System and method for determining semantically related terms

• US 20080243826A1
• Filed: 03/30/2007
• Published: 10/02/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Oath Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bartz, Kevin, Sebastian, Shaji, Murthi, Vijay
• Application Number:
  US11/731,502
• Publication Number:
  US 20080243826A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/5
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/36 Creation of semantic tools, e.g. ontology or thesauri

Abstract

Systems and methods for determining semantically related terms are disclosed. Generally, a semantically related term tool receives a seed set and identifies a plurality of terms that constitute the seed set. For each term of the seed set, the semantically related term tool identifies one or more concept terms associated with terms of the seed set other than the term being processed, determines a plurality of concept terms based on at least one of combinations and permutations of the concept terms associated with terms of the seed set other than the term being processed, and adds the resulting terms to a plurality of semantically related terms. The semantically related term tool removes invalid terms from the plurality of semantically related terms based on a language model and ranks at least a portion of the remaining terms of the plurality of semantically related terms based on a metric indicating a degree of semantical relationship between a term of the plurality of semantically related terms and one or more terms of the set seed.

Claims

1. A method for determining semantically related terms, the method comprising:

identifying two or more terms of a seed set;

identifying concept terms associated with terms of the seed set other than a first term of the seed set;

determining at least one of combinations and permutations of the identified concept terms associated with terms of the seed set other than the first term to create a first plurality of concept terms; and

determining at least one of combinations and permutations of the first term and the terms of the first plurality of concept terms.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

adding resulting terms of the determination of at least one of combinations and permutations of the first term and the terms of the first plurality of concept terms to a plurality of semantically related terms; and

ranking at least a portion of the plurality of semantically related terms based on a metric indicating a degree of semantical relationship between a term of the plurality of semantically related terms and one or more terms of the seed set.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

removing each term of the plurality of semantically related terms associated with a search volume below a threshold.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

identifying concept terms associated with terms of the seed set other than a second term of the seed set;

determining at least one of combinations and permutations of the identified concept terms associated with terms of the seed set other than the second term to create a second plurality of concept terms;

determining at least one of combinations and permutations of the second term and the terms of the second plurality of concept terms; and

adding resulting terms of the determination of at least one of combinations and permutations of the second term and the terms of the second plurality of concept terms to the plurality of semantically related terms.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

providing at least one of the plurality of semantically related terms to a user based on the ranking of the plurality of semantically related terms.

6. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

exporting at least one of the plurality of semantically related terms to an Internet search engine based on the ranking of the plurality of semantically related terms.

7. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

exporting at least one of the plurality of semantically related terms to an online advertisement service provider based on the ranking of the plurality of semantically related terms.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein the plurality of semantically related terms are ranked based on a lexical feature of each term of the plurality of semantically related term and one or more terms of the seed set.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the lexical feature is an edit distance between a term of the plurality of semantically related terms and one or more terms of the seed set.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the lexical feature is a word edit distance between a term of the plurality semantically related terms and one or more terms of the seed set.

11. A computer-readable storage medium comprising a set of instructions for determining semantically related terms, the set of instructions to direct a processor to perform acts of:

identifying two or more terms of a seed set;

identifying concept terms associated with terms of the seed set other than a first term of the seed set;

determining at least one of combinations and permutations of the identified concept terms associated with terms of the seed set other than the first term to create a first plurality of concept terms; and

determining at least one of combinations and permutations of the first term and the terms of the first plurality of concept terms.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, further comprising a set of instructions to direct a processor to perform acts of:

adding resulting terms of the determination of at least one of combinations and permutations of the first term and the terms of the first plurality of concept terms to a plurality of semantically related terms; and

ranking at least a portion of the plurality of semantically related terms based on a metric indicating a degree of semantical relationship between a term of the plurality of semantically related terms and one or more terms of the seed set.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, further comprising a set of instructions to direct a processor to perform acts of:

removing each term of the plurality of semantically related terms associated with a search volume below a threshold.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, further comprising a set of instructions to direct a processor to perform acts of:

identifying concept terms associated with terms of the seed set other than a second term of the seed set;

determining at least one of combinations and permutations of the identified concept terms associated with terms of the seed set other than the second term to create a second plurality of concept terms;

determining at least one of combinations and permutations of the second term and the terms of the second plurality of concept terms; and

adding resulting terms of the determination of at least one of combinations and permutations of the second term and the terms of the second plurality of concept terms to the plurality of semantically related terms.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, further comprising a set of instructions to direct a processor to perform acts of:

providing at least one of the plurality of semantically related terms to a user based on the ranking of the plurality of semantically related terms.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, further comprising a set of instructions to direct a processor to perform acts of:

exporting at least one of the plurality of semantically related terms to an Internet search engine based on the ranking of the plurality of semantically related terms.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, further comprising a set of instructions to direct a processor to perform acts of:

exporting at least one of the plurality of semantically related terms to an online advertisement service provider based on the ranking of the plurality of semantically related terms.

