Systems and methods for proactively identifying and providing an internet link on an electronic device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11620033-B2
Application number	US-201916584797-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 26, 2019
Priority date	May 31, 2019
Publication date	Apr 4, 2023
Grant date	Apr 4, 2023

Abstract

Systems and methods for proactively identifying user interface objects (e.g., internet links) directed to information of interest to the user and displaying the identified user interface objects in a user interface on an electronic device are disclosed herein. In one aspect, the method includes receive, via a user input device, a user input within a user interface of an internet browser application and displayed on the display of the electronic device; and in response to the user input, display, within the user interface, a first set of one or more user interface objects, each providing a suggested internet link obtained from one or more data sources, different than the internet browser application, on the electronic device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing executable instructions that, when executed by an electronic device comprising a processor, memory, a display and a user input device, cause the electronic device to:
receive one or more internet links at one or more data sources on the electronic device that are different than an internet browser application;
receive, via the user input device, a first user input (i) to launch an internet browser application installed on the electronic device, (ii) request to display a new webpage tab in addition to simultaneously displaying one or more already displayed webpage tabs in a user interface of the internet browser application, or (iii) into a search or internet address field within an already displayed user interface of the internet browser application, where the user input is independent of the data source and the internet link;
in response to the first user input, and without any further user input, display, within the user interface of the internet browser application, (i) a first set of one or more user interface objects, each providing a suggested internet link from the one or more internet links obtained from the one or more data sources on the electronic device, and (ii) for each of the first set of one or more user interface objects, an associated data source user interface object corresponding to one of the one or more data sources that indicates where that respective suggested internet link was obtained;
receive, via the user input device, a second user input at a data source user interface object of the one of the associated data source user interface objects, where the data source user interface object is associated with a suggested internet link from a data source; and
in response to receiving the second user input, display within an additional application associated with the data source, the internet link.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the executable instructions further cause the electronic device to:
in response to the first user input, also display, within the user interface, a second set of one or more user interface objects, each providing a suggested internet link obtained from the internet browser application.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 2 , wherein the executable instructions further cause the electronic device to:
in response to the first user input, also display, within the user interface, a third set of one or more user interface objects, distinct from the first set of one or more user interface objects and the second set of one or more user interface objects, comprising one or more internet links previously designated to one or more favorite internet links of a user.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 3 , wherein the first set of one or more user interface objects and the second set of one or more user interface objects are displayed in a first portion of the user interface and the third set of one or more user interface objects is displayed in a second portion of the user interface distinct and different from the first portion of the user interface.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 4 , wherein the executable instructions further cause the electronic device to:
in response to the first user input, also display, within the user interface, a fourth set of one or more user interface objects, distinct from the first set of one or more user interface objects, the second set of one or more user interface objects, and the third set of one or more user interface objects, comprising one or more recently accessed internet links.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 5 , wherein the fourth set of one or more user interface objects is displayed in a fourth portion of the user interface distinct and different from the first portion of the user interface and the second portion of the user interface.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the one or more data sources are selected from a group consisting of: a calendar application, a reminder application, a communications application, a text-message application, an e-mail application, and a social media application.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the executable instructions further cause the electronic device to:
determine, prior to displaying the one or more user interface objects, a topic associated with the user input;
search, using the topic, for internet links obtained from the one or more data sources; and
in response to the search, locate at least one internet link related to the topic for display as a respective suggested internet link.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the executable instructions further cause the electronic device to:
acquire, for each of at least some of the one or more internet links, at least one of a usage history, a second topic or a time associated therewith; and
display the one or more user interface objects based at least in part on said at least one of the acquired usage history, second topic or time.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein the executable instructions further cause the electronic device to determine, prior to receiving the first user input, a common-ancestor topic for each of the entries and the user input, where at least one of the displayed one or more user interface objects are relevant to the determined common-ancestor topic.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the executable instructions further cause the electronic device to:
assign, for each of the one or more internet links, a ranking score based at least in part on a time associated therewith, the internet link having the time closer to a time of receiving the user input being assigned a higher ranking score, wherein the one or more user interface objects are displayed in an order based at least in part on the ranking scores assigned to the one or more internet links.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11 , wherein the entries comprise at least one of a webpage that a user has previously visited or a calendar event stored in a calendar application.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the executable instructions further cause the electronic device to:
identify a first topic associated with the user input or device context;
determine a first q-identifier for the first topic;
for each internet link of the one or more internet links,
identify a second topic associated with the respective internet link;
determine a second q-identifier for the second topic; and
assign a ranking score for each internet link based at least in part on a correlation of the first q-identifier with each of the second q-identifiers, wherein the one or more user interface objects are displayed in an order based at least in part on the ranking scores assigned to the one or more internet links.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the executable instructions further cause the electronic device to:
identify a first topic associated with the user input;
determine a first string for the first topic;
for each internet link of the one or more internet links,
identify a second topic associated with the respective internet link;
determine a second string for the second topic; and
assign a ranking score for each internet link base

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Hshieh Alan S
• Shultz Conrad A
• Kohlschuetter Karl Christian
• Rajca Mateusz K
• Alabi Oluwatomiwa
• Sepulveda Raymond S
• Moon Shawn D
• King Zachary G
• Davidson Garrett M

Classifications

• G06F16/9535 Primary

  Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation · CPC title

• G06F3/0482

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

• G06F16/9538

  Presentation of query results · CPC title

• G06F3/04883

  for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text · CPC title

• G06F3/0483 Primary

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