RANKING SEARCH RESULTS BASED ON COLOR SIMILARITY

• US 20140188855A1
• Filed: 12/28/2012
• Published: 07/03/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2012
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Walmart Apollo, LLC (WalMart Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Wal-Mart Stores Texas LLC (WalMart Inc.)
• Inventors: Vuong, Ba-Quy, Gattani, Abhishek, Tholiya, Namrata PramodKumar
• Application Number:
  US13/730,781
• Publication Number:
  US 20140188855A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/723
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results

Abstract

Example systems and methods that rank search results based on color are described. In one implementation, a method receives a product search query from a user and identifies a reference to a color in the product search query. The product search query is executed to identify multiple products. The method further identifies references to the color in a title or a description of each of the multiple products. A ranking of the multiple products is created by increasing the ranking of products that include a reference to the color in the title or the description.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a product search query from a user;

identifying a reference to a first color in the product search query;

identifying a second color that is similar to the first color;

identifying a plurality of products based on the product search query;

identifying references to the first color or the second color contained in a description of each of the plurality of products; and

creating, using one or more processors, a ranking of the plurality of products by increasing the ranking of products that include a reference to the first color or the second color in the description.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising communicating the ranking of the plurality of products to a device operated by the user.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising causing to display the ranking of the plurality of products to the user.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising analyzing the product search query to determine whether the user intended an actual color.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the ranking of the plurality of products is performed without reference to the first color or the second color if the user did not intend an actual color.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the analyzing of the product search query to determine whether the user intended an actual color includes calculating a cosine similarity between the search query and a title of each of the plurality of products.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the reference to a color in the product search query is a keyword in the product search query.

8. The method of claim 1, the identifying of the reference to the color in the product search query includes comparing each term in the product search query with a listing of known color terms.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifying of the second color that is similar to the first color includes calculating a color similarity score between each of a plurality of known color terms and the first color.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the calculating of the color similarity score utilizes a color difference formula.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the calculating of the color similarity score utilizes the CIE94 color difference formula.

12. A method comprising:

receiving a product search query from a user;

identifying a reference to a first color in the product search query;

identifying a listing of known color terms;

identifying a second color that is similar to the first color by calculating a color similarity score between the first color and each of the known color terms;

identifying a plurality of products based on the product search query;

identifying references to the first color or the second color contained in each of the plurality of products; and

creating, using one or more processors, a ranking of the plurality of products based on the product search query, the first color, and the second color.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising causing to display the ranking of the plurality of products to the user.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising analyzing the product search query to determine whether the user intended an actual color.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the ranking of the plurality of products is performed without reference to the first color or the second color if the user did not intend an actual color.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the analyzing of the product search query to determine whether the user intended an actual color includes calculating a cosine similarity between the search query and a title of each of the plurality of products.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the calculating of the color similarity score utilizes a color difference formula.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein the calculating of the color similarity score utilizes the CIE94 color difference formula.

19. An apparatus comprising:

a memory to store data associated with at least one product; and

one or more processors coupled to the memory, the one or more processors configured to;

receive a product search query from a user;

identify a reference to a first color in the product search query;

identify a second color that is similar to the first color;

identify a plurality of products based on the product search query;

identify references to the first color or the second color contained in a description of each of the plurality of products; and

create a ranking of the plurality of products by increasing the ranking of products that include a reference to the first color or the second color in the description.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the identification of the second color that is similar to the first color includes calculating a color similarity score between each of a plurality of known color terms and the first color.