Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US20090327282?ie=ISO-8859-1
Timestamp: 2015-04-18 11:58:36
Document Index: 400986677

Matched Legal Cases: ['application No. 61', 'application No. 61', 'application No. 61', 'application No. 61', 'application No. 61', 'application No. 61']

Patent US20090327282 - Social mobile search - Google PatentsSearch Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »Sign inAdvanced Patent SearchPatentsSearch and retrieval of information shared between members of a social mobile networks is facilitated. The search returns results in an order that is based on relevance measurements unique to each member. A comprehensive map of the interactions and behaviors that take place between the members of a social...http://www.google.com/patents/US20090327282?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US20090327282 - Social mobile searchAdvanced Patent SearchPublication numberUS20090327282 A1Publication typeApplicationApplication numberUS 12/494,023Publication dateDec 31, 2009Filing dateJun 29, 2009Priority dateJun 27, 2008Also published asUS8527486, US20100010994, WO2009158721A1, WO2009158722A1Publication number12494023, 494023, US 2009/0327282 A1, US 2009/327282 A1, US 20090327282 A1, US 20090327282A1, US 2009327282 A1, US 2009327282A1, US-A1-20090327282, US-A1-2009327282, US2009/0327282A1, US2009/327282A1, US20090327282 A1, US20090327282A1, US2009327282 A1, US2009327282A1InventorsChristof Wittig, John W. StosselOriginal AssigneeServo Software, Inc.Export CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefManPatent Citations (3), Referenced by (11), Classifications (12), Legal Events (2) External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, EspacenetSocial mobile search
US 20090327282 A1Abstract
Search and retrieval of information shared between members of a social mobile networks is facilitated. The search returns results in an order that is based on relevance measurements unique to each member. A comprehensive map of the interactions and behaviors that take place between the members of a social mobile network is discovered and maintained. Such maps are used to assign a unique relevance measurement for each member of each social mobile network.
selectively marking for sharing a first plurality of information stored on a plurality of mobile communication devices associated with a plurality of users; transmitting the first plurality of information marked for sharing to a server; storing the transmitted information indexing the transmitted information; determining a subset of the indexed information that is available for sharing with the first user; and searching for the plurality of alphanumeric characters on the subset of the transmitted information. 2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
searching for the plurality of alphanumeric characters on the information stored on the first mobile communication device. 3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
searching for the alphanumeric characters on information available on the Internet. 4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
searching for the plurality of alphanumeric characters on information supplied by an on-line supplier of content. 5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
monitoring the information selectively marked for sharing to detect changes thereto; and updating the stored information to reflect any detected changes. 6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
identifying a first one of the plurality of users who marked for sharing information matching the plurality of alphanumeric characters 7. The method of claim 5 wherein a first subset of said information selected for sharing is identified in response to a second search performed prior to the text search.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one entry of the subset of the indexed information is selected prior to identifying the first user as a user with whom the at least one entry is to be shared.
identifying the first user as a user with whom at least one entry of the subset of the indexed information is to be shared. 10. The method of claim 1 wherein at least a first subset of the plurality of information comprises entries in one or more of a calendar, contact list and music collections of one or more of the plurality of mobile communication devices.
11. The method of claim 1 wherein at least a first subset of the plurality of information comprises entries in a folder of one or more of the plurality of mobile communication devices.
12. The method of claim 10 wherein at least a first subset of the plurality of information comprises selected entries in calendar, contact list and music collections of one or more of the plurality of mobile communication devices.
filtering out a second subset of the indexed information marked as being available for sharing. 14. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
displaying the search results in accordance with a ranking scheme. 15. A method of sharing data between first and second mobile communication devices associated respectively with first and second users, the method comprising:
identifying data to be shared on the first mobile communication device; transmitting the identified data to a server; storing the transmitted data; indexing the transmitted data; and enabling the second mobile communication device to access the indexed data. 16. The method of claim 15 further comprising:
notifying the second user that the indexed data is available for access. 17. The method of claim 15 further comprising:
monitoring the data identified for sharing to detect changes thereto; and updating the indexed data to reflect detected changes. 18. The method of claim 15 further comprising:
notifying the second user that the data available for access was made available by the first user. 19. The method of claim 15 further comprising:
identifying the data to be shared in response to a search performed to locate the data on the first mobile communication device. 20. The method of claim 15 further comprising:
identifying the data to be shared prior to identifying the second user as a user with whom the data is to be shared. 21. The method of claim 15 further comprising:
identifying the data to be shared after identifying the second user as a user with whom the data is to be shared. 22. The method of claim 15 further wherein at least a first subset of the data comprises entries in one or more of calendar, contact list and music collections.
