Topic-focused search result summaries

• US 20080133482A1
• Filed: 12/04/2006
• Published: 06/05/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/04/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Rose, Daniel E., Anick, Peter, Raju, Swati
• Granted Patent: US 7,921,092 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/338 Presentation of query results

Abstract

Techniques for automatically generating and displaying topic-focused summaries for search results are disclosed. Users can “peek” inside a search result to see document excerpts that pertain specifically to a user-selected topic. Thus, a user can view the aspects of a document that are most interesting prior to deciding whether to retrieve the complete document. For each search result, a user can select from among several different available summaries, each of which focuses on a different topic of the document to which that search result refers. According to one aspect, key concepts are automatically identified in a document. For each such key concept, contextual snippets that pertain to that key concept are automatically selected. The key concepts are displayed to the user at search time. A summary that contains the contextual snippets that pertain to a user-selected key concept is displayed in response to the user'"'"'s selection of that key concept.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining a key concept of a particular document;

in response to a search query, generating search results;

wherein the search results include a search result listing for said particular document;

wherein at least a portion of the particular document is selected for inclusion in said search result listing based on said key concept without regard to query terms in said search query.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

automatically selecting, based on the key concept and without regard to the query terms, one or more excerpts from the particular document; and

automatically generating the search result listing based on the one or more excerpts.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending, toward an application, a search results page that comprises (a) one or more search result listings for one or more of the search results and (b) one or more key concepts for each of one or more of the search result listings;

receiving a request that specifies a particular search result listing and a particular key concept; and

in response to receiving the request, sending, toward the application, a summary for the particular search result listing, wherein the summary is generated based on the particular key concept without regard to the query terms.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein sending the summary comprises sending the summary in a manner that causes the application to display the summary without reloading the search results page.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein sending the summary comprises sending the summary without re-sending any portion of the search results page.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the search results page comprises a mechanism that causes a portion of a display of the particular search result listing to be replaced with the summary.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein the search results page comprises a mechanism that causes the summary to appear in the particular search result listing in response to the application receiving the summary.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether a particular device from which the search query originated is a mobile device;

if the particular device is not a mobile device, then generating, for the search result listing, a summary that is of a first specified length; and

if the particular device is a mobile device, then generating, for the search result listing, a summary that is of a second specified length that is greater than the first specified length.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether a particular device from which the search query originated is a mobile device;

if the particular device is not a mobile device, then generating a first search results page that does not comprise, in any code of the first search results page, any summary that is generated based on said key concept; and

if the particular device is a mobile device, then generating a second search results page that comprises, in code of the second search results page, a summary that is generated based on said key concept without regard to the query terms.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein at least a particular portion of the search result listing is selected for inclusion in said search result listing based on said particular portion matching a pattern for at least one of:

(a) a telephone number, (b) a street address, (c) an e-mail address, (d) a personal name, (e) a business name, and (f) a named entity.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the key concept comprises automatically extracting one or more key concepts from the particular document.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein automatically extracting the one or more key concepts from the particular document comprises automatically extracting the one or more key concepts from the particular document based at least in part on Prisma technology.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the key concept comprises automatically extracting one or more key concepts from the particular document, wherein the one or more key concepts include addresses, names, and other named entities.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the key concept comprises automatically extracting one or more key concepts that are identified by an author of the particular document.

16. A computer-readable medium that stores instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method of claim 1.

17. A computer-readable medium that stores instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method of claim 2.

18. A computer-readable medium that stores instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method of claim 3.

19. A computer-readable medium that stores instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method of claim 4.

20. A computer-readable medium that stores instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method of claim 5.

21. A computer-readable medium that stores instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method of claim 6.

22. A computer-readable medium that stores instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method of claim 7.

23. A computer-readable medium that stores instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method of claim 8.

24. A computer-readable medium that stores instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method of claim 9.

25. A computer-readable medium that stores instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method of claim 10.

26. A computer-readable medium that stores instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method of claim 11.

27. A computer-readable medium that stores instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method of claim 12.

28. A computer-readable medium that stores instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method of claim 13.

29. A computer-readable medium that stores instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method of claim 14.

15. A method comprising:

determining two or more different key concepts of a particular document;

in response to a search query, generating search results;

wherein the search results include a search result listing for said particular document;

wherein the search result listing includes two or more user-selectable elements for each of the two or more different key concepts;

in response to a user'"'"'s selection of a first element of the two or more elements, causing a first summary to be displayed in said search result listing; and

in response to a user'"'"'s selection of a second element of the two or more elements, causing a second summary to be displayed in said search result listing;

wherein said first summary differs from said second summary.

30. A computer-readable medium that stores instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method of claim 15.