DOMAIN EXPERTISE DETERMINATION

• US 20130060756A1
• Filed: 11/06/2012
• Published: 03/07/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/06/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: White, Ryen W., Dumais, Susan T., Teevan, Jaime
• Granted Patent: US 8,930,357 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/722
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24575 using context
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation

Abstract

A user'"'"'s domain expertise may be estimated through several factors by monitoring different aspects of a user'"'"'s interaction with a web browser. Based on the user'"'"'s domain expertise, search results may be presented to the user that is commensurate with their expertise, resulting in a more efficient and productive on line session. A user'"'"'s expertise in a knowledge domain may be determined from the user'"'"'s behavior, including analyzing search queries, monitoring how the user navigates between and through websites, and analyzing the specific cites visited. As a user interacts with a browser, the user'"'"'s estimated domain expertise may be updated and used to provide appropriate and useful search results. In many embodiments, a user may have different expertise levels for different technical domains.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

monitoring a web browser session by a user, including;

identifying a search query submitted by the user, the search query generating a search results page; and

during the web browser session, monitoring the user'"'"'s interaction with the search results page to determine the branchiness of a search related to a technical domain, including determining the number of times the user retraced back to a previously accessed link; and

determining a user expertise level for the user within the technical domain based on the determined branchiness of the search.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring the user'"'"'s interaction with the search results to determine the branchiness of a search related to a technical domain comprises analyzing at least part of a session log to determine how many branches were performed by the user.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring the user'"'"'s interaction with the search results to determine the branchiness of a search related to a technical domain comprises determining branchiness for a plurality of sessions related to the search results page, the plurality of sessions including the web browser session.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein determining branchiness for a plurality of sessions comprises aggregating web interactions from different instances of web browsers.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising accessing a session length for the web browser session.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein determining a user expertise level for the user within the technical domain comprises using the session length to determine the user expertise level.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing the determined user expertise level.

8. A method comprising:

monitoring a web browser session by a user, including identifying a search query submitted by the user, the search query including one or more technical words;

determining a technical domain corresponding to the technical words;

determining an expertise level of the user within the technical domain; and

returning search results for the search query that are tailored to the user'"'"'s expertise level within the technical domain.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein determining an expertise level of the user within the technical domain comprises accessing a stored expertise level for the user.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein accessing a stored expertise level for the user comprises accessing a cookie that contains the user'"'"'s expertise level for one or more specific technology domains, including the technical domain.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein returning search results for the search query that are tailored to the user'"'"'s expertise level within the technical domain comprises:

accessing search results for the submitted search query; and

modifying the search results for the submitted search query to match the user'"'"'s level of expertise within the technical domain prior to returning the search results.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein returning search results for the search query that are tailored to the user'"'"'s expertise level within the technical domain comprises making one of query or site suggestions based on the user'"'"'s expertise level within the technical domain.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein determining an expertise level of the user within the technical domain comprises determining that the user is an expert within the technical domain based on the one or more technical words;

and

wherein returning search results for the search query that are tailored to the user'"'"'s expertise level within the technical domain comprises organizing search results for the search query so that more technical results are ranked higher than less technical results.

14. The method as recited in claim 8,wherein returning search results for the search query that are tailored to the user'"'"'s expertise level within the technical domain comprises adjusting the technical sophistication of the search results based on the user'"'"'s expertise level within the technical domain.

15. A method comprising:

identifying a search query submitted by a user, the search query including one or more technical words;

determining a technical domain corresponding to the one or more technical words;

accessing an expertise level of the user within the technical domain;

returning a search page of search results for the search query that are tailored to the expertise level of the user within the technical domain;

determining the branchiness of the user'"'"'s interaction with the search results; and

adjusting the user expertise level of the user within the technical domain based on the determined branchiness of the users interaction with the search results.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein accessing an expertise level of the user comprises accessing a cookie that contains the user'"'"'s expertise level for one or more specific technology domains, including the technical domain.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein returning search results for the search query that are tailored to the user'"'"'s expertise level within the technical domain comprises:

accessing search results for the submitted search query; and

adjusting the technical sophistication of the search results to match the user'"'"'s level of expertise within the technical domain prior to returning the search results.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein returning search results for the search query that are tailored to the user'"'"'s expertise level within the technical domain comprises prior to submitting the search query, one of:

adding a technical word to the one or more technical words or removing a technical word from the one or more technical words.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein determining the branchiness of the user'"'"'s interaction with the search results comprises determining a number of times the user selects a search result from the search page and then returns to the search page.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein determining the branchiness of the user'"'"'s interaction with the search results comprises considering browsing through websites that are not related to a search engine.