Context sensitive autocomplete (01-Oct-2009)

Context sensitive autocomplete

Disclosed is software that offers more relevant autocomplete suggestions. Autocomplete is a function that analyzes operator input in realtime and suggests possible items the operator may be interested in. Autocomplete can be a timesaver and can help the operator navigate to particular content. The disclosed software improves how autocomplete makes suggestions and allows the operator to configure autocomplete for a personalized autocomplete experience.

The autocomplete function can be used in many different applications. For example, a web-based document editor application. In another example, a local, native database application. Existing autocomplete implementations offer basic suggestions. For example, autocomplete may make suggestions based on previous operator input or the most popular input from a collection of operators. While the existing basic implementations are helpful in certain cases, they are not context aware. In other words, the suggestions do not always reflect what the operator is working on or viewing at the time. The disclosed software aims to improve the relevancy of the suggestions through a context aware autocomplete implementation.

In one example, an operator uses a web browser to visit a news web page. This page contains a story about an IBM Blue Gene® computer. The web browser has an integrated autocomplete enabled search input box connected to a particular search engine. The news web page also has an autocomplete enabled search input box. The operator types "blu" into both individual search input boxes but no autocomplete suggestions appear. These existing autocomplete implementations do not account for the content the operator is currently viewing and are not context aware. The disclosed software would analyze the news web page the operator is viewing, and when the operator input "blu" would make an autocomplete suggestion of "IBM Blue Gene". For example, the autocomplete suggestion of "IBM Blue Gene" can be used as input to a particular search engine to find articles and news regarding the IBM Blue Gene server.

The disclosed software context aware autocomplete is also preferred over popular term autocomplete implementations. For example, the operator visits a video sharing web page. The main web page features a video about an IBM Blue Gene computer. The operator types "blu" into the autocomplete enabled search input box on the web page. The autocomplete function determines that a video about blueberry pie is the most popular video and the resulting autocomplete suggestion is "blueberry pie". This existing autocomplete implementation does not account for the content the operator is currently viewing and is not context aware. The disclosed software can be configured to present context specific suggestions first, followed by other suggestion typ...