SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR REFINING SEARCH RESULTS

• US 20140149393A1
• Filed: 07/08/2013
• Published: 05/29/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/27/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Bhatt, Dhruv A., McNeil, Kristin E., Patel, Nitaben
• Granted Patent: US 9,846,720 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/722
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/245 Query processing
• 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 method, apparatus and article of manufacture for refining search results is disclosed. In one embodiment, the method comprises the steps of accepting a search query comprising one or more keywords, generating a first search result comprising one or more first search result members according to the search query, accepting a refinement command identifying one or more undesired first search result members, automatically refining the first search result to exclude the undesired first search result members and first search result members related to the undesired first search result members from the first search result, and providing the automatically refined search result.

Claims

1. A method of refining a search result, comprising:

accepting a search query comprising one or more keywords;

generating a first search result comprising one or more first search result members according to the search query;

accepting a refinement command identifying one or more undesired first search result members;

automatically refining the first search result to exclude the undesired first search result members and first search result members related to the undesired first search result members from the first search result; and

providing the automatically refined search result.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the refinement command is a delimeter proximate the undesired search result member.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of automatically refining the first search result comprises the steps of:

generating a second search result using the one or more undesired search result members, the second search result comprised of second search result members; and

automatically refining the first search result by excluding the second search result members from the first search result members.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the step of generating the second search result comprises:

determining which of the one or more keywords is related to the undesired search result;

determining a contextual annotation for each of the determined one or more keywords; and

generating the second search result from the determined one or more keywords and the determined contextual annotation of each of the determined one or more keywords.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein:

the annotation comprises a lexical class.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the step of automatically refining the first search result comprises the steps of;

generating a second search query from the one or more keywords and the one or more undesired search result members;

generating a second search result from the second search query;

the step of providing the automatically refined search result comprises the step of providing the second search result.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the step of generating a second search query from the one or more keywords and the undesired search result member comprises the steps of:

determining which of the one or more keywords is related to the undesired search result;

determining a contextual annotation for each of the determined one or more keywords; and

generating the second search query to exclude the determined contextually annotated determined key words from the second search result.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein:

the annotation comprises a lexical class.