CUSTOM LOCAL SEARCH

• US 20120290617A1
• Filed: 07/24/2012
• Published: 11/15/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/10/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Govindachetty, Narendranath Datha, Joshi, Tanuja Abhay, Joy, Joseph, Sengar, Vibhuti Singh
• Granted Patent: US 8,583,620 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/771
• 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 method described herein includes receiving a query that is configured by an issuer of the query to be utilized to retrieve a portion of local search content, wherein the local search content comprises a first dataset and a second data set, wherein the first dataset comprises a first entity and the second dataset comprises a second entity, and wherein the query comprises a first token and a second token. The method also includes parsing the query such that the first token of the query is mapped to the first entity in the first dataset and the second token of the query is mapped to the second entity in the second dataset. The method also includes returning search results based at least in part upon the parsing of the query.

Claims

1. A method comprising a plurality of acts that are executed by a processor of a computing device, the method comprising:

receiving a query from a user, the query comprising a first token and a second token, the first token directed towards a geographic region, the second token directed towards an entity in the first geographic region;

responsive to receiving the query, parsing the query such that the first token is mapped to a first dataset and the second token is mapped to a second data set, the first dataset comprising geographic maps, the second data set comprising user-generated data;

executing a first search over the first dataset based at least in part upon the first token to identify the first geographic region corresponding to the first token;

executing a second search over the second dataset based at least in part upon the second token to identify the entity corresponding to the second token; and

based at least in part upon the first search and the second search, transmitting a computer-implemented map to a computing device of the user, the computer-implemented map comprising a map of the first geographic region and graphical data that identifies a location in the first geographic region of the entity corresponding to the second token.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first geographic region is one of a city, a street, or an intersection of streets.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the entity comprises a shape and an attribute that describes the entity, the shape being indicative of a portion of the first geographic region to which the entity pertains.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the shape comprises at least one geometric primitive and coordinates of the at least one geometric primitive in a coordinate system.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the attribute is a category descriptor.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the attribute is a name of the entity.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the query from the user comprises at least one misspelled word.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the query is a free-form query.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the entity is representative of one of an object or a service that corresponds to the first geographic region.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

prior to executing the second search over the second dataset, selecting the second dataset from amongst a plurality of datasets based at least in part upon content of the query.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein executing the second search over the second dataset comprises utilizing spatial processing when executing the second search over the second dataset.

12. A system that facilitates performing a local search, the system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory that comprises a plurality of components that are executed by the processor, the plurality of components comprising;

a receiver component that receives a query from a user, wherein the query comprises a plurality of tokens, wherein the plurality of tokens comprise a first token pertaining to a geographic region, wherein the plurality of tokens comprise a second token pertaining to an entity located within the geographic region; and

an interpreter component that parses the query such that the first token is mapped to a first dataset and the second token is mapped to a second dataset, the first dataset comprising street-level geographic data, the second dataset comprising a plurality of entities pertaining to the second token, and wherein the interpreter component outputs a map of the geographic region with a graphical indicator thereon that is indicative of location of the entity in the geographic region based at least in part upon the first token being mapped to the first dataset and the second token being mapped to the second dataset.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein entities in the second dataset are generated by end users of a mapping application.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein each entity in the plurality of entities comprises a respective shape, a respective attribute, and a respective unique identifier, the respective shape comprises a geometric primitive and coordinates of the entity in a geographic coordinate system, the respective attribute being descriptive of a respective entity.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the respective attribute is a name of the respective entity.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the respective attribute is a respective category of the respective entity.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the interpreter component selects the second dataset from amongst a plurality of other datasets based at least in part upon content of the query.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein the interpreter component comprises a query interpreter component that outputs multiple partial interpretations of the query, wherein each partial interpretation comprises a list of mappings between subsequences of tokens of the query and sets of entities in the first dataset and the second dataset and an approximate region of interest pertaining to the partial query interpretation.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the interpreter component further comprises a refinement component that refines at least one of the partial interpretations, wherein the refinement component modifies the approximate region of interest pertaining to the partial query interpretation when refining the at least one of the partial interpretations.

20. A computer-readable data storage device comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform acts comprising:

receiving a query from a user, the query comprising a first token and a second token;

responsive to receiving the query, parsing the query such that the first token is mapped to a first dataset and the second token is mapped to a second dataset, wherein the first dataset comprises geographic data, wherein the second dataset is end-user generated and comprises an entity;

executing a first search over the first dataset based at least in part upon the first token, wherein executing the first search results in identifying a geographic region corresponding to the first token;

executing a second search over the second dataset based at least in part upon the first token and the second token, wherein executing the second search results in identifying the entity; and

causing a map of the geographic region to be displayed on a display screen of a computing device, the map of the geographic region comprising graphical data that identifies the entity and indicates a position in the geographic region of the entity.