Searching through content which is accessible through web-based forms

• US 20060230033A1
• Filed: 04/05/2006
• Published: 10/12/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/06/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Ko, David H., Halevy, Alon Y., Madhavan, Jayant
• Granted Patent: US 8,037,068 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3331 Query processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging

Abstract

One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that facilitates searching through content which is accessible though web-based forms. During operation, the system receives a query containing keywords. Next, the system analyzes the query to create a structured query. The system then performs a lookup based on the structured query in a database containing entries describing the web-based forms. Next, the system ranks forms returned by the lookup, and uses the rankings and associated database entries to facilitate a search through content which is accessible through the forms.

Claims

1. A method for searching through content which is accessible though web-based forms, comprising:

receiving a query containing keywords;

analyzing the query to create a structured query;

performing a lookup based on the structured query in a database containing entries describing the web-based forms;

ranking forms returned by the lookup; and

using the rankings and associated database entries to facilitate a search through content which is accessible through the forms.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein analyzing the query to create the structured query involves:

predicting a search-ontology class for the query based on keywords in the query; and

constructing the structured query by mapping keywords in the query to properties of the predicted search-ontology class.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein facilitating the search involves facilitating a search through one or more forms of interest, which were identified during the ranking process.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein facilitating the search through the one or more forms of interest involves presenting a highly ranked form to a user through a “

one-box”

displayed prominently within a user interface.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein facilitating the search through the one or more forms of interest involves:

presenting a user with query-through links to the one or more forms of interest; and

allowing the user to click on a query-though link which automatically causes a corresponding query to be submitted to an associated form of interest.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein presenting the user with a query-through link to a form of interest involves:

mapping keywords from the query to input fields in the form of interest;

constructing a query-though link based on the mappings, which contains an invocation string to be submitted to the form of interest; and

presenting the query-through link to the user.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein facilitating the search through the content involves searching through a local database containing content which was previously extracted from the forms during a preceding web-crawling process.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein ranking a form involves considering one or more of the following:

an approximate page-rank score reflecting the number of incoming links to a web page associated with the form;

a keyword score reflecting the relevance of text associated with a web page associated with the form;

an ontology score which captures the relevance of a search ontology class selected for the query to a web page associated with the form;

a form score which captures the ability of the form to answer the query; and

a location score which captures the distance from the most relevant location for a web page associated with the form from locations detected in the query.

9. A computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method for searching through content which is accessible though web-based forms, the method comprising:

receiving a query containing keywords;

analyzing the query to create a structured query;

performing a lookup based on the structured query in a database containing entries describing the web-based forms;

ranking forms returned by the lookup; and

using the rankings and associated database entries to facilitate a search through content which is accessible through the forms.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein analyzing the query to create the structured query involves:

predicting a search-ontology class for the query based on keywords in the query; and

constructing the structured query by mapping keywords in the query to properties of the predicted search-ontology class.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein facilitating the search involves facilitating a search through one or more forms of interest, which were identified during the ranking process.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein facilitating the search through the one or more forms of interest involves presenting a highly ranked form to a user through a “

one-box”

displayed prominently within a user interface.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein facilitating the search through the one or more forms of interest involves:

presenting a user with query-through links to the one or more forms of interest; and

allowing the user to click on a query-though link which automatically causes a corresponding query to be submitted to an associated form of interest.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein presenting the user with a query-through link to a form of interest involves:

mapping keywords from the query to input fields in the form of interest;

constructing a query-though link based on the mappings, which contains an invocation string to be submitted to the form of interest; and

presenting the query-through link to the user.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein facilitating the search through the content involves searching through a local database containing content which was previously extracted from the forms during a preceding web-crawling process.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein ranking a form involves considering one or more of the following:

an approximate page-rank score reflecting the number of incoming links to a web page associated with the form;

a keyword score reflecting the relevance of text associated with a web page associated with the form;

an ontology score which captures the relevance of a search ontology class selected for the query to a web page associated with the form;

a form score which captures the ability of the form to answer the query; and

a location score which captures the distance from the most relevant location for a web page associated with the form from locations detected in the query.

17. An apparatus that searches through content which is accessible though web-based forms, comprising:

a receiving mechanism configured to receive a query containing keywords;

an analysis mechanism configured to analyze the query to create a structured query;

a lookup mechanism configured to perform a lookup based on the structured query in a database containing entries describing the web-based forms;

a ranking mechanism configured to rank forms returned by the lookup; and

a searching mechanism configured to use the rankings and associated database entries to facilitate a search through content which is accessible through the forms.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the analysis mechanism is configured to:

predict a search-ontology class for the query based on keywords in the query; and

to

construct the structured query by mapping keywords in the query to properties of the predicted search-ontology class.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the searching mechanism is configured to facilitate a search through one or more forms of interest, which were identified during the ranking process.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein while facilitating the search through the one or more forms of interest, the searching mechanism is configured to present a highly ranked form to a user through a “

one-box”

displayed prominently within a user interface.