GROUP-BY ATTRIBUTE VALUE IN SEARCH RESULTS

• US 20080033915A1
• Filed: 08/03/2006
• Published: 02/07/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/03/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Ma, Wei-Ying, Nie, Zaiqing, Liu, Yue, Wu, Qiang, Chen, Hua
• Granted Patent: US 7,921,106 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques

Abstract

Search results are ranked by applying sub-relevancies within a search result list. This permits search result lists to be further refined into more manageable relevant groupings from a user'"'"'s perspective. The sub-relevancies or ‘group-by’ parameters are derived from search result attributes. Attribute values from the attributes are employed in a ranking scheme to group the search results based on attribute value relevancy. The grouped search results can then be displayed to users via a search result page. In one instance users can select which attribute value is used to group the search result list. Ranking processes are based on object ranking algorithms that consider each attribute value as an object type. Some instances provide for search result list group condensing based on relevancy of the attribute values as well. A top-k instance can be employed to limit the search results to control the amount of time required for processing groupings.

Claims

1. A system that enhances search result listings, comprising:

an attribute value ranking component that receives an object oriented search result list and determines a group-by ranking via ranking the search results utilizing attributes, attribute values, and object oriented search result rank obtained from the object oriented search result list; and

a search result display component that provides search result groupings based on the group-by ranking for interaction with a user.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the attribute value ranking component accepts user and/or system preferences for selecting attributes on which to base the group-by ranking.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the display component provides a user selectable set of attributes that are available for group-by ranking of the object oriented search result list.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the attribute value ranking component limits the group-by ranking to a top-k number of object oriented search results, where k is an integer from one to infinity.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the attribute value ranking component employs an object oriented ranking process in providing the group-by ranking.

18. A computer readable medium having stored thereon computer executable components of the system of claim 1.

20. A device employing the system of claim 1 comprising at least one selected from the group consisting of a computer, a server, and a handheld electronic device.

6. A method for enhancing search result listings, comprising:

obtaining a search result list from an object oriented search engine sorted by rank;

sorting the search result list by attribute value and rank;

calculating the attribute value'"'"'s rank for each attribute value; and

resorting the search result list based on, at least in part, the attribute value rank, attribute value, and search result rank to obtain attribute value based grouped search results.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising:

determining the attribute value based grouped search results based on, at least in part, an object oriented ranking process.

8. The method of claim 6 further comprising:

utilizing user and/or system preferences for determining which attributes on which to base the attribute value based grouped search results.

9. The method of claim 6 further comprising:

limiting the attribute value based grouped search results to a top-k number to bound a processing time, where k is an integer from one to infinity.

10. The method of claim 6 further comprising:

displaying the resorted search result list to a user on a search result page in groups associated with an attribute value.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein more than one search result is displayed per attribute value on the search result page.

12. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

providing a user selectable attribute input for the resorted search result list; and

regrouping and displaying the search result list based on, at least in part, the selected attribute when prompted by the user.

13. The method of claim 6 further comprising:

determining the attribute value based grouped search results by employing a combination function with a scaling factor that preserves a desired attribute.

14. The method of claim 6 further comprising:

condensing the resorted search result list based on search result rank.

15. A product search engine that employs the method of claim 6 to provide product categories sorted by manufacturing brands.

19. A device employing the method of claim 6 comprising at least one selected from the group consisting of a computer, a server, and a handheld electronic device.

16. A system that enhances search result listings, comprising:

means for obtaining object oriented search results and providing group-by ranking based on, at least in part, attributes, attribute values, and object oriented search result ranking from the object oriented search results; and

means for relaying groupings of search results based on the group-by ranking.

17. The system of claim 16 further comprising:

means for interacting with a user to obtain a selectable user input that controls which attribute on which the group-by ranking is based.