Using user feedback to improve search results

• US 20080235204A1
• Filed: 01/31/2006
• Published: 09/25/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Farago, Julia H., Williams, Hugh J., Dai, James, Sathe, Saleel, Naam, Ramaz, Menezes, Natala J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,874,591 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/5
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation

Abstract

The invention discloses a system and method for managing feedback data that will be used for ranking search results. The invention can aggregate a plurality of user feedback data from more than one user into a search index. The user feedback data can be associated with one or more documents within the index such that the one or more documents can be ranked based on the type of feedback data that is aggregated. Once the documents have been ranked, the ranked documents can be provided to a requester.

Claims

1. A method for managing feedback data that will be used for ranking search results, comprising:

aggregating one or more elements of feedback data from a plurality of users;

associating the one or more elements of feedback data with one or more documents;

ranking the one or more documents based from the one or more elements of feedback data; and

providing the ranked one or more documents.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising associating a search query with the one or more elements of feedback data and the one or more documents.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the one or more elements of feedback data is received in an unstructured format.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising receiving a search request, wherein feedback data that is received at a time closer to when the search request is received is emphasized more than older feedback data when ranking the one or more documents.

5. The method according to claim 4, further comprising emphasizing the feedback data based on how often the one or more document is indexed, wherein the feedback data is emphasized more when the feedback data corresponds to a document that is indexed more frequently than other documents.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising ranking the document by identifying the position of one or more words within the feedback data.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the feedback data is stored in an inverted index.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the feedback data is not associated with a search request.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the documents are ranked based on the feedback data and a physical characteristic of a requesting device.

10. A method managing feedback data that will be used for ranking search results, comprising:

receiving one or more elements of feedback data, the one or more elements of feedback data being in an unstructured format;

associating the one or more elements of feedback data with one or more documents;

ranking the one or more documents based from the one or more elements of feedback data; and

providing the ranked one or more documents.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising associating a search query with the one or more elements of feedback data and the one or more documents.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising ranking the document by identifying the position of one or more words within the feedback data.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the feedback data is not associated with a search request.

14. A method for managing feedback data that will be used for ranking search results, comprising:

receiving a search query;

ranking a plurality of documents based on the search query and at least one element of feedback data, the feedback data being associated with at least one document;

providing the plurality of ranked documents.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein the one or more elements of feedback data is received in a structured format.

16. The method according to claim 14, wherein the one or more elements of feedback data is received in an unstructured format.

17. The method according to claim 14, wherein the feedback data is not associated with a search request.

18. The method according to claim 14, further comprising ranking the document by identifying the position of one or more words within the feedback data.

19. The method according to claim 14, further comprising providing a staleness rate for the at least one element of feedback data.

20. The method according to claim 19, wherein the staleness rate is varied according to a crawl rate of at least one of the plurality of documents.