Real time query trends with multi-document summarization

• US 20070094247A1
• Filed: 03/21/2006
• Published: 04/26/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/21/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AOL Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Chowdhury, Abdur, Sidhu, Kulraj, Pass, Gregory, Walker, Travis
• Granted Patent: US 7,613,690 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/90335 Query processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching

Abstract

A list of “hot topics” may be provided to a user to indicate information that is currently popular. A topic may be deemed popular when a large number of search queries related to the topic are entered by users. A search system may receive and analyze an electronic source of published information to determine a reason for why a particular popular topic is popular. If content related to why a particular popular topic is popular exists in multiple electronic sources of published information, text summarization techniques may be used to determine a reason for why the popular topic is popular by from among the multiple electronic sources of published information.

Claims

1. A method, performed at least in part by a computer, for identifying a reason that a search topic is popular, the method comprising:

receiving an indication of a search topic that is popular;

analyzing a content feed from an electronic source of published information to determine a reason that the search topic is popular; and

presenting to a user the search topic that is popular and the determined reason that the search topic is popular.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising creating a list of identified trend-determined reason pairs by repeating the receiving and analyzing for multiple search topics.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising accessing search popularity information stored in a computer storage medium that includes search topics and reasons, wherein:

a search topic is associated with at least one reason for popularity of the search topic, and

the at least one reason for popularity of the search topic is determined by analyzing at least one content feed from an electronic source of published information.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the search popularity information also includes a category associated with a search topic, the method further comprising:

receiving an indication of a category;

accessing the search popularity information to determine a search topic associated with the indicated category; and

presenting the search topic associated with the indicated category and the at least one reason for popularity of the search topic.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising analyzing multiple search queries to identify a search topic that is popular.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein analyzing multiple search queries to identify a search topic that is popular comprises:

determining a number of search queries received during a first predetermined period of time, the search queries identifying a particular entity;

determining a number of search queries received during a second predetermined period of time, the search queries identifying the particular entity;

comparing the number of search queries received during the first and second predetermined periods of time; and

based on the comparison, determining whether a search topic related to the particular entity is popular.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein analyzing a content feed from an electronic source of published information to determine a reason that the search topic is popular comprises:

receiving the content feed, with the content feed including content and being received in substantially real-time;

determining whether the content identifies the search topic; and

when the content identifies the search topic, providing at least some of the content as the reason that the search topic is popular.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein

the search topic that is popular is related to a particular entity,

the content of the content feed includes metadata, and

determining whether the content of the content feed identifies the search topic includes determining that the content and metadata of the content feed are related to the same particular entity as the search topic.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising summarizing content of more than one content feed when the content of more than one content feed relates to the same particular entity as the search topic.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one content feed from an electronic source of published information includes at least one of electronic data feeds, news, weblogs, or other online content.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the electronic data feeds include RSS.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one content feed from an electronic source of published information includes data in the form of at least one of audio, video, text, audible text after a text-to-speech conversion, images and animation.

13. An apparatus for identifying a reason that a search topic is popular, the apparatus being configured to:

receive an indication of a search topic that is popular;

analyze a content feed from an electronic source of published information to determine a reason that the search topic is popular; and

present to a user the search topic that is popular and the determined reason that the search topic is popular.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 further being configured to create a list of identified trend-determined reason pairs by repeating the receiving and analyzing for multiple search topics.

15. The apparatus of claim 13 further being configured to access search popularity information stored in a computer storage medium that includes search topics and reasons, wherein:

a search topic is associated with at least one reason for popularity of the search topic, and

the at least one reason for popularity of the search topic is determined by analyzing at least one content feed from an electronic source of published information.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the search popularity information also includes a category associated with a search topic, the apparatus further being configured to:

receive an indication of a category;

access the search popularity information to determine a search topic associated with the indicated category; and

present the search topic associated with the indicated category and the at least one reason for popularity of the search topic.

17. The apparatus of claim 13 further being configured to:

determine a number of search queries received during a first predetermined period of time, the search queries identifying a particular entity;

determine a number of search queries received during a second predetermined period of time, the search queries identifying the particular entity;

compare the number of search queries received during the first and second predetermined periods of time; and

based on the comparison, determine whether a search topic related to the particular entity is popular.

18. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the search topic that is popular is related to a particular entity, the apparatus further being configured to:

receive the content feed, with the content feed including content and metadata and being received in substantially real-time;

when the content and metadata of the content feed are related to the same particular entity as the search topic, determine that the content identifies the search topic; and

when the content identifies the search topic, provide at least some of the content as the reason that the search topic is popular.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 further being configured to summarize content of more than one content feed when the content of more than one content feed relates to the same particular entity as the search topic.

20. A system for identifying a reason that a search topic is popular, the system comprising:

means for receiving an indication of a search topic that is popular;

means for analyzing a content feed from an electronic source of published information to determine a reason that the search topic is popular; and

means for presenting to a user the search topic that is popular and the determined reason that the search topic is popular.