SEARCH RESULTS BASED ON USER AND RESULT PROFILES

• US 20120323876A1
• Filed: 06/16/2011
• Published: 12/20/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Lymberopoulos, Dimitrios, Wu, Qiang, Liu, Jie, Jiang, Li
• Granted Patent: US 9,529,915 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/706
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation

Abstract

A method includes receiving a search query from a user at a search engine. The method also includes performing a search responsive to the search query to obtain a set of results. The set of results is ordered at least partially based on a distance between a profile of a user and a profile of each result in the ordered set of results. At least one profile of a result is based on an aggregate of a plurality of user profiles.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving a search query from a particular user at a search engine; and

performing a search responsive to the search query to obtain an ordered set of results,

wherein the ordered set of results is ordered at least partially based on a distance between a profile of the particular user and a profile of each result in the ordered set of results, and

wherein a particular profile of at least one of the results is based on an aggregate of a plurality of user profiles, wherein the at least one result identifies a business and wherein the particular profile of the business is based on profiles of each of a plurality of users, other than the particular user, that visited a website associated with the business via the search engine.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining the profile of the particular user based on one or more actions associated with the particular user.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more actions include a click action detected by the search engine.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a plurality of clicks associated with the website of the business;

identifying the plurality of users based on the identified plurality of clicks; and

determining the profile of the business by aggregating profiles of each of the identified plurality of users.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the profile of the user comprises a probability distribution function associated with the particular user.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the profile of the result comprises a probability distribution function associated with the at least one result.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the probability distribution function associated with the business represents an average user that visited the website of the business via the search engine.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein the search query is received at a particular time of day, wherein user clicks made at a similar time of day are weighted more heavily than user clicks at other times of day, and wherein the search engine has access to age information regarding the users.

4-7. -7. (canceled)

11. A computer system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory storing instructions executable by the processor to;

store information received at a search engine from a plurality of users;

determine a probability distribution function for each of the plurality of users based on the stored information;

store the probability distribution function for each of the plurality of users in a user store;

determine a probability distribution function for each particular business of a plurality of businesses based on aggregating profiles of users that visited a website associated with the business via the search engine;

store the probability distribution function for each particular business in a search index;

receive a search query from a particular user; and

perform a search responsive to the search query to obtain an ordered set of businesses,

wherein the ordered set of businesses is ordered at least partially based on a distance between the probability distribution function of the particular user and the probability distribution function of each business in the ordered set of businesses.

12. The computer system of claim 11, further comprising a click log to store the information.

13. The computer system of claim 11, further comprising the search index.

14. The computer system of claim 11, further comprising the search engine.

15. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to segment the click log based on location.

16. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to segment the click log based on time.

17. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to segment the click log based on day.

18. A computer-readable storage medium device comprising instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

receive a search query from a user at a search engine, wherein the search query includes one or more search terms, a user identifier of a particular user, and a user location of the particular user;

determine a business category based on the one or more search terms;

perform a search responsive to the query to obtain a set of results, wherein at least one result corresponds to a business associated with the business category and relevant to the user location;

retrieve a probability distribution function associated with the particular user based on the user identifier and the location, wherein the probability distribution function associated with the particular user is based at least in part on user interactions with the search engine that are associated with the business category;

retrieve a probability distribution function associated with the business corresponding to the at least one result, wherein the probability distribution function associated with the business is based on probability distribution functions of users, other than the particular user, that visited a website of the business via the search engine;

determine a distance between the probability distribution function associated with the particular user and the probability distribution function associated with the business;

order the set of results at least partially based on the distance to produce an ordered set of context-aware results; and

display the ordered set of context-aware results to the particular user.

19. The computer-readable storage device of claim 18, wherein the search query further includes a timestamp.

20. The computer-readable storage device of claim 19, wherein the probability distribution function associated with the particular user is weighted based on the timestamp, the user location, or any combination thereof.

21. The computer readable storage device of claim 18, wherein the probability distribution function associated with the business represents an average user that visited the website of the business via the search engine.

22. The computer readable storage device of claim 18, wherein the search query is received at a particular time of day, wherein user clicks made at a similar time of day are weighted more heavily than user clicks at other times of day, and wherein the search engine has access to age information regarding the users.