Systems and methods for performing point-of-view searching

• US 7,296,016 B1
• Filed: 03/12/2003
• Issued: 11/13/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Chang, Bay-Wei, Henzinger, Monika H., Farach-Colton, Martin
• Primary Examiner(s): Gaffin; Jeffrey
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hicks; Michael J.
• Application Number:
  US10/385,752
• Time in Patent Office: 1,707 Days
• Field of Search: 707/3, 707/4, 707/5, 707/2, 709/218, 709/219
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99932 Access augmentation or optimizing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99934 Query formulation, input preparation, or translation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access

Abstract

A system provides search results relating to a point-of-view (POV). The system obtains a search query and POV data. The system generates a list of documents based on the search query and filters the list of documents based on the POV data. Alternatively, the system may perform a search based on the search query and the POV data to generate the list of documents. In either case, the system then presents the list of documents as the result of the search.

Claims

1. A method for providing search results relating to a point-of-view (POV), comprising:

obtaining a search query;

storing POV data prior to obtaining the search query, the POV data including a set of Uniform Resource Locators (URLs), where a URL in the set of URLs is associated with a document previously accessed by a user;

generating a list of documents based on the search query;

filtering the list of documents based on the POV data; and

presenting the filtered list of documents.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of URLs includes URLs associated with on-topic documents related to the POV.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the set of URLs includes URLs associated with off-topic documents unrelated to the POV.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

expanding the set of URLs.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the expanding the set of URLs includes:

obtaining one or more key words,

performing a search using the one or more key words,

identifying one or more URLs based on the search, and

adding one or more of the identified URLs to the set of URLs.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the obtaining one or more key words includes:

identifying the one or more key words from the set of URLs.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the obtaining one or more key words includes:

receiving the one or more key words from a user.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein the expanding the set of URLs includes:

identifying one or more URLs that are co-cited with the set of URLs, where one of the identified URLs is co-cited with a URL in the set of URLs when a document exists that points to both a document associated with the one identified URL and a document associated with the URL in the set of URLs, and

adding one or more of the identified URLs to the set of URLs.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

including a URL, corresponding to a document currently accessed by a user that provided the search query, in the set of URLs.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

including a URL, corresponding to a document recently accessed by a user that provided the search query, in the set of URLs.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying the set of URLs from a favorites list created by a user.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the favorites list includes favorite web sites recorded by a web browser.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the filtering the list of documents includes:

setting a reset probability of URLs in the set of URLs to 1/k, where k represents a total number of URLs in the set of URLs, and

assigning scores to documents in the list of documents using a document ranking method based on the reset probabilities of the URLs in the set of URLs.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the assigning scores to documents includes:

setting a reset probability of other URLs to zero, and

assigning scores to documents in the list of documents using a document ranking method based on the reset probabilities of the URLs in the set of URLs and the reset probabilities of the other URLs.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

arranging the scored documents according to the assigned scores.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the filtering the list of documents includes:

assigning scores to links associated with documents in the list of documents.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the filtering the list of documents further includes:

weighting a first one of the links that leads toward a document more relevant to the POV higher than a second one of the links that leads toward a document less relevant to the POV.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the filtering the list of documents further includes:

assigning scores to the links using a document ranking method and the weighting of the links.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of URLs includes one or more URLs selected by a user.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

filtering the one or more URLs selected by the user to identify those of the one or more URLs relating to the search query.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of URLs includes one or more URLs that were identified in association with a previous search.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

filtering the one or more URLs to identify those of the one or more URLs relating to the search query.

23. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

adding one or more of the URLs to the filtered list of documents.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein the storing POV data includes:

providing a database of URLs arranged in clusters by topic, and

identifying one or more clusters that are relevant to a topic of the search query.

25. The method of claim 1, wherein the storing POV data further includes:

obtaining one or more key words that identify documents that are related to the POV.

26. The method of claim 1, wherein the storing POV data further includes:

obtaining identification of one or more categories.

27. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

using the POV data to augment the search query.

28. The method of claim 1, wherein the storing POV data includes:

obtaining data from one or more prior searches by a user, and

using the data as the POV data.

29. The method of claim 1, wherein the storing POV data further includes:

obtaining key words from documents previously selected or obtained by a user, and

using the key words as the POV data.

30. The method of claim 1, wherein the filtering the list of documents based on the POV data includes:

retrieving the POV data, and using the retrieved POV data to filter the list of documents.

31. A system for providing search results related to a defined point-of-view (POV), comprising:

a memory configured to store instructions; and

a processor configured to execute the instructions in the memory to;

obtain one or more search terms,

store POV data that defines a POV prior to obtaining the one or more search terms, the POV data including a set of addresses, where at least one of the addresses is associated with a favorites list associated with a user,

identify documents based on a search performed using the one or more search terms,

filter the identified documents based on the POV data, and

provide the filtered documents.

32. A computer readable memory device that includes instructions executable by at least one processor for implementing a search engine, comprising:

instructions for obtaining a search query from a user;

instructions for obtaining point-of-view (POV) data that defines a POV, the POV data including information regarding documents previously selected or obtained by the user, where the POV data is defined prior to obtaining the search query;

instructions for identifying documents based on the search query;

instructions for filtering the documents based on the POV data; and

instructions for providing the filtered documents.

33. A computer readable memory device that includes instructions executable by at least one processor for implementing a search engine, comprising:

instructions for obtaining a request for a search from a user;

instructions for receiving and storing point-of-view (POV) data that defines a POV for the search prior to obtaining the request for the search, the POV data including a set of addresses associated with documents currently or previously accessed by the user, where the documents include at least one on-topic document relating to the POV and at least one off-topic document unrelated to the POV;

instructions for performing a search of documents based on the POV data;

instructions for generating a list of documents as a result of the search; and

instructions for providing the list of documents.

34. A method for performing a search from a point-of-view (POV), comprising:

receiving a request for a search from a user;

storing POV data that defines the POV for the search prior to receiving the request for the search, the POV data including at least one of an address associated with a document currently accessed by the user, an address associated with a document recently accessed by the user, or a document associated with a favorites list of the user;

performing a search of documents based on the POV data;

generating a list of documents as a result of the search; and

presenting the list of documents.

35. A method for providing search results relating to a point-of-view (POV), comprising:

obtaining a search query from a user;

storing a set of Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) related to the POV prior to obtaining the search query from the user, where at least one URL in the set of URLs is associated with a document that was identified in association with a prior search query from the user;

generating a list of links to documents based on the search query;

filtering the list of links based on the set of URLs; and

presenting the filtered list of links.