System and Method for Modulating Search Relevancy Using Pointer Activity Monitoring

• US 20100191726A1
• Filed: 03/31/2010
• Published: 07/29/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Taher H. Haveliwala
• Inventors: Haveliwala, Taher H.
• Granted Patent: US 8,620,943 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/728
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation

Abstract

A method and system of modulating search result relevancy use various types of user browsing activities. In particular, a client assistant residing in a client computer monitors movements of a user controlled pointer in a web browser, e.g., when the pointer moves into a predefined region and when it moves out of the predefined region. A server then determines a relevancy value between an informational item associated with the predefined region and a search query according to the pointer hover period. When preparing a new search result responsive to a search query, the server re-orders identified informational items in accordance with their respective relevancy values such that more relevant items appear before less relevant ones. The server also uses the relevancy values to determine and/or adjust the content of an one-box result associated with a search query.

Claims

1. A method of providing search results responsive to search queries, comprising:

at a server system having one or more processors and memory storing one or more programs for execution by the one or more processors;

receiving from client devices user hover periods associated with a plurality of search results which correspond to multiple search queries, a respective user hover period comprising information about a length of time that a user hovers a user-controlled pointer over a display region occupied by a respective search result of the plurality of search results;

updating relevancy values of the search results at least partially in accordance with their respective user hover periods; and

in response to a search query after the update of the relevancy values, identifying a set of search results for the search query in accordance with their relevancy values, the set of search results including at least one search result whose respective relevancy value has been updated.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein updating relevancy values includes:

retrieving impression data associated with the plurality of search results provided to the client devices in response to the search queries, wherein the impression data comprises data identifying how many times and in what order the search results in the plurality of search results have been provided to the client devices in response to the search queries;

receiving from at least a subset of the client devices the client attention data, the client attention data including the user hover period associated with search result if the hover period is greater than a threshold value; and

updating the relevancy values for at least a subset of the plurality of search results in accordance with their respective impression data and client attention data.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the updating the relevancy values includes:

generating at least one client attention coefficient for each of the search results in the subset of the plurality of search results in accordance with the impression data and the client attention data corresponding to the search results;

combining the at least one client attention coefficient associated with each search result in the subset with at least one other query-independent metric of the search result'"'"'s importance or popularity; and

generating a relevancy value for each search result in the subset of the plurality of search results in accordance with its combined client attention coefficients and the at least one other query-independent metric of the search item'"'"'s importance or popularity.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the respective hover period comprises a period of time during which the user-controller pointer hovers over the display region occupied by the respective search result without user selection of the respective search result.

5. The method of claim 1, further including providing to a respective client device of the client devices additional information concerning a respective search result of the set of search results over which the user-controlled pointer is hovering.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein a respective search result of the plurality of search results includes at least a first portion and a second portion and the hover periods with respect to the first and second portions have different weights when they are used for updating the respective search result'"'"'s relevancy value.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the first portion of the respective search result is a descriptor and the second portion of the respective search result is a snippet.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the updating of the respective search result'"'"'s relevancy value occurs only when the respective hover period is greater than a threshold value.

9. A server system for providing search results responsive to search queries, comprising:

a memory;

one or more processors; and

a program, wherein the program is stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the one or more processors, the program comprising;

instructions for receiving from client devices user hover periods associated with a plurality of search results which correspond to multiple search queries, a respective user hover period comprising information about a length of time that a user hovers a user-controlled pointer over a display region occupied by a respective search result of the plurality of search results;

instructions for updating relevancy values of the search results at least partially in accordance with their respective user hover periods; and

instructions for responding to a search query after the update of the relevancy values by identifying a set of search results for the search query in accordance with their relevancy values, the set of search results including at least one search result whose respective relevancy value has been updated.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein updating relevancy values includes:

instructions for retrieving impression data associated with the plurality of search results provided to the client devices in response to the search queries, wherein the impression data comprises data identifying how many times and in what order the search results in the plurality of search results have been provided to the client devices in response to the search queries;

