IP Library Granted Patent US 10,885,076
Granted Patent B2
US 10,885,076 · App. 16/057,319 · Granted Jan 5, 2021

Computerized system and method for search query auto-completion

Inventors: Lizi Zhang (Urbana, IL); Hongbo Deng (Sunnyvale, CA); Amit Goyal (Sunnyvale, CA); Yi Chang (Sunnyvale, CA); Ricardo Baeza-Yates (Sunnyvale, CA)
Assignee: VERIZON MEDIA INC.
G06F16/3322G06F16/338G06F16/3329G06Q30/0256
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 10,885,076
App. No.
16/057,319
Granted
Jan 5, 2021
Kind
B2
Abstract

Disclosed are systems and methods for improving interactions with and between computers in content searching, generating, hosting and/or providing systems supported by or configured with personal computing devices, servers and/or platforms. The systems interact to identify and retrieve data within or across platforms, which can be used to improve the quality of data used in processing interactions between or among processors in such systems. The disclosed systems and methods provide systems and methods for determining and suggesting query auto-completions (QACs). In some embodiments, when a user is inputting a search query, the disclosed systems and methods can provide a QAC suggestion based on the inputted text in addition to application programs installed and/or executing on the user's device.

Claims (56)

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a computing device over a network, user input information from a user device, said user input information comprising a character string of at least one character and a device identifier (ID);

determining, via the computing device, a set of text suggestions that begin with the character string from a lexicon database;

identifying, via the computing device, a set of applications installed on the user device based on the device ID;

determining, via the computing device, a status each of the installed applications on the user device, said status comprising information indicating when a respective application has last been opened, a time a respective application has been installed, and whether a respective application is currently opened;

compiling, via the computing device, a query auto-complete (QAC) suggestion listing based on the set of text suggestions and the installed applications, and the installed application's determined status, said QAC suggestion listing comprising text suggestions associated with the installed applications being ranked higher than other text suggestions that are not associated with the installed applications; and

communicating, via the computing device over the network, the QAC suggestion listing for display on the user device.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

reranking said QAC suggestion listing based on the status of each installed application, said reranking comprising ordering the QAC suggestion listing such that text suggestions associated with installed applications that are currently opened are ranked higher than text suggestions associated with installed applications that are not currently opened.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

reranking said QAC suggestion listing based on the status of each installed application, said reranking comprising ordering the QAC suggestion listing such that text suggestions associated with installed applications that have been opened more recently are ranked higher than text suggestions associated with installed applications that have been opened less recently.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining a type of each of the identified applications on the user device, said type indicating whether a respective application is installed on the user device or is accessed over the network by the user device; and

reranking said QAC suggestion listing based on the type of each installed application.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein said reranking comprises ordering the QAC suggestion listing such that text suggestions for installed applications are ranked higher than text suggestions associated with network accessed applications.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein said reranking comprises ordering the QAC suggestion listing such that text suggestions associated with network accessed applications are ranked higher than text suggestions for installed applications.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving a second input indicating a selection of a text suggestion from the QAC suggestion listing; and

searching for content based on said second input.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining a number of times each text suggestion in the set of text suggestions has been selected during a predetermined period of time; and

reranking the set of text suggestions based on said number determination.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium tangibly encoded with computer-executable instructions, such that when a computing device executes the instructions, a method is performed comprising:

receiving, at the computing device over a network, user input information from a user device, said user input information comprising a character string of at least one character and a device identifier (ID);

determining, via the computing device, a set of text suggestions that begin with the character string from a lexicon database;

identifying, via the computing device, a set of applications installed on the user device based on the device ID;

determining, via the computing device, a status each of the installed applications on the user device, said status comprising information indicating when a respective application has last been opened, a time a respective application has been installed, and whether a respective application is currently opened;

compiling, via the computing device, a query auto-complete (QAC) suggestion listing based on the set of text suggestions and the installed applications, and the installed application's determined status, said QAC suggestion listing comprising text suggestions associated with the installed applications being ranked higher than other text suggestions that are not associated with the installed applications; and

