As reported by Search Engine Watch Microsoft filed an application for a US Patent on October 13th 2011 which would allow a user of Bing to replicate the results that their favorite persona (say “Miley Cyrus,” “Taylor Swift,” “Megan Fox,” and “Jessica Lange”) would see.
This patent application also covers a lot of other possibilities as well (gotta love how big corporations hide possibly world changing idea in paragraphs if fodder)
For instance they cover the possibility for doing calculations on combinations of search data. This would come into play with things like recipes. Imagine calculating caloric content intake based on the combination of ingredients and cooking methods. Or maybe showing distance from home when looking for a new home.
It could be used for Microsoft’s internal offerings as well. Using data from say patients uploaded into a healthcare systems internal intranet, they could compare, characterize, and suggest solutions to Doctors. This opens Microsoft into a realm that Google will not touch.
Who knows… this could be the next method that Google hasn’t covered (extreme personalization over extreme localization)