Suggested Search Based on a Content Item

• US 20140330857A1
• Filed: 05/06/2013
• Published: 11/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/06/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dropbox, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Dropbox, Inc.
• Inventors: Hunter, Rian, Seo, Kijun
• Granted Patent: US 10,152,538 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/767
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3344 using natural language analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques

Abstract

A note sharing system is presented with a content management system. Note sharing system manages creation and distribution of edits to notes to users sharing notes. Notes are stored as a series of edits at note sharing system. When an edit to a note is received, the edit is propagated to users subscribed to a note by a backend server responsible for managing the note. The sharing users are notified through notes servers associated with each sharing user. Notes server includes various indices for searching notes and allows notes to be searched quickly to organize viewing by a user of notes and identification of relevant material in notes. The stored edits are used to display edits to a note to a user by replaying the accessed note to the user.

Claims

1. A method for suggesting a search term, comprising:

receiving a search query including a set of search terms from a client device of a current user;

executing a search in a corpus of content items based on the search query to identify a set of search results including a plurality of content items that are shared between the current user and other users;

providing the set of search results to the client device for presentation on the client device;

receiving an indication from the client device of a selected content item from the plurality of content items;

determining a set of suggested search tokens based on tokens associated with the selected content item; and

providing the set of suggested search tokens to the client device for presentation, wherein the suggested search tokens are suggested as additions to the set of search terms for executing a new search.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a refined search query from the client device including a set of refined search terms, the refined search terms including the set of search terms and at least one suggested search token in the set of suggested search tokens;

executing a refined search in the corpus of content items based on the refined search query to identify a set of refined search results;

providing the set of refined search results to the client device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of suggested search tokens includes a URL.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of suggested search tokens includes an image.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of suggested search tokens includes a user name.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of suggested search tokens includes a location.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of suggested search tokens is determined based on a frequency of tokens associated with the selected content item relative to a frequency of tokens appearing in content items in the corpus.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of suggested search tokens is determined based on a frequency of tokens associated with the selected content item relative to a frequency of tokens appearing in the other content items in the search results.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of suggested search tokens includes at least one keyword, at least one user name, and at least one location.

10. A system for suggesting a search term, comprising:

a processor configured to execute instructions; and

a memory storing instructions for execution on the processor causing the processor to perform the steps of;

request a search in a corpus of content items based on a search query associated with a current user;

receive a set of search results including a group of content items, where the content items are shared between the current user and other users;

present the set of search results on a display;

receive a selection of a content item in the group of content items;

present a set of suggested search tokens, the set of suggested search tokens based on the selected content item;

receive a selection of a search token in the set of suggested search tokens; and

request a refined search in the corpus of content items based on the search query and the selected search token.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:

determine the set of suggested search tokens based on tokens associated with the selected content item.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the set of suggested search tokens is determined by the processor based on a frequency of tokens associated with the selected content item relative to a frequency of tokens appearing in content items in the corpus.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the set of suggested search tokens includes at least one suggested search token selected from the group consisting of:

a URL, an image, a user name, and a location.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions executable by a processor to cause the processor to:

receive a search query including a set of search terms from a client device of a current user;

execute a search in a corpus of content items based on the search query to identify a set of search results including a plurality of content items that are shared between the current user and other users;

provide the set of search results to the client device for presentation on the client device;

receive an indication from the client device of a selected content item from the plurality of content items;

determine a set of suggested search tokens based on tokens associated with the selected content item; and

provide the set of suggested search tokens to the client device for presentation, wherein the suggested search tokens are suggested as additions to the set of search terms for executing a new search.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:

receive a refined search query from the client device including a set of refined search terms, the refined search terms including the set of search terms and at least one suggested search token in the set of suggested search terms;

execute a refined search in the corpus of content items based on the refined search query to identify a set of refined search results; and

provide the set of refined search results to the client device.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the set of suggested search tokens includes at least one keyword, at least one user name, and at least one location.