part on the sent text search request; and

send at least one of the advertisements from the one or more advertising providers to the mobile device.

17 . The server system of claim 16 , wherein the stored instructions further cause the server system to:

send the user category to the one or more advertising providers; and

receive from the one or more advertising providers content that is based at least in part on the sent user category.

18 . The server system of claim 15 , wherein the category is one of the set consisting of a gender of the user, an age range of the user, an accent of the user, a dialect of the user, and an emotional state of the user.

19 . The server system of claim 15 , wherein the category includes information about an environment in which the user is operating the mobile device.

20 . A server system comprising a processor system and a memory system, the memory system including instructions which, when executed on the processor system cause the server system to:

receive a signal from a mobile device that includes a representation of an utterance from a user of the mobile device, wherein the utterance includes a search request;

recognize the search request within the utterance;

convert the recognized search request into a text search request;

extract side information contained within the received signal, wherein the side information is represented implicitly within the received signal;

use the extracted side information to assign the user of the mobile device to a user category;

send the text search request to one or more content providers;

send the text search request and the user category to one or more advertising providers;

receive from the one or more content providers search results, the search results including a plurality of items that are responsive to the text search request;

receive from the one or more advertising providers one or more advertisements that are based at least in part on the text search request and on the user category; and

send at least one of the plurality of items and at least one of the advertisements to the mobile device.