AUTOMATIC SEARCH QUERY SUGGESTIONS WITH SEARCH RESULT SUGGESTIONS FROM USER HISTORY

• US 20100082604A1
• Filed: 09/22/2008
• Published: 04/01/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/22/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: PAUSHKINA, ANASTASIA, MAINS, RICHARD LEIGH, GUTT, ZACHARY MARK
• Granted Patent: US 8,370,329 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/721
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3326 using relevance feedback from the user, e.g. relevance feedback on documents, documents sets, document terms or passages

Abstract

Suggested search results are provided with suggested search queries as a user incrementally enters characters of a search query. At each incremental user input, a query portion is received and suggested search queries are identified based on the query portion. Suggested search results associated with the suggested search queries are also identified. These suggested search results enable direct navigation to web sites associated with the search results. In some embodiments, a user'"'"'s search history is analyzed to identify search results selected by the user for the suggested search queries. In other embodiments, search histories for a group of users associated with the user are analyzed to identify the suggested search results to provide with the suggested search queries.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for providing suggested search queries and associated search results to a user, the method comprising:

receiving user input representing a search query portion, the user input being received prior to receiving a user command to perform a search using a completed search query;

identifying one or more suggested search queries based on the search query portion;

identifying at least one search result corresponding with at least one suggested search query, the at least one search result having been previously selected by the user in a previous search session; and

communicating the one or more suggested search queries and the at least one search result for presentation to the user.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein identifying the one or more suggested search queries based on the search query portion comprises comparing the search query portion against query logs to identify at least one of the one or more suggested search queries.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein identifying the one or more suggested search queries based on the search query portion comprises comparing the search query portion against a search engine index to identify at least one of the one or more suggested search queries, the search engine index storing information regarding web pages crawled by a search engine.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein identifying the one or more suggested search queries based on the search query portion comprises comparing the search query portion against search history information for the user to identify at least one of the one or more suggested search queries.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein identifying the one or more suggested search queries comprises identifying a plurality of suggested search queries, and wherein the method further comprises ranking the plurality of suggested search queries.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein identifying the at least one search result corresponding with the at least one suggested search query comprises determining that the at least one search result satisfies a predetermined threshold.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the predetermined threshold comprises at least one of:

a number of times the user has selected the at least one search result, how recently the user has selected the at least one search result, and how long the user viewed a web page associated with the at least one search result.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein identifying the at least one search result corresponding with the at least one suggested search query comprises identifying a plurality of search results, and wherein the method further comprises ranking the plurality of search results based on at least one of:

a number of times the user has selected each search result, how recently the user has selected each search result, and how long the user viewed a web page associated with each search result.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the at least one search result is presented adjacent to the at least one suggested search query with which the at least one search result corresponds.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the at least one search result includes an embedded link, allowing for user selection of the search result causing a web page corresponding with the search result to be retrieved and displayed.

11. One or more computer-storage media storing computer-useable instructions for causing a computing device to perform a method for providing suggested search queries and suggested search results, the method comprising:

as a user incrementally enters characters to form a portion of a search query, upon each increment;

receiving the portion of the search query;

accessing search history information for the user, the search history information including previous search queries submitted by the user and search results selected by the user for each of the previous search queries;

identifying a suggested search query based on the portion of the search query and the search history information for the user, the suggested search query corresponding with a search query previously submitted by the user;

identifying a suggested search result based on the suggested search query and the search history information for the user, the suggested search result corresponding with a search result previously selected by the user for the search query previously submitted by the user, wherein the search result has been previously selected by the user at least a predetermined minimum number of times; and

communicating the suggested search query and the suggested search result for presentation to the user, wherein the suggested search result is presented in association with the suggested search query.

12. The one or more computer-storage media of claim 11, wherein the suggested search result includes an embedded link, allowing for user selection of the suggested search result causing a web page corresponding with the suggested search result to be retrieved and displayed.

13. One or more computer-storage media storing computer-useable instructions for causing a computing device to perform a method for providing suggested search queries and associated search results for a first user, the method comprising:

receiving user input from the first user, the user input representing a search query portion, wherein the user input is received prior to receiving a user command to perform a search using a completed search query;

identifying one or more suggested search queries based on the search query portion;

identifying at least one search result corresponding with at least one suggested search query, the at least one search result having been previously selected in a previous search session by at least one second user within a group of users associated with the first user; and

communicating the one or more suggested search queries and the at least one search result for presentation to the first user.

14. The one or more computer-storage media of claim 13, wherein identifying the one or more suggested search queries based on the search query portion comprises at least one of the following:

comparing the search query portion against query logs to identify at least one of the one or more suggested search queries;

comparing the search query portion against a search engine index to identify at least one of the one or more suggested search queries, the search engine index storing information regarding web pages crawled by a search engine;

comparing the search query portion against search history information for at least one of the first user and the at least one second user to identify at least one of the one or more suggested search queries.

15. The one or more computer-storage media of claim 13, wherein identifying the one or more suggested search queries comprises identifying a plurality of suggested search queries, and wherein the method further comprises ranking the plurality of suggested search queries.

16. The one or more computer-storage media of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises:

identifying the at least one second user as being within the group of users associated with the first user; and

accessing search history information for the at least one second user.

17. The one or more computer-storage media of claim 13, wherein identifying the at least one search result corresponding with the at least one suggested search query comprises determining that the at least one search result satisfies a predetermined threshold.

18. The one or more computer-storage media of claim 17, wherein the predetermined threshold comprises at least one of:

a number of times the at least one second user has selected the at least one search result, how recently the at least one second user has selected the at least one search result, and how long the at least one second user viewed a web page associated with the at least one search result.

19. The one or more computer-storage media of claim 13, wherein the at least one search result is presented adjacent to the at least one suggested search query with which the at least one search result corresponds.

20. The one or more computer-storage media of claim 13, wherein the group of users associated with the first user comprise one or more of the following:

users manually identified by the first user;

users sharing a common characteristic with the first user; and

users within a social network to which the first user belongs.