Method, System, and Graphical User Interface for Alerting a Computer User to New Results for a Prior Search

• US 20110161316A1
• Filed: 03/08/2011
• Published: 06/30/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Jeh, Glen, Yang, Beverly
• Granted Patent: US 8,694,491 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/727
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2358 Change logging, detection, and notification replication G06F16/27
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2365 Ensuring data consistency and integrity
• 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 method, system, and graphical user interface for alerting a computer user to new results for a prior search are disclosed. One aspect of the invention involves a graphical user interface on a computer that includes a plurality of links recommended by a search engine for a computer user. The plurality of links are determined by the search engine by: producing search results by rerunning a plurality of search queries that have been performed previously for the computer user; and evaluating the produced search results to select search results that meet predefined search result selection criteria. At least one of the criteria is based on Internet usage data for the user.

Claims

1. A system comprising at least one server, wherein the at least one server includes:

memory; and

one or more processors to execute one or more programs stored in the memory,

wherein the system is configured to;

access Internet usage data for a particular individual computer user, wherein the usage data include a plurality of search queries previously submitted by the particular individual computer user;

identify, from at least some of the Internet usage data, a search query previously submitted by the particular individual computer user that meets one or more predefined query selection criteria, wherein identifying the search query is performed without explicit input from the particular individual computer user specifically identifying the search query for automatic rerunning;

automatically rerun, without explicit input from the particular individual computer user requesting the rerun, the identified search query; and

send at least some search results from the rerun query to a computer associated with the particular individual computer user for display.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the Internet usage data for the particular individual computer user are grouped into query sessions.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the predefined query selection criteria include a score derived from combination of at least some of the Internet usage data for the particular individual computer user.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the predefined query selection criteria is based on a number of terms in the previously submitted query.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the predefined query selection criteria is based on a number of clicks made by the particular individual computer user on results returned for the previously submitted query.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the predefined query selection criteria is based on a number of refinements made to the previously submitted query by the particular individual computer user.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the predefined query selection criteria is based on a history match score of the previously submitted query for the particular individual computer user.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the history match score is based on a length of time that has passed since the submission of the previously submitted query.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the predefined query selection criteria is based on whether the previously submitted query is a navigational query, wherein a navigational query is a query looking for a specific web site or URL.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the predefined query selection criteria is based on whether the previously submitted query is a repeated non-navigational query by the particular individual computer user.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the predefined query selection criteria is based on whether the previously submitted query was refined.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the predefined query selection criteria is based on a number of long clicks by the particular individual computer user on results returned from the previously submitted query.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the predefined query selection criteria is based on whether the previously submitted query appeared in a query session that ended in a query refinement by the particular individual computer user.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the predefined query selection criteria is based on a number of times the previously submitted query was previously submitted by the particular individual computer user.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the predefined query selection criteria is based on a duration of a query session by the particular individual computer user within which the previously submitted query occurred.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the predefined query selection criteria is based on a topic of the previously submitted query.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is further configured to:

evaluate search results from the rerun query and to select search results that meet predefined search result selection criteria; and

wherein the search results sent to the computer associated with the particular individual computer user correspond to at least some of the selected search results.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein at least one of the predefined search result selection criteria used to evaluate a search result from the rerun query is based on a ranking for the search result.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein at least one of the predefined search result selection criteria used to evaluate a search result from the rerun query is based on a relevance score for the search result.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the relevance score is based on a term frequency inverse document frequency analysis.

21. The system of claim 17, wherein at least one of the predefined search result selection criteria used to evaluate a search result from the rerun query is based on a difference between a relevance score for the search result and a second relevance score for a second search result having a closest relevance score that is less than the relevance score for the search result being greater than a dropoff threshold.

22. The system of claim 17, wherein at least one of the predefined search result selection criteria used to evaluate a search result from the rerun query is based on an elapsed time since the previously submitted query was submitted by the particular individual computer user.

23. The system of claim 17, wherein at least one of the predefined search result selection criteria used to evaluate a search result from the rerun query is based on the search result being the only new search result in the top N search results returned for the rerun query, where N is an integer.

24. The system of claim 17, wherein none of the search results from the rerun query are selected when the top N results returned for the rerun query have a relevance score below a threshold value.

25. The system of claim 17, wherein at least one of the predefined search result selection criteria used to evaluate a search result from the rerun query is based on the search result not having been previously presented to the particular individual computer user.

26. A method, comprising:

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

accessing Internet usage data for a particular individual computer user, wherein the usage data include a plurality of search queries previously submitted by the particular individual computer user;

identifying, from at least some of the Internet usage data, a search query previously submitted by the particular individual computer user that meets one or more predefined query selection criteria, wherein identifying the search query is performed without explicit input from the particular individual computer user specifically identifying the search query for automatic rerunning;

automatically rerunning, without explicit input from the particular individual computer user requesting the rerun, the identified search query; and

sending at least some search results from the rerun query to a computer associated with the particular individual computer user for display.

27. A method, comprising:

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

sending Internet usage data for a particular individual computer user to a server computer, wherein the usage data include a plurality of search queries previously submitted by the particular individual computer user, wherein the server computer;

identifies, from at least some of the Internet usage data, a search query previously submitted by the particular individual computer user that meets one or more predefined query selection criteria, wherein identifying the search query is performed without explicit input from the particular individual computer user specifically identifying the search query for automatic rerunning; and

automatically reruns, without explicit input from the particular individual computer user requesting the rerun, the identified search query; and

receiving at least some search results from the rerun search query from the server computer; and

displaying at least some of the received search results.