PROVIDING QUERY SUGGESTIONS

• US 20110184951A1
• Filed: 01/28/2010
• Published: 07/28/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/28/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: GEMMELL, David James, PAPARIZOS, STELIOS, ANDERSON, CHRIS, CRUMB, JANINE, NAIR, AJAY, TERTYCHNYI, GENNADII, YAN, AN
• Granted Patent: US 8,732,171 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/737
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3322 using system suggestions G06F16/3325 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9532 Query formulation

Abstract

Methods and computer-readable media are provided for determining suggested queries. A user enters a search website, and the user is identified based on a user identification. Suggested queries are determined based on a group associated with the user. This association is created by extracting queries from data logs, categorizing the queries into groups based on their respective subject matter, associating the user with one or more groups, and determining suggested queries for each group. The suggested queries are communicated for display.

Claims

1. One or more computer-readable media storing computer-usable instructions that, when used by one or more computing devices, cause the one or more computing devices to perform a method comprising:

receiving an indication that a user has entered a website that allows for a search of a database based on an entered query;

identifying the user based on a user identification associated with the user;

determining one or more suggested queries based on at least one of a plurality of groups with which the user is associated, wherein the user is associated with the at least one group by,

extracting queries from one or more data logs,

categorizing each of the queries into the plurality of groups based on a subject matter of each of the queries,

associating the user with the at least one of the plurality of groups based on one or more of past queries submitted by the user, website links selected by the user, or preferences associated with the user, and

determining the one or more suggested queries for each of the plurality of groups; and

communicating for display the one or more suggested queries.

2. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the one or more suggested queries are communicated for display prior to the user entering a user-submitted query.

3. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 1, further comprising receiving user input that includes at least a portion of a user-submitted query.

4. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the one or more suggested queries for each of the plurality of groups are determined based on one or more of a popularity of each of the queries or how recently each of the queries was submitted to a search engine.

5. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein a quantity of the one or more suggested queries for a particular group is less than the quantity of total queries in the particular group.

6. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of a quantity of the one or more suggested queries is determined based on one or more of trends or topics associated with the group.

7. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 3, wherein at least a portion of the one or more suggested queries is not related to the user input.

8. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the one or more data logs include one or more of a web log, a query log, a toolbar log, or a browser log.

9. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a user selection of one of the one or more suggested queries; and

communicating for display one or more search results that are selected based on the one of the one or more suggested queries.

10. One or more computer-readable media storing computer-usable instructions that, when used by one or more computing devices, cause the one or more computing devices to perform a method comprising:

receiving user input in a search box that includes at least a portion of a first alphanumeric string of a user-submitted query;

based on the user input, accessing a database to determine one or more suggested first alphanumeric strings, wherein the database contains a plurality of alphanumeric strings that are each associated with at least one category based, in part, on a subject matter of each of the plurality of alphanumeric strings;

communicating for display the one or more suggested first alphanumeric strings;

receiving an indication of the first alphanumeric string of the user-submitted query;

deriving one or more suggested queries that include the first alphanumeric string of the user-submitted query, wherein each of the one or more suggested queries is derived according to a structured expression, and wherein the structured expression comprises one or more categories such that one of the plurality of alphanumeric strings is selected from each of the one or more categories to form the one or more suggested queries; and

communicating for display the one or more suggested queries.

11. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 10, wherein the structured expressions are derived from a plurality of queries extracted from one or more data logs.

12. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 11, further comprising:

associating the user with the at least one of a plurality of groups based on one or more of past queries submitted by the user, website links selected by the user, or preferences associated with the user;

associating a plurality of queries extracted from one or more data logs with the plurality of groups based on, in part, a subject matter of each of the plurality of queries; and

determining the one or more suggested queries from the plurality of queries based on a popularity of each of the plurality of queries, wherein the popularity is determined based on a number of instances that the each of the plurality of queries are listed in the one or more data logs, and wherein the one or more suggested queries are selected from a group of queries associated with the at least one of the plurality of groups associated with the user.

13. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 11, wherein patterns of representative categories associated with alphanumeric strings within each of the plurality of queries are analyzed to determine the structured expressions.

14. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 11, wherein at least a portion of the one or more suggested queries is not contained in the one or more data logs.

15. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 10, wherein at least a portion of the one or more suggested queries have never before been submitted as queries to a search engine.

16. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 10, wherein the structured expression represents new functionality of a search engine.

17. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 10, wherein the one or more suggested queries are derived from the database by selecting the one of the plurality of alphanumeric strings from each of the one or more categories that form the structured expression.

18. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 10, wherein at least two of the one or more suggested queries are derived from two different structured expressions.

19. One or more computer-readable media storing computer-usable instructions that, when used by one or more computing devices, cause the one or more computing devices to perform a method comprising:

receiving an indication that a user has entered at least a portion of a first alphanumeric string of a user-submitted query into a search box;

determining a group with which the user is associated;

communicating for display one or more suggested first alphanumeric strings that are selected based on the group with which the user is associated and the at least the portion of the first alphanumeric string of the user-submitted query;

receiving user input indicating the first alphanumeric string of the user-submitted query;

accessing a database to identify one or more suggested queries that each contain the first alphanumeric string of the user-submitted query, wherein each of the one or more suggested queries is structured according to a structured expression whose structure has been determined by the structure of the one or more potential queries in the one or more data logs, and wherein the structure of the structured expression comprises one or more categories that are each associated with a plurality of alphanumeric strings such that one of the plurality of alphanumeric strings is selected from each of the one or more categories to form a member of the one or more suggested queries;

receiving the user input indicating the user-submitted query; and

communicating for display a plurality of search results that are identified based on the user-submitted query.

20. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 19, wherein it is determined that the user is associated with the group by,

identifying the user in one or more data logs by way of a user identification;

based on one or more of previous queries submitted by the user, website links selected by the user, or preferences associated with the user, associating the user with the group; and

associating one or more potential queries extracted from the one or more data logs with the group based on, in part, a subject matter of the one or more potential queries.