Word relationship driven search

• US 20080256055A1
• Filed: 04/11/2007
• Published: 10/16/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/11/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Cloward, Thomas E.
• Granted Patent: US 8,001,138 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/5
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/313 Selection or weighting of terms for indexing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques

Abstract

Various technologies and techniques are disclosed for performing searches based upon word relationships. A search term is received from a user in the form of at least one primary word. A data store is searched to determine if the primary word is associated with any content. If so, at least one reference to primary content that has been pre-defined as being related to the primary word is included in the search result. At least one reference to secondary content is included in the search result, if secondary content is found. Secondary contents are those that contain words that have been pre-defined as being related to the primary word. The search results are displayed to the user, with the primary references displayed along with the secondary references, if applicable, in a hierarchical fashion.

Claims

1. A method for providing a word relationship driven search comprising the steps of:

receiving a search term from a user in the form of at least one primary word;

including in a search result at least one primary reference to primary content that has been pre-defined as being related to the primary word;

including in the search result at least one secondary reference to secondary content, the secondary reference containing one or more words that have been pre-defined as being related to the primary word; and

displaying the search result to the user, with the at least one primary reference displayed along with the at least one secondary reference.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the search result contains the at least one reference to primary content that has been pre-defined as having the primary word as a most important concept for the primary content.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the search results are displayed in a hierarchical fashion.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one primary reference is displayed first, followed by the at least one secondary reference.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the search result is generated by accessing a data store to find the at least one primary reference and the at least one secondary reference.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the data store is an index of content from a plurality of sources.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the data store has been generated by a search engine.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one primary reference and the at least one secondary reference are displayed in the form of hyperlinks.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein a particular one of the hyperlinks can be selected to access content associated with the particular hyperlink.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the primary word is pre-defined by an originator of the primary content.

11. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for causing a computer to perform the steps recited in claim 1.

12. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for causing a computer to perform steps comprising:

receive a search term from a user in the form of at least one primary word;

search a data store and determine if the primary word is associated with any content;

if the primary word is determined to be associated with any content, then retrieve one or more primary references to the primary content that has been associated with the primary word;

if at least one primary reference is found, search the data store and retrieve secondary references to secondary content associated with the primary word, if any exist;

build an output list that includes at least some of the primary references, and at least some of the secondary references if at least one secondary reference was found; and

display the output list to the user in the form of a search result.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the data store is operable to store associations between content and respective primary words along with associations to secondary content that are related to the primary words.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the output list is formatted in a hierarchical list.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the output list contains at least some of the primary references first, followed by at least some of the secondary references.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the output list contains the at least some of the primary references in the form of hyperlinks.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein a particular one of the hyperlinks can be selected to access a particular primary content associated with the particular one of the hyperlinks.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the user is notified if the primary word is determined to not be associated with any content.

19. A method for performing a word relationship driven search comprising the steps of:

receiving a search term from a user in the form of at least one primary word;

performing a search that retrieves one or more primary references to primary content that has been associated with the primary word;

if at least one primary reference is found, also retrieving secondary references to secondary content associated with the primary word, if any;

building an output list that includes at least some of the primary references, and at least some of the secondary references if at least one secondary reference was found; and

displaying the output list to the user in the form of a search result, the search result including fewer results than a traditional key word search because of one or more relationships pre-defined for the primary word.

20. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for causing a computer to perform the steps recited in claim 19.