Systems and methods for improving the ranking of news articles

• US 10,459,926 B2
• Filed: 04/27/2015
• Issued: 10/29/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Curtiss, Michael, Bharat, Krishna A., Schmitt, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Rostami, Mohammad S
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ahmed, Saba
• Application Number:
  US14/696,931
• Publication Number:
  US 20160019216A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,646 Days
• Field of Search: 707726
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2455 Query execution
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24575 using context
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99932 Access augmentation or optimizing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99937 Sorting
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

A system ranks results. The system may receive a list of links. The system may identify a source with which each of the links is associated and rank the list of links based at least in part on a quality of the identified sources.

Claims

1. A method for ranking results, comprising:

receiving a list of objects;

identifying a first object in the list and a first source with which the first object is associated;

identifying a second object in the list and a second source with which the second object is associated;

determining a quantity of named entities that (i) occur in the first object that is associated with the first source, and (ii) do not occur in objects that are identified as sharing a same cluster with the first object but that are associated with one or more sources other than the first source;

computing, based at least on the quantity of named entities that (i) occur in the first object that is associated with the first source, and (ii) do not occur in objects that are identified as sharing a same cluster with the first object but that are associated with one or more sources other than the first source, a first quality value of the first source using a first metric, wherein a named entity corresponds to a person, place, or organization;

computing a second quality value of the second source using a second metric that is different from the first metric; and

ranking the list of objects based on the first quality value and the second quality value.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the identifying the first source with which the first object is associated includes:

identifying the first source based on a uniform resource locator (URL) associated with the first object.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the first source is a news source.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein computing the first quality value of the first source is further based on:

one or more of a number of articles produced by the first source during a first time period, an average length of an article produced by the first source, an amount of important coverage that the first source produces in a second time period, a breaking news score, network traffic to the first source, a human opinion of the first source, circulation statistics of the first source, a size of a staff associated with the first source, a number of bureaus associated with the first source, a breadth of coverage by the first source, a number of different countries from which traffic to the first source originates, and a writing style used by the first source.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein computing the first quality value of the first source is further based on a length of time between an occurrence of an event and publication of an article associated with the event by the first source.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the objects include links to on-line news articles.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining the list of objects based at least in part on one or more of a search query, a topic, a list of one or more keywords, a geographical area, and a set of documents.

8. A system comprising:

one or more computers and one or more storage devices storing instructions that are operable, when executed by the one or more computers, to cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising;

receiving a list of objects;

identifying a first object in the list and a first source with which the first object is associated;

identifying a second object in the list and a second source with which the second object is associated;

determining a quantity of named entities that (i) occur in the first object that is associated with the first source, and (ii) do not occur in objects that are identified as sharing a same cluster with the first object but that are associated with one or more sources other than the first source;

computing, based at least on the quantity of named entities that (i) occur in the first object that is associated with the first source, and (ii) do not occur in objects that are identified as sharing a same cluster with the first object but that are associated with one or more sources other than the first source, a first quality value of the first source using a first metric, wherein a named entity corresponds to a person, place, or organization;

computing a second quality value of the second source using a second metric that is different from the first metric; and

ranking the list of objects based on the first quality value and the second quality value.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the identifying the first source with which the first object is associated includes:

identifying the first source based on a uniform resource locator (URL) associated with the first object.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the first source is a news source.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein computing the first quality value of the first source is further based on:

one or more of a number of articles produced by the first source during a first time period, an average length of an article produced by the first source, an amount of important coverage that the first source produces in a second time period, a breaking news score, network traffic to the first source, a human opinion of the first source, circulation statistics of the first source, a size of a staff associated with the first source, a number of bureaus associated with the first source, a breadth of coverage by the first source, a number of different countries from which traffic to the first source originates, and a writing style used by the first source.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein computing the first quality value of the first source is further based on a length of time between an occurrence of an event and publication of an article associated with the event by the first source.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the objects include links to on-line news articles.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the operations comprise:

determining the list of objects based at least in part on one or more of a search query, a topic, a list of one or more keywords, a geographical area, and a set of documents.

15. A computer program product, encoded on one or more non-transitory computer storage media, comprising instructions that when executed by one or more computers cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:

receiving a list of objects;

identifying a first object in the list and a first source with which the first object is associated;

identifying a second object in the list and a second source with which the second object is associated;

determining a quantity of named entities that (i) occur in the first object that is associated with the first source, and (ii) do not occur in objects that are identified as sharing a same cluster with the first object but that are associated with one or more sources other than the first source;

computing, based at least on the quantity of named entities that (i) occur in the first object that is associated with the first source, and (ii) do not occur in objects that are identified as sharing a same cluster with the first object but that are associated with one or more sources other than the first source, a first quality value of the first source using a first metric, wherein a named entity corresponds to a person, place, or organization;

computing a second quality value of the second source using a second metric that is different from the first metric; and

ranking the list of objects based on the first quality value and the second quality value.

16. The product of claim 15, wherein the identifying the first source with which the first object is associated includes:

identifying the first source based on a uniform resource locator (URL) associated with the first object.

17. The product of claim 15, wherein the first source is a news source.

18. The product of claim 15, wherein computing the first quality value of the first source is further based on:

one or more of a number of articles produced by the first source during a first time period, an average length of an article produced by the first source, an amount of important coverage that the first source produces in a second time period, a breaking news score, network traffic to the first source, a human opinion of the first source, circulation statistics of the first source, a size of a staff associated with the first source, a number of bureaus associated with the first source, a breadth of coverage by the first source, a number of different countries from which traffic to the first source originates, and a writing style used by the first source.

19. The product of claim 15, wherein computing the first quality value of the first source is further based on a length of time between an occurrence of an event and publication of an article associated with the event by the first source.

20. The product of claim 15 wherein the objects include links to on-line news articles.