Ranking and Suggesting Candidate Objects

• US 20080215583A1
• Filed: 03/01/2007
• Published: 09/04/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Gunawardena, Dinan, Vojnovic, Milan, Marbach, Peter, Cruise, Richard James
• Granted Patent: US 7,685,200 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/7
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation

Abstract

A method of ranking and suggesting objects, such as tags, is described in which a group of objects are suggested to a user in relation to a particular information object, such as a web page or file. A user either selects one of the suggestions or enters an alternative object and on receipt of data identifying the particular object selected by the user, the group of suggestions is updated based on whether the object selected by the user was one of the suggestions or not. The updating of the group may also be based on other factors, such as ranking parameters associated with each of the objects.

Claims

1. A method of ranking and suggesting objects comprising:

proposing a set of suggested objects to a user;

receiving data identifying an object selected by a user; and

updating said set of suggested objects on the basis of at least whether said selected object is a member of said set of suggested objects.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein said set of suggested objects are selected from a plurality of objects associated with an information object.

3. A method according to claim 2, wherein said suggested objects and said plurality of objects comprise tags.

4. A method according to claim 3, wherein said information object comprises one of a web page, a file, an image, an audio clip and a video clip.

5. A method according to claim 1, wherein proposing a set of suggested objects to a user comprises:

accessing said set of suggested objects; and

displaying said set of suggested objects to said user.

6. A method according to claim 1, wherein updating said set of suggested objects on the basis of at least whether said selected object is a member of said set of suggested objects comprises:

updating said set of suggested objects on the basis of whether said selected object is a member of said set of suggested objects and whether a randomly generated variable exceeds a defined threshold.

7. A method according to claim 1, wherein updating said set of suggested objects on the basis of at least whether said selected object is a member of said set of suggested objects comprises:

updating said set of suggested objects on the basis of whether said selected object is a member of said set of suggested objects and whether said selected object meets eligibility criteria.

8. A method according to claim 1, wherein updating said set of suggested objects on the basis of at least whether said selected object is a member of said set of suggested objects comprises:

determining if said selected object is a member of said set of suggested objects;

if said selected object is a member of said set, maintaining said set of suggested objects unchanged; and

if said selected object is not a member of said set, updating said set of suggested objects.

9. A method according to claim 8, wherein updating said set of suggested objects comprises:

removing one of said set from said set of suggested objects, wherein said one is selected substantially at random from said set of suggested objects; and

adding said selected object to said set of suggested objects.

10. A method according to claim 8, wherein updating said set of suggested objects comprises:

determining if said selected object meets eligibility criteria; and

if said selected object meets said eligibility criteria, removing one of said set from said set of suggested objects, wherein said one is selected substantially at random from said set of suggested objects; and

adding said selected object to said set of suggested objects.

11. A method according to claim 10, wherein said eligibility criteria comprises:

a vote count parameter associated with said selected object exceeds a vote count parameter associated with at least one member of said set of suggested objects.

12. A method according to claim 11, further comprising:

if said selected object is not a member of said set, incrementing said vote count parameter associated with said selected object.

13. A method according to claim 8, wherein said set of suggested objects are selected from a plurality of objects associated with an information object and wherein updating said set of suggested objects comprises:

increasing a ranking parameter associated with said selected object and decreasing a ranking parameter associated with each of said plurality of objects which is neither said selected object nor a member of said set of suggested objects; and

updating said set of suggested objects based on said ranking parameters.

14. A method according to claim 13, wherein updating said set of suggested objects based on said ranking parameters comprises:

updating said set of suggested objects to comprise a subset of said plurality of objects having largest ranking parameters.

15. A method according to claim 13, wherein updating said set of suggested objects based on said ranking parameters comprises:

selecting said set of suggested objects from said plurality of objects, wherein the probability of selection of an object from said plurality of objects is proportional to a ranking parameter associated with said object.

16. A method of ranking and suggesting objects comprising:

selecting a second plurality of objects from a first plurality of objects associated with an information object, wherein the probability of selection of an object is proportional to a ranking parameter associated with said object);

proposing said second plurality of objects to a user;

receiving data identifying an object selected by a user; and

updating at least one ranking parameter based on a ranking rule.

17. A method according to claim 16, wherein said objects comprise tags.

18. A method according to claim 16, wherein said ranking rule comprises:

increasing the value of a ranking parameter associated with said object selected by said user; and

decreasing the value of a ranking parameter associated with each of the plurality of objects which is not said object selected by said user.

19. A method according to claim 16, wherein said ranking rule comprises, if said object selected by said user is not one of said second plurality of objects:

increasing the value of a ranking parameter associated with said selected object; and

decreasing the value of a ranking parameter associated with each of the first plurality of objects which is neither said object selected by said user nor one of said second plurality of objects.

20. A method of ranking and suggesting objects comprising:

selecting a second plurality of objects from a first plurality of objects associated with an information object based on ranking parameters associated with each of said candidate objects;

proposing said second plurality of objects to a user;

receiving data identifying an object selected by a user; and

if said object selected by said user is not one of said second plurality of objects;

increasing the value of a ranking parameter associated with said selected object; and

decreasing the value of a ranking parameter associated with each of the first plurality of objects which is neither said object selected by said user nor one of said second plurality of objects.