System and method for optimizing search results

• US 7,058,624 B2
• Filed: 06/20/2001
• Issued: 06/06/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/20/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Regional Resources Ltd (Imperial Metals Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Masters, Graham S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Robinson, Greta
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lu, Kuen S.
• Application Number:
  US09/885,902
• Publication Number:
  US 20020198875A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,812 Days
• Field of Search: 707/4, 707/3, 707/1, 707/10
• US Class Current: 707/723
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3347 using vector based model
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99934 Query formulation, input preparation, or translation

Abstract

A system and method for searching for documents identified in a database, wherein the method comprises the steps of establishing a first search criterion associated with a keyword match between a keyword entry and the identified documents, establishing at least one additional search criterion based on a document attribute of the identified documents, determining a criterion matching score for identified documents for each of the established search criteria, associating a scaling factor with each of the established search criteria, calculating an overall matching score for a selection of the identified documents from the criterion matching scores and scaling factors associated therewith, and ordering the selection of identified documents based upon the calculated overall matching scores.

Claims

1. A method for searching for documents identified in a database, the method comprising the steps of:

establishing a first search criterion associated with a keyword match between a keyword entry and said identified documents;

establishing at least one additional search criterion based on a document attribute of said identified documents;

determining a criterion matching score for said identified documents for each of said established search criteria;

associating a scaling factor with each of said established search criteria;

calculating an overall matching score for selected ones of said identified documents from said determined criterion matching scores and said associated scaling factors; and

ordering said selected ones of said identified documents based upon said calculated overall matching scores.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said database is accessible from a web site and said identified documents are web pages.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein said step of establishing at least one additional search criterion comprises the step of:

establishing a search criterion based on a creation date of said identified documents.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein said step of establishing at least one additional search criterion comprises the step of:

establishing a search criterion based on a number of incoming links to said identified documents.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein said step of establishing at least one additional search criterion comprises the step of:

establishing a search criterion based on a readability of said identified documents.

6. The method of claim 2 wherein said associating step comprises the step of:

adjusting a scaling factor for at least one of said established search criteria.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising the step of:

modifying said adjusted scaling factor in at least two successive searching operations.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein said adjusting step comprises the step of:

manually adjusting said scaling factor.

9. The method of claim 6 wherein said adjusting step comprises the step of:

automatically adjusting said scaling factor.

10. The method of claim 6 further comprising the step of:

selecting a numerical range for a criterion matching result of at least one of said established search criteria.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein said determining step comprises the steps of:

mapping said criterion matching result into said selected numerical range;

selecting an origin offset associated with said mapped criterion matching result; and

adding said mapped criterion matching result and said selected origin offset.

12. The method of claim 2 wherein said calculating step comprises the steps of:

multiplying each said determined criterion matching score by its associated scaling factor;

squaring each said multiplied determined criterion matching score;

summing said squared multiplied determined criterion matching scores; and

determining a square root of said summed squared multiplied determined criterion matching scores.

13. A search engine for recovering documents, the search engine comprising:

an interface for receiving search criteria defining at least one keyword query and at least one document attribute query, wherein said interface receives exclusion-weighting criteria; and

an adjustment setting for adjusting a weighting of a search criterion of said search criteria based on said exclusion-weighting criteria defining said at least one document attribute query.

14. The search engine of claim 13 wherein said search engine operates in conjunction with a world wide web browser and said documents are web pages.

15. The search engine of claim 13 further comprising:

a document rank calculator for determining a rank of a document of said documents based on said adjusted weighting of said search criterion defining said at least one document attribute query.

16. The search engine of claim 13 further comprising:

a normalization algorithm for mapping a naturally occurring numeric range of results returned for said search criterion defining said at least one document attribute query into a user-defined range.

17. A system for searching for web pages on the Internet, the system comprising:

means for establishing at least one document attribute search query;

means for adjusting an importance of said at least one established document attribute search query relative to a keyword match query;

means for calculating a search result rank for said web pages based on said adjusted importance;

means for recovering web pages from the Internet based on said calculated web page search result rank; and

means for ordering said recovered web pages in order of decreasing value of said established web page search result rank.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein said at least one document attribute search query comprises:

a search query directed to a creation date of a web page of said web pages.

19. The system of claim 17 wherein said adjusting means comprises:

means for generating a scaling factor proportional to said adjusted importance of said at least one document attribute search query.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein said generating means comprises:

a user-data input mechanism.