Domain expert search

• US 20060155693A1
• Filed: 12/29/2004
• Published: 07/13/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: AOL LLC A Delaware Limited Liability Company (Formerly Known As Ameri
• Inventors: Pass, Gregory S., Chowdhury, Abdur R., Campbell, Gerald Frederick
• Granted Patent: US 7,272,597 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/334 Query execution G06F16/335 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/955 using information identifiers, e.g. uniform resource locators [URL]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching

Abstract

Expert domains for a query category represent domains from which a high percentage of search results for queries associated with the query category are retrieved. The expert domains are identified by establishing a base statistical model that indicates frequencies of appearance for domains in search results retrieved for queries corresponding to multiple categories. In addition, frequencies of domain appearance are determined for search results retrieved for queries associated with a category. Domains that appear more frequently in the search results corresponding to the category are identified as expert domains for the category. A user may be allowed to customize expert domains related to one or more categories by adding or removing expert domains for the category.

Claims

1. A method for identifying an expert domain for a query, the method comprising:

maintaining a query ontology that includes one or more query categories and one or more queries associated with each of the one or more categories, the one or more queries associated with a particular category included in the query ontology representing queries associated with that particular category;

retrieving search results for queries included in the query ontology;

determining a frequency of occurrence in the retrieved search results for each domain from which one of the search results for the queries included in the query ontology generally was identified;

retrieving search results for queries associated with a category included in the query ontology;

determining a frequency of occurrence in the retrieved search results for each domain from which one of the search results for the queries associated with the category was identified;

comparing the frequency of occurrence in the search results for the queries associated with the category to the frequency of occurrence in the search results for the queries included in the query ontology generally for each domain from which one of the search results for the queries associated with the category was identified; and

identifying, as expert domains for the category, one or more domains from which search results are identified more frequently in the search results for the queries associated with the category than in the search results for the queries included in the query ontology generally.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising associating the identified expert domains with the category in the query ontology.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

receiving a query from a user;

associating variations of the received query with the category; and

presenting one or more expert domains associated with the category for the user.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising, upon user selection of one of the expert domains, retrieving expert search results for the received query from the selected expert domain.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein determining a frequency of occurrence in the retrieved search results for each domain from which one of the search results for the queries included in the query ontology was identified comprises determining a number of the retrieved search results that were identified from the domain, and wherein determining a frequency of occurrence in the retrieved search results for each domain from which one of the search results for the queries included in the category was identified comprises determining a number of the retrieved search results that were identified from the domain.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein determining a frequency of occurrence in the retrieved search results for each domain from which one of the search results for the queries included in the query ontology was identified comprises determining a probability that the one of the retrieved search results was identified from the domain, and wherein determining a frequency of occurrence in the retrieved search results for each domain from which one of the search results for the queries included in the category was identified comprises determining a probability that one of the retrieved search results was identified from the domain.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

comparing the frequency of occurrence of a domain in the search results for the queries included in the query ontology to the frequency of occurrence of the domain in the search results for the queries included in the category;

identifying a weighting factor for the domain based on results of the comparison of the frequencies; and

identifying as the expert domains one or more domains with weighting factors that exceed a threshold weighting factor, or identifying as the expert domains a particular number of domains with the highest weighting factors.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein retrieving search results for the queries included in the query ontology comprises:

submitting each of the queries included in the query ontology to a search engine; and

receiving search results for each of the submitted queries from the search engine.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein retrieving search results for the queries associated with a category included in the query ontology comprises:

submitting each of the queries associated with the category to a search engine; and

receiving search results for each of the submitted queries from the search engine.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein retrieving search results for the queries included in the query ontology comprises retrieving a subset of the search results, and wherein retrieving search results for queries associated with a category included in the query ontology comprises retrieving a subset of the search results.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising enabling a user to delete one or more of the identified expert domains and to add one or more additional expert domains to the identified expert domains.

12. A machine-accessible medium that when accessed, results in a machine performing operations for identifying an expert domain for a query, comprising:

maintaining a query ontology that includes one or more query categories and one or more queries associated with each of the one or more categories, the one or more queries associated with a particular category included in the query ontology representing queries associated with that particular category;

retrieving search results for queries included in the query ontology;

determining a frequency of occurrence in the retrieved search results for each domain from which one of the search results for the queries included in the query ontology generally was identified;

retrieving search results for queries associated with a category included in the query ontology;

determining a frequency of occurrence in the retrieved search results for each domain from which one of the search results for the queries associated with the category was identified;

comparing the frequency of occurrence in the search results for the queries associated with the category to the frequency of occurrence in the search results for the queries included in the query ontology generally for each domain from which one of the search results for the queries associated with the category was identified; and

identifying, as expert domains for the category, one or more domains from which search results are identified more frequently in the search results for the queries associated with the category than in the search results for the queries included in the query ontology generally.

13. The machine-accessible medium of claim 12 further comprising associating the identified expert domains with the category in the query ontology.

14. The machine-accessible medium of claim 13 further comprising:

receiving a query from a user;

associating variations of the received query with the category; and

presenting one or more expert domains associated with the category for the user.

15. The machine-accessible medium of claim 14 further comprising, upon user selection of one of the expert domains, retrieving expert search results for the received query from the selected expert domain.

16. The machine-accessible medium of claim 12 wherein determining a frequency of occurrence in the retrieved search results for each domain from which one of the search results for the queries included in the query ontology was identified comprises determining a number of the retrieved search results that were identified from the domain, and wherein determining a frequency of occurrence in the retrieved search results for each domain from which one of the search results for the queries included in the category was identified comprises determining a number of the retrieved search results that were identified from the domain.

17. The machine-accessible medium of claim 12 wherein determining a frequency of occurrence in the retrieved search results for each domain from which one of the search results for the queries included in the query ontology was identified comprises determining a probability that the one of the retrieved search results was identified from the domain, and wherein determining a frequency of occurrence in the retrieved search results for each domain from which one of the search results for the queries included in the category was identified comprises determining a probability that one of the retrieved search results was identified from the domain.

18. The machine-accessible medium of claim 12 further comprising:

comparing the frequency of occurrence of a domain in the search results for the queries included in the query ontology to the frequency of occurrence of the domain in the search results for the queries included in the category;

identifying a weighting factor for the domain based on results of the comparison of the frequencies; and

identifying as the expert domains one or more domains with weighting factors that exceed a threshold weighting factor, or identifying as the expert domains a particular number of domains with the highest weighting factors.

19. The machine-accessible medium of claim 12 wherein retrieving search results for the queries included in the query ontology comprises retrieving a subset of the search results, and wherein retrieving search results for queries associated with a category included in the query ontology comprises retrieving a subset of the search results.

20. A system for identifying an expert domain for a query, the system comprising:

means for maintaining a query ontology that includes one or more query categories and one or more queries associated with each of the one or more categories, the one or more queries associated with a particular category included in the query ontology representing queries associated with that particular category;

means for retrieving search results for queries included in the query ontology;

means for determining a frequency of occurrence in the retrieved search results for each domain from which one of the search results for the queries included in the query ontology generally was identified;

means for retrieving search results for queries associated with a category included in the query ontology;

means for determining a frequency of occurrence in the retrieved search results for each domain from which one of the search results for the queries associated with the category was identified;

means for comparing the frequency of occurrence in the search results for the queries associated with the category to the frequency of occurrence in the search results for the queries included in the query ontology generally for each domain from which one of the search results for the queries associated with the category was identified; and

means for identifying, as expert domains for the category, one or more domains from which search results are identified more frequently in the search results for the queries associated with the category than in the search results for the queries included in the query ontology generally.