SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DETECTING CHANGES IN THE RELEVANCE OF PAST SEARCH RESULTS

• US 20110184940A1
• Filed: 01/26/2010
• Published: 07/28/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/26/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Oath Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Fazil, Muhammed Abdul
• Application Number:
  US12/693,987
• Publication Number:
  US 20110184940A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/723
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3349 Reuse of stored results of previous queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results

Abstract

A query is received for a web search from a user, via a network. A search is performed for a first plurality of objects which match the query, whereby a first search result is produced. The first search result is ranked producing a first ranked search result. The occurrence of a trigger event is detected. A search is performed for a second plurality of objects accessible over the network which match the query, whereby a second search result is produced. The second search result is ranked producing a second ranked search result. The first ranked search result is compared with the second ranked search result wherein a delta score is determined for each reference in the second ranked search result. At least one of the references in the second ranked result set having a positive delta score is selected using and transmitted, over the network, to the user.

Claims

1. A method comprising the steps of:

receiving a query for a web search from a user, via a network;

searching, using at least one computing device, for a first plurality of objects accessible over the network which match the query, whereby a first search result is produced, the first search result comprising a plurality of references, each reference referring to one of the first plurality of objects;

ranking, using at least one computing device, the first search result using a first ranking methodology, producing a first ranked search result;

detecting, using the computing device, the occurrence of a trigger event;

searching, using at least one computing device, for a second plurality of objects accessible over the network which match the query, whereby a second search result is produced, the second search result comprising a plurality of references, each reference referring to one of the second plurality of objects;

ranking, using at least one computing device, the second search result using a second ranking methodology, producing a second ranked search result;

comparing, using at least one computing device, the first ranked search result with the second ranked search result, wherein a delta score is determined for each reference in the second ranked search result;

selecting, using at least one computing device, at least one of the references in the second ranked result set having a positive delta score;

transmitting, over the network, the at least one of the references in the second ranked result set to the user.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the delta score is computed such that if the reference in the second ranked result matches a reference in the first ranked search result, the delta score is computed by subtracting the rank of the reference in the second ranked result set from the rank of the reference in the first ranked result set.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein if the reference in the second ranked result is not in the first ranked search result, the delta score is computed by subtracting the rank of the reference in the second ranked result set from a default rank.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the default rank is the number of references in the first or second ranked result.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein the default rank is a fixed number.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the first ranking methodology and the second ranking methodology are the same ranking methodology.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the first ranking methodology and the second ranking methodology are different ranking methodologies.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the trigger event is the user logging into a service.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the trigger event is the lapse of a time interval.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the number of references in the first ranked search result and the number of references in the second ranked search result which are compared to one another is a fixed number.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the first ranked search result represents the search result produced the first time the query was processed for the user.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the first ranked search result represents the search result produced the last time the query was processed for the user prior to the production of the second search result.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein, in the selecting step, a fixed number references having the most positive delta scores are selected.

14. The method of claim 1 comprising the additional steps of:

receiving an indication from the user, via the network, that the user is not interested at least one of the selected references, wherein the at least one of the selected references is removed from the first ranked result set and the second ranked result set.

27. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 comprising the additional steps of:

receiving an indication from the user, via the network, that the user is not interested at least one of the selected references, wherein the at least one of the selected references is removed from the first ranked result set and the second ranked result set.

15. A system comprising:

a query receiving module comprising one or more processors programmed to execute software code retrieved from a computer readable storage medium storing software for receiving queries for web searches from users, via a network;

a web search module comprising one or more processors programmed to execute software code retrieved from a computer readable storage medium storing software for searching, using queries, for pluralities of objects accessible over the network which match the respective queries, each plurality of objects comprising a search result for a query processed by the web search module;

a search result ranking module comprising one or more processors programmed to execute software code retrieved from a computer readable storage medium storing software for ranking each of the search results using a ranking methodology, producing ranked search results;

an event detection module comprising one or more processors programmed to execute software code retrieved from a computer readable storage medium storing software for detecting the occurrence of a trigger events related to queries processed by the web search modules;

a search result comparison module comprising one or more processors programmed to execute software code retrieved from a computer readable storage medium storing software for comparing a first ranked search result produced by the search result ranking module with a second ranked search result produced by the search result ranking module, wherein a delta score is determined for each reference in the second ranked search results, wherein, for each such comparison, at least one of the references in the second ranked result set having a positive delta score is selected;

a search result transmission module comprising one or more processors programmed to execute software code retrieved from a computer readable storage medium storing software for transmitting, over the network, for each comparison, the at least one of the selected references in the second ranked result set to a user that originally entered the query.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the delta score is computed such that if the reference in the second ranked result matches a reference in the first ranked search result, the delta score is computed by subtracting the rank of the reference in the second ranked result set from the rank of the reference in the second ranked result set.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein if the reference in the second ranked result is not in the first ranked search result, the delta score is computed by subtracting the rank of the reference in the second ranked result set from a default rank.

18. The system of claim 15 additionally comprising:

a search result tracking module comprising one or more processors programmed to execute software code retrieved from a computer readable storage medium storing software for storing search results on a computer readable medium in association with the queries that produced the search result and the user submitting the query.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the size of search results stored by the search result tracking module is limited to a fixed number. In one embodiment, queries and associated search results are retained indefinitely. In one embodiment, queries and associated search results are retained for a limited time, for example, one month.

20. The system of claim 18 wherein search results are retained indefinitely. In one embodiment, queries and associated search results are retained for a limited time, for example, one month.

21. The system of claim 18 wherein search results are retained ted search results are retained for fixed time.

22. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for a method comprising the steps of:

receiving a query for a web search from a user, via a network;

searching, using at least one computing device, for a first plurality of objects accessible over the network which match the query, whereby a first search result is produced, the first search result comprising a plurality of references, each reference referring to one of the first plurality of objects;

ranking, using at least one computing device, the first search result using a first ranking methodology, producing a first ranked search result;

detecting, using the computing device, the occurrence of a trigger event;

searching, using at least one computing device, for a second plurality of objects accessible over the network which match the query, whereby a second search result is produced, the second search result comprising a plurality of references, each reference referring to one of the second plurality of objects;

ranking, using at least one computing device, the second search result using a second ranking methodology, producing a second ranked search result;

comparing, using at least one computing device, the first ranked search result with the second ranked search result, wherein a delta score is determined for each reference in the second ranked search result;

selecting, using at least one computing device, at least one of the references in the second ranked result set having a positive delta score;

transmitting, over the network, the at least one of the references in the second ranked result set to the user.

23. The computer-readable medium of claim 22 wherein the delta score is computed such that if the reference in the second ranked result matches a reference in the first ranked search result, the delta score is computed by subtracting the rank of the reference in the second ranked result set from the rank of the reference in the second ranked result set.

24. The computer-readable medium of claim 23 wherein if the reference in the second ranked result is not in the first ranked search result, the delta score is computed by subtracting the rank of the reference in the second ranked result set from a default rank.

25. The computer-readable medium of claim 22 wherein the first ranking methodology and the second ranking methodology are the same ranking methodology.

26. The computer-readable medium of claim 22 wherein the first ranking methodology and the second ranking methodology are different ranking methodologies.