METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR ORGANIZING SEARCH RESULTS

• US 20070185846A1
• Filed: 01/31/2007
• Published: 08/09/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Northwestern University, Taboola, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Media River, Inc.
• Inventors: Hammond, Kristian, Birnbaum, Lawrence, Budzik, Jerome, Crossen, Andrew, Sood, Sanjay
• Granted Patent: US 7,627,565 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/242 Query formulation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• 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: Y10S 707/99934 Query formulation, input preparation, or translation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99936 Pattern matching access

Abstract

Methods and apparatus assessing, ranking, organizing, and presenting search results associated with a user'"'"'s current work context are disclosed. The system disclosed assesses, ranks, organizes and presents search results against a user'"'"'s current work context by comparing statistical and heuristic models of the search results to a statistical and heuristic model of the user'"'"'s current work context. In this manner, search results are assessed, ranked, organized, and/or presented with the benefit of attributes of the user'"'"'s current work context that are predictive of relevance, such as words in a user'"'"'s document (e.g., web page or word processing document) that may not have been included in the search query. In addition, search results from multiple search engines are combined into an organization scheme that best reflects the user'"'"'s current task. As a result, lists of search results from different search engines can be more usefully presented to the user.

Claims

1. A method of displaying organized search results, the method comprising:

determining a first query based on a user context, the user context including data indicative of text being accessed by a user, the first query being different than the user context;

receiving a first plurality of search results from a first search engine, the first plurality of search results being based on the first query;

comparing data indicative of the first plurality of search results to data indicative of the user context to determine a first plurality of organization schemes, the first plurality of organization schemes grouping at least a portion of the first plurality of search results into at least two genres; and

generating a display indicative of an organized list of search results based on the first plurality of organization schemes.

2. The method of claim 1, including:

determining a second query from the user context;

receiving a second plurality of search results from a second different search engine, the second plurality of search results being based on the second query;

comparing data indicative of the second plurality of search results to the data indicative of the user context to determine a second plurality of organization schemes, the second plurality of organization schemes grouping at least a portion of the second plurality of search results into the at least two genres,

wherein generating data indicative of the organized list of search results is further based on the second plurality of organization schemes.

3. The method of claim 2, including combining at least a portion of the first plurality of search results with at least a portion of the second plurality of search results into a ranked list of search results.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the user context is based on data indicative of at least one task in which the user is engaged out of a plurality of possible user tasks.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the user context is based on at least one of (a) a number of words in the text being accessed by the user, and (b) a number of sentences in the text being accessed by the user.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the user context is based on at least one of (a) a location of the at least one predetermined word in the text being accessed by the user, (b) a style of the at least one predetermined word in the text being accessed by the user, (c) a presence of at least one specified word in the text being accessed by the user, (d) an absence of the at least one specified word in the text being accessed by the user, (e) metadata attributes of at least a portion of the text being accessed by the user, (f) a field presented by a computer application, (g) an attribute of information being presented in the computer application, (h) an element of the computer application visible to the user, (i) a document genre, (j) a document type, (k) a type associated with the computer application, (l) a method by which the user is accessing the computer application, (m) a role in an organization, (n) a type of the organization, (o) a property of the organization, (p) a stage in a task, (q) a stage in a workflow, (r) a type of task being supported by the computer application, (s) a stage in a task being executed by the computer application, (t) a pervious user behavior, (u) a topical area of interest, (v) a proportion of hyperlinked text to non-hyperlinked text, and (w) an average sentence length in the text being accessed by the user.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the user context is based on at least five of (a) a location of the at least one predetermined word in the text being accessed by the user, (b) a style of the at least one predetermined word in the text being accessed by the user, (c) a presence of at least one specified word in the text being accessed by the user, (d) an absence of the at least one specified word in the text being accessed by the user, (e) metadata attributes of at least a portion of the text being accessed by the user, (f) a field presented by a computer application, (g) an attribute of information being presented in the computer application, (h) an element of the computer application visible to the user, (i) a document genre, (j) a document type, (k) a type associated with the computer application, (l) a method by which the user is accessing the computer application, (m) a role in an organization, (n) a type of the organization, (o) a property of the organization, (p) a stage in a task, (q) a stage in a workflow, (r) a type of task being supported by the computer application, (s) a stage in a task being executed by the computer application, (t) a pervious user behavior, (u) a topical area of interest, (v) a proportion of hyperlinked text to non-hyperlinked text, and (w) an average sentence length in the text being accessed by the user.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the user context is based on (a) a style of the at least one predetermined word in the text being accessed by the user and (b) a type associated with a computer application

9. The method of claim 1, including receiving a plurality of result models from the first search engine, the plurality of result models including a plurality of terms associated with the first plurality of search results and a plurality weights associated with the plurality of terms.

