System and method of re-ordering search results based on prior user actions

• US 7,539,673 B2
• Filed: 06/21/2006
• Issued: 05/26/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/03/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Novell Incorporated (Open Text Corporation)
• Inventors: Trowbridge, Jon Eric
• Primary Examiner(s): LEROUX, ETIENNE PIERRE
• Application Number:
  US11/471,628
• Publication Number:
  US 20070033171A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,070 Days
• Field of Search: 707/2, 707/3, 709/224
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3438 monitoring of user actions tracking the activity of the user H04L67/535
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3452 Performance evaluation by statistical analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3466 Performance evaluation by tracing or monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/337 Profile generation, learning or modification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/338 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/40 of multimedia data, e.g. slideshows comprising image and additional audio data retrieval of still image data G06F16/50; retrieval of audio data G06F16/60; retrieval of video data G06F16/70
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9038 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/81 Threshold
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/86 Event-based monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/875 Monitoring of systems including the internet
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching

Abstract

The invention is directed to a system and method of reordering conventional search results provided by a remote search engine such as Google. The invention may leverage a chronological timeline of user action information to infer relationships between objects in a search result. The search result reordering process does not require direct interaction by the user.

Claims

1. A method for displaying search results, comprising:

intercepting search results that result from a search performed by a user, wherein the intercepted search results include a plurality of search result objects;

determining a chronological timeline of actions initiated by the user proximately in time to the search performed by the user, wherein the user-initiated actions each occur at a respective chronological position in the chronological timeline;

inferring one or more relationships between the plurality of search result objects and the user-initiated actions in the chronological timeline;

determining a relevancy value for one or more of the plurality of search result objects that are associated with one or more of the inferred relationships, wherein the relevancy value is based on a temporal proximity between the search performed by the user and the chronological position of the user-initiated actions associated with the inferred relationships;

reordering the intercepted search results based on the relevancy value determined for the one or more search result objects associated with the inferred relationships, wherein the reordered search results provide an increased relevance to the one or more search result objects associated with the inferred relationships; and

displaying the reordered search results to the user.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying a point in time when the search was performed by the user, wherein the user-initiated actions in the determined chronological timeline occurred during a time period prior to the identified point in time.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the temporal proximity is relative to the identified point in time when the search was performed by the user.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein determining the relevancy value for the one or more search result objects associated with the inferred relationships includes:

identifying one or more matches among the user-initiated actions in the chronological timeline for each of the one or more search result objects, wherein the matching user-initiated actions each occur at a respective chronological position in the timeline; and

determining the relevancy value for the one or more search result objects based on a temporal proximity of the chronological position of the matching user-initiated actions and the identified point in time when the search was performed by the user.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein inferring the relationships between the plurality of search result objects and the user-initiated actions in the chronological timeline includes:

determining a plurality of different clusters that indicate multiple possible meanings or interpretations for the plurality of search result objects;

identifying one or more matches among the user-initiated actions in the chronological timeline for each of the plurality of different clusters, wherein the matching user-initiated actions each occur at a respective chronological position in the timeline; and

computing a numerical score for each of the plurality of different clusters, wherein the numerical score is based on a frequency of the matches among the user-initiated actions and the chronological position of the matching user-initiated actions.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the relevancy value for the search result objects associated with the inferred relationships is based on the numerical score computed for the plurality of different clusters.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the reordered search results provide a decreased relevance to one or more of the plurality of search result objects that are not associated with one or more of the inferred relationships.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the relevancy value for the one or more search result objects associated with the inferred relationships includes:

identifying a frequency of matches among the user-initiated actions in the chronological timeline for each of the one or more search result objects; and

determining the relevancy value for the one or more search result objects based on the frequency of the matches.

9. A system for displaying search results, comprising:

a search result interceptor configured to intercept search results that result from a search performed by a user, wherein the intercepted search results include a plurality of search result objects;

a user action analyzer configured to determine a chronological timeline of actions initiated by the user proximately in time to the search preformed by the user, wherein the user-initiated actions each occur at a respective chronological position in the chronological timeline;

a correlation determining system configured to infer one or more relationships between the plurality of search result objects and the user-initiated actions in the chronological timeline;

a relevance engine configured to determine a relevancy value for one or more of the plurality of search result objects that are associated with one or more of the inferred relationships, wherein the relevancy value is based on a temporal proximity between the search performed by the user and the chronological position of the user-initiated actions associated with the inferred relationships;

a search result object organizer configured to reorder the intercepted search results based on the relevancy value determined, for the one or more search result objects associated with the inferred relationships, wherein the reordered search results provide an increased relevance to the one or more search result objects associated with the inferred relationships; and

a display mechanism configured to display the reordered search results to the user.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the user action analyzer is further configured to identify a point in time when the search was performed by the user, wherein the user-initiated actions in the determined chronological timeline occurred during a time period prior to the user identified point in time.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the temporal proximity is determined relative to the identified point in time when the search was performed by the user.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the correlation determining system includes a search result object analyzer configured to:

identify one or more matches among the user-initiated actions in the chronological timeline for each of the one or more search result objects, wherein the matching user-initiated actions each occur at a respective chronological position in the timeline; and

determine the relevancy value for the one or more search result objects based on a temporal proximity of the chronological position of the matching user-initiated actions and the identified point in time when the search was performed by the user.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the correlation determining system includes a search result object analyzer configured to:

determine a plurality of different clusters that indicate multiple possible meanings or interpretations for the plurality of search result objects;

identify one or more matches among the user-initiated actions in the chronological timeline for each of the plurality of different clusters, wherein the matching user-initiated actions each occur at a respective chronological position in the timeline; and

compute a numerical score for each of the plurality of different clusters, wherein the numerical score is based on a frequency of the matches among the user-initiated actions and the chronological position of the matching user-initiated actions.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the relevancy value for the search result objects associated with the inferred relationships is based on the numerical score computed for the plurality of different clusters.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the reordered search results provide a decreased relevance to one or more of the plurality of search result objects that are not associated with one or more of the inferred relationships.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the correlation determining system includes a search result object analyzer configured to:

identify a frequency of matches among the user-initiated actions in the chronological timeline for each of the one or more search result objects; and

determine the relevancy value for the one or more search result objects based on the frequency of the matches.