Indexing pages based on associations with geographic regions

• US 20070112757A1
• Filed: 11/17/2005
• Published: 05/17/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Bates, Cary, Wallenfelt, Brian
• Granted Patent: US 7,574,420 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/313 Selection or weighting of terms for indexing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99932 Access augmentation or optimizing

Abstract

A method, apparatus, system, and signal-bearing medium that, in an embodiment, create an index for pages based on association scores for the pages with respect to geographic regions, where the association scores indicate relative degrees to which the pages are associated with the geographic regions. In an embodiment, the association scores are determined by adding a term score to the association score if a term that is associated with the geographic region is present in the page. The term score indicates a relative degree to which presence of the term in the page indicates that the page is associated with the geographic region. In an embodiment, the association scores are further increased based on association scores of neighbor geographic regions and based on the association scores of incoming linked pages. The index is created by selecting keywords that are present in the page, selecting weights for the keywords, finding the keywords that match the terms, and increasing the weights for the keywords that match the terms based on the association scores and the term scores. In this way, a search for a keyword may order the matching pages based on the weights, which are based on the degree to which the matching pages are associated with a geographic region.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining a plurality of association scores for a plurality of pages with respect to a plurality of geographic regions, wherein the association score comprises a relative degree to which the page is associated with the geographic region; and

creating an index for the plurality of pages based on the plurality of association scores.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining further comprises:

deciding whether a term that is associated with the geographic region is present in the page; and

adding a term score to the association score if the deciding is true, wherein the term score comprises a relative degree to which presence of the term in the page indicates that the page is associated with the geographic region.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the determining further comprises:

increasing the association score based on a neighbor association score of a neighbor geographic region, wherein the neighbor association score comprises a relative degree to which the page is associated with the neighbor geographic region.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the geographic region and the neighbor geographic region are located within a threshold distance.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the determining further comprises:

increasing the association score based on the association scores of incoming linked pages.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the term comprises a geographic region name.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the term is selected from a group consisting of a telephone area code, a zip code, and a name of the geographic region.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein the creating the index further comprises:

selecting a plurality of keywords present in the page;

selecting a plurality of weights for the plurality of keywords

finding the keywords that match the terms; and

increasing the weights for the keywords that match the terms based on the association score and the term scores.

9. A signal-bearing medium encoded with instructions, wherein the instructions when executed comprise:

determining a plurality of association scores for a plurality of pages with respect to a plurality of geographic regions, wherein the association score comprises a relative degree to which the page is associated with the geographic region, wherein the determining further comprises deciding whether a term that is associated with the geographic region is present in the page, and adding a term score to the association score if the deciding is true, wherein the term score comprises a relative degree to which presence of the term in the page indicates that the page is associated with the geographic region; and

creating an index for the plurality of pages based on the plurality of association scores.

10. The signal-bearing medium of claim 9, wherein the determining further comprises:

increasing the association score based on a neighbor association score of a neighbor geographic region, wherein the neighbor association score comprises a relative degree to which the page is associated with the neighbor geographic region.

11. The signal-bearing medium of claim 10, wherein the geographic region and the neighbor geographic region are located within a threshold distance.

12. The signal-bearing medium of claim 9, wherein the determining further comprises:

increasing the association score based on the association scores of incoming linked pages.

13. The signal-bearing medium of claim 9, wherein the term comprises a geographic region name.

14. The signal-bearing medium of claim 9, wherein the term is selected from a group consisting of a telephone area code, a zip code, and a name of the geographic region.

15. The signal-bearing medium of claim 9, wherein the creating the index further comprises:

selecting a plurality of keywords present in the page;

selecting a plurality of weights for the plurality of keywords finding the keywords that match the terms; and

increasing the weights for the keywords that match the terms based on the association score and the term scores.

16. A method for configuring a computer, comprising:

configuring the computer to determine a plurality of association scores for a plurality of pages with respect to a plurality of geographic regions, wherein the association score comprises a relative degree to which the page is associated with the geographic region, wherein the configuring the computer to determine further comprises deciding whether a term that is associated with the geographic region is present in the page, and adding a term score to the association score if the deciding is true, wherein the term score comprises a relative degree to which presence of the term in the page indicates that the page is associated with the geographic region; and

configuring the computer to create an index for the plurality of pages based on the plurality of association scores, wherein the configuring the computer to create the index further comprises selecting a plurality of keywords present in the page, selecting a plurality of weights for the plurality of keywords, finding the keywords that match the terms, and increasing the weights for the keywords that match the terms based on the association score and the term scores.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the configuring the computer to determine further comprises:

configuring the computer to increase the association score based on a neighbor association score of a neighbor geographic region, wherein the neighbor association score comprises a relative degree to which the page is associated with the neighbor geographic region, wherein the geographic region and the neighbor geographic region are located within a threshold distance.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the configuring the computer to determine further comprises:

configuring the computer to increase the association score based on the association scores of incoming linked pages.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

configuring the computer to receive a search keyword;

configuring the computer to find the keywords in the index that match the search keyword;

configuring the computer to create search results, wherein the search results comprise the pages associated with the found keywords in the index; and

configuring the computer to order the pages in the search results based on the weights.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the configuring the computer to order the pages further comprises:

configuring the computer to order the pages in the search results based on a page rank.