HIERARCHICAL ENTITY INFORMATION FOR SEARCH

• US 20140358913A1
• Filed: 05/28/2013
• Published: 12/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Liao, Ciya, Cai, Jie
• Granted Patent: US 9,633,080 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/728
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/185 Hierarchical storage management [HSM] systems, e.g. file migration or policies thereof details of archiving G06F16/11
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/288 Entity relationship models
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/90348 by searching ordered data, e.g. alpha-numerically ordered data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/904 Browsing; Visualisation therefor for navigating the web G06F16/954; browsing optimisation for the web G06F16/957
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

A fast browsing architecture for exploring hierarchical lists of entities through a search user interface. A graphical UI operates to handle the hierarchical lists and sub-lists in different ways for different scenarios such as a hierarchical level is zero (only one list of entities associated with a query and the list cannot be further drilled down), a second scenario where the hierarchical level is one (a list of entities associated with the query and these entities can be further drilled down to a number of sub-lists) and the sub-lists cannot be further drilled down, and a third scenario where the hierarchical level is more than one (a list of entities associated with the query and these entities can be further drilled down to a number of sub-lists), sub-lists can be further drilled down to a number of lists, until there is no more drill down lists to be found.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a data structure of lists of entities of query and entity relationships extracted from a search entity data source, the data structure having different levels of hierarchy;

a search user interface that enables browsing of the lists of entities of the data structure as related to a specific query; and

a microprocessor that executes computer-executable instructions associated with at least the user interface.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the data structure is a lookup table of queries and entity relationships, the table indexed by the queries.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the data structure includes a list of entities having an entity sub-list, the sub-list compiled according to relevance and confidence data.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the data structure includes entity intent data for a given query.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the user interface enables gesture-based interaction to browse the lists of entities.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the user interface enables drilldown of a list of entities using a sub-list as a new query to find a new list of entities.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the user interface presents the lists of entities in a ranked format and using graphical emphasis to indicate ranking.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the user interface displays an additional sub-list with a list if entities currently presented when the sub-list is available.

9. A method, comprising acts of:

accessing a hierarchical data structure of entities and entity lists based on a search query, the hierarchical data structure comprised of query and entity relationships;

presenting a list of entities in a user interface based on the hierarchical data structure as related to the query; and

enabling interactive selection of the list of entities and exposure of available sub-lists of entities related to the list of entities via the user interface.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising presenting the entities and entity lists in a ranked format using graphical emphasis and element positioning to indicate ranking.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising enabling touch-based interactive selection and exposure of the lists of entities and sub-lists of entities via the user interface.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising computing an entity identifier, relevance score, probability score, and additional query for a given entity intent of the hierarchical data structure.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising computing confidence scores for entities of a sub-list and using the confidence scores to rank entities of the sub-list.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising automatically presenting groups of visual interactive elements related to the list of entities, and visual interactive elements related to the sub-lists of entities to indicate the availability of the sub-list of entities for a given entity.

15. The method of claim 9, further comprising presenting the list of entities as a horizontal scrollable bi-directional row of interactive entities and a sub-list of entities as a vertical scrollable bi-directional column of interactive entities.

16. A computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions that when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform acts of:

accessing a hierarchical lookup table of queries, entity lists, and entity sub-lists based on a search query, the lookup table indexed by query;

presenting an entity list in a user interface based on the query;

enabling scrolling through the entity list and selection of an entity; and

enabling access to hierarchically structured entity sub-lists in association with the entity via the user interface, when an entity sub-list exists.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, further comprising computing and storing in the lookup table an entity identifier, relevance score, probability score, and additional query for a given entity intent related to the query.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, further comprising computing and storing in the lookup table confidence scores for entities of a sub-list and using the confidence scores to rank entities of the sub-list.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, further comprising enabling gesture-based interactive selection and access of the entity lists and entity sub-lists via the user interface.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, further comprising automatically presenting a set of visual interactive elements for an entity to indicate presence of an entity sub-list for that entity.