Methods of and systems for searching by incorporating user-entered information

• US 20060271524A1
• Filed: 02/27/2006
• Published: 11/30/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pinterest, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Search Engine Technologies, LLC
• Inventors: Karsh, Bruce D., Tanne, Michael, Lu, Yunshan
• Granted Patent: US 9,092,523 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3326 using relevance feedback from the user, e.g. relevance feedback on documents, documents sets, document terms or passages
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/134 Hyperlinking

Abstract

A system for and a method of using user-entered information to return more meaningful information in response to Internet search queries are disclosed. A method in accordance with the present invention comprises managing a database in response to multiple user inputs and displaying search results from the database in response to a search query. The search results include a results list and supplemental data related to the search query. Managing the database includes, among other things, re-ranking elements in the results list, storing information related to relevancies of elements in the results list, blocking a link in the results list, storing links to documents related to the search query, or any combination of these. The supplemental data include descriptions of or indices to one or more concepts related to the search query.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

a. managing a database in response to multiple user inputs; and

b. displaying search results from the database in response to a first search query.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the search results comprises a results list and supplemental data related to the first search query.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein managing the database comprises re-ranking elements in the results list.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein managing the database corresponds to one of storing information related to relevancies of elements in the results list, blocking a link in the results list, and storing links to documents related to the first search query.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein managing the database corresponds to storing information related to relevancies of entries in the results list, blocking a link in the results list, and storing links to documents related to the first search query.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the supplemental data includes a description of a first concept related to the first search query.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein managing the database comprises any one of adding, editing, and deleting the description of the first concept.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the description of the first concept contains a link to a description of a second concept related to the first concept.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the supplemental data includes an index into a list of concepts related to one or both of the first concept and the second concept.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the second concept is any one of a sub-category of the first concept, a co-occurrence of the first concept, and a concept whose occurrence is statistically related to occurrences of the first concept.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein a relationship between the first concept and the second concept is determined by selecting one of predetermined criteria, user-entered categories, and a statistical relationship.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the supplemental data comprises a link for automatically executing a second search query related to the first search query.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein a term of the second search query is input by a user.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein a term of the second search query is determined by a computer.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the computer-determined term is derived from any one of its co-occurrence in a document containing a term of the first search query, its location within a document containing a term of the first search query, and a density of its occurrences in a document containing a term of the first search query.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising using a suspension criterion to suspend an ability of a user to provide user input data.

17. A method comprising:

a. submitting a query to a search engine;

b. generating a search results list;

c. retrieving supplemental information related to the query; and

d. displaying a results page containing the search results list and the supplemental information, wherein user input is used to modify at least one of the search results list and the supplemental information.

18. A method of displaying search results in relation to input from first and second users from among multiple users comprising:

a. generating first search results in response to a first query;

b. receiving input from the first user;

c. modifying a database in response to the input from the first user;

d. receiving a second query related to the first query; and

e. displaying to the second user second search results generated from the database.

19. A system comprising:

a. a Web server configured to display search results and supplemental information related to terms of a first search query;

b. a search engine for querying a database and providing a search results list in response to user queries; and

c. a content manager for managing the supplemental information in response to multiple user inputs.

20. The system of claim 19, further comprising a first data store coupled to the content manager for storing the supplemental information.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the content manager is configured to receive the multiple user inputs for updating the supplemental information.

22. The system of claim 19, further comprising a display area for displaying the supplemental information, wherein the supplemental information comprises a description of a first concept related to the first search query.

23. The system of claim 19, wherein the supplemental information comprises a link to a description of a second concept.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the content manager is configured to receive the multiple user inputs to add, edit, or delete the link.

25. The system of claim 22, wherein the content manager is configured to receive the multiple users input to add, edit, or delete the description of the first concept.

26. The system of claim 19, further comprising an area that displays links for automatically executing a second search query related to the first search query.

27. The system of claim 19, further comprising a search engine for organizing the search results based on the multiple user inputs.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the search engine is configured to organize the search results based on the multiple user inputs by ranking the search results.

29. The system of claim 19, further comprising a user device for executing the Web server.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the user device is configured to communicate with the Web server using any one or more of HyperText Transfer Protocol and Wireless Application Protocol.

31. The system of claim 29, wherein the user device is one of a personal computer, a portable phone, and a personal digital assistant.