PERTURBING SEARCH RESULTS
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- receiving, at a server in a computer system and from a first user, a query to perform a search for user-interested information, the query including query parameters;
obtaining, at the server and in response to the query, a plurality of search results based on the query parameters, the search results including the user-interested information;
perturbing, at the server, at least a portion of the search results based on a perturbation criterion to generate a first set of perturbed search results; and
serving, by the server, the first set of perturbed search results to the first user.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Disclosed here are methods, systems, paradigms and structures for spreading the interest of a user evenly over a predefined set of search results. A search engine retrieves search results from a database and perturbs at least a portion of the search results, that is, randomizes the order of the portion before presenting it to the user. In this way, even when a search is repeated between database update cycles, the user would see different top search results every time the search is executed. The perturbation technique can be applied to a search in a social networking system which searches for users. The perturbation can be done by randomizing the display order of the sear results based on a most recent activity time of the user. The perturbed search results will have different users every time the user performs a search. The perturbed search results are customized per user.
21 Citations
23 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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receiving, at a server in a computer system and from a first user, a query to perform a search for user-interested information, the query including query parameters; obtaining, at the server and in response to the query, a plurality of search results based on the query parameters, the search results including the user-interested information; perturbing, at the server, at least a portion of the search results based on a perturbation criterion to generate a first set of perturbed search results; and serving, by the server, the first set of perturbed search results to the first user. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method comprising:
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receiving, at a server in a computer system, a query to perform a search for user-interested information, the query including query parameters; obtaining, at the server and in response to the query, a plurality of search results from a database based on the query parameters, the search results including the user-interested information; determining, at the server, whether the query is received within a predefined duration from the time query was executed previously; responsive to a determination that the query is received within a predefined duration from the time query was executed previously, perturbing, at the server, at least a portion of the search results based on a perturbation criterion to generate perturbed search results; and serving, by the server, the perturbed search results. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18)
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19. A system comprising:
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a processor; a receiver unit working in cooperation with the processor to receive a query to perform a search for user-interested information, the query including query parameters; a search unit working in cooperation with the processor to obtain, in response to the query and from a database, a plurality of search results based on the query parameters, the search results including the user-interested information; a perturbation determination unit working in cooperation with the processor to determine whether the query is received within a predefined duration from the time query was executed previously; a search result perturbation unit working in cooperation with the processor to perturb, responsive to a determination that the query is received within a predefined duration from the time query was executed previously, at least a portion of the search results based on a perturbation criterion to generate perturbed search results; and a search result transmission unit working in cooperation with the processor to serve the perturbed search results to a client device. - View Dependent Claims (20)
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21. A method comprising:
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receiving, at a server in a computer system and from a first user and a second user, a query to perform a search for user-interested information, the query including query parameters; obtaining, at the server and in response to the query, a plurality of search results based on the query parameters, the search results including the user-interested information; perturbing, at the server, at least a portion of the search results based on a perturbation criterion to generate a first set of perturbed search results for the first user and a second set of perturbed search results for the second user, the first set of perturbed search results being different from the second set of perturbed search results; and serving, by the server, the first set of perturbed search results to the first user and the second set of perturbed search results to the second user.
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22. The method of claim 22, wherein perturbing the search results include perturbing the search results for the first user based on a first perturbation criterion and perturbing the search results for the second user based on a second perturbation criterion.
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23. A method comprising:
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receiving, at a server in a computer system and from a user, a query to perform a search for user-interested information, the query including query parameters; obtaining, at the server and in response to the query, a plurality of search results based on the query parameters, the search results including the user-interested information; serving, by the server, the search results to a client device in the computer system; and perturbing, at the client device, at least a portion of the search results based on a perturbation criterion to generate perturbed search results.
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Specification