RESEARCH TOOL ACCESS BASED ON RESEARCH SESSION DETECTION

• US 20100030736A1
• Filed: 07/29/2008
• Published: 02/04/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Maddox, Jon C., Hall, Ashley, Chi, Liang-Yu
• Granted Patent: US 8,832,098 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: N/A
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results

Abstract

A system and method is described herein that automatically detects when a user of a search engine is conducting a research session about a particular topic and then presents the user with access to one or more research-related tools responsive to detecting that the research session is being conducted. The research-related tool(s) may include one or more tools used for collecting, organizing and sharing content about the particular topic. The automatic provision of access to the research-related tool(s) responsive to detection of the research session can advantageously improve the experience of the user conducting the research session.

Claims

1. A method for automatically providing access to one or more research tools, comprising:

obtaining information related to a series of queries submitted by a user of a search engine;

based on the obtained information, determining if the user of the search engine is conducting a research session about a particular topic; and

providing access to the user of the search engine to the one or more research tools responsive to determining that the user of the search engine is conducting a research session about a particular topic.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining information related to a series of queries submitted by a user of a search engine comprises obtaining one or more of:

one or more query terms of each query in the series of queries;

one or more underlying concepts shared among the series of queries;

information relating to one or more documents identified by the search engine responsive to receiving the series of queries;

a total amount of queries in the series of queries; and

an amount of documents identified by the search engine responsive to receiving one or more queries in the series of queries that have been accessed by the user.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the information relating to each of the one or more documents identified by the search engine responsive to receiving the series of queries comprises one or more of:

a title of the document;

a URL associated with the document;

text of the document;

an abstract of the document;

one or more tags associated with the document; and

metadata associated with the document.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining if the user of the search engine is conducting a research session about a particular topic comprises analyzing a length of an information retrieval session during which the series of queries was submitted.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining if the user of the search engine is conducting a research session about a particular topic comprises analyzing an amount of documents identified in response to one or more of the queries in the series of queries that have been accessed by the user.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining if the user of the search engine is conducting a research session about a particular topic comprises measuring a similarity between two or more queries in the series of queries.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining if the user of the search engine is conducting a research session about a particular topic comprises measuring a similarity between two or more documents identified by the search engine responsive to receiving the queries.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein determining if the user of the search engine is conducting a research session about a particular topic comprises determining if the user previously conducted a research session about the particular topic.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein providing access to the user of the search engine to the one or more research tools comprises inserting one or more user interface elements into a search results page provided to the user by the search engine.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein providing access to the user of the search engine to the one or more research tools comprises overlaying one or more windows onto a search results page provided to the user by the search engine.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein providing access to the user of the search engine to the one or more research tools comprises:

selectively providing either a first means for accessing the one or more research tools or a second means for accessing the one or more research tools to the user based on a level of confidence associated with the determination that the user of the search engine is conducting a research session about the particular topic.

12. A system comprising:

a search engine configured to receive a series of queries submitted by a user and to identify one or more documents responsive to each query in the series of queries; and

a research session manager connected to the search engine, the research session manager configured to obtain information related to the series of queries, to determine if the user of the search engine is conducting a research session about a particular topic based on the obtained information, and to provide access to the user of the search engine to one or more research tools responsive to determining that the user of the search engine is conducting a research session about a particular topic.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the research session manager is configured to obtain information related to the series of queries by obtaining one or more of:

one or more query terms of each query in the series of queries;

one or more underlying concepts shared among the series of queries;

information relating to one or more of the documents identified by the search engine responsive to receiving the series of queries;

a total amount of queries in the series of queries; and

an amount of documents identified by the search engine responsive to receiving one or more queries in the series of queries that have been accessed by the user.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the information relating to each of the one or more of the documents identified by the search engine responsive to receiving the series of queries comprises one or more of:

a title of the document;

a URL associated with the document;

text of the document;

an abstract of the document;

one or more tags associated with the document; and

metadata associated with the document.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the research session manager is configured to determine if the user of the search engine is conducting a research session about a particular topic by at least analyzing a length of an information retrieval session during which the series of queries was submitted.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the research session manager is configured to determine if the user of the search engine is conducting a research session about a particular topic by at least analyzing an amount of documents identified in response to one or more of the queries in the series of queries that have been accessed by the user.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the research session manager is configured to determine if the user of the search engine is conducting a research session about a particular topic by at least measuring a similarity between two or more queries in the series of queries.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein the research session manager is configured to determine if the user of the search engine is conducting a research session about a particular topic by at least measuring a similarity between two or more documents identified by the search engine responsive to receiving the queries.

19. The system of claim 12, wherein the research session manager is configured to determine if the user of the search engine is conducting a research session about a particular topic by at least determining if the user previously conducted a research session about the particular topic.

20. The system of claim 12, wherein the research session manager is configured to provide access to the user of the search engine to the one or more research tools by inserting one or more user interface elements into a search results page provided to the user by the search engine.

21. The system of claim 12, wherein the research session manager is configured to provide access to the user of the search engine to the one or more research tools by overlaying one or more windows onto a search results page provided to the user by the search engine.

22. The system of claim 12, wherein the research session manager is configured to selectively provide either a first means for accessing the one or more research tools or a second means for accessing the one or more research tools to the user based on a level of confidence associated with the determination that the user of the search engine is conducting a research session about the particular topic.

23. A computer program product comprising a computer-readable medium having computer program logic recorded thereon for enabling a processor to automatically providing access to one or more research tools, the computer program logic comprising:

first means for enabling the processor to obtain information related to a series of queries submitted by a user of a search engine;

second means for enabling the processor to determine if the user of the search engine is conducting a research session about a particular topic unit based on the obtained information; and

third means for enabling the processor to provide access to the user of the search engine to the one or more research tools responsive to determining that the user of the search engine is conducting a research session about a particular topic.

24. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the first means comprises means for enabling the processor to obtain one or more of:

one or more query terms of each query in the series of queries;

one or more underlying concepts shared among the series of queries;

information relating to one or more documents identified by the search engine responsive to receiving the series of queries;

a total amount of queries in the series of queries; and

an amount of documents identified by the search engine responsive to receiving one or more queries in the series of queries that have been accessed by the user.

25. The computer program product of claim 24, wherein the information relating to each of the one or more documents identified by the search engine responsive to receiving the series of queries comprises one or more of:

a title of the document;

a URL associated with the document;

text of the document;

an abstract of the document;

one or more tags associated with the document; and

metadata associated with the document.

26. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the second means comprises means for enabling the processor to analyze a length of an information retrieval session during which the series of queries was submitted.

27. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the second means comprises means for enabling the processor to analyze an amount of documents identified in response to one or more of the queries in the series of queries that have been accessed by the user.

28. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the second means comprises means for enabling the processor to measure a similarity between two or more queries in the series of queries.

29. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the second means comprises means for enabling the processor to measure a similarity between two or more documents identified by the search engine responsive to receiving the queries.

30. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the second means comprises means for enabling the processor to determine if the user previously conducted a research session about the particular topic.

31. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the third means comprises means for enabling the processor to insert one or more user interface elements into a search results page provided to the user by the search engine.

32. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the third means comprises means for enabling the processor to overlay one or more windows onto a search results page provided to the user by the search engine.

33. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the third means comprises means for enabling the processor to selectively provide either a first means for accessing the one or more research tools or a second means for accessing the one or more research tools to the user based on a level of confidence associated with the determination that the user of the search engine is conducting a research session about the particular topic.