instructions for receiving from at least a subset of the client devices the client attention data, the client attention data including the user hover period associated with search result if the hover period is greater than a threshold value; and

instructions for updating the relevancy values for at least a subset of the plurality of search results in accordance with their respective impression data and client attention data.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the updating the relevancy values includes:

instructions for generating at least one client attention coefficient for each of the search results in the subset of the plurality of search results in accordance with the impression data and the client attention data corresponding to the search results;

instructions for combining the at least one client attention coefficient associated with each search result in the subset of the plurality of search results with at least one other query-independent metric of the search result'"'"'s importance or popularity; and

instructions for generating a relevancy value for each search result in the subset of the plurality of search results in accordance with its combined client attention coefficients and the at least one other query-independent metric of the search item'"'"'s importance or popularity.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the respective hover period comprises a period of time during which the user-controller pointer hovers over the display region occupied by the respective search result without user selection of the respective search result.

13. The system of claim 9, further including instructions for providing to a respective client device of the client devices additional information concerning a respective search result of the set of search results over which the user-controlled pointer is hovering.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein a respective search result of the plurality of search results includes at least a first portion and a second portion and the hover periods with respect to the first and second portions have different weights when they are used for updating the respective search result'"'"'s relevancy value.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the first portion of the respective search result is a descriptor and the second portion of the respective search result is a snippet.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the updating the respective search result'"'"'s relevancy value occurs when the respective hover period is greater than a threshold value.

17. A computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs for execution by a server system, the one or more programs comprising:

instructions for receiving at the server from client devices user hover periods associated with a plurality of search results which correspond to multiple search queries, a respective user hover period comprising information about a length of time that a user hovers a user-controlled pointer over a display region occupied by a respective search result of the plurality of search results;

instructions for updating relevancy values of the search results at least partially in accordance with their respective user hover periods; and

instructions for responding to a search query after the update of the relevancy values by identifying a set of search results for the search query in accordance with their relevancy values, the set of search results including at least one search result whose respective relevancy value has been updated.

18. The computer readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the instructions for updating relevancy values include:

instructions for retrieving impression data associated with the plurality of search results provided to the client devices in response to the search queries, wherein the impression data comprises data identifying how many times and in what order the search results in the plurality of search results have been provided to the client devices in response to the search queries;

instructions for receiving from at least a subset of the client devices the client attention data, the client attention data including the user hover period associated with search result if the hover period is greater than a threshold value; and

instructions for updating the relevancy values for at least a subset of the plurality of search results in accordance with their respective impression data and client attention data.

19. The computer readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the instructions for updating the relevancy values include:

instructions for generating at least one client attention coefficient for each of the search results in the subset of the plurality of search results in accordance with the impression data and the client attention data corresponding to the search results;

instructions for combining the at least one client attention coefficient associated with each search result in the subset of the plurality of search results with at least one other query-independent metric of the search result'"'"'s importance or popularity; and

instructions for generating a relevancy value for each search result in the subset of the plurality of search results in accordance with its combined client attention coefficients and the at least one other query-independent metric of the search item'"'"'s importance or popularity.

20. The computer readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the respective hover period comprises a period of time during which the user-controller pointer hovers over the display region occupied by the respective search result without user selection of the respective search result.

21. The computer readable storage medium of claim 17, further including instructions for providing to a respective client device of the client devices additional information concerning a respective search result of the set of search results over which the user-controlled pointer is hovering.

22. The computer readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein a respective search result of the plurality of search results includes at least a first portion and a second portion and the hover periods with respect to the first and second portions have different weights when they are used for updating the respective search result'"'"'s relevancy value.

23. The computer readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the first portion of the respective search result is a descriptor and the second portion of the respective search result is a snippet.

24. The computer readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the instructions for updating the relevancy values include instructions for updating the respective search result'"'"'s relevancy value only when the respective hover period is greater than a threshold value.