State-dependent Query Response

Abstract

In general, the subject matter described in this specification can be embodied in methods, systems, and program products for receiving user input that defines a search query, and providing the search query to a server system. Information that a search engine system determined was responsive to the search query is received at a computing device. The computing device is identified as in a first state, and a first output mode for audibly outputting at least a portion of the information is selected. The first output mode is selected from a collection of the first output mode and a second output mode. The second output mode is selected in response to the computing device being in a second state and is for visually outputting at least the portion of the information and not audibly outputting the at least portion of the information. At least the portion of information is audibly output.

1 . A computer program product tangibly embodied in one or more computer-readable storage media and comprising instructions that when executed by a processor perform operations comprising:
 receiving, by a computing device, user input that defines a search query, and providing the search query to a server system that is remote from the computing device;   receiving, by the computing device, information that a search engine system at the server system determined was responsive to the search query;   identifying, by the computing device, that the computing device is in a first state, and in response, selecting a first output mode that is for audibly outputting at least a portion of the information, wherein the first output mode is selected from a collection that comprises the first output mode and a second output mode, wherein the second output mode is selected in response to the computing device being in a second state and is for visually outputting at least the portion of the information and not audibly outputting the at least portion of the information; and   audibly outputting, by the computing device and as a result of the identifying, at least the portion of the information.   
     
     
         2 . The computer program product of  claim 1 , wherein the received user input that defines the search query is provided with a keyboard. 
     
     
         3 . The computer program product of  claim 1 , wherein identifying that the computing device is in the first state includes determining that an external speaker and an external microphone have been placed in communication with the computing device by a user of the computing device. 
     
     
         4 . The computer program product of  claim 1 , wherein identifying that the computing device is in the first state includes determining, using a sensor of the computing device, that the computing device is proximate to an object that is recognized by the computing device. 
     
     
         5 . The computer program product of  claim 4 , wherein the computing device is determined to be in the second state when the computing device is determined to not be proximate to an object,
 wherein the computing device is in the second state when the user input that defines the search query is received.   
     
     
         6 . The computer program product of  claim 1 , wherein the information includes:
 (i) a summarized query response that is responsive to the search query and that includes a human-readable prose sentence that was constructed using (a) a sentence template that includes predefined words and (b) content from a document that was identified as being responsive to the search query; and   (ii) multiple search results that each identify a document that is responsive to the search query, wherein the multiple search results do not include a human-readable prose sentence that was constructed using (a) a sentence template that includes predefined words and (b) content from a document that was identified as being responsive to the search query.   
     
     
         7 . The computer program product of  claim 6 , wherein the audible output is based on the human-readable prose sentence. 
     
     
         8 . The computer program product of  claim 7 , wherein the summarized query response is visually output in a display;
 wherein the display includes a user-selectable prompt; and   wherein the operations further comprise, in response to selection of the prompt, displaying the search results.   
     
     
         9 . The computer program product of  claim 8 , wherein the search results are not audibly output in response to selecting the prompt. 
     
     
         10 . The computer program product of  claim 8 , wherein the operations further comprise visually displaying the search results after the audible output and in response to receiving user input selecting the prompt, wherein the search results are not visually displayed before receiving the user input selecting the prompt. 
     
     
         11 . The computer program product of  claim 7 , wherein the operations further comprise providing a visual display of both the summarized query response and the multiple search results, and wherein the summarized query response is audibly output without receiving user input subsequent to receiving the information, but the multiple search results are not audibly output without user input being provided subsequent to receiving the information. 
     
     
         12 . The computer program product of  claim 1 , wherein the identification that the computing device is in the first state does not depend on whether the computing device was in the first state or the second state when the search query was received. 
     
     
         13 . A computer-implemented method, the method comprising:
 receiving, by a server system and from a computing device, a search query that was input to the computing device by a user;   determining, by the server system, search results that identify documents that are responsive to the search query;   generating, by the server system, a summarized query response that is responsive to the search query based on information from one or more of the documents that are responsive to the search query, the summarized query response being generated based on a template that is different than a template that was used to generate the search results; and   providing, by the server system and to the computing device, the search results and the summarized query response, so as to cause the computing device to:   (i) determine that the computing device is in a first state, and in response, select a first output mode that is for audibly outputting at least the summarized query response, wherein the first mode is selected from a collection of the first output mode and a second output mode, wherein the second output mode is selected in response to the computing device being in a second state and is for visually outputting at least the search results and not audibly outputting the summarized query response, and   (ii) audibly output at least the summarized query response.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein generating the summarized query response includes selecting data from one or more predesignated fields in the one or more documents, and placing the information into slots in a template that includes predefined words, so as to generate a human-understandable sentence that is constructed from both predefined words and the data from the one or more predesignated fields. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the summarized query response is generated by the server system in response to identifying that the search query is in a defined list of search queries for which the summarized query response is to be generated. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the summarized query response is generated by the server system in response to identifying that one or more documents from which the summarized query response is constructed is a determined search result. 
     
     
         17 . A computer-implemented system comprising:
 a search query interface to receive from a server system information that is responsive to a search query, the information including (i) multiple search results that identify documents that are responsive to the search query, and (ii) a summarized query response that is in addition to the multiple search results, and that is generated from content of a document that is responsive to the search query;   a computing device state determiner that is programmed to identify whether the computing device is in a first state or a second state;   a query result presenter to select for output a stored visual representation of the multiple search results if the computing device is determined to be in the first state, and to select for output a stored audible representation of the summarized query response if the computing device is determined to be in the second state; and   audio and visual output devices for selectively outputting a visual representation of the multiple search results and an audible representation of the summarized query response based on the output that is selected by the query result presenter.   
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the query result presenter does not select for output the audible representation of the summarized query response when the computing device is in the first state. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the query result presenter further selects for output a visual representation of the summarized query response when the computing device is in the second state. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the visual output device does not output a visual representation of either the search results or the summarized query response when the computing device is (i) in the second state and (ii) outputs the audible representation of the summarized query response.