IDENTIFYING UNSEEN CONTENT OF INTEREST

• US 20130066876A1
• Filed: 09/12/2011
• Published: 03/14/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Raskino, David A., Ickman, Steven W., McConnell, Christopher C., Steckler, Paul A., Dyor, Matthew G.
• Granted Patent: US 11,620,719 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/741
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24575 using context
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

Making an information retrieval process public, so that it can be followed by others, allows capturing of an interest graph that allows people to learn more about shared interests with other people. This also allows items of interest to a trusted resource (such as an expert) to be identified. These items can then be brought to the attention of other users that share the same interest as the expert. In addition, by keeping track of what particular content a user has already seen, the system can bring items of interest to the user'"'"'s attention, where the user has not yet seen those items.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of presenting content to a user in a search system that has a computer with a processor, the method comprising:

identifying, with the processor, a trusted resource for a given subject matter area;

identifying, with the processor, that the user has a subject matter area of interest that matches the given subject matter area of the trusted resource;

identifying, with the processor, seen content that the user has already interacted with in the search system;

identifying, with the processor, unseen content of interest in the given subject matter area, that the trusted resource has interacted with, and that the user has not already interacted with; and

generating a user interface display presenting the unseen content of interest to the user, indicating that the user has not yet interacted with the unseen content of interest, and indicating that the trusted resource has interacted with the unseen content of interest.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein identifying the trusted resource, comprises:

receiving, from a given user, inputs indicative of interactions with content;

identifying a subject matter area of the content interacted with by the given user;

determining a level of knowledge of the given user in the subject matter area of the content, based on a linguistic content of the inputs from the given user; and

if the level of knowledge of the given user in the subject matter area of the content meets a threshold level, then identifying the given user as a trusted resource in the subject matter area of the content.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 wherein receiving inputs indicative of interactions with content comprises:

receiving queries in a public search system.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein identifying seen content, comprises:

receiving user interaction inputs indicative of a user interacting with different items of content; and

storing the user interaction inputs to generate a store of seen content for the user.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4 wherein receiving user interaction inputs, comprises:

displaying posts in a public stream of the search system, for the user, as the different items of content;

receiving user click inputs indicative of a user clicking on, liking, or commenting on, the posts; and

generating a click index of the click inputs for the user, wherein storing the user interaction inputs comprises storing the click index.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 wherein identifying unseen content of interest, comprises:

comparing an identification of content of interest that the trusted resource has interacted with to the click inputs in the click index for the user to identify whether the user has interacted with the content of interest that the trusted resource has interacted with.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 and further comprising:

identifying content in the given subject matter area that the trusted resource has interacted with by identifying content authored by the trusted resource within the search system.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 and further comprising:

identifying content in the given subject matter area that the trusted resource has interacted with by identifying content the trusted resource has interacted with on a third party site.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the search system comprises a public search system in which public streams are generated for the user and the trusted resource, each public stream having posts therein, and further comprising:

receiving an input by the trusted resource indicative of the trusted resource interacting with a post in the public stream of the trusted resource; and

identifying content in the post as content that the trusted resource interacted with.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 wherein receiving an input by the trusted resource indicative of the trusted resource interacting with a post in the public stream comprises:

receiving the input by the trusted resource as an indication that the trusted resource has authored, liked or commented on the post.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein generating a user interface display comprises:

receiving a query, requesting information in the given subject matter area, from the user;

generating search results responsive to the query; and

generating the user interface display visually identifying certain ones of the search results as unseen content of interest.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the search system displays selectable elements representing subject matter areas of interest to the user, including the given subject matter area, and wherein generating a user interface display comprises:

receiving a user selection of the selectable element representing the given subject matter area; and

generating the user interface display showing the unseen content of interest for the given subject matter area represented by the selectable element selected by the user.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the search system comprises a public search system that displays a public search stream to the user having posts therein, and wherein generating the user interface display comprises:

generating the user interface as a post to the public stream of the user.

14. A public search system, comprising:

a user interface component receiving user inputs indicative of user queries and user interactions with content generated by the public search system;

a search component that receives queries input by a user, searches a data store and returns results responsive to the queries;

an interest tracking component identifying topics of interest to the user

an unseen content of interest tracking component that tracks, comprising;

a trusted resource identifier identifying respective trusted resources in each of the identified topics of interest;

a new content identifier identifying new content that the trusted resources interacted with in their respective topic of interest; and

a seen results data store storing information indicative of search results that the user has interacted with, the unseen content of interest tracking component comparing the new content to the information in the seen results data store to determine whether the user has already interacted with the new content, to obtain a set of unseen content of interest for the user, and generating a user interface display at the user interface component displaying the unseen content of interest and an indication of why the unseen content of interest is being displayed; and

a computer processor being a functional component of the system and activated by the interest tracking component and the unseen content of interest tracking component to facilitate identifying the topics of interest, the trusted resources and the unseen content of interest.

15. The public search system of claim 14 and further comprising:

a topic feed generator that generates a public stream that has posts that include the user queries and results, the new content identifier identifying, as new content, items in the posts of the public stream of a trusted resource that the trusted resource has interacted with.

16. The public search system of claim 15 wherein the new content identifier identifies, as new content, search results returned in response to a trusted resource query submitted by the trusted resource and that the trusted resource selected for viewing.

17. The public search system of claim 14 wherein the unseen content of interest tracking component generates the user interface display, in response to receiving a user query related to the unseen content of interest, the user interface display visually emphasizing the unseen content of interest and textually identifying the trusted resource that interacted with the unseen content of interest.

18. A computer-implemented method of providing information to a user in a public search system, comprising:

identifying a trusted resource for a given subject matter of interest based on interactions of the trusted resource with the search system in the given subject matter;

storing query progressions of the trusted resource for queries submitted by the trusted resource relating to the given subject matter;

storing result information indicative of search results returned in response to a final query in each stored query progression and indicative of results that the trusted resource interacted with;

receiving a query progression from a user, including a user query related to the given subject matter;

comparing the query progression from the user to the stored query progressions of the trusted resource to identify a matching, stored query progression; and

providing a user interface display to the user based on the matching, stored query progression.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 18 wherein providing a user interface display comprises:

providing a suggestion that the user modify the user query to be the final query in the matching stored query progression.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 18 wherein providing a user interface display comprises:

providing the search results returned in response to the final query in the matching stored query progression and that the trusted resource interacted with.