Displaying region-based search results

• US 10,031,923 B2
• Filed: 06/23/2015
• Issued: 07/24/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/04/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
• Inventors: Liu, Zhimin
• Primary Examiner(s): Mackes, Kris E
• Assistant Examiner(s): Bui, Tiffany Thuy T
• Application Number:
  US14/747,328
• Publication Number:
  US 20160004725A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,127 Days
• Field of Search: 707724
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases

Abstract

Providing search results includes: receiving a set of one or more search keywords; obtaining a plurality of search results that are generated in response to a search performed using the set of one or more search keywords, the plurality of search results each having corresponding region attribute information; establishing a set of one or more regions according to at least region attribute information of the plurality of search results; generating display information associated with the set of one or more regions, the display information comprising one or more of: textual information, graphic information, or geographical location information; and causing the display information to be displayed.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving a set of one or more search keywords configured to search for goods or services, the set of one or more search keywords not specifying location information;

obtaining a plurality of search results that are generated in response to a search performed using the set of one or more search keywords, the plurality of search results each having corresponding region attribute information determined based on geographic information of the goods or services that are found to match the search, the region attribute information pertaining to non-overlapping regions;

establishing a plurality of regions according to at least region attribute information of the plurality of search results, wherein;

the plurality of regions comprises M regions, M being an integer greater than 1;

the plurality of regions is associated with the set of one or more search keywords; and

the establishing of the plurality of regions comprises;

determining a set of N regions associated with the plurality of search results, N being an integer greater than or equal to M;

ranking the set of N regions according to a number of search results under each of the set of N regions;

obtaining a set of distances from a location of a terminal from which the set of one or more search keywords is entered to corresponding locations of the set of N regions; and

adjusting ranking results of the set of N regions based at least in part on the set of distances to select the M regions as first M regions based on the adjusted ranking results;

and wherein the plurality of search results each further has a corresponding category attribute information, and the plurality of regions is established further according to the category attribute information of the plurality of the search results, wherein;

the plurality of regions comprises M regions, M being an integer greater than or equal to 1; and

establishing the plurality of regions further comprises;

determining a set of one or more search categories associated with the set of one or more search keywords according to the category attribute information of respective ones of the plurality of search results;

determining P regions associated with the plurality of search results according to the region attribute information of each of the plurality of search results, P being an integer greater than or equal to M, and the P regions determined have corresponding names and business categories;

using the search keywords to match among the names of the P regions to obtain Q regions, Q being an integer greater than or equal to 0;

using the search keywords to match among the business categories of the P regions to obtain R regions, R being an integer greater than or equal to 0;

using the search categories associated with the search keywords to match among the business categories of each of the P regions to obtain S regions, S being an integer greater than or equal to 0;

ranking the Q regions, the R regions, and the S regions according to an order in which they were obtained; and

adjusting ranking results of the ranking according to a location of a terminal from which the set of one or more search keywords is entered, corresponding locations of the Q regions, corresponding locations of the R regions, and corresponding locations of the S regions to select the M regions;

generating display information associated with the plurality of regions, the display information comprising one or more of;

textual information, graphic information, or geographical location information; and

causing the display information to be displayed.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

causing the textual information, the graphic information, or both, to be displayed in the plurality of regions on an electronic map.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

causing to be displayed a plurality of markers corresponding to the plurality of regions on an electronic map, based at least in part on a plurality of geographic locations corresponding to the geographic location information of the plurality of regions.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the display information further comprises one or more of:

a search box near which the plurality of regions are displayed;

or a search results suggestion box near which the plurality of regions are displayed.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining information pertaining to a search target region selected by a user among M regions; and

using the search keywords and the search target region to execute search operations.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein using the search keywords and the search target region to execute search operations comprises:

displaying a page corresponding to the search target region and using the search keywords and the search target region to execute search operations in the page;

or displaying the search keywords and a name of the search target region and using the search keywords and the search target region to execute search operations.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the display information is displayed for each of the plurality of regions.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

ranking the plurality of regions according to a number of search results under each of the plurality of regions.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein:

the display information pertaining to a first set of one or more regions of the plurality of regions is displayed in a first area of a display;

the display information pertaining to a second set of one or more regions of the plurality of regions is displayed in a second area of the display; and

the first set of one or more regions is ranked higher than the second set of one or more regions.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the geographic information of the goods or services pertains to places of origin of the goods or services.

