Search promotion systems and method

• US 10,324,991 B2
• Filed: 05/09/2016
• Issued: 06/18/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Roustant, Bruno
• Primary Examiner(s): Mackes, Kris E
• Application Number:
  US15/149,346
• Publication Number:
  US 20170124203A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,135 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/335 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles filtering in web context G06F16/9535, G06F16/9536
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation

Abstract

A method for presenting search results is provided. The method receives a user input search query; obtains, from a search engine, a first set of search results responsive to the user input search query; efficiently identifies a promoted set of search results for promotion using a set of search promotion rules, each of the set of search promotion rules including a set of terms and one or more document identifiers; revises the first set of search results, based on the identified promoted set, to create a second set of search results; and presents the second set of search results, wherein the second set of search results includes the first set of search results and the promoted set in a promoted position.

Claims

1. A method for presenting search results, the method comprising:

creating subset-matcher data for identifying documents for promotion, by;

defining a set of search promotion rules, each of the set of search promotion rules including a set of user input search query terms and at least one corresponding document identifier;

sorting each set of user input search query terms according to a sorting scheme, to produce a revised set of search promotion rules; and

storing the revised set of search promotion rules as a trie data structure with a set of edges and a set of nodes, wherein the subset-matcher data comprises the trie data structure, wherein each of the set of nodes corresponds to one of the at least one document identifier, wherein each of the set of edges corresponds to one of the set of user input search query terms, and wherein each of the set of nodes is associated with a key defined by node position in the trie data structure;

receiving a user input search query comprising search query terms, wherein the set of user input search query terms includes the search query terms;

obtaining, from a search engine, a first set of search results responsive to the user input search query;

identifying a promoted set of search results for promotion using the trie data structure for the revised set of search promotion rules, by;

sorting the search query terms according to the sorting scheme, to create sorted search query terms;

browsing the subset-matcher data using the trie data structure and the sorted query terms, to locate matching search promotion rules of the revised set of search promotion rules; and

identifying the documents associated with the matching search promotion rules, wherein the promoted set of search results comprises the documents;

revising the first set of search results, based on the identified promoted set, to create a second set of search results; and

presenting the second set of search results, wherein the second set of search results includes the first set of search results and the promoted set in a promoted position.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein revising the first set of search results further comprises:

recognizing a sequence of the first set of search results; and

associating the promoted set in the sequence with the promoted position in the sequence, to produce a new sequence of the first set of search results;

reordering the first set of search results according to the new sequence to create the second set of search results.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the promoted position comprises a first position in the sequence.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sorting and removing duplicates from each set of terms in the set of search promotion rules to produce a revised set of search promotion rules; and

identifying the promoted set of search results for promotion, based on the revised set of search promotion rules.

5. A computer system implemented as a server, the computer system comprising:

a memory element, configured to store a set of search promotion rules, each search promotion rule including a set of terms and a corresponding document identifier;

a network communication device, configured to receive a search-query and to transmit search results;

at least one processor, communicatively coupled to the memory element and the network communication device, the at least one processor configured to;

create subset-matcher data for identifying documents for promotion, by;

defining a set of search promotion rules, each of the set of search promotion rules including a set of user input search query terms and at least one corresponding document identifier;

sorting each set of user input search query terms according to a sorting scheme, to produce a revised set of search promotion rules; and

storing the revised set of search promotion rules as a trie data structure with a set of edges and a set of nodes, wherein the sub set-matcher data comprises the trie data structure, wherein each of the set of nodes corresponds to one of the at least one document identifier, wherein each of the set of edges corresponds to one of the set of user input search query terms, and wherein each of the set of nodes is associated with a key defined by node position in the trie data structure;

receive a user input search query comprising search query terms, wherein the set of user input search query terms includes the search query terms;

obtain, from a search engine, a first set of search results responsive to the user input search query;

identify a promoted set of search results for promotion using the trie data structure for the revised set of search promotion rules, by;

sorting the search query terms according to the sorting scheme, to create sorted search query terms;

browsing the subset-matcher data using the trie data structure and the sorted query terms, to locate matching search promotion rules of the revised set of search promotion rules; and

identifying the documents associated with the matching search promotion rules, wherein the promoted set of search results comprises the documents;

revise the first set of search results, based on the identified promoted set, to create a second set of search results; and

initiate transmission, via the network communication device, of the second set of search results, wherein the second set of search results includes the first set of search results and the promoted set in a promoted position.

6. The computer system of claim 5, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to revise the first set of search results by:

recognizing a sequence of the first set of search results; and

associating the promoted set of search results in the sequence with the promoted position in the sequence, to produce a new sequence of the first set of search results;

reordering the first set of search results according to the new sequence to create the second set of search results.

7. The computer system of claim 6, wherein the promoted position comprises a first position in the sequence.

8. The computer system of claim 5, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

sort each set of terms in the set of search promotion rules, according to a sorting scheme, to produce a revised set of search promotion rules;

identify search query terms of the user input search query;

sort the search query terms according to the sorting scheme; and

identify the promoted set of search results for promotion, based on the sorted search query terms and the revised set of search promotion rules.

9. The computer system of claim 5, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

sort and remove duplicates from each set of terms in the set of search promotion rules to produce a revised set of search promotion rules; and

identify the promoted set of search results for promotion, based on the revised set of search promotion rules.

10. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium containing instructions thereon, which, when executed by a processor, are capable of performing a method comprising:

creating subset-matcher data for identifying documents for promotion, by;

defining a set of search promotion rules applicable to presentation of search results according to a promotion sequence, each of the set of search promotion rules including a set of user input search query terms and at least one corresponding document identifier;

sorting each set of user input search query terms according to a sorting scheme, to produce a revised set of search promotion rules; and

storing the revised set of search promotion rules as a trie data structure with a set of edges and a set of nodes, wherein the subset-matcher data comprises the trie data structure, wherein each of the set of nodes corresponds to one of the at least one document identifier, wherein each of the set of edges corresponds to one of the set of user input search query terms, and wherein each of the set of nodes is associated with a key defined by node position in the trie data structure;

receiving a user input search query comprising search query terms, wherein the set of user input search query terms includes the search query terms;

obtaining, from a search engine, a first set of search results responsive to the user input search query;

identifying promoted search results of a set of documents managed by a search engine, using the trie data structure for the revised set of search promotion rules, by;

sorting the search query terms according to the sorting scheme, to create sorted search query terms;

browsing the subset-matcher data using the trie data structure and the sorted query terms, to locate matching search promotion rules of the revised set of search promotion rules; and

identifying the documents associated with the matching search promotion rules, wherein the promoted search results comprises the documents;

adjusting a presented list of the search results, based on the promoted search results, to generate an adjusted list that corresponds to the promotion sequence; and

presenting the adjusted list.

11. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the method further comprises:

recognizing a sequence of the presented list of the search results; and

associating the promoted search results in the sequence with at least a top position in the sequence, to produce a new sequence of the search results;

reordering the presented list of the search results according to the new sequence to create the adjusted list.

12. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the method further comprises:

sorting and removing duplicates from each set of terms in the set of search promotion rules to produce a revised set of search promotion rules; and

identifying the promoted search results, based on the revised set of search promotion rules.