SEARCH RESULTS USING A PANEL

• US 20090144263A1
• Filed: 12/04/2007
• Published: 06/04/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/04/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Excalibur IP, LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Inventors: Brady, Colin
• Granted Patent: US 9,400,843 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques

Abstract

Techniques are described to improve search results using a panel. A search engine deploys one or more network traffic monitors. Traffic monitors analyze network traffic and find HTTP requests made to search engines. When a search query is spotted, the traffic monitor records the sequence of user requests, including search engine, search terms, and sites visited. A sequence of queries where a user visits one search engine, enters a query, visits zero or more sites from the results listings, and visits a second search engine, enters a query and visits one or more websites and stops searching is used to determine whether to increase or decrease a relevance value between a search term and the sites visited.

Claims

1. A method to improve search results, comprising:

finding, in network traffic, requests from a user, wherein the requests include requests for performance of a first search using a first search engine based on a first search term and a second search using a second search engine based on a second search term;

calculating a similarity value that reflects degrees of similarity between the first search term and the second search term;

determining whether the similarity value exceeds a specified threshold;

upon determining that the similarity value exceeds the specified threshold, performing at least one of;

(a) updating stored relevance data to reduce a relevance value between the first search term and any search result items visited by said user based on the first search, or

(b) updating stored relevance data to increase the relevance value between the second search term and one or more search result items visited by said user based on the second search.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the similarity value is below the specified threshold and exceeds another threshold;

upon determining that the similarity value is below the specified threshold and exceeds said other threshold, marking the requests for review.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the similarity value is below the specified threshold and exceeds another threshold;

upon determining that the similarity value is below the specified threshold and exceeds said other threshold, performing the steps;

performing a search using the second search term on the first search engine to obtain search results;

determining whether one or more search result items visited based on the second search is present in the search results; and

upon determining that one or more search result items visited based on the second search is present in the search results, increasing the relevance value between the second search term and the one or more search result items visited based on the second search.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein network traffic comprises network logs from a traffic monitor.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein network traffic is web traffic recorded by a widget in a toolbar.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the user must opt-in to have web traffic recorded by the widget in the toolbar.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second search terms are identical.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second search terms are not identical

9. The method of claim 1, wherein calculating similarity values further comprises basing the similarity value on values within a database of similarity values between terms.

10. A computer-readable storage medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to:

find, in network traffic, requests from a user, wherein the requests include requests for performance of a first search using a first search engine based on a first search term and a second search using a second search engine based on a second search term;

calculate a similarity value that reflects degrees of similarity between the first search term and the second search term;

determine whether the similarity value exceeds a specified threshold;

upon determining that the similarity value exceeds the specified threshold, perform at least one of;

(a) update stored relevance data to reduce a relevance value between the first search term and one or more search result items visited by said user based on the first search, or

(b) update stored relevance data to increase the relevance value between the second search term and one or more search result items visited by said user based on the second search.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, further comprising:

determining whether the similarity value is below the specified threshold and exceeds another threshold;

upon determining that the similarity value is below the specified threshold and exceeds said other threshold, marking the requests for review.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, further comprising:

determining whether the similarity value is below the specified threshold and exceeds another threshold;

upon determining that the similarity value is below the specified threshold and exceeds said other threshold, performing the steps;

performing a search using the second search term on the first search engine to obtain search results;

determining whether one or more search result items visited based on the second search is present in the search results; and

upon determining that one or more search result items visited based on the second search is present in the search results, increasing the relevance value between the second search term and the one or more search result items visited based on the second search.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein network traffic comprises network logs from a traffic monitor.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein network traffic is web traffic intercepted by a widget in a toolbar.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the user must opt-in to have web traffic recorded by the widget in the toolbar.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the first and second search terms are identical.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the first and second search terms are not identical

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein calculating similarity values further comprises basing the similarity value on values within a database of similarity values between terms.