11. A system comprising:

one or more processors configured to;

receive a set of one or more search keywords configured to search for goods or services, the set of one or more search keywords not specifying location information;

receive a plurality of search results that are generated in response to a search performed using the set of one or more search keywords, the plurality of search results each having corresponding region attribute information determined based on geographic information of the goods or services that are found to match the search, the region attribute information pertaining to non-overlapping regions;

establish a plurality of regions according to at least region attribute information of the plurality of search results, wherein;

the plurality of regions comprises M regions, M being an integer greater than 1;

the plurality of regions is associated with the set of one or more search keywords; and

to establish the plurality of regions comprises to;

determine a set of N regions associated with the plurality of search results, N being an integer greater than or equal to M;

rank the set of N regions according to a number of search results under each of the set of N regions;

obtain a set of distances from a location of a terminal from which the set of one or more search keywords is entered to corresponding locations of the set of N regions; and

adjust ranking results of the set of N regions based at least in part on the set of distances to select the M regions as first M regions based on the adjusted ranking results;

and wherein the plurality of search results each further has a corresponding category attribute information, and the plurality of regions is established further according to the category attribute information of the plurality of the search results, wherein;

the plurality of regions comprises M regions, M being an integer greater than or equal to 1; and

to establish the plurality of regions further comprises;

determine a set of one or more search categories associated with the set of one or more search keywords according to the category attribute information of respective ones of the plurality of search results;

determine P regions associated with the plurality of search results according to the region attribute information of each of the plurality of search results, P being an integer greater than or equal to M, and the P regions determined have corresponding names and business categories;

use the search keywords to match among the names of the P regions to obtain Q regions, Q being an integer greater than or equal to 0;

use the search keywords to match among the business categories of the P regions to obtain R regions, R being an integer greater than or equal to 0;

use the search categories associated with the search keywords to match among the business categories of each of the P regions to obtain S regions, S being an integer greater than or equal to 0;

ranking the Q regions, the R regions, and the S regions according to an order in which they were obtained; and

adjust ranking results of the ranking according to a location of a terminal from which the set of one or more search keywords is entered, corresponding locations of the Q regions, corresponding locations of the R regions, and corresponding locations of the S regions to select the M regions;

generate display information associated with the plurality of regions, the display information comprising one or more of;

textual information, graphic information, or geographical location information; and

cause the display information to be displayed; and

one or more memories coupled to the one or more processors, configured to provide the one or more processors with instructions.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

cause the textual information, the graphic information, or both, to be displayed in the plurality of regions on an electronic map.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

cause to be displayed a set of one or more markers corresponding to the plurality of regions on an electronic map, based at least in part on a plurality of geographic locations corresponding to the geographic location information of the plurality of regions.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the display information further comprises one or more of:

a search box near which the plurality of regions are displayed;

or a search results suggestion box near which the plurality of regions are displayed.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

obtain information pertaining to a search target region selected by a user among M regions; and

use the search keywords and the search target region to execute search operations.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein to use the search keywords and the search target region to execute search operations comprises to:

display a page corresponding to the search target region and use the search keywords and the search target region to execute search operations in the page;

or display the search keywords and a name of the search target region and use the search keywords and the search target region to execute search operations.

17. A computer program product, the computer program product being embodied in a tangible non-transitory computer readable storage medium and comprising computer instructions for:

receiving a set of one or more search keywords configured to search for goods or services, the set of one or more search keywords not specifying location information;

obtaining a plurality of search results that are generated in response to a search performed using the set of one or more search keywords, the plurality of search results each having corresponding region attribute information determined based on geographic information of the goods or services that are found to match the search, the region attribute information pertaining to non-overlapping regions;

establishing a plurality of regions according to at least region attribute information of the plurality of search results, wherein;

the plurality of regions comprises M regions, M being an integer greater than 1;

the plurality of regions is associated with the set of one or more search keywords; and

the establishing of the plurality of regions comprises;

determining a set of N regions associated with the plurality of search results, N being an integer greater than or equal to M;

ranking the set of N regions according to a number of search results under each of the set of N regions;

obtaining a set of distances from a location of a terminal from which the set of one or more search keywords is entered to corresponding locations of the set of N regions; and

adjusting ranking results of the set of N regions based at least in part on the set of distances to select the M regions as first M regions based on the adjusted ranking results;

and wherein the plurality of search results each further has a corresponding category attribute information, and the plurality of regions is established further according to the category attribute information of the plurality of the search results, wherein;

the plurality of regions comprises M regions, M being an integer greater than or equal to 1; and

establishing the plurality of regions further comprises;

determining a set of one or more search categories associated with the set of one or more search keywords according to the category attribute information of respective ones of the plurality of search results;

determining P regions associated with the plurality of search results according to the region attribute information of each of the plurality of search results, P being an integer greater than or equal to M, and the P regions determined have corresponding names and business categories;

using the search keywords to match among the names of the P regions to obtain Q regions, Q being an integer greater than or equal to 0;

using the search keywords to match among the business categories of the P regions to obtain R regions, R being an integer greater than or equal to 0;

using the search categories associated with the search keywords to match among the business categories of each of the P regions to obtain S regions, S being an integer greater than or equal to 0;

ranking the Q regions, the R regions, and the S regions according to an order in which they were obtained; and

adjusting ranking results of the ranking according to a location of a terminal from which the set of one or more search keywords is entered, corresponding locations of the Q regions, corresponding locations of the R regions, and corresponding locations of the S regions to select the M regions;

generating display information associated with the plurality of regions, the display information comprising one or more of;

textual information, graphic information, or geographical location information; and

causing the display information to be displayed.