ACTIVE SPAM TESTING SYSTEM

• US 20080222451A1
• Filed: 03/07/2007
• Published: 09/11/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/07/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Liu, Tie-Yan, Li, Hang
• Granted Patent: US 7,680,851 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/25
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques

Abstract

A method and system for introducing spam into a search engine for testing purposes is provided. An active spam testing system receives from a tester a specification of spam that is to be introduced into the search engine for testing purposes. The testing system may then generate auxiliary data structures for storing indications of the spam that is to be introduced. A search engine has original data structures that may include a content index and a link data structure. The testing system stores the indications of the spam in the auxiliary data structures so that use of the search engine for non-testing purposes is not affected. When the search engine is used for testing purposes, the search engine generates search results based on a combination of the original data structures and the auxiliary data structures.

Claims

1. A method in a computing device for introducing spam into a data structure used by a search engine, the method comprising:

providing an original data structure of the search engine;

receiving from a user a specification of spam to be introduced into the data structure of the search engine;

generating an auxiliary data structure that represents the specified spam; and

when the search engine performs a search, generating search results based on an aggregation of information of the original data structure and the auxiliary data structure.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the original data structure is a term index that maps terms to pages.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the introduced spam is content spam.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the original data structure includes a web graph and an importance score list for the pages.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the introduced spam is link spam.

6. The method of claim 5 including recalculating page importance using an incremental importance calculation technique.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the specification of spam to be introduced is provided by a script.

8. The method of claim 6 including providing a library of specifications of spam to be used by testers developing scripts.

9. The method of claim 1 including evaluating the generated search results to determine whether the search engine effectively counters the introduced spam.

10. A computing device for introducing spam into information used by a search engine, comprising:

an original data structure that includes information used by the search engine when generating search results;

a specification of spam to be introduced into the information used by the search engine when generating search results;

a component that generates an auxiliary data structure that represents the specified spam; and

a component that provides information to the search engine that is an aggregation of information of the original data structure and the auxiliary data structure.

11. The computing device of claim 10 wherein the original data structure is not modified.

12. The computing device of claim 10 wherein the original data structure is a term index that maps terms to pages and the introduced spam is content spam.

13. The computing device of claim 10 wherein the original data structure includes a web graph and an importance score list for the pages and the introduced spam is link spam.

14. The computing device of claim 13 including recalculating page importance using an incremental importance calculation technique.

15. The computing device of claim 13 wherein the web graph is represented by a matrix indicating links from one page to another page.

16. The computing device of claim 10 including a component that evaluates the generated search results to determine whether the search engine is effectively counting the introduced spam.

17. The computing device of claim 10 wherein the original data structure includes a term index that maps terms to pages and the introduced spam includes content spam and wherein the original data structure includes a web graph and importance score list for the pages and the introduced spam includes link spam.

18. A computer-readable medium encoded with instructions for controlling a computing device to introduce spam into a search engine for testing purposes without affecting the search engine for non-testing purposes, by a method comprising:

receiving from a user a specification of spam to be introduced into the search engine for testing purposes;

storing the specification of the spam to be introduced;

when the search engine performs a search for testing purposes, generating search results based on an aggregation of information of the original information of the search engine and the stored specification of the spam to be introduced; and

when the search engine performs a search for non-testing purposes, generating search results based on the original information of the search engine, but not on the stored specification of the spam to be introduced.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18 wherein the original information is a mapping of terms to pages and the introduced spam is content spam.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 18 wherein the original information is a web graph and importance scores for the pages and the introduced spam is link spam.