RELEVANCE IMPROVEMENTS FOR IMPLICIT LOCAL QUERIES

• US 20100174703A1
• Filed: 01/07/2009
• Published: 07/08/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/07/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Despault, Evan, Dandekar, Nikhil, Cameron, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 8,195,653 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/722
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries

Abstract

Computer systems, methods, and media improving the relevance of the search results presented to a user for queries having an implicit local intent are provided. Utilizing the systems and methods described herein locally-biased queries are identified, despite such queries being void of any location-specific terms. A location of a computing device associated with the user is determined and localized web search results associated with the data item pair comprising the input query and the user'"'"'s determined location are generated and presented to the user.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for generating localized search results for user queries having implicit local intent, the method comprising:

receiving a query from a user;

determining a location of computing device associated with the user;

utilizing both the query and the computing device'"'"'s location to determine if an implicit local intent is present;

upon determining that an implicit local intent is present, utilizing a search engine to determine at least one local, location-specific result for the received query; and

presenting the at least one local, location-specific result for the received query.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein receiving a query from a user comprises receiving a query void of explicit local intent.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining a location of a computing device associated with the user comprises identifying an Internet Protocol (IP) address associated with the computing device.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 2,

wherein determining the location of the computing device associated with the user further comprises identifying a geographic region associated with the computing device'"'"'s IP address,

and wherein utilizing both the query and the computing device'"'"'s location to determine if an implicit local intent is present comprises utilizing the search engine to determine if at least one term having an explicit local intent is commonly added to the received query upon a subsequent query being received from users associated with computing devices having IP addresses associated with the geographic region.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, wherein the at least one term having an explicit local intent comprises at least one term indicative of at least one of a geographical location, a business, a tourist attraction, or a local area at or near the geographic region.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein utilizing both the query and the computing device'"'"'s location to determine if an implicit local intent is present further comprises generating an enhanced query utilizing the at least one term having an explicit local intent.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein utilizing a search engine to determine at least one local, location-specific result for the received query comprises utilizing a search engine to identify at least one frequently selected Uniform Resource Locator (URL) generated based upon the enhanced query, the at least one frequently selected URL being frequently selected upon the subsequent query being received from users having computing devices associated with IP addresses associated with the geographic region.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein utilizing both the query and the computing device'"'"'s location to determine if an implicit local intent is present comprises accessing query log data compiled for a plurality of users.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the query log data includes at least one of session data, session data with locations, query location data, and click data.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein presenting the at least one local, location-specific result for the received query comprises presenting the at least one local, location-specific result and at least one result determined without regard to the computing device'"'"'s location.

11. One or more computer-storage media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon for performing a method for improving search result relevance for search queries having implicit local intent, the method comprising:

receiving a query void of explicit local intent from a user;

determining a location of a computing device associated with the user utilizing an Internet Protocol (IP) address associated with the computing device;

utilizing both the query and the computing device'"'"'s location to determine if an implicit local intent is present;

upon determining that an implicit local intent is present, utilizing a search engine to determine at least one local, location-specific result for the received query;

determining at least one result for the received query determined without regard to the computing device'"'"'s location; and

presenting the at least one local, location-specific result and the at least one result determined without regard to the computing device'"'"'s location.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11,

wherein utilizing a search engine to determine the location of the user further comprises identifying a geographic region associated with the computing device'"'"'s IP address,

and wherein utilizing both the query and the computing device'"'"'s location to determine if an implicit local intent is present comprises utilizing the search engine to determine if at least one term having an explicit local intent is commonly added to the received query upon a subsequent query being received from users having computing devices associated with IP addresses associated with the geographic region.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the at least one term having an explicit local intent comprises at least one term indicative of at least one of a geographical location, a business, a tourist attraction, or a local area at or near the geographic region.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein utilizing both the query and the computing device'"'"'s location to determine if an implicit local intent is present comprises accessing query log data compiled for a plurality of users.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein the query log data includes at least one of session data, session data with locations, query location data, and click data.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein presenting the at least one local, location-specific result and the at least one result determined without regard to the computing device'"'"'s location comprises displaying the at least one local, location-specific result in association with a first area of a user interface and displaying the at least one result determined without regard to the computing device'"'"'s location in association with a second area of a user interface.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein presenting the at least one local, location-specific result and the at least one result determined without regard to the computing device'"'"'s location comprises presenting a local result identifier in association with the at least one local, location-specific result.

18. One or more computer-storage media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon for performing a method for improving the relevance of search results for implicit local queries, the method comprising:

receiving a query void of explicit local intent from a user;

receiving an Internet Protocol (IP) address associated with a computing device associated with the user, wherein the IP address is indicative of a geographic region associated with the computing device;

receiving query log data comprising at least one of session data, session data with locations, query location data and click data compiled based upon a plurality of users;

utilizing the received IP address and the query log data to determine if an implicit local intent is present in the received query, wherein an implicit local intent is determined to be present when at least one term having an explicit local intent is commonly added to the received query upon a subsequent query being received from users having computing devices associated with IP addresses associated with the geographic region;

upon determining that an implicit local intent is present, utilizing at least one of a search engine or the query log data to determine at least one local, location-specific result for the received query; and

presenting the at least one local, location-specific result for the received query.

19. The one or more computer-storage media of claim 18,

wherein utilizing the IP address and the query log data to determine if an implicit local intent is present in the received query further comprises generating an enhanced query utilizing the at least one term having an explicit local intent,

and wherein utilizing at least one of a search engine or the query log data to determine at least one local, location-specific result for the received query comprises utilizing the search engine to identify at least one frequently selected Uniform Resource Locator (URL) generated based upon the enhanced query, the at least one frequently selected URL being frequently selected upon the subsequent query being received from users having computing devices associated with IP addresses associated with the geographic region.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, wherein the at least one term having an explicit local intent comprises at least one term indicative of at least one of a geographical location, a business, a tourist attraction, or a local area at or near the geographic region.