Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Joseph K Ollis

Andrew W Jacobs

David W Flynt

Marc W Todd

Darron Jack Stepanich

Lawrence Brian Ripsher

Henry Chen

Dominique Fortier

Don Barnett

Jon Changzheng Xu

Severan Sylvain Jean-Michel Rault

Severan Rault

Derek D Shaw

Neelima Chinthamani

Hung Shek Ngan

Samir Lakhani

Results of a search on one body of data are enhanced by performing the same search, or a related search, on another body of data. A first body of data is pages (or other content) on a web site, and a second body of data is pages (or other content) on another web site. When a user enters a query to perform a site-specific search on the first web site, that web site performs a related search on the second web site. When results are obtained from the second web site, it is determined whether the first web site has any pages that correspond to the received results. The first web site then uses the corresponding pages in the results that it provides to the user.

Augmenting search results

Search results responsive to a query are generated by a search engine. If the query is 'location relevant', the results are provided to a ranker component. If the query is an entity search, then entities matching the query are ranked by distance from the user. If the query is not, and if it is not semantically charged, the entities are ranked either according to distance from the user or by search relevance. If the query is semantically charged, a semantic score is calculated for each entity. One or more threshold semantic scores are determined that divide the search results into multiple parts. The results within each part can then be ranked independently. The results within a first part are ranked according to their distance from the user, while the results in a subsequent part are ranked according to their semantical relationship to the query. The re-ranked parts are concatenated together.

Multi-part search result ranking

The present invention provides a method and system for providing a mobile device with a selected subset of global address list (GAL) contacts. The offline GAL contacts stored on the device are in sync with the master corporate GAL. The GAL contacts are automatically selected based on the user's emails or meetings and are not duplicates of the contacts within the user's personal contact list. The GAL contacts are browsed and searched seamlessly with the user's other contacts.

Offline global address list

Systems and methods are provided for creating and modifying search queries. A query can be constructed by allowing a user to select from categories, facets, and/or facet values for addition to a query. A user can optionally supplement the categories, facets, and/or facet values with additional search terms entered by the user. The constructed query can then be submitted to a search engine to identify documents that match the search query. The systems and methods can allow a user to construct a search query using a reduced number of user input actions while still providing a user with the flexibility to enter any search terms desired by the user.

Creating and editing user search queries

The present invention provides a method and system of displaying items that gives the user the ability to easily access recently accessed items. The recent items list includes both incoming and outgoing correspondences that are attempted to be matched to the corresponding contact stored in the device. The user can access the recent contact list and reply using any communication method available. For instance, the user could reply by phone, email, send an instant messenger message, send an SMS message, and the like. The recent items list may also include items such as communications, contacts, folder, files, messages, applications, and the like. A coalesced list of the recently used items is shown so that an item is only shown once in the recent list. Any matched item in the recent list may also be shown in the alphabetical list that appears below the recent list.

Recent contacts and items

The present invention provides a method and system of pinning and displaying pinned items. Pinned items are displayed such that they are visually distinguishable and prioritized higher than related non-pinned items. For example, pinned contacts are displayed at the top of the contact list and are visually distinguishable from the other contacts. A special icon is used to show an item that is 'pinned.' contact. A pinned item is a copy of a contact. The copy helps a user quickly access the items they most commonly communicate with and use and provides an importance to an item.

Method and system for pinning contacts and items

A source wireless device is capable of transmitting items over a wireless network using a number of different wireless transfer mechanism such as, for example, Infra-Red (IR) or Bluetooth. Several potential destination wireless devices may be capable of receiving the item using at least one of the different wireless transfer mechanisms. The user selects one or more destination wireless devices to send items to using a unified user interface that lists the various potential destination wireless devices. After a user selects items to transfer as well as the destination wireless device(s), the wireless transfer mechanism appropriate for transfer to each device is then automatically identified without requiring user selection of the particular wireless transfer mechanism.

User interface for smart wireless transfer

Unified object transfer for multiple wireless transfer mechanisms

Systems and methods for managing asynchronous object transfers over multiple wireless networks. At a device, each received object is detected and parsed to extract identifying information such as sender and object type. Each object is stored in a temporary storage without being processed by any application of the device. The user is prompted to either accept or reject each object, one at a time or all together. Each accepted object is persistently stored on the device and processed by an application that is associated with the type of object. Rejected objects are deleted from the temporary storage and are not persistently stored on the device.

Growing community of inventors

Bellevue, WA, United States of America

Joseph K Ollis