23. The method of claim 15 further wherein at least a first subset of the data comprises entries in a folder.
24. The method of claim 15 further wherein at least a first subset of the data comprises selected entries in one or more of a calendar, contact list and music collections.
filtering out a first subset of the indexed data; and inhibiting access to the filtered out by the second user. 26. The method of claim 15 further comprising:
enabling the first user to vary one or more settings of the first mobile communication device that are used to identify the data to be shared. 27. A mobile communication device comprising:
a first component adapted to enable an associated first user to select data stored therein for sharing by a second mobile communication device associated with a second user identified by the first user; a second component adapted to transmit the identified data to a server operative to grant access to the identified data to the second user. 28. The mobile communication device of claim 27 further comprising:
a third component adapted to monitor the data identified for sharing to detect changes thereto and to cause any detected changes to be transmitted to the server. 29. The mobile communication device of claim 27 wherein said first component is further adapted to enable the first user to select data for sharing by the second mobile communication device in response to an alphanumeric search performed on the first mobile communication device.
30. The mobile communication device of claim 27 wherein said first component is adapted to enable the first user to select the data to be shared prior to identifying the second user as a user with whom the data is to be shared.
31. The mobile communication device of claim 27 wherein said first component is adapted to enable the first user to select the data to be shared after identifying the second user as a user with whom the data is to be shared.
32. The mobile communication device of claim 27 wherein at least a first subset of the data comprises entries in one or more of calendar, contact list and music collections.
33. The mobile communication device of claim 27 wherein at least a first subset of the data comprises entries in a folder.
34. The mobile communication device of claim 27 wherein at least a first subset of the data comprises selected entries in one or more of a calendar, contact list and music collections.
35. The mobile communication device of claim 27 further comprising:
a fourth component adapted to enable the first user to vary one or more settings of the first mobile communication device that are used to select the data to be shared. 36. A method of sharing data between first and second mobile communication devices associated respectively with first and second users, the method comprising:
receiving data from the first mobile communication device, said data selected by the first user to be shared by the second user; storing the received data; indexing the received data; and enabling the second user to access the indexed data. 37. The method of claim 36 further comprising:
notifying the second user that the indexed data is available for access. 38. The method of claim 36 further comprising:
monitoring the data identified for sharing to detect changes thereto; and updating the indexed data to reflect detected changes. 39. The method of claim 36 further comprising:
notifying the second user that the data available for access was made available by the first user. 40. The method of claim 36 wherein at least a first subset of the indexed data comprises entries in one or more of a calendar, contact list and music collections.
41. The method of claim 36 wherein at least a first subset of the data comprises entries in a folder.
42. The method of claim 36 wherein at least a first subset of the data comprises selected entries in one or more of a calendar, contact list and music collections.
filtering out a first subset of the indexed data; and inhibiting access to the filtered out data by the second user. 44. A server adapted to facilitate communication between a first mobile communication device associated with a first user and a second mobile communication device associated with a second user, the server comprising:
a first module adapted to receive data from the first mobile communication device, said data selected by the first user for sharing by the second user; a memory adapted to store the received data; an indexing engine adapted to indexing the stored data; and a second module adapted to enable the second user to access the indexed data. 45. The server of claim 44 further comprising:
a third module adapted to notify the second user that the indexed data is available for access. 46. The server of claim 44 wherein said server is further adapted to receive updates to the received data.
47. The server of claim 44 wherein at least a first subset of the indexed data comprises entries in one or more of a calendar, contact list and music collections.
48. The server of claim 44 wherein at least a first subset of the data comprises entries in a folder.
49. The server of claim 44 wherein comprises selected entries in one or more of a calendar, contact list and music collections.
50. The server of claim 44 further comprising a number of settings adapted to
filter out a first subset of the indexed data; and inhibit access to the filtered out data by the second user. Description
U.S. application No. 61/076,324, filed Jun. 27, 2008, entitled �Social Mobile Search�;
U.S. application No. 61/095,072, filed Sep. 8, 2008, entitled �Social Mobile Search�;
U.S. application No. 61/076,349 filed Jun. 27, 2008, entitled �Social Mobile Phonebook�;
U.S. application No. 61/095,108 filed Sep. 8, 2008, entitled �Social Mobile Phonebook�;
U.S. application No. 61/076,373 filed Jun. 27, 2008, entitled �Mobile Application Discovery Through Mobile Search�; and
U.S. application No. 61/095,143 filed Sep. 8, 2008, entitled �Mobile Application Discovery Through Mobile Search�; the contents of all of which applications are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
Device search refers to search for information on a specific computing device using a search application or tool running on the device. Accordingly, the retrievable information is limited to the data which is located on the device or on a medium attached to it, such as an external drive. The process of searching for data on a device is typically determined by the end-user's knowledge of the information that he/she seeks. For example, if the end-user desires to listen to a song titled �Jimmy Jazz�, stored on a device containing thousands of music files, the end-user may utilize a search feature within a music player software application to retrieve all songs that include the words �jimmy� and �jazz� in their song title.
