Indexing documents according to geographical relevance
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method, comprising:
- determining, by one or more processors in one or more server devices, one, of a plurality of geographical areas in a grid, associated with a document;
determining, by one or more processors in one or more server devices, a subset, of the plurality of geographical areas in the grid, each of the subset being at least partially within a circle of a particular radius from the one, of the plurality of geographical areas, associated with the document; and
indexing, by one or more processors in one or more server devices, the document to include the one, of the plurality of geographical areas, associated with the document and the subset of the plurality of geographical areas.
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Abstract
A local search engine efficiently indexes documents relevant to a geographical area by indexing, for each document, multiple location identifiers that collectively define an aggregate geographic region. When creating the index, the search engine may determine a set of geographical areas surrounding a geographical area relevant to a document and associate references to the set of geographical areas with the document index.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. A method, comprising:
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determining, by one or more processors in one or more server devices, one, of a plurality of geographical areas in a grid, associated with a document; determining, by one or more processors in one or more server devices, a subset, of the plurality of geographical areas in the grid, each of the subset being at least partially within a circle of a particular radius from the one, of the plurality of geographical areas, associated with the document; and indexing, by one or more processors in one or more server devices, the document to include the one, of the plurality of geographical areas, associated with the document and the subset of the plurality of geographical areas. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A computer device comprising:
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means for storing a document index; means for dividing a geographical region into a plurality of distinct regions; means for determining a geographical location associated with a document; means for identifying one of the plurality of distinct regions in which the geographical location is located; means for identifying other regions of the plurality of distinct regions surrounding the one, of the plurality of distinct regions, in which the geographical location is located, the other regions being at least partially within a circle of a particular radius from the one of the plurality of distinct regions in which the geographical location is located; and means for indexing the document to include, in the document index, a reference to the one of the plurality of distinct regions and the other regions of the plurality of distinct regions.
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8. A method, comprising:
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storing, by one or more processors in one or more server devices, a document index; determining, by one or more server devices, a geographical location associated with a document; dividing, by one or more processors in one or more server devices, a geographical region into a plurality of distinct regions; identifying, by one or more processors in one or more server devices, one of the plurality of distinct regions in which the geographical location is located; identifying, by one or more processors in one or more server devices, other regions of the plurality of distinct regions that are at least partially within a circle of a particular radius from the one of the plurality of distinct regions in which the geographical location is located; associating, by one or more processors in one or more server devices, references to the one of the plurality of distinct regions and the other regions of the plurality of distinct regions with the document; and indexing, by one or more processors in one or more server devices, the document with the associated references. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A computer-readable memory device containing programming instructions for execution by a processor, the computer-readable memory device comprising;
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programming instructions for dividing a geographical region into a plurality of distinct regions; programming instructions for identifying a document that is relevant to a geographical location; programming instructions for identifying one of the plurality of distinct regions in which the geographical location is located; programming instructions for identifying other regions, of the plurality of distinct regions, surrounding the one of the plurality of distinct regions in which the geographical location is located, the other regions being at least partially within a circle of particular distance from the one of the plurality of distinct regions; and programming instructions for associating references to the one of the plurality of distinct regions and the other regions of the plurality of distinct regions with an index that includes terms from the document.
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15. A method comprising:
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storing, by one or more processors in one or more server devices, a document index; determining, by one or more processors in one or more server devices, a geographical location associated with a document; dividing, by one or more processors in one or more server devices, a geographical region into a plurality of distinct regions; identifying, by one or more processors in one or more server devices, one of the plurality of distinct regions in which the geographical location is located; identifying, by one or more processors in one or more server devices, other regions of the plurality, of distinct regions surrounding the one of the plurality of distinct regions in which the geographical location is located, the other regions being at least partially within a circle of a particular distance from the one of the plurality of distinct regions; indexing, by one or more processors in one or more server devices, the document to include a reference to the one of the plurality of distinct regions and the other regions of the plurality of distinct regions in the document index; receiving, by one or more processors in one or more server devices, a search query associated with the geographical region; determining, by one or more processors in one or more server devices, a location identifier associated with the one of the plurality of distinct regions; determining, by one or more processors in one or more server devices, a plurality of location identifiers associated with the other regions of the plurality of distinct regions; and performing, by one or more processors in one or more server devices, a search for documents relevant to the search query based on a comparison of the search query, the location identifier, and the plurality of location identifiers to the document index. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification