SELECTING CONTENT BASED ON ENTITIES PRESENT IN SEARCH RESULTS

• US 20150039589A1
• Filed: 07/31/2013
• Published: 02/05/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Collins, Alexander, Wansley, Andrew T.
• Granted Patent: US 9,436,946 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/722
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0256 User search

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus include computer programs encoded on a computer-readable storage medium for providing content to a user. A method includes: receiving a query; receiving query results based on the query; determining for each of a predetermined number of top results entities associated therewith; using the determined entities to either augment or filter the query producing an enhanced query; and using the enhanced query to identify one or more sponsored content items for presentation to a user along with the query results.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a query;

receiving query results based on the query;

determining for each of a predetermined number of top results entities associated therewith;

using the determined entities to either augment or filter the query producing an enhanced query; and

using the enhanced query to identify one or more sponsored content items for presentation to a user along with the query results.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving the query includes receiving an explicit query from a user or an implicit query generated by a content delivery system.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining the predetermined number of top results based on a display environment for presenting query results to the user.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein determining entities for a top result includes determining a predetermined number of entities for each top result.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising filtering the entities associated with the top result to produce a filtered set of entities and wherein using the determined entities includes using only the filtered set of entities to augment or filter the query.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein augmenting the query includes adding one or more of the entities of the determined entities to the query prior to using the enhanced query to determine the one or more sponsored content items.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein filtering the query includes removing an entity that is explicitly included in the query prior to using the enhanced query to determine the one or more sponsored content items.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein determining one or more sponsored content items includes determining one or more advertisements that are targeted to an entity in the determined entities.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the query results are of the form of suggestions that are made responsive to the query being entered and prior to the submission of the query to a search service and wherein the one or more sponsored content items include sponsored content items for presentation along with a resource associated with a selected suggestion.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the query is an implicit query and results in presentation of query results to the user without the user explicitly providing the query.

11. A computer program product tangibly embodied in a computer-readable storage device and comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to

receive a query;

receive query results based on the query;

determine for each of a predetermined number of top results entities associated therewith;

use the determined entities to either augment or filter the query producing an enhanced query; and

use the enhanced query to identify one or more sponsored content items for presentation to a user along with the query results.

12. The product of claim 11 wherein receiving the query includes receiving an explicit query from a user or an implicit query generated by a content delivery system.

13. The product of claim 11 wherein determining entities for a top result includes determining a predetermined number of entities for each top result.

14. The product of claim 11 wherein augmenting the query includes adding one or more of the entities of the determined entities to the query prior to using the enhanced query to determine the one or more sponsored content items.

15. The product of claim 11 wherein filtering the query includes removing an entity that is explicitly included in the query prior to using the enhanced query to determine the one or more sponsored content items.

16. A system comprising:

a query enhancer;

a content selector; and

wherein the query enhancer is configured to;

receive a query;

receive query results based on the query;

determine for each of a predetermined number of top results entities associated therewith; and

use the determined entities to either augment or filter the query producing an enhanced query; and

wherein the content selector is configured to use the enhanced query to identify one or more sponsored content items for presentation to a user along with the query results.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein receiving the query includes receiving an explicit query from a user or an implicit query generated by a content delivery system.

18. The system of claim 16 wherein determining entities for a top result includes determining a predetermined number of entities for each top result.

19. The system of claim 16 wherein augmenting the query includes adding one or more of the entities of the determined entities to the query prior to using the enhanced query to determine the one or more sponsored content items.

20. The system of claim 16 wherein filtering the query includes removing an entity that is explicitly included in the query prior to using the enhanced query to determine the one or more sponsored content items.