Search systems and methods using in-line contextual queries

• US 20060026013A1
• Filed: 07/29/2004
• Published: 02/02/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kraft, Reiner
• Granted Patent: US 7,958,115 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/1.100
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for implementing searches using contextual information associated with a Web page (or other document) that a user is viewing when a query is entered. The page includes a contextual search interface that has an associated context vector representing content of the page. When the user submits a search query via the contextual search interface, the query and the context vector are both provided to the query processor and used in responding to the query.

Claims

1. A method for processing a query, the method comprising:

receiving, via a contextual search interface, a user query that includes data entered by a user;

receiving a context vector associated with the contextual search interface, the context vector including data representative of content associated with the contextual search interface;

searching a search corpus using the user query and the context vector to obtain a search result including a list of hits; and

transmitting the search result for presentation to the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the data entered by the user includes at least one search term.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the context vector includes at least one search term.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the at least one search term includes a first term extracted from the content associated with the contextual search interface.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the search corpus includes a plurality of Web pages.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein searching the search corpus includes:

querying a database representation of the search corpus using at least the user query;

receiving a plurality of hits in response to the database query; and

ranking the hits based at least in part on the context vector, thereby generating the list of hits.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein searching the search corpus includes:

querying a database representation of the search corpus using at least the context vector;

receiving a plurality of hits in response to the database query; and

ranking the hits based at least in part on the user query, thereby generating the list of hits.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein searching the search corpus includes:

querying a database representation of the search corpus using the user query and the context vector;

receiving a plurality of hits in response to the database query; and

ranking the hits based at least in part on one or both of the user query and the context vector, thereby generating the list of hits.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting the search corpus to be searched based at least in part on at least one of the context vector or the user query.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a user vector associated with the user who entered the user query,

wherein the act of searching the search corpus further includes searching the search corpus using the user query, the context vector, and the user vector.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the user vector includes at least one search term derived from a previous query received from the user.

12. A method for processing a query, the method comprising:

providing a page containing content;

associating with the content a contextual search interface adapted to accept a query from a user;

associating with the contextual search interface a context vector representing the content;

receiving a query from the user via the contextual search interface; and

transmitting the query and the context vector to a search server for processing, wherein the search server is configured to search a search corpus using the query and the context vector and to return results of the search to the user.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

defining an inactive state and an active state for the contextual search interface,

wherein the contextual search interface appears on the page as an icon when in the inactive state and as an operable interface when in the active state.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the operable interface includes a text field configured for entry of text by a user and a submit control configured for submitting query text entered by the user, wherein the query text is submitted in association with the context vector.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

displaying the contextual search interface in the inactive state by default; and

redisplaying the contextual search interface in the active state in response to user selection of the icon.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising, in response to user selection of the icon, adding special content to the page, wherein the special content is selected based on the context vector.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the special content is placed adjacent to the contextual search interface on the page.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the special content includes a link to another page.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the special content includes advertising content.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the special content includes a listing of related queries based on one or more previous queries received via the contextual search interface.

21. The method of claim 12, wherein the acts of associating a contextual search interface with the content and associating a context vector with the contextual search interface are performed in response to a user command.

22. The method of claim 12, wherein the acts of associating a contextual search interface with the content and associating a context vector with the contextual search interface are performed at the direction of a creator of the page.

23. A method for processing a query, the method comprising:

providing a page containing content;

associating with a first portion of the content a first contextual search interface adapted to accept a query from a user;

associating with the first contextual search interface a first context vector representing the first portion of the content;

associating with a second portion of the content a second contextual search interface adapted to accept a query from a user; and

associating with the second contextual search interface a second context vector representing the second portion of the content, the second context vector being different from the first context vector,

wherein when the user submits a query via one of the first and second contextual search interfaces, the corresponding one of the first and second context vectors is used in responding to the query.

24. A method for creating a search interface, the method comprising:

receiving page content from a client;

generating a context vector from the received page content;

creating a contextual search code block, the contextual search code block including the context vector,

the contextual search code block further including code for displaying a contextual search interface and code for submitting a user query entered via the contextual search interface to a search server together with the representation of the context vector; and

returning the contextual search code block to the client.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the contextual search code block is adapted for insertion as an element of a hosting page.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein the contextual search code block is adapted for displaying in a separate window.

27. The method of claim 24, wherein the client includes a user application module that enables a user to select the page content while viewing a page.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the page is a Web page.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein the page is a document other than a Web page.

30. The method of claim 24, wherein the client includes a content developer module that enables a content developer to select the page content while editing a page.

31. The method of claim 24, wherein the contextual search interface includes a text field for entering a query and a submit button for submitting the query to a search server.

32. The method of claim 24, wherein the contextual search code block further includes code for defining an inactive state and an active state for the contextual search interface, wherein the contextual search interface appears as an icon when in the inactive state and as an operable interface when in the active state.

33. The method of claim 24, wherein generating the context vector includes:

extracting a token from the received page content; and

including the token in the context vector.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein generating the context vector further includes:

determining a token frequency for the token in the received page content; and

including the token frequency in the context vector in association with the token.

35. The method of claim 33, wherein generating the context vector further includes:

determining a document frequency for the token in a search corpus; and

including the document frequency in the context vector in association with the token.

36. A system for processing a query, the system comprising:

an input module configured to receive a search query that includes a user query entered by a user via a contextual search interface and a context vector associated with the contextual search interface, the context vector including data representative of content associated with the contextual search interface;

a search module configured to search a search corpus using the user query and the context vector and to provide a search result including a list of hits; and

an output module configured to transmit the search result for presentation to the user.

37. The system of claim 36, wherein the search module includes:

a query unit configured to search the search corpus and create a list of hits; and

a ranking unit configured to compute rankings the hits in the list.

38. The system of claim 37, wherein the query unit is further configured to search the search corpus using one or both of the user query and the context vector.

39. The system of claim 37, wherein the ranking unit is further configured to compute the rankings based at least in part on one or both of the user query and the context vector.