System and method for proactively identifying and surfacing relevant content on an electronic device with a touch-sensitive display

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10757552-B2
Application number	US-201816147572-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 28, 2018
Priority date	May 27, 2015
Publication date	Aug 25, 2020
Grant date	Aug 25, 2020

Abstract

Systems and methods for proactively identifying and surfacing relevant content are disclosed herein. An example method includes: detecting, via the touch-sensitive display, a search activation gesture from a user of the electronic device. The method also includes: in response to detecting only the search activation gesture, displaying a search interface on substantially all of the touch-sensitive display, the search interface including: (i) a search entry portion; and (ii) a predictions portion with one or more user interface objects each associated with a respective locally-installed application. Each respective locally-installed application is selected from among a plurality of locally-installed applications for inclusion in the predictions portion based on an application usage history associated with the user of the electronic device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
at an electronic device with a touch-sensitive display:
detecting, via the touch-sensitive display, a search activation gesture from a user of the electronic device;
in response to detecting only the search activation gesture, displaying a search interface on substantially all of the touch-sensitive display, the search interface including:
(i) a search entry portion; and
(ii) a predictions portion that is displayed before receiving any user input at the search entry portion, the predictions portion displayed with one or more user interface objects each associated with a respective locally-installed application, wherein each respective locally-installed application is selected from among a plurality of locally-installed applications for inclusion in the predictions portion based on an application usage history associated with the user of the electronic device; wherein the predictions portion includes a user interface object selected from a group consisting of:
a respective deep-link user interface object associated with a predicted action within a respective application of the plurality of locally-installed application, and the respective deep-link user interface object, when selected by a user, causes the electronic device to display a respective application of the plurality of locally-installed applications and initiate a predicted action within the respective application, and the predicted action is selected based on one or more of a current time and the application usage history; and
one or more other user interface objects each associated with a respective contact, wherein each respective contact is selected from among a plurality of previously-contacted people for inclusion in the predictions portion based at least in part on a current time.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the application usage history is a data structure, stored in a memory of the electronic device, that includes information identifying at least times and days on which the respective locally-installed applications were accessed by the user of the electronic device.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein each respective locally-installed application is also selected for inclusion in the predictions portion based on a current location of the electronic device.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein each respective locally-installed application is also selected for inclusion in the predictions portion based on a current time.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the search activation gesture is received at the current time, and analysis of the application usage history indicates that each respective locally-installed application is of interest to the user as of the current time.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
detecting, via the touch-sensitive display and within the predictions portion, a selection of a respective user interface object associated with a respective locally-installed application; and
in response to detecting the selection, displaying, on the touch-sensitive display, a user interface associated with the respective locally-installed application.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the one or more user interface objects include a plurality of user interface objects, each associated with a respective locally-installed application that is selected for inclusion in the predictions portion based on the application usage history.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein detecting the search activation gesture includes:
detecting, over a first home screen page in a sequence of respective home screen pages, a contact on the touch-sensitive display followed by movement of the contact in a substantially left-to-right direction across the touch-sensitive display.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein detecting the search activation gesture includes:
detecting, over any of a sequence of respective home screen pages, a contact on the touch-sensitive display followed by movement of the contact in a substantially downward direction across the touch-sensitive display.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the predictions portion is also populated in response to detecting the search activation gesture with one or more additional user interface objects, distinct from the one or more user interface objects, and
each of the one or more additional user interface objects is associated with content that is selected for inclusion in the predictions portion based on one or more of: a current location of the electronic device and a current time.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein an ordering within the predictions portion for (i) the one or more user interface objects associated with each respective locally-installed application and (ii) the one or more additional user interface objects is configured by the user of the electronic device.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing executable instructions that, when executed by an electronic device with a touch-sensitive display, cause the electronic device to:
detect, via the touch-sensitive display, a search activation gesture from a user of the electronic device;
in response to detecting only the search activation gesture, display a search interface on substantially all of the touch-sensitive display, the search interface including:
(i) a search entry portion; and
(ii) a predictions portion that is displayed before receiving any user input at the search entry portion, the predictions portion displayed with one or more user interface objects each associated with a respective locally-installed application, wherein each respective locally-installed application is selected from among a plurality of locally-installed applications for inclusion in the predictions portion based on an application usage history associated with the user of the electronic device; wherein the predictions portion includes a user interface object selected from a group consisting of:
a respective deep-link user interface object associated with a predicted action within a respective application of the plurality of locally-installed application, and the respective deep-link user interface object, when selected by a user, causes the electronic device to display a respective application of the plurality of locally-installed applications and initiate a predicted action within the respective application, and the predicted action is selected based on one or more of a current time and the application usage history; and
one or more other user interface objects each associated with a respective contact, wherein each respective contact is selected from among a plurality of previously-contacted people for inclusion in the predictions portion based at least in part on a current time.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12 , wherein the application usage history is a data structure, stored in a memory of the electronic device, that includes information identifying at least times and days on which the respective locally- installed applications were accessed by the user of the electronic device.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12 , wherein each respective locally-installed application is also selected for inclusion in the predictions portion based on a current location of the electronic device.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14 wherein each respective locally-installed application is also selected for inclusion in the predictions portion based on a current time.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 wherein the search activation

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Gross Daniel C
• Coffman Patrick L
• Dellinger Richard R
• Foss Christopher P
• Gauci Jason J
• Haghighi Aria D
• Irani Cyrus D
• Jones Bronwyn A
• Kapoor Gaurav
• Lemay Stephen O
• Morris Colin C
• Siracusa Michael R
• Yang Lawrence Y
• Ramerth Brent D
• Bellegarda Jerome R
• Dolfing Jannes G A
• Pagallo Giulia P
• Wang Xin
• Hatori Jun
• Moha Alexandre R
• Clark Kevin D
• Kohlschuetter Karl Christian
• Andersen Jesper S
• Arras Hafid
• Carlhian Alexandre
• Deniau Thomas
• Martel Mathieu J
• Toudji Sofiane

Classifications

• H04L67/52

  specially adapted for the location of the user terminal · CPC title

• G06F3/0482

  Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus · CPC title

• H04M1/72469

  for operating the device by selecting functions from two or more displayed items, e.g. menus or icons · CPC title

• H04M1/72403

  with means for local support of applications that increase the functionality · CPC title

• H04W4/025

  using location based information parameters · CPC title