User-centric browser location

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10740704-B2
Application number	US-201816152257-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 4, 2018
Priority date	Oct 4, 2018
Publication date	Aug 11, 2020
Grant date	Aug 11, 2020

Abstract

This disclosure provides a system and method for providing intelligently-selected collections of user-centric content in a web browser. When implemented as a method, the method includes maintaining a user-centric graph with a plurality of user-centric facts derived from user interaction with different computer services. The method further includes recognizing different contexts of interest to the user. For each context, a collection of user-centric facts pertaining to the context are recognized in the user-centric graph, such recognition being based on a relationship between user-centric facts in the user-centric graph. The method further includes, for each context, displaying intelligently-selected content based on the collection of user-centric facts.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for providing collections of content in a browser, comprising:
maintaining a user-information graph including a plurality of facts derived from interaction, by a user, with a plurality of different computer services, wherein the user-information graph includes application-specific constituent graph structures associated with the different computer services, each application-specific constituent graph structure including edges connecting it to one or more other of the application-specific constituent graph structures, each application-specific constituent graph structure including a plurality of nodes;
recognizing, based on a relationship between the application-specific constituent graph structures, a plurality of different contexts of interest to the user; and
for each context, (1) recognizing a collection of facts pertaining to the context from an application-specific constituent graph structure corresponding to the context, such recognition being based on a relationship between facts in application-specific constituent graph structures, and (2) displaying content in the browser selected based on the collection of facts, wherein such selection includes assessing, for a fact in the collection of facts, a relevance value for the fact.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of different computer services includes a computer service other than the browser.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein for at least one of the plurality of contexts, the content includes information to facilitate completion of a task related to the context by the user.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the plurality of contexts is based on a predefined topic, and wherein the collection of facts for that context includes facts pertaining to the predefined topic.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the plurality of contexts is based on a task of the user, and wherein the collection of facts for that context includes one or more of 1) emails related to the task; 2) calendar data related to the task; and 3) documents related to the task.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein for at least one of the plurality of contexts, the collection of facts includes one or more of 1) a browser history item, 2) a browser favorite, and 3) a web site.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, for at least one of the plurality of contexts, recognizing one or more sub-collections for the context, and for each sub-collection, displaying content for the sub-collection based on a sub-set of the collection of facts for the context.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein for at least one of the plurality of contexts, the collection of facts is based on a temporal relationship between facts in the user information graph.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein for at least one of the plurality of contexts, the context is a recent activity context and wherein the collection of facts for the context includes facts derived from interaction between the user and the plurality of different computer services wherein such interaction occurred after a predefined recency date.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein for at least one of the plurality of contexts, the context is a schedule tracking context and wherein the collection of facts for the context includes facts pertaining to an upcoming responsibility of the user.

11. A user-information graph server computer system, comprising:
a logic subsystem; and
a storage subsystem configured to hold instructions executable by the logic subsystem to, in connection with operation of a browser by a user:
maintain a user-information graph including a plurality of facts derived from interaction, by the user, with a plurality of different computer services, wherein the user-information graph includes application-specific constituent graph structures associated with the different computer services, each application-specific constituent graph structure including edges connecting it to one or more other of the application-specific constituent graph structures, each application-specific constituent graph structure including a plurality of nodes;
recognize, based on a relationship between the application-specific constituent graph structures, a plurality of different contexts of interest to the user; and
for each context, (1) recognize a collection of facts pertaining to the context from an application-specific constituent graph structure corresponding to the context, such recognition being based on a relationship between facts in the application-specific constituent graph structure, and (2) based on the collection of facts, select content for presentation to the user via the browser, wherein such selection includes assessing, for a fact in the collection of facts, a relevance value for the fact.

12. The user information graph server computer system of claim 11 , wherein the plurality of different computer services includes a computer service other than the browser.

13. The user information graph server computer system of claim 11 , wherein for at least one of the plurality of contexts, the content includes information to facilitate completion of a task related to the context by the user.

14. The user information graph server computer system of claim 11 , wherein at least one of the plurality of contexts is based on a predefined topic, and wherein the collection of facts for that context includes facts pertaining to the predefined topic.

15. The user information graph server computer system of claim 11 , wherein at least one of the plurality of contexts is based on a task of the user, and wherein the collection of facts for that context includes one or more of 1) emails related to the task; 2) calendar data related to the task; and 3) documents related to the task.

16. The user information graph server computer system of claim 11 , wherein for at least one of the plurality of contexts, the content includes information based on one or more of 1) emails to or from the user; 2) contacts of the user, 3) calendar data of the user, 4) documents, 5) web pages, 6) location data associated with the user, and/or 7) application usage data associated with the user.

17. The user information graph server computer system of claim 11 , wherein for at least one of the plurality of contexts, the collection of facts is based on a temporal relationship between facts in the user information graph.

18. The user information graph server computer system of claim 17 , wherein for at least one of the plurality of contexts, the context is a recent activity context and wherein the collection of facts for the context includes facts derived from interaction between the user and the plurality of different computer services, wherein such interaction occurred after a predefined recency date.

19. The user information graph server computer system of claim 18 , wherein for at least one of the plurality of contexts, the context is a schedule tracking context and wherein the collection of facts for the context includes facts pertaining to an upcoming responsibility of the user.

20. A method for providing collections of content in a browser, comprising:
maintaining a user-information graph including a plurality of facts derived from interaction, by a user, with a plurality of different computer services, wherein the user-information graph includes application-specific constituent graph structures associated with the different computer services, each application-specific constituent graph structure including edges connecting it to

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Vangala Vipindeep
• Kumar Nishchay
• Hayatnagarkar Ankur

Classifications

• G06F9/453

  Help systems · CPC title

• G06F40/30

  Semantic analysis · CPC title

• G06Q10/06 Primary

  Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling · CPC title

• G06F3/0483

  Interaction with page-structured environments, e.g. book metaphor · CPC title

• G06F16/904 Primary

  Browsing; Visualisation therefor (for navigating the web G06F16/954; browsing optimisation for the web G06F16/957) · CPC title