Relevance ranking of spatially coded documents

• US 7,596,581 B2
• Filed: 11/17/2004
• Issued: 09/29/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/22/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Metacarta, Inc.
• Inventors: Frank, John R., Rauch, Erik M., Donoghue, Karen
• Primary Examiner(s): Woo; Isaac M
• Application Number:
  US10/990,588
• Publication Number:
  US 20050091209A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,777 Days
• Field of Search: 707 1- 10, 707100-1041, 707200-206
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/338 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing
• 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 707/99937 Sorting
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99938 Concurrency, e.g. lock management in shared database
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99939 Privileged access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99944 Object-oriented database structure
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

An interface program stored on a computer-readable medium for causing a computer system with a display device to perform the functions of: accepting search criteria from a user including a free text entry query and a domain identifier identifying a domain; in response to accepting the search criteria, retrieving a plurality of record identifiers each of which identifies a corresponding record which: (1) has associated therewith a location identifier that locates it at a specific location within the domain identified by the domain identifier; and (2) contains information that is responsive to the free text entry query; displaying a representation of the domain on the display device; and displaying on the display device a plurality of icons as representations of the records identified by the plurality of record identifiers, wherein for each of the record identifiers, a corresponding one of the plurality of icons is displayed within the representation of the domain that is being displayed on the display device, the corresponding icon for each of the plurality of record identifiers being positioned within the representation of the domain at a coordinate within the domain that corresponds to the location identifier for the corresponding record.

Claims

1. A method representing a document that is identified through a query that specifies a geographic location and a keyword or phrase, the method comprising:

determining a document-to-place relevance score for the identified document which is a measure of the identified document'"'"'s relevance to the geographic location specified in the query;

determining a document-to-word relevance score for the identified document which is a measure of the identified document'"'"'s relevance to the keyword or phrase specified in the query;

determining an abstract quality score for the identified document which is a measure of a quality that is independent of the geographical location and the keyword or phrase; and

combining the document-to-place relevance score, the document-to-word relevance score, and the abstract quality score to generate a combined relevance score for the identified document.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the abstract quality score takes into account how many other documents link to the identified document.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the abstract quality score takes into account how many times people click on the identified document when it is supplied as a query result.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the abstract quality score takes into account how many other documents refer to the specified geographic location.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the abstract quality score takes into account a measure of network connectedness for the identified document.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the abstract quality score takes into account weights that are manually introduced by a user.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein combining involves averaging the document-to-place relevance, the document-to-word relevance, and the abstract quality scores to generate the combined relevance score for the identified document.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein combining involves computing a weighted average of the document-to-place relevance, the document-to-word relevance, and the abstract quality scores to generate the combined relevance score for the identified document.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein combining involves summing the document-to-place relevance, the document-to-word relevance, and the abstract quality scores to generate the combined relevance score for the identified document.

10. A method for representing a document that is identified through a query that specifies a geographic location and a keyword or phrase, the method comprising:

determining a document-to-place relevance score for the identified document which is a measure of the identified document'"'"'s relevance to the geographic location specified in the query;

determining a document-to-word relevance score for the identified document which is a measure of the identified document'"'"'s relevance to the keyword or phrase specified in the query; and

combining the document-to-place relevance score and the document-to-word relevance score to generate a combined relevance score for the identified document, wherein determining the document-to-place relevance score involves identifying a spatial identifier in the identified document and taking into account the location of the identified spatial identifier within the identified document.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein determining the document-to-place relevance score involves taking into account a structural position of the identified spatial identifier within the identified document.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein determining the document-to-place relevance score involves taking into account whether the identified spatial identifier appears within a footnote within the identified document.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein determining the document-to-place relevance score involves taking into account how many other spatial identifiers there are in the identified document.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein determining the document-to-place relevance score involves taking into account whether the identified spatial identifier is free standing or within a sentence.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein determining the document-to-place relevance score involves taking into account whether the identified spatial identifier is emphasized.

16. A method for representing a document that is identified through a query that specifies a geographic location and a keyword or phrase, the method comprising:

determining a document-to-place relevance score for the identified document which is a measure of the identified document'"'"'s relevance to the geographic location specified in the query;

determining a document-to-word relevance score for the identified document which is a measure of the identified document'"'"'s relevance to the keyword or phrase specified in the query;

combining the document-to-place relevance score and the document-to-word relevance score to generate a combined relevance score for the identified document; and

displaying, on a user interface that presents a representation of a geographical domain, an icon representing the identified document, said displayed icon positioned within the geographic domain at a location that corresponds to the specified geographic location.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the displayed icon represents a plurality of documents, wherein said identified document is among said plurality of documents.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising displaying a list of the plurality of documents represented by said icon, wherein the identified document is located at a position within that list determined by its combined relevance score.