18. A system for determining semantically related terms, the system comprising:

a semantically related term tool operative to identify two or more terms of a seed set, to identify concept terms associated with terms of the seed set other than a first term of the seed set, to determine at least one of combinations and permutations of the identified concept terms associated with terms of the seed set other than the first term to create a first plurality of concept terms, and to determine at least one of combinations and permutations of the first term and the first plurality of concept terms.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the semantically related term tool is further operative to add a resulting terms of the determination of at least one of combinations and permutations of the first term and the terms of the first plurality of concept terms to a plurality of semantically related terms, and to rank at least a portion of the plurality of semantically related terms based on a metric indicating a degree of semantical relationship between a term of the plurality of semantically related terms and one or more terms of the seed set.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the semantically related term tool is in communication with an Internet search engine, and the semantically related term tool is operative to receive the seed set from the Internet search engine and to export at least one term of the plurality of semantically related terms to the Internet search engine based on the ranking of the plurality of semantically related terms.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein the semantically related term tool is in communication with an online advertisement service provider and the semantically related term tool is operative to receive the seed set from the online advertisement service provider and to export at least one term of the plurality of semantically related terms to the online advertisement service provider based on the ranking of the plurality of semantically related terms.

22. A method for determining semantically related terms, the method comprising:

identifying two or more terms of a seed set;

identifying one or more explicit geographic locations identified in the seed set;

removing the identified explicit geographic locations from the terms of the seed set to create a stripped seed set;

identifying concept terms associated with terms of the stripped seed set other than a first term of the stripped seed set;

determining at least one of combinations and permutations of the identified concept terms associated with terms of the stripped seed set other than the first term to create a first plurality of concept terms;

determining at least one of combinations and permutations of the first term and the terms of the first plurality of concept terms;

adding resulting terms of the determination of at least one of combinations and permutations of the first term and the terms of the first plurality of concept terms to a first plurality of semantically related terms; and

determining at least one of combinations and permutations of a first explicit geographic location of the one or more identified geographic locations and terms of the first plurality of semantically related terms.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

adding resulting terms of the determination of at least one of combinations and permutations of the first explicit geographic location and terms of the first plurality of semantically related terms to a second plurality of semantically related terms; and

ranking at least a portion of the second plurality of semantically related terms based on a metric indicating a degree of semantical relationship between a term of the second plurality of semantically related terms and one or more terms of the seed set.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising:

removing each term of the second plurality of semantically related terms associated with a search volume below a threshold.

25. The method of claim 23, further comprising:

removing each term of the second plurality of semantically related terms identifying an explicit geographic location that is not associated with one of the identified geographic locations.

26. The method of claim 23, further comprising:

determining at least one of combinations and permutations of a second explicit geographic location of the one or more identified geographic locations and terms of the first plurality of semantically related terms; and

adding resulting terms of the determination of at least one of combinations and permutations of the second explicit geographic location and terms of the first plurality of semantically related terms to the second plurality of semantically related terms.

27. The method of claim 22, further comprising

identifying concept terms associated with terms of the stripped seed set other than a second term of the stripped seed set;

determining at least one of combinations and permutations of the identified concept terms associated with terms of the stripped seed set other than the second term to create a second plurality of concept terms;

determining at least one of combinations and permutations of the second term and the terms of the second plurality of concept terms; and

adding resulting terms of the determination of at least one of combinations and permutations of the second term and the terms of the second plurality of concept terms to the first plurality of semantically related terms.

28. A computer-readable storage medium comprising a set of instructions for determining semantically related terms, the set of instructions to direct a processor to perform acts of:

identifying two or more terms of a seed set;

identifying one or more explicit geographic locations identified in the seed set;

removing the identified explicit geographic locations from the terms of the seed set to create a stripped seed set;

identifying concept terms associated with terms of the stripped seed set other than a first term of the stripped seed set;

determining at least one of combinations and permutations of the identified concept terms associated with terms of the stripped seed set other than the first term to create a first plurality of concept terms;

determining at least one of combinations and permutations of the first term and the terms of the first plurality of concept terms;

adding resulting terms of the determination of at least one of combinations and permutations of the first term and the terms of the first plurality of concept terms to a first plurality of semantically related terms; and

determining at least one of combinations and permutations of a first explicit geographic location of the one or more identified geographic locations and terms of the first plurality of semantically related terms.

29. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 28, further comprising a set of instructions to direct a processor to perform acts of:

adding resulting terms of the determination of at least one of combinations and permutations of the first explicit geographic location and terms of the first plurality of semantically related terms to a second plurality of semantically related terms; and

ranking at least a portion of the second plurality of semantically related terms based on a metric indicating a degree of semantical relationship between a term of the second plurality of semantically related terms and one or more terms of the seed set.

30. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 29, further comprising a set of instructions to direct a processor to perform acts of:

removing each term of the second plurality of semantically related terms associated with a search volume below a threshold; and

removing each term of the second plurality of semantically related terms identifying an explicit geographic location that is not associated with one of the identified geographic locations.