Search macro suggestions relevant to search queries

• US 7,698,344 B2
• Filed: 04/02/2007
• Issued: 04/13/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Lee, Yofay Kari, Prabhu, Raghavendra Vinayak, Sareen, Gaurav
• Primary Examiner(s): Pannala; Sathyanarayan
• Application Number:
  US11/695,473
• Publication Number:
  US 20080243819A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,107 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1, 707/2
• US Class Current: 707/767
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3322 using system suggestions G06F16/3325 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques

Abstract

Search macros suggestions are provided to refine a user'"'"'s search. When a search query is received from an end user, one or more search macros are determined to be relevant to the search query. The search macros are then provided to the end user as suggestions for refining the user'"'"'s search. In some instances, the end user may chose to select one of the suggested search macros. A search is then performed using the search query and the selected search macro to provide search results to the end user that may be more relevant to the user'"'"'s search.

Claims

1. A computer-readable medium storing computer-useable instructions, that when used by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform a method comprising:

receiving a search query from an end user at a search engine;

determining one or more search results based on the search query;

accessing information regarding a plurality of search macros available to the search engine, the plurality of search macros having been previously defined by a plurality of different end users, each search macro comprising a set of user-defined search operators that operate to modify aspects of how searches are performed by the search engine;

determining, from the plurality of search macros, one or more search macros relevant to the search query by;

performing a search using at least one search macro,

receiving one or more search results for the at least one search macro, and

comparing at least a portion of the search results for the search query against at least a portion of the search results for the at least one search macro to determine relevance of the at least one search macro for the search query; and

communicating an identification of the one or more search macros for presentation to the end user.

2. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the search query comprises one or more search terms.

3. The computer-readable medium of claim 2, wherein determining the one or more search macros relevant to the search query comprises determining the one or more search macros based on the search terms of the search query.

4. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises communicating at least a portion of the one or more search results for presentation to the end user.

5. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

identifying one or more terms from at least a portion of the search results for the at least one search macro; and

calculating a score for at least one term for the at least one search macro.

6. The computer-readable medium of claim 5, wherein the method further comprises identifying one or more terms from at least a portion of the search results for the search query;

and wherein comparing at least a portion of the search results for the search query against at least a portion of the search results for the at least one search macro to determine relevance of the at least one search macro for the search query comprises comparing at least one term from the at least a portion of the search results for the search query against the score for the at least one term for the at least one search macro.

7. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

identifying one or more URLs from at least a portion of the search results for the at least one search macro; and

calculating a score for at least one URL for the at least one search macro.

8. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the method further comprises identifying one or more URLs from at least a portion of the search results for the search query;

and wherein comparing at least a portion of the search results for the search query against at least a portion of the search results for the at least one search macro to determine relevance of the at least one search macro for the search query comprises comparing at least one URL from the at least a portion of the search results for the search query against the score for the at least one URL for the at least one search macro.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving a user selection of at least one search macro;

performing a search using the search query and the at least one search macro; and

communicating search results for presentation to the end user.

10. A computer-readable medium storing computer-useable instructions, that when used by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform a method comprising:

providing a plurality of search macros from a plurality of different end users, each search macro comprising a set of user-defined search operators that operate to modify aspects of how searches are performed by a search engine;

performing a search using a search macro from the plurality of search macros;

receiving one or more search results from the search;

identifying one or more terms or URLs in at least a portion of the one or more search results;

calculating scores for the one or more terms or URLs for the search macro;

storing information indicative of the one or more terms or URLs, the search macro, and the scores;

receiving a search query from an end user;

performing a search using the search query;

receiving one or more search results for the search query;

identifying at least one term or URL in at least a portion of the one or more search results for the search query; and

determining a score for the search macro for the search query based at least in part on a score for the at least one term or URL for the search macro.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein performing the search using the search macro comprises performing the search using the search macro in isolation.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein calculating a score for each term or URL is based on a frequency of the term or URL in the at least a portion of the one or more search results for the search macro compared against a frequency of the term or URL in at least a portion of search results for one or more other search macros.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein identifying at least one term or URL in at least a portion of the one or more search results comprises identifying a plurality of terms and URLs, and wherein determining the score for the search macro for the search query comprises aggregating a score for each of the plurality of terms and URLs for the search macro.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises:

determining the search macro is relevant to the search query based on the score for the search macro; and

communicating the search macro for presentation to the end user.

15. A computer-readable medium storing computer-useable instructions that, when used by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform a method comprising:

providing a plurality of search macros from a plurality of different end users, each search macro comprising a set of user-defined search operators that operate to modify aspects of how searches are performed by a search engine;

performing a search with each search macro in isolation and indexing information regarding search results for each search macro based on terms and URLs appearing in the search results for each search macro;

receiving a search query from a user;

performing a search using the search query to obtain a first set of search results for the search query;

comparing the first set of search results for the search query against information indexed for each search macro based on the search results for each search macro to determine relevance of each search macro to the search query;

selecting one or more search macros based on the relevance of each search macro to the search query;

providing a search results page including at least a portion of the first set of search results for the search query and an indication of the one or more search macros;

receiving, via the search results page, a user selection of a search macro from the one or more search macros;

performing a search using the search macro and the search query to obtain a second set of search results; and

providing at least a portion of the second set of search results for presentation to the user.