Vertical search expansion, disambiguation, and optimization of search queries

• US 20070208724A1
• Filed: 03/06/2006
• Published: 09/06/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kantak, Darshan, Carinio, Matthew, Madhavan, Anand
• Granted Patent: US 7,805,441 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3332 Query translation

Abstract

A system and method to facilitate expansion, disambiguation, and optimization of search queries over a network wherein an original query received from a user is parsed to obtain at least one query term. A plurality of keywords related contextually to one or more query terms are further retrieved from a database. Finally, a set of modified queries is generated, each modified query further comprising at least one query term and at least one retrieved keyword.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

parsing an original query received from a user to obtain at least one query term;

retrieving a plurality of keywords related contextually to said at least one query term; and

generating a set of modified queries, each modified query further comprising said at least one query term and at least one keyword of said plurality of keywords.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

retrieving additional keywords related contextually to a page category corresponding to a query page accessed by said user to enter said query.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein each keyword and said at least one query term pertain to a common subject matter related to said page category.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

retrieving a plurality of advertising offers for each modified query and for said original query;

selecting advertising offers related contextually to said at least one query term and said plurality of keywords; and

filtering said set of modified queries and said original query to generate a plurality of filtered queries, each filtered query corresponding to at least one selected advertising offer.

5. The method according to claim 4, further comprising:

optimizing said selected advertising offers according to at least one predetermined parameter.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein said at least one predetermined parameter further comprises a “

pay-per-click”

(PPC) categorization parameter.

7. The method according to claim 5, wherein said at least one predetermined parameter further comprises a combination between a “

pay-per-click”

(PPC) categorization parameter and a “

click-through-rate”

(CTR) categorization parameter.

8. The method according to claim 5, wherein said at least one predetermined parameter further comprises a relevance categorization parameter.

9. An apparatus comprising:

at least one database; and

at least one search processing server coupled to said at least one database, said at least one search processing server to parse an original query received from a user and to obtain at least one query term, to retrieve a plurality of keywords related contextually to said at least one query term from said at least one database, and to generate a set of modified queries, each modified query further comprising said at least one query term and at least one keyword of said plurality of keywords.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein said at least one search processing server further retrieves from said at least one database additional keywords related contextually to a page category corresponding to a query page accessed by said user to enter said query.

11. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein each keyword and said at least one query term pertain to a common subject matter related to said page category.

12. The apparatus according to claim 9, further comprising:

at least one advertising processing server coupled to said at least one search processing server;

said at least one advertising processing server to retrieve a plurality of advertising offers for each modified query and for said original query, to select advertising offers related contextually to said at least one query term and said plurality of keywords, said at least one search processing server further to filter said set of modified queries and said original query to generate a plurality of filtered queries, each filtered query corresponding to at least one selected advertising offer.

13. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein said at least one advertising processing server further optimizes said selected advertising offers according to at least one predetermined parameter.

14. The apparatus according to claim 13, wherein said at least one predetermined parameter further comprises a “

pay-per-click”

(PPC) categorization parameter.

15. The apparatus according to claim 13, wherein said at least one predetermined parameter further comprises a combination between a “

pay-per-click”

(PPC) categorization parameter and a “

click-through-rate”

(CTR) categorization parameter.

16. The apparatus according to claim 13, wherein said at least one predetermined parameter further comprises a relevance categorization parameter.

17. An apparatus comprising:

means for parsing an original query received from a user to obtain at least one query term;

means for retrieving a plurality of keywords related contextually to said at least one query term; and

means for generating a set of modified queries, each modified query further comprising said at least one query term and at least one keyword of said plurality of keywords.

18. The apparatus according to claim 17, further comprising:

means for retrieving additional keywords related contextually to a page category corresponding to a query page accessed by said user to enter said query.

19. The apparatus according to claim 18, wherein each keyword and said at least one query term pertain to a common subject matter related to said page category.

20. The apparatus according to claim 17, further comprising:

means for retrieving a plurality of advertising offers for each modified query and for said original query;

means for selecting advertising offers related contextually to said at least one query term and said plurality of keywords; and

means for filtering said set of modified queries and said original query to generate a plurality of filtered queries, each filtered query corresponding to at least one selected advertising offer.

21. The apparatus according to claim 20, further comprising:

means for optimizing said selected advertising offers according to at least one predetermined parameter.

22. A computer readable medium containing executable instructions, which, when executed in a processing system, cause said processing system to perform a method comprising:

parsing an original query received from a user to obtain at least one query term;

retrieving a plurality of keywords related contextually to said at least one query term; and

generating a set of modified queries, each modified query further comprising said at least one query term and at least one keyword of said plurality of keywords.

23. The computer readable medium according to claim 22, wherein said method further comprises:

retrieving additional keywords related contextually to a page category corresponding to a query page accessed by said user to enter said query.

24. The computer readable medium according to claim 23, wherein each keyword and said at least one query term pertain to a common subject matter related to said page category.

25. The computer readable medium according to claim 22, wherein said method further comprises:

retrieving a plurality of advertising offers for each modified query and for said original query;

selecting advertising offers related contextually to said at least one query term and said plurality of keywords; and

filtering said set of modified queries and said original query to generate a plurality of filtered queries, each filtered query corresponding to at least one selected advertising offer.

26. The computer readable medium according to claim 25, wherein said method further comprises:

optimizing said selected advertising offers according to at least one predetermined parameter.