US 7,890,499 B1Granted

Presentation of search results with common subject matters

AssigneeGoogle Inc.

InventorDustin Boswell

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Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer program products feature determining a plurality of search result items responsive to a search query. A plurality of search modes are identified based on the query or the plurality of search result items or both. Each search mode is associated with a respective collection of records. The plurality of search result items are provided to a user with an indication of each search mode in the plurality of search modes. User input selecting a first search mode is received, where the first search mode is one of the plurality of search modes. One or more mode-specific search result items are determined based on the search query, where each mode-specific search result item is from the collection of records that is associated with the first search mode. The one or more mode-specific search result items are provided to the user.

Claims34

Dependent claims

A computer-implemented method comprising:

(A) receiving a search query;
(B) providing a first user interface, the first user interface displaying first search results specifying resources that a search engine has identified as being responsive to the search query, the first user interface further displaying a subject matter link identifying a particular subject matter that the search engine has identified based on the first search results, the particular subject matter being associated with a particular collection of records that the search engine has selected from among multiple collections of records, all records in the particular collection having a common attribute structure of data elements that pertain to the particular subject matter,
(C) wherein the first user interface further displays a second subject matter link identifying a second subject matter that the search engine has also identified based on the first search results, the second subject matter being associated with a second collection of records that the search engine has selected from among the multiple collections of records, all records in the second collection having a common attribute structure of data elements that pertain to the second subject matter, the common attribute structure of the second collection being different than the common attribute structure of the particular collection;
(D) receiving a selection of the subject matter link;
(E) formatting second search results based on a template that is associated with the particular subject matter, each of the second search results specifying a respective record, each record being in the particular collection of records associated with the particular subject matter;
and
(F) providing a second user interface that displays the second search results and an interface element that is associated with the template.

4 more elements

A system comprising:

one or more computers;
and
a computer-readable medium coupled to the one or more computers having instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the one or more computers, cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:
(A) receiving a search query;
(B) providing a first user interface, the first user interface displaying first search results specifying resources that a search engine has identified as being responsive to the search query, the first user interface further displaying a subject matter link identifying a particular subject matter that the search engine has identified based on the first search results, the particular subject matter being associated with a particular collection of records that the search engine has selected from among multiple collections of records, all records in the particular collection having a common attribute structure of data elements that pertain to the particular subject matter,
(C) wherein the first user interface further displays a second subject matter link identifying a second subject matter that the search engine has also identified based on the first search results, the second subject matter being associated with a second collection of records that the search engine has selected from among the multiple collections of records, all records in the second collection having a common attribute structure of data elements that pertain to the second subject matter, the common attribute structure of the second collection being different than the common attribute structure of the particular collection;
(D) receiving a selection of the subject matter link;
(E) formatting second search results based on a template that is associated with the particular subject matter, each of the second search results specifying a respective record, each record being in the particular collection of records associated with the particular subject matter;
and
(F) providing a second user interface that displays the second search results and an interface element that is associated with the template.

7 more elements

A computer storage medium encoded with a computer program, the program comprising instructions that when executed by data processing apparatus cause the data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

(A) receiving a search query;
(B) providing a first user interface, the first user interface displaying first search results specifying resources that a search engine has identified as being responsive to the search query, the first user interface further displaying a subject matter link identifying a particular subject matter that the search engine has identified based on the first search results, the particular subject matter being associated with a particular collection of records that the search engine has selected from among multiple collections of records, all records in the particular collection having a common attribute structure of data elements that pertain to the particular subject matter,
(C) wherein the first user interface further displays a second subject matter link identifying a second subject matter that the search engine has also identified based on the first search results, the second subject matter being associated with a second collection of records that the search engine has selected from among the multiple collections of records, all records in the second collection having a common attribute structure of data elements that pertain to the second subject matter, the common attribute structure of the second collection being different than the common attribute structure of the particular collection;
(D) receiving a selection of the subject matter link;
(E) formatting second search results based on a template that is associated with the particular subject matter, each of the second search results specifying a respective record, each record being in the particular collection of records associated with the particular subject matter and
(F) providing a second user interface that displays the second search results and an interface element that is associated with the template.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.