SEARCH FILTERING

• US 20090063452A1
• Filed: 08/29/2007
• Published: 03/05/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Tansuwan, Justin J., Ahn, Jungho, Lee, Junyoung
• Granted Patent: US 8,032,527 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/435 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/735 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6227 where protection concerns the structure of data, e.g. records, types, queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2141 Access rights, e.g. capability lists, access control lists, access tables, access matrices

Abstract

Apparatus, systems and methods for search filtering are disclosed. A search instance associated with a user device is identified, and a determination is made as to whether the search instance includes a filtering term. If the search instance is determined to include a filtering term, then filtered content items in the search instance are identified, and the filtered content items and access to a verification service that provides access approval or access denial for unfiltered content items in the search instance are provided to the user device. Conversely, if the search instance is determine not to include a filtering term, then the unfiltered content items are provided to the user device.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method, comprising:

receiving a query from a user device;

determining whether the query includes or is associated with a filtering term;

if the query is determined to include or be associated with a filtering term;

identifying filtered content items based on the query and the filtering term;

providing the filtered content items to the user device; and

providing the user device access to a verification service that provides access approval or access denial for unfiltered content items that are responsive to the query.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the user device access to a verification service comprises providing a link to an age verification service landing page.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the user device access to a verification service comprises providing a user identification data input interface to the user device.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

providing user identification data received from the user device through the user identification data input interface to the verification service;

receiving access approval or access denial from the verification service in response to the user identification data;

providing the unfiltered content items to the user device in response to receiving an access approval from the verification service; and

precluding the provisioning of the unfiltered content items to the user device in response to receiving an access denial from the verification service.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

instantiating a device session for the user device;

classifying the device session as an approved device session in response to receiving access approval from the verification service; and

automatically providing the unfiltered content items to the user device for the duration of the device session.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein instantiating a device session for the user device comprises verifying a user login to a user account from the user device.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein classifying the device session as an approved device session in response to receiving access approval from the verification service comprises:

associating the user account with access approval; and

automatically classifying the device session as an approved device session upon each subsequent verification of the user login.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying filtered content items based on the query and the filtering term comprises:

initiating a search of an information corpus for content items that are responsive to the query;

identifying the content items the are responsive to the query as the unfiltered content items;

filtering the content items the are responsive to the query by the filtering term to exclude some of the content items that are responsive to the query; and

identifying the non-excluded content items as the filtered content items.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying filtered content items based on the query and the filtering term comprises:

generating a revised query based on the filtering term;

initiating a search of an information corpus for content items that are responsive to the revised query; and

identifying the content items that are responsive to the revised query as the filtered content items.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein generating a revised query based on the filtering term comprises removing the filtering term from the query.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein generating a revised query based on the filtering term comprises generating a negative Boolean term based on the filtering term.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the query includes or is associated with a filtering term comprises:

comparing the query to a list of filtering terms; and

determining if the query includes or is associated with one or more of the filtering terms.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein:

if the query is determined to include one or more of the filtering terms;

determining a query context of the filtering term; and

determining that the query includes the filtering term if the query context of the filtering term is not an approved query context.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the query includes or is associated with a filtering term comprises:

segmenting the query into query components;

comparing the query components to a keyword hash map; and

determining whether the query includes the filtering term based on the comparison.

15. A computer implemented method, comprising:

receiving a query from a user device;

identifying unfiltered content items that are responsive to the query in an information corpus;

determining whether the unfiltered content items that are responsive to the query include a filtering term or are associated with a filtering term;

if the unfiltered content items that are responsive to the query include the filtering term or are associated with the filtering term;

filtering the unfiltered content items based on the filtering term to generate filtered content items;

providing the filtered content items to the user device; and

providing the user device access to a verification service that provides access approval or access denial for the unfiltered content items that are responsive to the query.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein providing the user device access to a verification service comprises providing a link to an age verification service landing page.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein providing the user device access to a verification service comprises providing a user identification data input interface to the user device.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

providing user identification data received from the user device through the user identification data input interface to the verification service;

receiving access approval or access denial from the verification service in response to the user identification data;

providing the unfiltered content items to the user device in response to receiving an access approval from the verification service; and

precluding the provisioning of the unfiltered content items to the user device in response to receiving an access denial from the verification service.

19. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

identifying a search instance associated with a user device;

determining if the search instance includes or is associated with a filtering term;

if the search instance is determined to include or is associated with the filtering term, then;

identifying filtered content items in the search instance;

providing the filtered content items to the user device; and

providing the user device access to a verification service that provides access approval or access denial for unfiltered content items in the search instance; and

if the search instance is determine not to include or not associated with the filtering term, then providing the user device the unfiltered content items.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the filtered content items are a subset of the unfiltered content items, and the unfiltered content items are content items that are identified in an information corpus for the search instance.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein:

identifying a search instance associated with a user device comprises receiving a query from the user device; and

determining if the search instance includes or is associated with a filtering term comprises

comparing the query to a list of filtering terms; and

determining if the query includes one or more of the filtering terms.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein identifying filtered content items in the search instance comprises:

Initiating a search an information corpus for content items that are responsive to the query;

identifying the content items the are responsive to the query as the unfiltered content items;

filtering the content items the are responsive to the query by the filtering term to exclude some of the content items that are responsive to the query; and

identifying the non-excluded content items as the unfiltered content items.

23. The method of claim 19, wherein providing the user device access to a verification service comprises providing a link to an age verification service landing page.

24. The method of claim 19, wherein providing the user device access to a verification service comprises providing a user identification data input interface to the user device.

25. The method of claim 19, wherein:

identifying a search instance associated with a user device comprises;

receiving a query from a user device; and

identifying unfiltered content items that are responsive to the query in an information corpus; and

identifying filtered content items in the search instance comprises;

determining whether the unfiltered content items that are responsive to the query include a filtering term; and

if the unfiltered content items that are responsive to the query include the filtering term, then filtering the unfiltered content items based on the filtering term to generate the filtered content items.

26. A system, comprising:

a search access instructions stored in a computer readable medium and operable to be executed by a processing device, and upon such execution configure the processing device to identify a search instance associated with a user device and determine if the search instance includes a filtering term, and in response to determining that the search instance includes a filtering term, identify filtered content items in the search instance and provide the filtered content items to the user device, and in response to determining that the search instance does not include a filtering term, identify unfiltered content items in the search instance and provide the unfiltered content item to the user device; and

verification service access instructions stored in a computer readable medium and operable to be executed by a processing device, and upon such execution configure the processing device to provide the user device access to a verification service in response to the processing device executing the search access instruction determining that the search instance includes a filtering term.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the verification service access instructions include instructions that upon execution configure the processing device to provide the user device a link to an age verification service landing page.

28. The system of claim 26, wherein the verification service access instruction include instructions that upon execution configure the processing device to provide a user identification data input interface to the user device.

29. The system of claim 26, wherein the filtered content items are a subset of the unfiltered content items, and the unfiltered content items are content items that are identified in an information corpus for the search instance.

30. The system of claim 26, wherein the search instance associated with a user device comprises a query received from the user device, and the search access instructions include instructions that upon execution configure the processing device to compare the query to a list of filtering terms and if the query includes one or more of the filtering terms.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein the search access instructions include instructions that upon execution configure the processing device to:

initiate a search of an information corpus for content items that are responsive to the query;

identify the content items the are responsive to the query as the unfiltered content items;

filter the content items the are responsive to the query by the filtering term to exclude some of the content items that are responsive to the query; and

identify the non-excluded content items as the filtered content items.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein the search access instructions comprise a search engine.

33. The system of claim 26, wherein the search access instructions include instructions that upon execution configure the processing device to:

receive a query from a user device;

identify unfiltered content items that are responsive to the query in an information corpus;

determine whether the unfiltered content items that are responsive to the query include a filtering term; and

if the unfiltered content items that are responsive to the query are determined to include the filtering term, then filter the unfiltered content items based on the filtering term to generate the filtered content items.