SYSTEM AND METHOD OF DISPLAYING SEARCH RESULTS BASED ON DENSITY

• US 20100191797A1
• Filed: 01/26/2009
• Published: 07/29/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/26/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Procopiuc, Octavian, Kang, Nina, Seefeld, Bernhard
• Granted Patent: US 8,037,166 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries

Abstract

A system and method is provided of generating a map. In one aspect, the map is selected based on a location provided by a user and listings are selected based on their proximity to the location, whether they match a query provided by the user, and the number of matching listings within regions of the map.

Claims

1. A method of providing a map covering an area comprising:

receiving a query;

determining matching listings, where a listing comprises data identifying an object associated with a geographic location and information relating to the object, and where determination of a match comprises determining whether the listing information corresponds with the query and the geographic location corresponds with the area;

selecting a plurality of the matching listings based on the number of matching listings having geographic locations associated with a first portion of the area relative to the number of matching listings having geographic locations associated with a second portion of the area; and

providing a map of the area and indications of the matching listings.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the query comprises terms defined by a user.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein listing information corresponds with a query when a query and information are associated with the same words.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the objects comprise businesses associated with street addresses, the query comprises words, and the listing information corresponds with the query if the listing information contains a word of the query.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the area and query are provided by the same user.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the first portion of the area and the second portion of the area are substantially equal in area.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein said selecting comprises selecting matching listings in proportion to the number of matching listings in the portions of the area.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

associating portions of the area covered by the map with regions of substantially equal area;

determining the number of matching listings in each region of the map;

identifying the highest number of matching listings in a single region; and

selecting the number of matching listings in a region based on a comparison with said highest number.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the selecting comprises selecting matching listings such that the map reflects the density of matching listings.

10. A system of displaying a map comprising:

a user input device;

a memory storing instructions and data representing different objects at different geographic locations;

a processor in communication with the user input device so as to process information received from the user input device in accordance with the instructions; and

a display in communication with, and displaying information received from, the processor;

the instructions comprising;

retrieving a map based on location information entered via the user input device,

retrieving identifications of objects matching information entered via the user input, the retrieved identifications being less than all of the objects matching the information entered via the user input, the retrieved identifications being selected based on the density of matching objects within portions of the map, and

displaying, on the display, the identifications on the map.

11. The system of claim 10 further comprising a network and wherein the instructions of retrieving the map and identifications comprises instructions to retrieve the map and identifications from a server on the network.

12. The system of claim 10 wherein the user input device is keyboard.

13. A method of displaying a map covering an area comprising:

transmitting, from a first computer at a first node of a network to a second computer at a second node of the network, a location and words, the words being selected by a user and arbitrary;

receiving data representing a map and listings, the map covering an area;

displaying a map and listings on the map based on the data;

wherein;

the map data was selected by the second computer based on the location;

the listings represented by the listing data were selected by the second computer based on density criteria and whether a listing matched, where (a) a listing matched if one or more of the transmitted words is present in information associated with the listing and (b) the density criteria depended on the quantity of matching listings in one region of the map area relative to another region of the area.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the map data and listing data are received as separate images, and wherein the method further comprises displaying the listing data as an overlay on the map data.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein the listings were further selected to minimize the likelihood of the displayed listings indicating the regions of the area used in connection with the density criteria.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the listings were further selected after application of a smoothing function.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the smoothing criteria comprises cubic smoothing.

18. The method of claim 13 wherein the listings were further selected based on an individual score value associated with each matching listing, where each individual score value depends on a comparison of the transmitted words with the information associated with the listing and other values indicative of the likelihood of a user selecting the listing.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the listings were selected based on their individual score value relative to a score threshold associated with the region of the map containing the listing, where the score threshold is based on the quantity of matching listings in the region.

20. The method of claim 13 wherein the density criteria depended on the difference between the quantity of matching listings in one region of the area relative to greatest quantity of matching listings in a single region.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the amount of listings selected from a region of the area depends on calculation of a density value, where the density value is calculated based on (a) the quantity of matching listings in one region of the area relative to the region of the area having the greatest quantity of matching listings and (b) a parameter limiting the maximum number of listings selected from a region.

22. A method of displaying a map comprising:

transmitting, from a first computer at a first node of a network to a second computer at a second node of the network, a location and words selected by a user;

receiving, at the first computer from the second computer, image data representing a map covering an area;

receiving, at the first computer from the second computer, image data representing a first set of listings;

receiving, at the first computer from the second computer, text data representing a second set of listings; and

displaying, at the first computer, a map and listings on the map based on the data;

wherein;

the map data was selected by the second computer based on the location;

the listings represented by the listing data were selected by the second computer based on density criteria and whether a listing matched, where (a) a listing matched depending on whether there was a correspondence between words associated with the listing and the transmitted words and whether there was a correspondence between a location associated with the listing and the area, and (b) the density criteria depended on the quantity of matching listings in one region of the area relative to another region of the area.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein the map data is received in bitmap format.

24. The method of claim 22 wherein the map data is received in vector format.

25. The method of claim 22 wherein the first set of listings data is received in bitmap format.

26. The method of claim 22 wherein the second set of listings data is received in JSON format.

27. The method of claim 22 wherein the map data is received in bitmap format, the first set of listing data is received in bitmap format, and the second set of listing data is received in a text file.

28. A system comprising:

means for receiving a query;

means for determining matching listings, where a listing comprises data identifying an object associated with a geographic location and information relating to the object, and where determination of a match comprises determining whether the listing information corresponds with the query and the geographic location corresponds with the map area;

means for selecting a plurality of the matching listings based on the number of matching listings having geographic locations associated with a first portion of the map area relative to the number of matching listings having geographic locations associated with a second portion of the area; and

means for providing a map of the map area and indications of the matching listings, each indication being located on the map relative to its geographic location.