Searching products catalogs
First Claim
1. A method of providing to a user an interactive product search facility suitable for searching product information stored in a product catalog, the method comprising the steps of:
- (a) providing a database of records respectively describing products, each of said records including a plurality of fields containing respective field values which characterize said products;
(b) receiving from a user a request to search said database of records in the form of a query based on one or more of said fields;
(c) providing to the user an initial set of similar search records found as a result of a similarity search based on said search request;
(d) receiving from the user relevance feedback as to which of said similar search records are of greater and/or lesser relevance to the user compared with other similar search records; and
(e) providing to the user a modified set of similar search results found as a result of a similarity search based on (i) said search request, and (ii) said relevance feedback, said modified set of similar search results providing to the user records which are generally of greater relevance to the user than said initial set of similar search results, wherein the provision of similar search results is performed with the assistance of similarity functions, and wherein different similarity functions are used for different types of products attributes.
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0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Searching online catalog databases by shoppers is improved by performing similarity searching on searches performed by the shopper, in conjunction with adjusting the similarity metric used during the search to interactively improve the relevance of the resulting search results to the shopper. This involves using relevance feedback and/or product redefinition to learn the “implied concept” of the shopper'"'"'s stated product requirements; that is, the quality of the search results is enhanced through understanding the concept implied by the shopper'"'"'s queries by, for example, learning from the product results marked as “relevant” or “irrelevant” by the shopper. This approach is in contrast with attempts to enhance search results using, for example, the shopper'"'"'s past orders or previous actions, or the past orders or previous actions of other shoppers who may have a purchase history similar to that of the current shopper.
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Citations
27 Claims
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1. A method of providing to a user an interactive product search facility suitable for searching product information stored in a product catalog, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) providing a database of records respectively describing products, each of said records including a plurality of fields containing respective field values which characterize said products;
(b) receiving from a user a request to search said database of records in the form of a query based on one or more of said fields;
(c) providing to the user an initial set of similar search records found as a result of a similarity search based on said search request;
(d) receiving from the user relevance feedback as to which of said similar search records are of greater and/or lesser relevance to the user compared with other similar search records; and
(e) providing to the user a modified set of similar search results found as a result of a similarity search based on (i) said search request, and (ii) said relevance feedback, said modified set of similar search results providing to the user records which are generally of greater relevance to the user than said initial set of similar search results, wherein the provision of similar search results is performed with the assistance of similarity functions, and wherein different similarity functions are used for different types of products attributes. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method of providing to a user an interactive product search facility suitable for searching product information stored in a product catalog, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) providing a database of records respectively describing products, each of said records including a plurality of fields containing respective field values which characterize said products;
(b) receiving from a user a request to search said database of records in the form of a query based on one or more of said fields;
(c) providing to the user an initial set of similar search records found as a result of a similarity search based on said search request;
(d) receiving from the user relevance feedback as to which of said similar search records are of greater and/or lesser relevance to the user compared with other similar search records; and
(e) providing to the user a modified set of similar search results found as a result of a similarity search based on (i) said search request, and (ii) said relevance feedback, said modified set of similar search results providing to the user records which are generally of greater relevance to the user than said initial set of similar search results, wherein on the basis of the relevance feedback, the similarity function, or parameters thereof, are modified so that the results of the modified similarity search provide the modified set of similar search results which better matches those of the initial set of similar search results designated relevant or irrelevant.
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12. A method of providing to a user an interactive product search facility suitable for searching product information stored in a product catalog, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) providing a database of records respectively describing products, each of said records including a plurality of fields containing respective field values which characterize said products;
(b) receiving from a user a request to search said database of records in the form of a query based on one or more of said fields;
(c) providing to the user an initial set of similar search records found as a result of a similarity search based on said search request;
(d) receiving from the user relevance feedback as to which of said similar search records are of greater and/or lesser relevance to the user compared with other similar search records; and
(e) providing to the user a modified set of similar search results found as a result of a similarity search based on (i) said search request, and (ii) said relevance feedback, said modified set of similar search results providing to the user records which are generally of greater relevance to the user than said initial set of similar search results, wherein before providing an initial set of similar search results, the following steps are performed;
(i) generating a number of similar product specifications by modifying one product attribute for each such product specification; and
(ii) receiving relevance feedback for one or more of these modified product specification, in order to adjust the query point and learn the similarity metric that is most suitable, prior to conducting a similarity search on the basis of said search request.
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13. A program storage device readable by computer, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by said computer to perform a method of providing to a user an interactive product search facility suitable for searching product information stored in a product catalog, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) providing a database of records respectively describing products, each of said records including a plurality of fields containing respective field values which characterize said products;
(b) receiving from a user a request to search said database of records in the form of a query based on one or more of said fields;
(c) providing to the user an initial set of similar search records found as a result of a similarity search based on said search request;
(d) receiving from the user relevance feedback as to which of said similar search records are of greater and/or lesser relevance to the user compared with other similar search records; and
(e) providing to the user a modified set of similar search results found as a result of a similarity search based on (i) said search request, and (ii) said relevance feedback, said modified set of similar search results providing to the user records which are generally of greater relevance to the user than said initial set of similar search results, wherein the provision of similar search results is performed with the assistance of similarity functions, and wherein different similarity functions are used for different types of product attributes. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. An apparatus searching product catalogs, the apparatus comprising:
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(a) a first unit operable for providing a database of records respectively describing products, each of said records including a plurality of fields containing respective field values which characterize said products;
(b) a second unit operable for receiving from a user a request to search said database of records in the form of a query based on one or more of said fields;
(c) a third unit operable for providing to the user an initial set of similar search records found as a result of a similarity search based on said search request;
(d) a fourth unit operable for receiving from the user relevance feedback as to which of said similar search records are of greater and/or lesser relevance to the user compared with other similar search records; and
(e) a fifth unit operable for providing to the user a modified set of similar search results found as a result of a similarity search based on (i) said search request, and (ii) said relevance feedback, said modified set of similar search results provides to the user records which are generally of greater relevance to the user than said initial set of similar search results, wherein the provision of similar search results is performed with the assistance of similarity functions, and wherein different similarity functions are used for different types of product attributes. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27)
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Specification