Systems and methods for sorting and displaying search results in multiple dimensions

• US 7,660,822 B1
• Filed: 03/31/2004
• Issued: 02/09/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Pfleger, Karl
• Primary Examiner(s): Woo; Isaac M
• Application Number:
  US10/813,229
• Time in Patent Office: 2,141 Days
• Field of Search: 707 1- 10, 707100-1041, 707200-206
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9038 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

A system plots results of a data search. The system executes one or more search queries to search stored data. The system receives results of the executed one or more search queries, where the results are orderable by at least one search characteristic. The system designates a visual representation for each of the results. The system plots each of the visual representations on a multi-dimensional graphical display, where at least one dimension of the multi-dimensional graphical display corresponds to the at least one search characteristic.

Claims

1. A method performed by a server device, the method comprising:

receiving, from a user, one or more search queries that include one or more search terms and a selection of one or more search criteria the receiving being performed via a communication interface or input device of the server device;

searching stored data, based on the one or more search terms and based on the one or more search criteria, to identify results, the searching being performed by a processor of the server device; and

providing, by the communication interface or an output device of the server device, a document that includes a multi-dimensional graph of at least some of the identified results, where;

a relevance of the identified results to the one or more search terms is represented as a first dimension on the multi-dimensional graph,

at least one of the one or more selected search criteria is represented as a second dimension on the multi-dimensional graph, and

image representations of the included identified results are plotted on the multi-dimensional graph based on relevance and the at least one of the one or more search criteria.

2. The method of claim 1, where the identified results are sorted by relevance.

3. The method of claim 1, where the one or more search queries are inferred from actions taken by the user other than entering one or more explicit search queries.

4. The method of claim 3, where the actions taken by the user comprises past browsing activity of the user.

5. The method of claim 1, where the one or more search queries are selected from a list of multiple search queries.

6. The method of claim 1, where at least some of the included identified results are further represented on the multi-dimensional graph by text.

7. The method of claim 1, where the one or more search criteria comprise at least one of recency, price, dates, image quality, image size or geographic distance.

8. The method of claim 1, where the multi-dimensional graph comprises a two-dimensional graph.

9. The method of claim 1, where a scaling of an axis corresponding to the dimension is non-linear.

10. The method of claim 9, where at least a portion of the axis corresponding to the second dimension comprises a logarithmic scale.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving user input to selectively alter a resolution of the second dimension of the multi-dimensional graph.

12. The method of claim 1, where a fixed number of results are displayed on each page of the document.

13. The method of claim 1, where the image representations of the included identified results comprise links to the included identified results.

14. A system, comprising:

a server device to;

receive, from a user, one or more search queries that include one or more search terms and a selection of one or more search criteria;

search stored data, based on the one or more search terms, to identify results, where the identified results are orderable by the one or more search criteria, and

provide a document that includes a multi-dimensional graph that includes at least some of the identified results of the search where

a relevance of the identified results to the one or more search terms is represented as a first dimension on the multi-dimensional graph,

at least one of the one or more search criteria is represented as a second dimension on the multi-dimensional graph, and

image representations of the included identified results are positioned on the multi-dimensional graph based on relevance and the at least one of the one or more search criteria.

15. The system of claim 14, where at least two of the one or more search characteristics are represented as separate dimensions on the multi-dimensional graph.

16. The method of claim 15, where the at least two of the one or more search characteristics include two of price, dates, recency, image quality, image size or geographic distance.

17. The system of claim 14, where the one or more search queries include information inferred from actions taken by the user other than entering the one or more search terms.

18. The system of claim 17, where the actions taken by the user comprise past browsing activity of the user.

19. The system of claim 14, where the image representations comprise at least one of an icon or text.

20. The system of claim 14, where the image representations of the at least some of the identified results comprise links to the at least some of the identified results.

21. A computer readable memory device containing instructions for controlling at least one processor to perform a method of providing a document that includes a multi-dimensional graph, the method, comprising:

providing an interface specific to searching a particular type of documents;

receiving, from a user, one or more search queries and a selection of a range of a search criterion associated with the particular type of documents;

searching stored data, based on the one or more search queries, to identify results, where the identified results are orderable by relevance to the one or more search queries and by the search criterion; and

providing a document that includes a multi-dimensional graph of at least some of the identified results, where

a relevance of the identified results to the one or more search queries is represented as a first dimension on the multi-dimensional graph,

the search criterion is represented as a second dimension on the multi-dimensional graph, scaled based on the selected range, and

visual representations of at least some of the identified results are positioned on the multi-dimensional graph, where at least some of the visual representations partially overlap.

22. The computer readable memory device of claim 21, where the multi-dimensional graphical display comprises a two-dimensional graph.

23. The computer readable memory device of claim 22, where a scaling of an axis corresponding to the second dimension is non-linear.

24. The computer readable memory device of claim 22, where at least a portion of the axis corresponding to the second dimension comprises a logarithmic scale.

25. The computer readable memory device of claim 22, where the method further comprises:

receiving user input to selectively alter a resolution of a dimension of the multi-dimensional graphical display.

26. The computer readable memory device of claim 21, where the document spans multiple pages and where a fixed number of identified results are displayed on each page of the multiple pages.

27. The computer readable memory device of claim 21, where the particular type of documents and the search criterion comprise, respectively, one of documents relating to consumer products and price, news documents and publication date, geographically relevant documents and distance from a particular location, or images and image quality.

28. The computer readable memory device of claim 21, where identified results that are more relevant to the search query overlap on top of identified results that are less relevant to the search query.

29. The computer readable memory device of claim 21, where to avoid overlap along the first dimension, at least some of the included identified results are shifted, along the first dimension, in a less relevant direction until there is no overlap.

30. The computer readable memory device of claim 21, where to avoid overlap along the first dimension, at least some of the included identified results are shifted, along the second dimension, until there is no overlap.

31. The computer readable memory device of claim 21, where when the user moves the cursor of a pointing device over a visual representation of one of the included identified results on the multi-dimensional graph, information relating to the one of the included identified results is presented to the user.

32. The computer readable memory device of claim 21, where the visual representations of the included identified results comprise links to the included identified results.