Method and apparatus for a ranking engine

• US 7,370,381 B2
• Filed: 11/22/2005
• Issued: 05/13/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/22/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Truveo Incorporated (Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.)
• Inventors: Tuttle, Timothy D., Kocks, Peter F., Beguelin, Adam L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Cottingham; John
• Assistant Examiner(s): Rayyan; Susan F
• Application Number:
  US11/286,268
• Publication Number:
  US 20060218141A1
• Time in Patent Office: 903 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1, 707/3, 707/10, 707/104.1, 707/7
• US Class Current: 707/748
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/284 Relational databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/338 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/438 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/735 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/738 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/783 using metadata automatically derived from the content
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9536 Search customisation based on social or collaborative filtering
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/914 Video
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99937 Sorting

Abstract

A computer-implemented method is provided for ranking files from an Internet search. In one embodiment, the method comprises assigning a score to each file based on at least one of the following factors: recency, editorial popularity, clickthru popularity, favorites metadata, or favorites collaborative filtering. The files may be organized based on the assigned scores to provide users with more accurate search results.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for a ranking engine, the method comprising:

assigning a score to each file based on at least the following factors;

recency, editorial popularity, and clickthru popularity, wherein the score is R_T and is determined using the following formula;

2. The method of claim 1 wherein recency is weighted based on the following formula for R_r:

3. The method of claim 1 wherein editorial popularity is weighted between 1 and 0 and is based on at least one of the following:

Neilsen ratings, known brand names, website popularity (e.g. Alexa ranking), or the judgment of a professional or corporation with expertise in online media.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the file is a video file.

5. A computer-implemented method for organizing a collection of files from an Internet search, the method comprising:

assigning a score to each file based on at least the following factors;

recency, editorial popularity, clickthru popularity, favorites metadata, and favorites collaborative filtering, wherein the score is R_T and is determined using the following formula;

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the file is a media file.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the file is a video file.

8. The method of claim 5 wherein recency is weighted based on the following formula for R_r:

9. The method of claim 5 wherein editorial popularity is weighted between 1 and 0 and is based on at least one of the following:

Neilsen ratings, known brand names, website popularity (e.g. Alexa ranking), or the judgment of a professional or corporation with expertise in online media.

10. The method of claim 5 wherein weighting of favorites metadata is R_md=0 if no matches are found or 1 if a keyword field in the metadata of the file matches any favorite titles in a user'"'"'s favorite titles file, any favorite people in a user'"'"'s favorite people file, or any keyword in a user'"'"'s favorite keywords file.

11. The method of claim 5 wherein weighting of collaborative filtering favorites metadata is R_cf

R_{cf, l}=W_sim(S_{max, l})+(1−

W_sim)P_l,

12. The method of claim 11 wherein R_cf is a weighted sum of the maximum user similarity for an item l and the popularity of item l among K-Nearest Neighbors such that 0≦

R_cf≦

1.

13. A computer system comprising:

a processor;

ranking engine having programming code for displaying results of a search query based on scores, wherein the scores for files found in the search are based on at least the following factors;

recency, editorial popularity, and clickthru popularity, wherein each of the scores is R_T and is determined using the following formula;

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the files are media files.

15. The system of claim 13 wherein the files are video files.

16. The system of claim 13 wherein recency is weighted based on the following formula for R_r:

17. The system of claim 13 wherein editorial popularity is weighted between 1 and 0 and is based on at least one of the following:

Neilsen ratings, known brand names, website popularity (e.g. Alexa ranking), or the judgment of a professional or corporation with expertise in online media.

18. A computer system comprising:

a processor;

ranking engine having programming code for displaying results of a search query based on scores, wherein the scores for files found in the search are based on at least the following factors;

recency, editorial popularity, clickthru popularity, favorites metadata, and favorites collaborative filtering, wherein each of the scores is R_T and is determined using the following formula;

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the files are media files.

20. The system of claim 18 wherein the files are video files.

21. The system of claim 18 wherein recency is weighted based on the following formula for R_r:

22. The system of claim 18 wherein editorial popularity is weighted between 1 and 0 and is based on at least one of the following:

Neilsen ratings, known brand names, website popularity (e.g. Alexa ranking), or the judgment of a professional or corporation with expertise in online media.

23. The system of claim 18 wherein weighting of favorites metadata is R_md=0 if no matches are found or 1 if a keyword field in the metadata of the file matches any favorite titles in a user'"'"'s favorite titles file, any favorite people in a user'"'"'s favorite people file, or any keyword in a user'"'"'s favorite keywords file.

24. The system of claim 18 wherein weighting of collaborative filtering favorites metadata is R_cf

R_{cf, l}=W_sim(S_{max, l})+(1−

W_sim)P_l,

where;

25. The system of claim 24 wherein R_cf is a weighted sum of the maximum user similarity for an item l and the popularity of item l among K-Nearest Neighbors such that 0≦

R_cf1.