communicating, via the computing device over the network, the QAC suggestion listing for display on the user device.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 , further comprising:

reranking said QAC suggestion listing based on the status of each installed application, said reranking comprising ordering the QAC suggestion listing such that text suggestions associated with installed applications that are currently opened are ranked higher than text suggestions associated with installed applications that are not currently opened.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 , further comprising:

reranking said QAC suggestion listing based on the status of each installed application, said reranking comprising ordering the QAC suggestion listing such that text suggestions associated with installed applications that have been opened more recently are ranked higher than text suggestions associated with installed applications that have been opened less recently.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 , further comprising:

determining a type of each of the identified applications on the user device, said type indicating whether a respective application is installed on the user device or is accessed over the network by the user device; and

reranking said QAC suggestion listing based on the type of each installed application.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12 , wherein said reranking comprises ordering the QAC suggestion listing such that text suggestions for installed applications are ranked higher than text suggestions associated with network accessed applications.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12 , wherein said reranking comprises ordering the QAC suggestion listing such that text suggestions associated with network accessed applications are ranked higher than text suggestions for installed applications.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 , further comprising:

receiving a second input indicating a selection of a text suggestion from the QAC suggestion listing; and

searching for content based on said second input.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 , further comprising:

determining a number of times each text suggestion in the set of text suggestions has been selected during a predetermined period of time; and

reranking the set of text suggestions based on said number determination.

17. A computing device comprising:

a processor; and

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium for tangibly storing thereon program logic for execution by the processor, the program logic comprising:

logic executed by the processor for receiving, at the computing device over a network, user input information from a user device, said user input information comprising a character string of at least one character and a device identifier (ID);

logic executed by the processor for determining, via the computing device, a set of text suggestions that begin with the character string from a lexicon database;

logic executed by the processor for identifying, via the computing device, a set of applications installed on the user device based on the device ID;

logic executed by the processor for determining, via the computing device, a status each of the installed applications on the user device, said status comprising information indicating when a respective application has last been opened, a time a respective application has been installed, and whether a respective application is currently opened;

logic executed by the processor for compiling, via the computing device, a query auto-complete (QAC) suggestion listing based on the set of text suggestions and the installed applications, and the installed application's determined status, said QAC suggestion listing comprising text suggestions associated with the installed applications being ranked higher than other text suggestions that are not associated with the installed applications; and

logic executed by the processor for communicating, via the computing device over the network, the QAC suggestion listing for display on the user device.

18. The computing device of claim 17 , further comprising:

logic executed by the processor for determining a type of each of the identified applications on the user device, said type indicating whether a respective application is installed on the user device or is accessed over the network by the user device; and

logic executed by the processor for reranking said QAC suggestion listing based on the type of each identified application.

Assignments (6)
PATENT SECURITY AGREEMENT (FIRST LIEN) Recorded Sep 29, 2022
From: YAHOO ASSETS LLC
To: ROYAL BANK OF CANADA, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 061571/0773 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Dec 16, 2021
From: YAHOO AD TECH LLC (FORMERLY VERIZON MEDIA INC.)
To: YAHOO ASSETS LLC
Reel/Frame 058982/0282 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Oct 26, 2020
From: OATH INC.
To: VERIZON MEDIA INC.
Reel/Frame 054258/0635 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Nov 2, 2018
From: ZHANG, LIZI; GOYAL, AMIT; DENG, HONGBO; CHANG, YI; BAEZA-YATES, RICARDO
To: YAHOO! INC.
Reel/Frame 047390/0068 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Nov 2, 2018
From: YAHOO! INC.
To: YAHOO HOLDINGS, INC.
Reel/Frame 047402/0187 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Nov 2, 2018
From: YAHOO HOLDINGS, INC.
To: OATH INC.
Reel/Frame 047402/0502 →
Cited By (2)
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