10. The method of claim 9, including comparing data indicative of the plurality of result models to data indicative of the user context to determine the first plurality of scores associated with the first plurality of search results.

11. An apparatus for displaying organized search results, the apparatus comprising:

a processor;

a memory device operatively coupled to the processor;

a user input device operatively coupled to the processor;

a network device operatively coupled to the processor; and

a display device operatively coupled to the processor;

wherein the memory device stores a software program to cause the processor to;

determine a first query based on a user context, the user context including data indicative of text being accessed by a user in response to inputs entered via the user input device, the first query being different than the user context;

receive a first plurality of search results from a first search engine via the network device, the first plurality of search results being based on the first query;

compare data indicative of the first plurality of search results to data indicative of the user context to determine a first plurality of organization schemes, the first plurality of organization schemes grouping at least a portion of the first plurality of search results into at least two genres; and

generate a display via the display device indicative of an organized list of search results based on the first plurality of organization schemes.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the software program causes the processor to:

determine a second query from the user context;

receive a second plurality of search results from a second different search engine, the second plurality of search results being based on the second query;

compare data indicative of the second plurality of search results to the data indicative of the user context to determine a second plurality of organization schemes, the second plurality of organization schemes grouping at least a portion of the second plurality of search results into the at least two genres,

wherein generating data indicative of the organized list of search results is further based on the second plurality of organization schemes.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the software program causes the processor to combine at least a portion of the first plurality of search results with at least a portion of the second plurality of search results into a ranked list of search results.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the user context is based on data indicative of at least one task in which the user is engaged out of a plurality of possible user tasks.

15. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the user context is based on at least one of (a) a number of words in the text being accessed by the user, and (b) a number of sentences in the text being accessed by the user.

16. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the user context is based on at least one of (a) a location of the at least one predetermined word in the text being accessed by the user, (b) a style of the at least one predetermined word in the text being accessed by the user, (c) a presence of at least one specified word in the text being accessed by the user, (d) an absence of the at least one specified word in the text being accessed by the user, (e) metadata attributes of at least a portion of the text being accessed by the user, (f) a field presented by a computer application, (g) an attribute of information being presented in the computer application, (h) an element of the computer application visible to the user, (i) a document genre, (j) a document type, (k) a type associated with the computer application, (l) a method by which the user is accessing the computer application, (m) a role in an organization, (n) a type of the organization, (o) a property of the organization, (p) a stage in a task, (q) a stage in a workflow, (r) a type of task being supported by the computer application, (s) a stage in a task being executed by the computer application, (t) a pervious user behavior, (u) a topical area of interest, (v) a proportion of hyperlinked text to non-hyperlinked text, and (w) an average sentence length in the text being accessed by the user.

17. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the user context is based on at least five of (a) a location of the at least one predetermined word in the text being accessed by the user, (b) a style of the at least one predetermined word in the text being accessed by the user, (c) a presence of at least one specified word in the text being accessed by the user, (d) an absence of the at least one specified word in the text being accessed by the user, (e) metadata attributes of at least a portion of the text being accessed by the user, (f) a field presented by a computer application, (g) an attribute of information being presented in the computer application, (h) an element of the computer application visible to the user, (i) a document genre, (j) a document type, (k) a type associated with the computer application, (l) a method by which the user is accessing the computer application, (m) a role in an organization, (n) a type of the organization, (o) a property of the organization, (p) a stage in a task, (q) a stage in a workflow, (r) a type of task being supported by the computer application, (s) a stage in a task being executed by the computer application, (t) a pervious user behavior, (u) a topical area of interest, (v) a proportion of hyperlinked text to non-hyperlinked text, and (w) an average sentence length in the text being accessed by the user.

18. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the user context is based on (a) a style of the at least one predetermined word in the text being accessed by the user and (b) a type associated with a computer application

19. The apparatus of claim 11, including receiving a plurality of result models from the first search engine, the plurality of result models including a plurality of terms associated with the first plurality of search results and a plurality weights associated with the plurality of terms.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the software program causes the processor to compare data indicative of the plurality of result models to data indicative of the user context to determine the first plurality of scores associated with the first plurality of search results.

21. A computer readable medium storing a software program to cause a computing device to:

determine a first query based on a user context, the user context including data indicative of text being accessed by a user in response to inputs entered via the user input device, the first query being different than the user context;

receive a first plurality of search results from a first search engine via the network device, the first plurality of search results being based on the first query;

compare data indicative of the first plurality of search results to data indicative of the user context to determine a first plurality of organization schemes, the first plurality of organization schemes grouping at least a portion of the first plurality of search results into at least two genres; and

generate a display via the display device indicative of an organized list of search results based on the first plurality of organization schemes.

22. The computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein the software program is structured to cause the computing device to:

determine a second query from the user context;

receive a second plurality of search results from a second different search engine, the second plurality of search results being based on the second query;

compare data indicative of the second plurality of search results to the data indicative of the user context to determine a second plurality of organization schemes, the second plurality of organization schemes grouping at least a portion of the second plurality of search results into the at least two genres,

wherein generating data indicative of the organized list of search results is further based on the second plurality of organization schemes.

23. The computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein the software program is structured to cause the computing device to combine at least a portion of the first plurality of search results with at least a portion of the second plurality of search results into a ranked list of search results.

24. The computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein the user context is based on data indicative of at least one task in which the user is engaged out of a plurality of possible user tasks.

25. The computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein the user context is based on at least one of (a) a number of words in the text being accessed by the user, and (b) a number of sentences in the text being accessed by the user.

26. The computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein the user context is based on at least one of (a) a location of the at least one predetermined word in the text being accessed by the user, (b) a style of the at least one predetermined word in the text being accessed by the user, (c) a presence of at least one specified word in the text being accessed by the user, (d) an absence of the at least one specified word in the text being accessed by the user, (e) metadata attributes of at least a portion of the text being accessed by the user, (f) a field presented by a computer application, (g) an attribute of information being presented in the computer application, (h) an element of the computer application visible to the user, (i) a document genre, (j) a document type, (k) a type associated with the computer application, (l) a method by which the user is accessing the computer application, (m) a role in an organization, (n) a type of the organization, (o) a property of the organization, (p) a stage in a task, (q) a stage in a workflow, (r) a type of task being supported by the computer application, (s) a stage in a task being executed by the computer application, (t) a pervious user behavior, (u) a topical area of interest, (v) a proportion of hyperlinked text to non-hyperlinked text, and (w) an average sentence length in the text being accessed by the user.

27. The computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein the user context is based on at least five of (a) a location of the at least one predetermined word in the text being accessed by the user, (b) a style of the at least one predetermined word in the text being accessed by the user, (c) a presence of at least one specified word in the text being accessed by the user, (d) an absence of the at least one specified word in the text being accessed by the user, (e) metadata attributes of at least a portion of the text being accessed by the user, (f) a field presented by a computer application, (g) an attribute of information being presented in the computer application, (h) an element of the computer application visible to the user, (i) a document genre, (j) a document type, (k) a type associated with the computer application, (l) a method by which the user is accessing the computer application, (m) a role in an organization, (n) a type of the organization, (o) a property of the organization, (p) a stage in a task, (q) a stage in a workflow, (r) a type of task being supported by the computer application, (s) a stage in a task being executed by the computer application, (t) a pervious user behavior, (u) a topical area of interest, (v) a proportion of hyperlinked text to non-hyperlinked text, and (w) an average sentence length in the text being accessed by the user.

28. The computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein the user context is based on (a) a style of the at least one predetermined word in the text being accessed by the user and (b) a type associated with a computer application

29. The computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein the software program is structured to cause the computing device to receive a plurality of result models from the first search engine, the plurality of result models including a plurality of terms associated with the first plurality of search results and a plurality weights associated with the plurality of terms.

30. The computer readable medium of claim 29, wherein the software program is structured to cause the computing device to compare data indicative of the plurality of result models to data indicative of the user context to determine the first plurality of scores associated with the first plurality of search results.