PROVIDING ENTITY-SPECIFIC CONTENT IN RESPONSE TO A SEARCH QUERY

• US 20120059838A1
• Filed: 09/07/2010
• Published: 03/08/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/07/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: AGRAWAL, NITIN, ZHOU, SONG, SARAF, YATHARTH, MCDONALD, KIERAN RICHARD, AWAN, MUHAMMAD AATIF, AHARI, SANAZ, BERNTSON, ALEC JOHN, JOSHI, TARUN, TSEGAY, YOHANNES, MALHOTRA, NIPOON, HOAD, TIMOTHY CHARLES
• Application Number:
  US12/876,638
• Publication Number:
  US 20120059838A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/759
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/90335 Query processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9038 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9532 Query formulation

Abstract

Computer-readable media, computer systems, and computing devices facilitate providing entity-specific content to a user in response to a search request. A search request is received from a user and determined to be related to an entity. Domains associated with the entity are also identified. The search service identifies a set of potential answers and uses the potential answers to generate a set of reformulation queries, which are used to query answer services. Answers returned by the answer services are ranked and bound to an entity card, which is subjected to a quorum checking process that facilitates optimization of the use of allocated screen real estate associated with the entity card. A representation of the entity card is presented on a search-results page.

Claims

1. One or more computer-readable media having embodied thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor in a computing device associated with a search service, cause the computing device to perform a method of presenting entity-specific content to a user, the method comprising:

receiving a search query, wherein the search query is submitted to the search service by a user;

determining that the search query is related to an entity;

generating a reformulated query based on the search query;

submitting an answer query to an answer service, the answer query including the reformulated query;

receiving an answer from the answer service; and

providing the answer on a search-results page.

2. The media of claim 1, wherein determining that the search query is related to the entity includes employing an entity classifier.

3. The media of claim 2, further comprising identifying a domain corresponding to the entity.

4. The media of claim 3, further comprising identifying a set of potential answers corresponding to the search query.

5. The media of claim 4, further comprising selecting the answer service based on the set of potential answers.

6. The media of claim 5, wherein generating the reformulated query includes identifying a reformulation pattern corresponding to the search query, wherein the reformulation pattern is based on the domain.

7. The media of claim 1, further comprising generating an execution plan, wherein the execution plan includes an indication of the answer service.

8. The media of claim 1, wherein providing the answer on the search-results page includes providing a representation of an entity card, the entity card comprising a data structure that defines an arrangement of content corresponding to the entity.

9. The media of claim 8, further comprising:

determining an official website associated with the entity; and

including a hyperlink to the official website in the representation of the entity card.

10. One or more computer-readable media having embodied thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor in a computing device associated with a search service, cause the computing device to perform a method of presenting entity-specific content to a user, the method comprising:

receiving a search query, wherein the search query is submitted to the search service by a user;

determining that the search query is related to an entity;

identifying a set of potential answers corresponding to the search query;

selecting an answer service based on the set of potential answers;

generating a reformulated query based on the search query;

generating an execution plan, wherein the execution plan includes a plan for submitting an answer query to the selected answer service;

providing the answer query to the answer service, wherein the answer query includes the reformulated query;

receiving an answer from the answer service; and

providing the answer on a search-results page.

11. The media of claim 10, wherein generating the reformulated query based on the search query includes:

determining a domain associated with the search query; and

identifying a reformulation pattern corresponding to the search query, wherein the reformulation pattern is based on the domain.

12. The media of claim 11, further comprising generating an entity card, wherein the entity card includes a data structure that defines an arrangement of a first portion of content corresponding to the entity.

13. The media of claim 12, wherein providing the answer on the search-results page includes presenting a representation of the entity card in a first location on the search-results page.

14. The media of claim 13, further comprising presenting overflow content in a second location on the search-results page, wherein the overflow content includes a second portion of content corresponding to the entity.

15. The media of claim 13, further comprising:

determining an official website associated with the entity; and

including a hyperlink to the official website in the representation of the entity card.

16. One or more computer-readable media having embodied thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor in a computing device, cause the computing device to perform a method of presenting entity-specific content to a user, the method comprising:

receiving a search query, wherein the search query is submitted to a search service by a user;

determining that the search query is related to an entity;

generating a set of reformulated queries based on the search query;

querying a set of answer services using the set of reformulated queries;

receiving a set of answers from the set of answer services;

ranking the set of answers;

identifying a first subset of the ranked set of answers, wherein said first subset is to be presented to the user;

binding the subset of answers to an entity card, the entity card comprising a data structure that defines a layout of entity-specific content; and

providing a search-results page that includes a representation of the entity card.

17. The media of claim 16, wherein generating the reformulated query includes:

determining a domain associated with the search query; and

identifying a reformulation pattern corresponding to the search query, wherein the reformulation pattern is based on the domain.

18. The media of claim 17, further comprising:

determining an official website associated with the entity; and

including a hyperlink to the official website in the representation of the entity card.

19. The media of claim 18, further comprising identifying overflow content, the overflow content comprising a second subset of the ranked set of answers, wherein said first and second subsets are mutually exclusive.

20. The media of claim 19, further comprising presenting the overflow content on the search-results page, wherein the entity card is presented at a first location on the search-results page and the overflow content is presented at a second location on the search-results page.