DISPLAYING REGION-BASED SEARCH RESULTS

• US 20160004725A1
• Filed: 06/23/2015
• Published: 01/07/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/04/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
• Inventors: Liu, Zhimin
• Granted Patent: US 10,031,923 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases

Abstract

Providing search results includes: receiving a set of one or more search keywords; obtaining a plurality of search results that are generated in response to a search performed using the set of one or more search keywords, the plurality of search results each having corresponding region attribute information; establishing a set of one or more regions according to at least region attribute information of the plurality of search results; generating display information associated with the set of one or more regions, the display information comprising one or more of: textual information, graphic information, or geographical location information; and causing the display information to be displayed.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving a set of one or more search keywords;

obtaining a plurality of search results that are generated in response to a search performed using the set of one or more search keywords, the plurality of search results each having corresponding region attribute information;

establishing a set of one or more regions according to at least region attribute information of the plurality of search results;

generating display information associated with the set of one or more regions, the display information comprising one or more of;

textual information, graphic information, or geographical location information; and

causing the display information to be displayed.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

causing the textual information, the graphic information, or both, to be displayed in the set of one or more regions on an electronic map.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

causing to be displayed a set of one or more markers corresponding to the set of one or more regions on an electronic map, based at least in part on a set of one or more geographic locations corresponding to the geographic location information of the set of one or more regions.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the display information further comprises one or more of:

a search box near which the one or more regions are displayed;

or

a search results suggestion box near which the one or more regions are displayed.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the set of one or more regions comprises M regions, M being an integer greater than or equal to 1; and

the establishing the set of M regions according to the region attribute information of the plurality of search results comprises;

determining a set of N regions associated with the plurality of search results, N being an integer greater than or equal to M;

ranking the N regions according to a number of search results under each of the N regions; and

adjusting ranking results of the ranking according to a location of a terminal from which the set of one or more search keywords is entered and corresponding locations of the N regions to select M regions based on the adjusted ranking results.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of search results each further has a corresponding category attribute information, and the set of one or more regions is established further according to the category attribute information of the plurality of the search results.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein:

the set of one or more regions comprises M regions, M being an integer greater than or equal to 1; and

establishing the set of one or more regions further comprises;

determining a set of one or more search categories associated with the set of one or more search keywords according to the category attribute information of respective ones of the plurality of search results;

determining P regions associated with the plurality of search results according to the region attribute information of each of the plurality of search results, P being an integer greater than or equal to M, and the P regions determined have corresponding names and business categories;

using the search keywords to match among the names of the P regions to obtain Q regions, Q being an integer greater than or equal to 0;

using the search keywords to match among the business categories of the P regions to obtain R regions, R being an integer greater than or equal to 0;

using the search categories associated with the search keywords to match among the business categories of each of the P regions to obtain S regions, S being an integer greater than or equal to 0;

ranking the Q regions, the R regions, and the S regions according to an order in which they were obtained; and

adjusting ranking results of the ranking according to a location of a terminal from which the set of one or more search keywords is entered, corresponding locations of the Q regions, corresponding locations of the R regions, and corresponding locations of the S regions to select the M regions.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining information pertaining to a search target region selected by a user among M regions; and

using the search keywords and the search target region to execute search operations.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein using the search keywords and the search target region to execute search operations comprises:

displaying a page corresponding to the search target region and using the search keywords and the search target region to execute search operations in the page;

or

displaying the search keywords and a name of the search target region and using the search keywords and the search target region to execute search operations.

10. A system comprising:

one or more processors configured to;

receive a set of one or more search keywords;

receive a plurality of search results that are generated in response to a search performed using the set of one or more search keywords, the plurality of search results each having corresponding region attribute information;

establish a set of one or more regions according to at least region attribute information of the plurality of search results;

generate display information associated with the set of one or more regions, the display information comprising one or more of;

textual information, graphic information, or geographical location information; and

cause the display information to be displayed; and

one or more memories coupled to the one or more processors, configured to provide the one or more processors with instructions.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

cause the textual information, the graphic information, or both, to be displayed in the set of one or more regions on an electronic map.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

cause to be displayed a set of one or more markers corresponding to the set of one or more regions on an electronic map, based at least in part on a set of one or more geographic locations corresponding to the geographic location information of the set of one or more regions.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the display information further comprises one or more of:

a search box near which the one or more regions are displayed;

or

a search results suggestion box near which the one or more regions are displayed.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein:

the set of one or more regions comprises M regions, M being an integer greater than or equal to 1; and

to establish the set of M regions according to the region attribute information of the is plurality of search results comprises to;

determine a set of N regions associated with the plurality of search results, N being an integer greater than or equal to M;

rank the N regions according to a number of search results under each of the N regions; and

adjust ranking results of the ranking according to a location of a terminal from which the set of one or more search keywords is entered and corresponding locations of the N regions to select M regions based on the adjusted ranking results.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the plurality of search results each further has a corresponding category attribute information, and the set of one or more regions is established further according to the category attribute information of the plurality of the search results.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein:

the set of one or more regions comprises M regions, M being an integer greater than or equal to 1; and

to establish the set of one or more regions further comprises to;

determine a set of one or more search categories associated with the set of one or more search keywords according to the category attribute information of respective ones of the plurality of search results;

determine P regions associated with the plurality of search results according to the region attribute information of each of the plurality of search results, P being an integer greater than or equal to M, and the P regions determined have corresponding names and business categories;

use the search keywords to match among the names of the P regions to obtain Q regions, Q being an integer greater than or equal to 0;

use the search keywords to match among the business categories of the P regions to obtain R regions, R being an integer greater than or equal to 0;

use the search categories associated with the search keywords to match among the business categories of each of the P regions to obtain S regions, S being an integer greater than or equal to 0;

rank the Q regions, the R regions, and the S regions according to an order in which they were obtained; and

adjust ranking results of the ranking according to a location of a terminal from which the set of one or more search keywords is entered, corresponding locations of the Q regions, corresponding locations of the R regions, and corresponding locations of the S regions to select the M regions.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

obtain information pertaining to a search target region selected by a user among M regions; and

use the search keywords and the search target region to execute search operations.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein to use the search keywords and the search target region to execute search operations comprises to:

display a page corresponding to the search target region and use the search keywords and the search target region to execute search operations in the page;

or

display the search keywords and a name of the search target region and use the search keywords and the search target region to execute search operations.

19. A computer program product, the computer program product being embodied in a tangible computer readable storage medium and comprising computer instructions for:

receiving a set of one or more search keywords;

obtaining a plurality of search results that are generated in response to a search performed using the set of one or more search keywords, the plurality of search results each having corresponding region attribute information;

establishing a set of one or more regions according to at least region attribute information of the plurality of search results;

generating display information associated with the set of one or more regions, the display information comprising one or more of;

textual information, graphic information, or geographical location information; and

causing the display information to be displayed.

20. A method, comprising:

receiving a query entered by a user;

identifying a plurality of items matching the query;

grouping the plurality of items based at least in part on geographic information associated with the plurality of items and geographic information associated with the user; and

causing the grouped items to be displayed to the user.