Mobile search based on predicted location

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12078501-B2
Application number	US-202318159792-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 26, 2023
Priority date	Dec 17, 2010
Publication date	Sep 3, 2024
Grant date	Sep 3, 2024

Abstract

A method includes receiving one or more search terms at a mobile computing device while the mobile computing device is located at a particular location. A search query that includes the one or more search terms and a location history of the mobile computing device is transmitted to a server. The method also includes receiving one or more search results in response to the search query, where the one or more search results include content identified based on a predicted destination of the mobile computing device. An interface identifying the one or more search results is displayed at the mobile computing device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving a search query from a computing device located in a geographic region;
detecting that the search query includes an ambiguous location;
based on the search query including an ambiguous location, predicting a location based on a location history associated with the computing device;
performing a search based on the search query;
prioritizing search results associated with the predicted location over search results not associated with the predicted location; and
causing presentation of the prioritized search results on the computing device.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
augmenting the search query with the predicted location prior to performing the search.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the predicted location is at least partly based on a travel time estimate, the travel time estimate based on a time to travel to the predicted location.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the predicting the location comprises:
identifying one or more destination elements in the geographic region;
determining probabilities that the one or more destination elements are a future location of the computing device; and
identifying the predicted location based on the probabilities.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the one or more destination elements are identified based on being reachable from a current location of the computing device within a predetermined amount of time.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the predicted location comprises a current location of the computing device.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
based on the location history, predicting a route of the computing device, wherein the predicted location comprises a point on the predicted route of the computing device.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
augmenting the search query with information regarding the predicted route to generate a trajectory-aware search query, wherein the search is performed using the trajectory-aware search query.

9. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
based on the predicted route, pre-fetching content likely to be retrieved by a user of the computing device.

10. A system comprising:
one or more hardware processors; and
a memory device storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more hardware processors, cause the one or more hardware processors to perform operations comprising:
receiving a search query from a computing device located in a geographic region;
detecting that the search query includes an ambiguous location;
based on the search query including an ambiguous location, predicting a location based on a location history associated with the computing device;
performing a search based on the search query;
prioritizing search results associated with the predicted location over search results not associated with the predicted location; and
causing presentation of the prioritized search results on the computing device.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the operations further comprise:
augmenting the search query with the predicted location prior to performing the search.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the predicted location is at least partly based on a travel time estimate, the travel time estimate based on a time to travel to the predicted location.

13. The system of claim 10 , wherein the predicting the location comprises:
identifying one or more destination elements in the geographic region;
determining probabilities that the one or more destination elements are a future location of the computing device; and
identifying the predicted location based on the probabilities.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the one or more destination elements are identified based on being reachable from a current location of the computing device within a predetermined amount of time.

15. The system of claim 10 , wherein the predicted location comprises a current location of the computing device.

16. The system of claim 10 , wherein the operations further comprise:
based on the location history, predicting a route of the computing device, wherein the predicted location comprises a point on the predicted route of the computing device.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the operations further comprise:
augmenting the search query with information regarding the predicted route to generate a trajectory-aware search query, wherein the search is performed using the trajectory-aware search query.

18. The system of claim 16 , wherein the operations further comprise:
based on the predicted route, pre-fetching content likely to be retrieved by a user of the computing device.

19. A storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more hardware processors, causes the one or more hardware processors to perform operations comprising:
receiving a search query from a computing device located in a geographic region;
detecting that the search query includes an ambiguous location;
based on the search query including an ambiguous location, predicting a location based on a location history associated with the computing device;
performing a search based on the search query;
prioritizing search results associated with the predicted location over search results not associated with the predicted location; and
causing presentation of the prioritized search results on the computing device.

20. The storage medium of claim 19 , wherein the predicting the location comprises:
identifying one or more destination elements in the geographic region;
determining probabilities that the one or more destination elements are a future location of the computing device; and
identifying the predicted location based on the probabilities.

Assignees

• Uber Technologies Inc

Inventors

• Brush Alice Jane Bernheim
• Krumm John Charles
• Amini Shahriyar
• Karlson Amy
• Teevan Jaime
• Bodhi Priyantha Nissanka Arachchige

Classifications

• H04W4/02

  Services making use of location information · CPC title

• H04W4/029

  Location-based management or tracking services · CPC title

• G01C21/3484

  Personalized, e.g. from learned user behaviour or user-defined profiles · CPC title

• G06F16/24575

  using context · CPC title

• G06F16/9537

  Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries · CPC title