Internet search refers to searching for information that exists on the World Wide Web and the internet in general. Typically, the end-user uses an Internet browser running on a computing device to access an Internet search engine. The search engine typically maintains its own information source which includes content aggregated from the World Wide Web. If the end-user searches, for example, for �jimmy jazz�, an Internet search may return millions of hits, whereas a device search may typically return only a handful of results.
In general, the usefulness of an information retrieval system depends on the relevance of the results that it finds. Many of the presently available information retrieval systems rank their results using a relevance measurement metric. In accordance with this scheme, the greater the relevance of a result, the higher is its position in the compiled list. In the case of an Internet search, there may be billions of web pages or documents that match a particular keyword query. Internet search solutions may deem a page to be more relevant based on, for example, the popularity of the web page, an authoritative factor assigned to the content source, frequency of the keywords within the document, or the like. Similarly, device search solutions may calculate a relevance measurement by assigning more importance to keyword matches within certain fields of data records. For example, a search for �Jimmy Jazz� in the device address book may rank records where the first name field or last name field contains �Jimmy� or �Jazz� higher than records where the company name field or job title field contains �Jimmy� or �Jazz�.
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention a text search defined by alphanumeric characters and initiated on a first wireless mobile communication device may return results that include data made available for sharing/searching by other wireless mobile communication devices whose social mobile network includes the user of the first wireless mobile communication device. To achieve this, each user selectively marks the data he/she wants to share and identifies the user(s) he/she wants to share the selected data with. The information containing data so selected and the users so identified are transmitted to a server. The server stores and indexes this information. The indexing, among other things, associates each user with each portion of the received data to be shared with that user. The search results initiated by the first user contain any data made available for sharing to the first user by others if that data contains the alphanumeric characters defined in the search.
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, users are enabled to readily discover new applications and assess their usefulness based on usage of those applications by members of their social mobile network. The users are given the option of obtaining and/or purchasing those applications from the online stores.
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, a search initiated on a mobile communication device (hereinafter device) associated with a first user triggers the search to be carried out both on the device as well as on a server containing information designated as being available for sharing by all other users whose social mobile network include the first user. Accordingly, each user is enabled to share information with other users whose social mobile network include the first user. The search result is listed in an order that is based on relevance measurements unique to each user within the social mobile network. To achieve this, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, interactions and behaviors that take place within each social mobile networks are discovered and maintained to form a map. Using such maps, a relevance measurement is assigned to. For example, a query for �jimmy� assigns a higher relevance measurement to a song named �Jimmy Jazz�, which has been listened to ten times in the last day, than a song named �Jimmy Jones� that has been listened to once in the last day.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a number of components (modules) of a mobile client application program 100 running on a mobile communication device (hereinafter alternatively referred to as Device) in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. Application program 100 includes a user interface 112 (hereinafter alternatively referred to as UI), a search engine 108, a social search conduit 116, a share manager 118, a settings manager 114, a change detector 102, a content extractor 122, a database 110, and a job queue 104.
FIG. 8, FIGS. 9A and 9B describe the data structures used by the application program 100 and server program 200 and collectively contain �maps� of the user's social mobile networks. All tables in FIG. 8 are managed by the share manager 118. Table 800, Table 802 and Table 804 store application data related to the address book, music collection and applications on the device. Table 806 is used to track the interactions between the user and his/her social mobile network. Table 808 is used to track the user's usage of content on the device. Table 810 is used to maintain a list of the content shared with member's of the user's social mobile network. The share manager 118 transmits its shared information and tracking data to server 200. Content collection and indexing 202 maintains the tables in FIGS. 9A and 9B. Table 900 contains a list of all users of server 200. Table 902 contains aliases for those users, such as e-mail addresses or phone numbers, so that other users who wish to share with them, can do so by various identifying information. Table 904 contains a list of all client devices running application program 100 that are used by user's in Table 900. Table 906, Table 908 and Table 910 represent a portion of shared content database 210, which is the information shared with other users. Table 912, Table 914 and Table 916 contain all tracking data sent by various application program 100 s to server 200. Social search engine 208 uses the data in the tables shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B to rank the order of search results.
