Patent App For Behavioral Monitoring Desktop Application.

[msgraph]

Scary stuff in this patent application. Definitely an interesting read.

Imagine all of your actions being constantly monitored in order to build personalized search queries. Those last words you typed in a Word document or IM window. The e-mail you just sent. What words your cursor is next to. The text you copied to the clipboard. All of it constantly monitored and processed, in real-time, locally and/or using Google's search engine in order to build search results for you in case you need them at a moment's notice.

Systems and methods for weighting a search query result

For example, if a user frequently sends email to a person, and the user also frequently refers to the name of an organization with which the person is affiliated (e.g., the company field of the person's contact information), the query system identifies the organization and content of interest to the person.

The query system 132 may also extract keywords from a selection or from a clipboard buffer. A selection comprises the text or objects that are highlighted in the currently active application. A clipboard typically stores information that was previously selected and copied or cut by the user.

The query system 132 shown in FIG. 1 utilizes multiple data streams as sources for generating search queries. For example, if the user is editing a document, the query system 132 may use the last 20 words that were typed, as well as the entire document to extract keywords and generate search queries.

[0097] The query system 132 also receives a second event 312. The second event may comprise information from a second data stream. For example, in one embodiment of the present invention the present system receives the first event from a document buffer such as a Microsoft.RTM. Word document buffer. The query system 132 receives a second data stream from the clipboard. The query system 132 extracts keywords from the second event 314. The query system then generates a second search query based on the keywords extracted from the second event 316.

A query source can be (a) an application (e.g., a word processor), (b) a type of query (e.g., text nearby the cursor position, recently typed words, or recognized items, such as email addresses), (c) a type of event, such as receiving an email or opening a document, (d) a keyword, (e) an article type filter or restriction (e.g., .doc files), or (f) combinations thereof. As an example, based on click-through data, the system may determine that a query for a name is particularly successful for a particular user when the user receives an instant message referring to the name.

[shorebreak]

What's *not* scary to me is a great company trying to continue building on the success it's had in helping people find things on the internet. Behavioral, demographic and psychographic data is *exactly* what a search engine needs to take into account to deliver better results to the user. The beauty of our economy is you can count on Google being motivated by one thing and one thing only - increasing revenues. Revenues will only increase if people find the service valuable.

What *is* scary is people who, despite the incredibly positive impact Google has had on internet use, aren't willing judge Google on their record so far. If they did, they'd have to see these patents as a postive development not just for Google, but for everyone trying to find things on the internet.

Until Google becomes evil, let's maintain a positive mental attitude.

-Shorebreak

[kidmercury]

Originally Posted by shorebreak

What's *not* scary to me is a great company trying to continue building on the success it's had in helping people find things on the internet. Behavioral, demographic and psychographic data is *exactly* what a search engine needs to take into account to deliver better results to the user. The beauty of our economy is you can count on Google being motivated by one thing and one thing only - increasing revenues. Revenues will only increase if people find the service valuable.

Until Google becomes evil, let's maintain a positive mental attitude.

thank you shorebreak for saying something that definitely needs to be said and repeated far and wide. and besides, it's worth noting that those who dont want to use google are by no means required to. there are many options to choose from, and more on the way.

i view their usage of this information as a positive development, and think internet businesses of all kinds should be employing such information gathering strategies as much as possible. companies should strive to understand their clients/users, and that's exactly what google is doing.

[rcjordan]

> their usage of this information

dd..d..did .. y..you just say...INFORMATION??

[msgraph]

shorebreak & kidmercury. What can I say... Wow, I feel so privileged to see that two people took time out of their day to make two posts about the world being on The Google Bashfest Gravy Train. Was it because I used the phrase "scary stuff"? I guess those two words just bring mass negativity to this thread in regards to Google. Thank you and again I feel privileged to see that you took time out of your day to express your assumptions.

Now, let's see what scary stuff can mean...

It can mean: It freaks me out that technology has advanced so far to make something like this possible. New and cool things are on the horizon".

Or it can mean: It is scary because whenever an entity has too much information, there is a high risk of that information being leaked. It happens to everyone no matter how big they are and no matter how much they reassure others something like that will not happen. Example A & Example B. Awareness and precautions need to be considered.

Maybe I meant one meaning. Maybe I meant both. Maybe I meant something else. If you don't know that meaning then please....

[kidmercury]

i interpreted (perhaps incorrectly) your first post as an anti-google remark, although in any event, i apologize if my comments were interpreted as an insult to your post and you personally.

[AussieWebmaster]

Guess this link is becoming a popular interpretation:

http://www.google*******s.com/