System and method for obtaining user feedback for relevance tuning

• US 20060235860A1
• Filed: 04/18/2005
• Published: 10/19/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/18/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Hurst-Hiller, Oliver, Brewer, Brett D.
• Granted Patent: US 7,596,558 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99937 Sorting

Abstract

A system and method are provided for facilitating user feedback pertaining to search results produced by a search system in response to an input user query. The system may include an edit mode activation option provided in conjunction with the search results. The system may additionally include result manipulation tools triggered in response to a user selection of the edit mode activation option, the result manipulation tools allowing the user to manipulate the search results. The result manipulation tools may include a sorting interface for allowing a user to sort search results. The system may further include a feedback receiving mechanism for receiving and storing the user-manipulated search results for future ranking input or search result personalization input.

Claims

1. A system for facilitating user feedback pertaining to search results produced by a search system in response to an input user query, the system comprising:

an edit mode activation option provided in conjunction with the search results;

result manipulation tools triggered in response to a user selection of the edit mode activation option, the result manipulation tools allowing the user to manipulate the search results; and

a feedback receiving mechanism for receiving and storing the user-manipulated search results.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the result manipulation tools comprise a sorting interface that allows the user to interactively sort results.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the sorting interface comprises a re-ordering interface that allows the user to re-order the search results in descending order based on relevance.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the sorting interface allows the user to drag and drop results in the selected descending order.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the sorting interface comprises multiple buckets, wherein each bucket represents a relevance category and the result manipulation tools allow the user to deposit each result in a bucket.

6. The system of claim 2, wherein the sorting interface further comprises a result removal component for allowing the user to dispose of an irrelevant result.

7. The system of claim 2, wherein the sorting interface further comprises a spam category for disposal of spam results.

8. The system of claim 2, further comprising a preview interface for allowing previewing of edited results.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the feedback receiving mechanism comprises a feedback database.

10. A method for facilitating user feedback pertaining to search results produced by a search system in response to an input user query, the method comprising:

providing an edit mode activation option in conjunction with the search results, wherein user selection of the edit mode activation option triggers a feedback interface including result manipulation tools;

manipulating results in accordance with user input to the result manipulation tools; and

storing the manipulated results for use by a ranking system.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising providing a sorting interface that allows the user to interactively sort results.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising providing a re-ordering interface including drag and drop capability that allows the user to re-order the search results in descending order based on relevance.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising providing multiple buckets on the sorting interface, wherein each bucket represents a relevance category and the result manipulation tools allow the user to deposit each result in a bucket.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising providing a result removal component for allowing the user to dispose of an irrelevant result.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising providing a spam disposal mechanism.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising providing a preview interface for allowing previewing of edited results.

17. The method of claim 10, further comprising implementing user feedback as input for a search result personalization system.

18. A method for facilitating user feedback pertaining to search results produced by a search system in response to an input user query, the method comprising:

providing an edit mode activation option in conjunction with the search results, wherein user selection of the edit mode activation option triggers a feedback interface including result manipulation tools;

manipulating results in accordance with user input to the result manipulation tools; and

providing a preview pane for reviewing the manipulated results prior to submission.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising allowing the user to trigger the edit mode activation option in order to make additional edits after previewing.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising receiving a user submission of manipulated results and storing the manipulated results in a feedback database.