The request to share is transmitted to share manager 118 which packages the request (e.g., includes the credentials of the user, such as the user's username and password, the information to be shared, etc.), and transmits the request to cloud 200. After receiving the request, cloud 200 attempts to authenticate the requestor by calling account manager 206. If the request is authenticated, cloud 200 passes the request to content collection & indexing component 202. Content collection & indexing component 202 stores the request in a queue and informs share manager 118 of the authenticated request. In response, share manager 118 passes the authenticated request to UI 112. Thereafter, content collection & indexing component 202 stores the data contained in the request for sharing in shared content database 210 and maintains a list of cloud users who may access the shared content (users of devices 400A, 400B, and 400C, also referred to herein alternatively as target recipients) in the account manager 206. Next, content collection & indexing component 202 indexes the shared content in index of shared content database 212 so that only target recipients may find and access the data during a search of content collection & indexing component 202. The user may also revoke/remove previously shared content and specify that a previously shared content no longer be available for sharing.
Application program 100 enables the user of the mobile device on which it is running to search for information shared by each of a multitude of other users whose social mobile network include the user and who has a copy of application program 100 running on his/her associated mobile device, and described in detail below.
In accordance with one embodiment, a user selects the name(s) of the individuals the user wants to share the information with from the user's contact list�stored on the user's mobile device�and presses a transmit key, as described further below. Assume, for example, that Joe decides to share a picture of Anna that has been stored in his mobile device with Simon. To achieve this, Joe searches for information about Anna in his mobile device by entering the text �anna� in search window 112. The search engine 108 searches for any indexed information that has the text �anna� included in its record name and displays the search results. Joe selects the desired record (that has the picture of Anna) from the displayed search result and is subsequently prompted to decide whether to share the selected record. If Joe so chooses, his contact list is displayed to enable Joe to identify those contacts that Joe likes to share the picture with. Assume that Joe selects Simon from his contact list. After this selection, the record containing Anna's picture together with its associated index are transmitted to server cloud 200. The transmitted record is received by and stored in content collection and indexing component 202 and thereafter stored in database 204 of cloud server 200.
In accordance with yet another embodiment of the present invention, sharing of certain types of information is performed automatically. For example, users may share their entire collection of music with every member of their social mobile network. If a user does so, his/her entire music library becomes available for searching by everyone else who uses software 100. Accordingly, when a user performs a search for an item, e.g., wine, any item in the music collection shared in the manner described above, that has the text �wine� in its title will be shown in the search result.
A number of settings managed by settings manager component 114�provided on mobile device software program 100�may also be used to define the ranking order of the items listed in a search result. For example, depending on the selected settings, contact names may receive a higher ranking than calendar items when searched items are ordered and listed. For example, a search for �Smith� will assign a higher rank to any entry in the contact names that contains the text �Smith� than to any calendar entry that contains the same text. In another example, items that have partial matches rank lower than those that have exact matches.
For example, assume that a user named Jack plans to attend a wine and cheese event which he forgot to enter into his calendar. Assume that Jack knows that this information is available on his wife's calendar which is shared with Jack. To view this information, Jack enters the search text �wine�. Assume that Jack is within the social mobile network of individuals who have an installed application named �wine by the bar� that is marked for sharing with Jack. Accordingly, in response to this search, not only the desired calendar item but also the application �wine by the bar� are listed in the search result. In one embodiment, this finding that the application �wine by the bar� was bought and used by a number of individuals whose social mobile network include Jack causes this application to be assigned a higher ranking thus resulting in the listing of this application before the desired calendar item. By clicking on the entry showing the application �wine by the bar�, a brief description of the application is provided. If the user so chooses, he/she may visit the �App Store� and purchase the application software. Accordingly, in accordance with embodiments of the present invention, both the content as well as the actions/behavior of those whose social mobile network include the user are used in ranking and listing of the search results initiated by that user.
User interface output devices 714 may include a display subsystem, a printer, a fax machine, or non-visual displays such as audio output devices. The display subsystem may be a cathode ray tube (CRT), a flat-panel device such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), or a projection device. In general, use of the term output device is intended to include all possible types of devices and ways to output information from the processing device. Storage subsystem 706 may be configured to store the basic programming and data constructs that provide the functionality in accordance with embodiments of the present invention. For example, according to one embodiment of the present invention, software modules implementing the functionality of the present invention may be stored in storage subsystem 706. These software modules may be executed by processor(s) 702. Storage subsystem 706 may also provide a repository for storing data used in accordance with the present invention. Storage subsystem 706 may include, for example, memory subsystem 708 and file/disk storage subsystem 710.
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