Identifying offensive content using user click data

• US 20080162540A1
• Filed: 03/02/2007
• Published: 07/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pinterest, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Parikh, Jignashu, Suresh, Bipin
• Granted Patent: US 8,280,871 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/102
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation

Abstract

Techniques are provided for designating an item as being of a particular type when the item has been selected after being returned in response to a search and by identifying which mode, of a plurality of modes, in which the search engine was operating when the item was selected.

Claims

1. A method comprising performing a machine-executed operation involving instructions, wherein the instructions are instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform certain steps including:

returning items in response to a search that was performed while the search engine was operating in a particular mode of a plurality of operational modes;

receiving input comprising a selection of one of the items;

recording an indication that the selected item was selected from results of a search performed while the search engine was in the particular mode;

for each mode of the plurality of modes, determining the number of times the item has been selected;

based on the determination, designating the selected item as a particular type.

wherein the machine-executed operation is at least one of (a) sending the instructions over transmission media, (b) receiving the instructions over transmission media, (c) storing the instructions onto a machine-readable storage medium, or (d) executing the instructions.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of operational modes includes at least one of:

a mode that is designed to filter offensive material; and

a mode that is designed not to filter offensive material.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the selected item is designated as offensive.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the selected item is designated as requiring further analysis.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform designating the item as a particular type include instructions for:

performing a comparison of the number of times the selected item has been selected while the search engine was operating in one of the particular modes of a plurality of operational modes to the total number of times the selected item has been selected;

based on the comparison, designating the selected item as a particular type.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform designating the item as a particular type include instructions for:

calculating a ratio comprising the number of times the selected item has been selected while the search engine was operating in one of the particular modes of a plurality of operational modes divided by the total number of times the selected item has been selected;

based on the ratio, designating the selected item as a particular type.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform designating the item as a particular type include instructions for:

performing a comparison of the number of times the selected item has been selected while the search engine was operating in a set of one or more of the plurality of operational modes to the total number of times the selected item has been selected;

based on the comparison, designating the selected item as a particular type.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform designating the item as a particular type include instructions for:

performing a comparison of the number of times the selected item has been selected while the search engine was operating in a set of one or more of the plurality of operational modes to the total number of times the selected item has been selected;

based on the comparison, calculating a score value;

comparing the score value to a threshold value;

based on the comparison, designating the selected item as a particular type.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform designating the item as a particular type include instructions for:

processing the number of times the selected item has been selected while the search engine was operating in one of the particular, modes of a plurality of operational modes and the total number of times the selected item has been selected through a function;

normalizing the function;

based on the normalized output of the function, designating the selected item as a particular type.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the items are digital images.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the items are hyperlinks.

12. A method comprising performing a machine-executed operation involving instructions, wherein the instructions are instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform certain steps including:

determining the mode of a safe searching option associated with a search engine, wherein the safe searching option is in one particular mode of a plurality of modes;

returning items in response to a search, wherein the search is performed while the safe searching option is in one particular mode of a plurality of modes;

receiving input comprising a selection of one of the items;

associating the input and the particular mode of the safe searching option with the selected item;

for each at least one mode of the plurality of modes, determining the number of times the selected item has been selected;

based on the determination, designating the selected item as a particular type.

wherein the machine-executed operation is at least one of (a) sending the instructions over transmission media, (b) receiving the instructions over transmission media, (c) storing the instructions onto a machine-readable storage medium, or (d) executing the instructions

13. The method of claim 12 wherein one mode of the plurality of modes comprises a mode that is designed to filter offensive material.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform determining the number of times the item has been selected include instructions for:

calculating a first value comprising a ratio of the number of times the item has been selected while the safe searching option is in one particular mode of a plurality of modes to the total number of times the selected item has been selected;

comparing the first value to a second value;

based on the comparison, designating the item as a particular type.

15. A method comprising performing a machine-executed operation involving instructions, wherein the instructions are instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform certain steps including:

receiving input comprising a search query that was performed while the search engine was operating in a particular mode of a plurality of operational modes;

recording an indication that the search query was received while the search engine was in the particular mode;

for at least one mode of the plurality of modes, determining the number of times the search query was received;

based on the determination, designating the search query as a particular type

wherein the machine-executed operation is at least one of (a) sending the instructions over transmission media, (b) receiving the instructions over transmission media, (c) storing the instructions onto a machine-readable storage medium, or (d) executing the instructions.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein a particular search query is associated with a unique identifier and the instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform recording an indication that the search query was received while the search engine was in the particular mode include instructions for associating the associating the input and the particular mode of a plurality of operational modes with the particular search query.