Determining a rating for a collection of documents

• US 20030093423A1
• Filed: 08/01/2001
• Published: 05/15/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 05/07/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Packer, Alan J., Larason, John Todd
• Granted Patent: US 6,978,266 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99937 Sorting

Abstract

On one or more data processing systems, a collection rating is determined for a rating scale for contents of a document collection. A link rating is determined for the rating scale for contents linked to or linked by contents of the document collection. The collection rating for the rating scale for contents of the document collection is then modified, based on the determined link rating for the rating scale for contents linked to or linked by contents of the document collection.

Claims

1. A method of operation on one or more data processing machines, the method comprising:

determining a first collection rating for a first rating scale for contents of a first document collection;

determining a first link rating for said first rating scale for contents linked to or linked by contents of said first document collection; and

modifying said first collection rating for said first rating scale for contents of said first document collection based on said determined first link rating for said first rating scale for contents linked to or linked by contents of said first document collection.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining of a first collection rating comprises determining said first collection rating based on document ratings of a first subset of documents of said first collection of documents, and sizes of the documents of the first subset of documents of the first document collection.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said first subset of documents of said first document collection consists of first textual documents of said first document collection.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining of a first link rating comprises determining at least a second collection rating for at least a second document collection with documents linked to or linked by documents of said first document collection, and determining said first link rating based on said determined at least a second collection rating of said at least a second document collection.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said modifying of the first collection rating comprises replacing the determined first collection rating with said determined first link rating.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said modifying of the first collection rating comprises adding said determined first link rating to the determined first collection rating.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said modifying of the first collection rating comprises subtracting said determined first link rating from the determined first collection rating.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said first document collection is a web site, and said contents of said first document collection are web pages.

9. A method of operation on one or more data processing machines, the method comprising:

determining document ratings for a rating scale for a subset of documents of a document collection;

determining sizes of the documents of said subset;

determining a collection rating for said rating scale for said document collection based on said determined document ratings of said subset of documents, and normalized by said determined sizes of said subset of documents.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said determining of the collection rating comprises further subdividing said subset of documents into a plurality of groups in accordance with their determined sizes, and applying a weight to the document rating determined for said rating scale for each document of the subset in accordance to the document'"'"'s size group classification.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein weights are applied to said determined document ratings for said rating scale as follows:

12. The method of claim 9, wherein said determining of the collection rating comprises further subdividing said subset of documents into a plurality of groups in accordance with their determined ratings for said rating scale, and applying a weight to the document rating determined for said rating scale for each document of the subset in accordance to the document'"'"'s rate group classification.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein weights are applied to said determined document ratings for said rating scale as follows:

14. The method of claim 9, wherein said determining of the collection rating comprises computing the collection rating for said rating scale as follows:

15. The method of claim 9, wherein said first collection of documents are web pages of a web site, and said first subset of documents are textual documents of said web site.

16. A method of operation on one or more data processing machines, the method comprising:

determining whether a first document collection comprises at least one document linked to at least one other document of at least one other second document collection;

determining a collection rating for a rating scale for each of said at least one other second document collection if said first document collection is determined to comprise at least one document linked to at least one other document of at least one other second document collection;

determining whether said first document collection comprises at least one document being linked by at least one other document of at least one other third document collection;

determining a collection rating for said rating scale for each of said at least one other third document collection if said first document collection is determined to comprise at least one document linked by at least one other third document collection; and

determining a link rating for said rating scale for said first document collection based on either said determined collection rating or ratings for said rating scale for said at least one other second document collection, or said determined collection rating or ratings for said rating scale for said at least one other third document collection, or both, depending on whether collection rating or ratings are determined for said rating scale for said at least one other second document collection, said at least one other third document collection or both.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein each of said determining of a collection rating for said rating scale for each of said at least one other second or third document collection comprises determining document ratings for said rating scale for documents of the particular document collection, and sizes of the documents, and determining the collection rating for the particular document collection based on the determined document ratings and the determined sizes.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein said determining of a link rating comprises summing said collection rating or ratings determined for said rating scale for said at least one other second or third document collection, and determining the link rating based on the result of said summing.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein said determining of the link rating based on the result of said summing comprises determining the link rating based on the result of said summing as follows:

20. An apparatus comprising:

storage medium having stored therein a plurality of programming instructions designed to enable said apparatus to

determine a first collection rating for a first rating scale for contents of a first document collection,

determine a first link rating for said first rating scale for contents linked to or linked by contents of said first document collection, and

modify said first collection rating for said first rating scale for contents of said first document collection based on said determined first link rating for said first rating scale for contents linked to or linked by contents of said first document collection; and

at least one processor coupled to the storage medium to execute the programming instructions.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein said programming instructions are designed to enable the apparatus to perform said determining of a first collection rating by determining said first collection rating based on document ratings of a first subset of documents of said first collection of documents, and sizes of the documents of the first subset of documents of the first document collection.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein said first subset of documents of said first document collection consists of first textual documents of said first document collection.

23. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein said programming instructions are designed to enable the apparatus to perform said determining of a first link rating by determining at least a second collection rating for at least a second document collection with documents linked to or linked by documents of said first document collection, and determining said first link rating based on said determined at least a second collection rating of said at least a second document collection.

24. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein said programming instructions are designed to enable the apparatus to perform said modifying of the first collection rating by replacing the determined first collection rating with said determined first link rating.

25. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein said programming instructions are designed to enable the apparatus to perform said modifying of the first collection rating by adding said determined first link rating to the determined first collection rating.

26. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein said programming instructions are designed to enable the apparatus to perform said modifying of the first collection rating by subtracting said determined first link rating from the determined first collection rating.

27. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein said first document collection is a web site, and said contents of said first document collection are web pages.

28. An apparatus comprising:

storage medium having stored therein a plurality of programming instructions designed to enable said apparatus to

determine document ratings for a rating scale for a subset of documents of a document collection,

determine sizes of the documents of said subset,

determine a collection rating for said rating scale for said document collection based on said determined document ratings of said subset of documents, and normalized by said determined sizes of said subset of documents; and

at least one processor coupled to the storage medium to execute the programming instructions.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein said programming instructions are designed to enable the apparatus to perform said determining of the collection rating by further subdividing said subset of documents into a plurality of groups in accordance with their determined sizes, and applying a weight to the document rating determined for said rating scale for each document of the subset in accordance to the document'"'"'s size group classification.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein said programming instructions are designed to enable the apparatus to apply weights to said determined document ratings for said rating scale as follows:

31. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein said programming instructions are designed to enable the apparatus to perform said determining of the collection rating by further subdividing said subset of documents into a plurality of groups in accordance with their determined ratings for said rating scale, and applying a weight to the document rating determined for said rating scale for each document of the subset in accordance to the document'"'"'s rate group classification.

32. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein said programming instructions are designed to enable the apparatus to apply weights to said determined document ratings for said rating scale as follows:

33. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein said programming instructions are designed to enable the apparatus to perform said determining of the collection rating by computing the collection rating for said rating scale as follows:

34. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein said first collection of documents are web pages of a web site, and said first subset of documents are textual documents of said web site.

35. An apparatus comprising:

storage medium having stored therein a plurality of programming instructions designed to enable said apparatus to

determine whether a first document collection comprises at least one document linked to at least one other document of at least one other second document collection,

determine a collection rating for a rating scale for each of said at least one other second document collection if said first document collection is determined to comprise at least one document linked to at least one other document of at least one other second document collection,

determine whether said first document collection comprises at least one document being linked by at least one other document of at least one other third document collection,

determine a collection rating for said rating scale for each of said at least one other third document collection if said first document collection is determined to comprise at least one document linked by at least one other third document collection, and

determine a link rating for said rating scale for said first document collection based on either said determined collection rating or ratings for said rating scale for said at least one other second document collection, or said determined collection rating or ratings for said rating scale for said at least one other third document collection, or both, depending on whether collection rating or ratings are determined for said rating scale for said at least one other second document collection, said at least one other third document collection or both; and

at least one processor coupled to the storage medium to execute the programming instructions.

36. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein said programming instructions are designed to enable the apparatus to perform each of said determining of a collection rating for said rating scale for each of said at least one other second or third document collection by determining document ratings for said rating scale for documents of the particular document collection, and sizes of the documents, and determining the collection rating for the particular document collection based on the determined document ratings and the determined sizes.

37. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein said programming instructions are designed to enable the apparatus to perform said determining of a link rating by summing said collection rating or ratings determined for said rating scale for said at least one other second or third document collection, and determining the link rating based on the result of said summing.

38. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein said programming instructions are designed to enable the apparatus to perform said determining of the link rating based on the result of said summing by determining the link rating based on the result of said summing as follows: