| Patent application number | Description | Published |
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| 20090144264 | THIRD-PARTY INFORMATION OVERLAY ON SEARCH RESULTS - Embodiments of the present invention provide systems and methods for integrating third-party information, such as third-party rating information, over the search results. The integrated third-party information in search results provides users additional information to determine which search results to click on for more details. In one embodiment, the methods and systems allow users to choose which third-party data sources to include (or overlay) in their search results. Whenever a user issues a search request to a search engine, which returns search results that correspond to relevant third-party overlay data, the search engine will return a list of the search results integrated with the corresponded third-party data. The integrated third-party information augments the titles, abstracts and link descriptions of search results to help the user determine which search results in the list are relevant. The information, such as rating and review information, provided by third parties trusted by the user can also help the user judge the quality of products and services described in the search results. | 06-04-2009 |
| 20100023868 | TECHNIQUES FOR VISUAL REPRESENTATION OF USER ACTIVITY ASSOCIATED WITH AN INFORMATION RESOURCE - A system and methodology for visually representing user activity associated with an information resource is described. Online and offline activities of users are associated with symbolic representations of those users. In an embodiment, the symbolic representation of a user has the appearance of a dust particle. The dust particle can provide a universal and unobtrusive visual representation of the online or offline activity of the represented user. Further, the dust particle can exist for the represented user to communicate with other users with privacy and anonymity. To visually convey selected aspects of an online or offline activity, the activity is mapped to visual attributes that alter the dust particle behavior and/or appearance. The result is a dynamic and universal representation of online and offline user activities associated with an information resource such as a web page, database, or document that can help other online users efficiently discern the relevancy and popularity of the information resource. | 01-28-2010 |
| 20110029620 | Systems and Methods for Profile Building - Systems and methods build a profile for a contact. In one aspect, missing information from a profile of a contact is identified. A determination is made regarding whether the missing information is necessary for the profile based on satisfaction of a threshold. In response to the satisfaction of the threshold, a user is prompted to request the missing information from the contact. The missing information is obtained. The missing information is added to the profile. | 02-03-2011 |
| Patent application number | Description | Published |
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| 20090019117 | SUPER-EMOTICONS - Techniques are described for generating and displaying “super-emoticons”. Super-emoticons are similar to smileys in that they may be generated in response to a participant in a textual conversation entering a specific sequence of textual characters. However, super-emoticons differ from smileys in that super-emoticons are programmed to demonstrate more sophisticated behaviors, including but not limited to: moving out of the text insertion location, interacting with other display elements, interacting with users, changing appearance based on context, exhibiting randomly selected behaviors, and making use of information from services. | 01-15-2009 |
| 20090029674 | Method and System for Collecting and Presenting Historical Communication Data for a Mobile Device - Among other disclosures, a method may include collecting historical communication data and personal data relating to a portion of a plurality of communications, a sender of one or more of the communications or one or more recipients of the communications. The method may include depositing the collected data into a repository of historical communication data and personal data. The method may include presenting one or more items in the repository on a mobile device, in response to user behavior. | 01-29-2009 |
| 20090077472 | TECHNIQUES FOR DISPLAYING GRAPHICAL COMMENTS - Techniques are provided through which users can leave graphical comments on web pages associated with individual members of a social networking site. Users can do so by painting within a region on the web pages or on the web page itself. Different painting tools, such as spray paint cans and traditional paint brushes may be selected to generate different visual content on the path of paint drawn by the user. Access to paint may be restricted to members of the social networking site. Users who leave graphical comments may be charged for the graphical comments. Members may erase graphical comments on associated web pages. Graphical comments may also be generated in a chat window visible to all users engaged in a chat session. | 03-19-2009 |
| 20100306185 | Self Populating Address Book - System, methods and computer program products for creating and maintaining an address book are described. The address book may collect or update its existing contact information from sent or received communications. Contact information associated with the existing contacts also may be collected (or updated based on information received) from outside sources (e.g., external to an application hosting or accessing the address book). The address book may intelligently combine profile data from various sources to enrich the existing records associated with the contacts. | 12-02-2010 |
