Query rewriting with entity detection

• US 7,536,382 B2
• Filed: 03/31/2004
• Issued: 05/19/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Schmitt, Michael, Zhou, Hong, Curtiss, Michael, Bharat, Krishna, Mayer, Marissa
• Primary Examiner(s): Vital; Pierre M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nofal; Christopher P
• Application Number:
  US10/813,572
• Publication Number:
  US 20050222977A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,875 Days
• Field of Search: 715/206
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/90335 Query processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

A system receives a search query, determines whether the received search query includes an entity name, and determines whether the entity name is associated with a common word or phrase. When the entity name is associated with a common word or phrase, the system generates a link to a rewritten query, performs a search based on the received search query to obtain first search results, and provides the first search results and the link to the rewritten query. When the entity name is not associated with a common word or phrase, the system rewrites the received search query to include a restrict identifier associated with the entity name, generates a link to the received search query, performs a search based on the rewritten search query to obtain second search results, and provides the second search results and the link to the received search query.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving a search query from a device associated with a user;

determining whether the received search query includes an entity name;

determining whether the entity name corresponds to one of a plurality of common words or phrases;

rewriting the received search query to include a restrict identifier that restricts a search based on the rewritten search query to a domain associated with the entity name;

performing a search, based on the rewritten search query, to obtain search results when the entity name is determined not to correspond to one of the common words or phrases;

presenting the search results to the device when the search is performed based on the rewritten search query;

performing a search based on the received search query when the entity name is determined to correspond to one of the common words or phrases;

providing, to the device, a link to the rewritten search query when the search is performed based on the received search query;

receiving a selection of the link to the rewritten search query; and

performing a search based on the rewritten search query in response to the selection of the link to the rewritten search query.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a link to the received search query when the search is performed based on the rewritten search query.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving selection of the link to the received search query; and

performing a search based on the received search query in response to the selection of the link to the received search query.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether a word near the entity name in the received search query forms a common phrase with the entity name; and

performing a search based on the received search query when it is determined that a word near the entity name forms a common phrase with the entity name.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the entity name corresponds to one of the common words or phrases comprises:

comparing the entity name to a dictionary of words or phrases.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the entity name corresponds to one of the common words or phrases comprises:

using an inverse document frequency weighting technique or a linguistic modeling technique to identify whether the entity name corresponds to one of the common words or phrases.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the entity name corresponds to one of the common words or phrases comprises:

generating a table of entity names that correspond to the common words or phrases, and

determining whether the entity name corresponds to one of the common words or phrases based on the table.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the received search query includes an entity name comprises:

identifying a plurality of variations of a plurality of entity names, and

determining whether the received search query includes one of the variations of the entity names.

9. A device, comprising:

means for receiving a search query;

means for determining whether the received search query includes an entity name;

means for determining whether the entity name corresponds to one of a plurality of common words or phrases;

means for rewriting the received search query to include a restrict identifier that identifies a particular domain associated with the entity name;

means for performing a search within the particular domain, based on the rewritten search query, to obtain search results when it is determined that the entity name does not correspond to one of the common words or phrases;

means for providing the search results when the search within the particular domain is performed;

means for performing a search based on the received search query when the entity name is determined to correspond to one of the common words or phrases;

means for providing a link to the rewritten search query when the search is performed based on the received search query;

means for receiving a selection of the link to the rewritten search query; and

means for performing a search based on the rewritten search query in response to the selection of the link to the rewritten search query.

10. The device of claim 9, further comprising:

means for providing a link to the received search query when the search within the particular domain is performed.

11. The device of claim 10, further comprising:

means for receiving selection of the link to the received search query; and

means for performing a search based on the received search query in response to the selection of the link to the received search query.

12. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving a search query from a device associated with a user;

determining whether the received search query includes an entity name;

determining whether the entity name corresponds to one of a plurality of common words or phrases;

when the entity name corresponds to one of the common words or phrases,

generating a link to a rewritten query,

performing a search based on the received search query to obtain first search results,

providing, to the device, the first search results and the link to the rewritten query;

receiving a selection of the link to the rewritten search query, and

perform a search based on the rewritten search query in response to the selection of the link to the rewritten search query;

and when the entity name does not correspond to one of the common words or phrases,

rewriting the received search query to include a restrict identifier that identifies a particular domain associated with the entity name,

generating a link to the received search query,

performing a search for documents within the particular domain based on the rewritten search query to obtain second search results,

providing, to the device, the second search results and the link to the received search query,

receiving a selection of the link to the rewritten search query, and

performing a search based on the rewritten search query in response to the selection of the link to the rewritten search query.

13. A system, comprising:

a memory to store instructions; and

a processor to execute the instructions in the memory to;

receive a search query,

determine that the received search query includes an entity name,

determine whether the entity name corresponds to one of a plurality of common words or phrases,

rewrite the received search query to include a restrict identifier that restricts a search,

based on the rewritten search query, to a domain associated with the entity name,

when the entity name is determined to correspond to one of the common words or phrases;

perform a search based on the received search query,

provide a link to the rewritten search query,

receive a selection of the link to the rewritten search query, and

perform a search based on the rewritten search query in response to the selection of the link to the rewritten search query, and

when the entity name is determined not to correspond to one of the common words or phrases;

perform a search based on the rewritten search query to obtain search results, and

present the search results when the search is performed based on the rewritten search query.

14. The system of claim 13, where the processor is further configured to:

determine whether a word near the entity name in the received search query forms a common phrase with the entity name, and

perform a search based on the received search query when it is determined that a word near the entity name forms a common phrase with the entity name.

15. The system of claim 13, where when determining that the received search query includes an entity name, the processor is configured to:

identify a plurality of variations of a plurality of entity names, and

determine that the received search query includes one of the variations of the entity names.

16. A computer-readable memory device that stores computer-executable instructions, the computer-readable memory device comprising:

one or more instructions to receive a search query;

one or more instructions to determine that the received search query includes an entity name;

one or more instructions to determine whether the entity name corresponds to one of a plurality of common words or phrases;

one or more instructions to rewrite the received search query to include a restrict identifier that restricts a search based on the rewritten search query to a domain associated with the entity name;

one or more instructions to perform a search, based on the rewritten search query, to obtain search results when the entity name is determined not to correspond to one of the common words or phrases;

one or more instructions to present the search results when the search is performed based on the rewritten search query;

one or more instructions to perform a search based on the received search query when the entity name is determined to correspond to one of the common words or phrases;

one or more instructions to provide a link to the rewritten search query when the search is performed based on the received search query;

one or more instructions to receive a selection of the link to the rewritten search query; and

one or more instructions to perform a search based on the rewritten search query in response to the selection of the link to the rewritten search query.

17. The computer-readable memory device of claim 16, further comprising:

one or more instructions to provide a link to the received search query when the search is performed based on the rewritten search query.

18. The computer-readable memory device of claim 17, further comprising:

one or more instructions to receive selection of the link to the received search query; and

one or more instructions to perform a search based on the received search query in response to the selection of the link to the received search query.