US Patent 7953692 Predicting candidates using information sources

Embodiments are configured to provide one or more candidates based in part on an input. In an embodiment, a system includes a prediction engine which can be configured to provide one or more ranked candidates using one or more configurable data sources and/or candidate providers. Each data source can be configured to include a candidate provider to predict and return predicted candidates. The prediction engine can use a predicted candidate to rank and return a ranked candidate to a user interface, process, or other application. In one embodiment, a computing device can include and use a prediction engine which can use a customized ranking component to rank and return ranked candidates based in part on a query type. The customized ranking component can use predicted candidates provided by one or more data sources and/or candidate providers when making a ranking determination.