Federated search results scoring

• US 10,509,834 B2
• Filed: 09/30/2015
• Issued: 12/17/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Douglas, Jason, Prakash, Vipul Ved
• Primary Examiner(s): Mobin, Hasanul
• Application Number:
  US14/871,947
• Publication Number:
  US 20160357755A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,539 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation

Abstract

A method and apparatus of a device that ranks a plurality of query results from a plurality of search domains is described. In this embodiment, the device receives a query from a client. In addition, the device applies the query to the plurality of search domains and a broad-base search domain. Furthermore, the device receives the plurality of query results from the plurality of search domains and a set of broad-base query results from the broad-base search domain. The device additionally ranks the plurality of query results using the set of broad-base query results and returns a ranked plurality of query results to the client.

Claims

1. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having executable instructions to cause one or more processing units to perform a method to rank a plurality of query results from a plurality of search domains, the method comprising:

receiving a search query from a client;

applying the search query to the plurality of specialized search domains and a broad-base search domain, wherein each of the specialized search domains has a specialized search domain type that is one of a plurality of specialized search domain types and a specialized search domain type is a characterization of that specialized search domain;

receiving a plurality of specialized query results from the plurality of search domains and a set of broad-base query results from the broad-base search domain;

determining a set of specialized search domain types for the set of broad-base specialized query results, wherein each of the set of specialized search domain types corresponds to one of the plurality of specialized search domain types;

ranking the set of specialized search domain types using a set of ranking scores corresponding to the set of broad-based query results;

ranking the plurality of specialized query results using at least the ranked set of specialized search domain types, wherein the ranking the plurality of specialized query results includes increasing a ranking score of one of the plurality of specialized query results from one of the plurality of specialized search domains that corresponds to a higher ranked specialized search domain type; and

returning the ranked plurality of query results to the client.

2. The machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the characterizing further comprises:

receiving a set of ranking scores from the broad-base search domain for the set of broad-base query results; and

ranking the set of specialized search domain types using the set of ranking scores.

3. The machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the ranking comprises:

decreasing a ranking score of one of the plurality of specialized query results from one of the plurality of specialized search domains that corresponds to a lower ranked specialized search domain type.

4. The machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of specialized search domains is selected from the group consisting of maps search domain, media store search domain, online encyclopedia search domain, and sites search domain.

12. The machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein each of the specialized search domains types is selected from the group consisting of media, locations, encyclopedia, and sites.

5. A method to rank a plurality of query results from a plurality of search domains, the method comprising:

receiving a search query from a client;

applying the search query to the plurality of specialized search domains and a broad-base search domain, wherein each of the specialized search domains has a specialized search domain type that is one of a plurality of specialized search domain types and a specialized search domain type is a characterization of that specialized search domain;

receiving the plurality of specialized query results from the plurality of search domains and a set of broad-base query results from the broad-base search domain;

determining a set of specialized search domain types for the set of specialized broad-base query results, wherein each of the set of specialized search domain types corresponds to one of the plurality of specialized search domain types;

ranking the set of specialized search domain types using a set of ranking scores corresponding to the set of broad-based query results;

ranking the plurality of specialized query results using at least the ranked set of specialized search domain types, wherein the ranking the plurality of specialized query results includes increasing a ranking score of one of the plurality of specialized query results from one of the plurality of specialized search domains that corresponds to a higher ranked specialized search domain type; and

returning the rank plurality of query results to the client.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the characterizing comprises:

receiving a set of ranking scores from the broad-base search domain for the set of broad-base query results; and

ranking the set of specialized search domain types using the set of ranking scores.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the ranking comprises:

decreasing a ranking score of one of the plurality of specialized query results from one of the plurality of specialized search domains that corresponds to a lower ranked specialized search domain type.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein each of the plurality of specialized search domains is selected from the group consisting of maps search domain, media store search domain, online encyclopedia search domain, and sites search domain.

13. The method of claim 5, wherein each of the specialized search domains types is selected from the group consisting of media, locations, encyclopedia, and sites.

9. A device to rank a plurality of query results from a plurality of search domains, the device comprising:

a processor;

a memory coupled to the processor though a bus; and

a process executed from the memory by the processor causes the processor to receive a search query from a client, apply the search query to the plurality of specialized search domains and a broad-base search domain, wherein each of the specialized search domains has a specialized search domain type that is one of a plurality of specialized search domain types and a specialized search domain type is a characterization of that specialized search domain, receive the plurality of specialized query results from the plurality of specialized search domains and a set of broad-base query results from the broad-base search domain, determine a set of specialized search domain types for the set of broad-base query results, wherein each of the set of specialized search domain types corresponds to one of the plurality of specialized search domain types, rank the broad-based types using a set of ranking scores corresponding to the set of broad-based query results, rank the plurality of specialized query results using at least the ranked broad-base types, and return the ranked plurality of query results to the client, wherein the ranking the plurality of specialized query results includes increasing a ranking score of one of the plurality of specialized query results from one of the plurality of specialized search domains that corresponds to a higher ranked specialized search domain type.

10. The device of claim 9, wherein the process further causes the processor to characterize by:

receiving a set of ranking scores from the broad-base search domain for the set of broad-base query results; and

ranking the set of specialized search domain types using the set of ranking scores.

11. The device of claim 9, wherein the process further causes the processor to rank by:

decreasing a ranking score of one of the plurality of specialized query results from one of the plurality of specialized search domains that corresponds to a lower ranked specialized search domain type.

14. The device of claim 9, wherein each of the specialized search domains types is selected from the group consisting of media, locations, encyclopedia, and sites.