Search fusion
First Claim
1. A method for sorting search results, the method comprising:
- submitting a query received from a user to multiple search engines;
receiving a set of search results for the query from each of the multiple search engines;
accessing a surrogate representation for each of several of the search results;
identifying, based on the accessed surrogate representation for each of the several of the search results, visual characteristics of the surrogate representation, the visual characteristics being a portion of the surrogate representation presented to the user in place of the corresponding search result itself and including an excerpt of the corresponding search result that is presented to the user;
analyzing the visual characteristics of the surrogate representation, including the excerpt that is presented to the user, for each of the several of the search results;
assigning a score to each of the search results based on the analysis of the visual characteristics of the surrogate representation, including the excerpt that is presented to the user, corresponding thereto; and
merging the sets of search results based on the scores assigned to the search results,wherein;
identifying, based on the accessed surrogate representation for each of the several of the search results, visual characteristics of the surrogate representation comprises identifying a date of each of the several of the search results to be displayed to the user upon presentation of the search results;
analyzing the visual characteristics of the surrogate representation for each of the several of the search results comprises analyzing the identified date of each of the several of the search results to be displayed to the user upon presentation of the search results to determine an indication of an age of each of the several of the search results; and
assigning a score to each of the search results based on the analysis of the visual characteristics of the surrogate representation corresponding thereto comprises assigning a score to each of the search results based on the indication of the age of each of the several of the search results.
7 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Search results are assigned scores based on visual aspects of surrogate representations of the search results which are to be displayed to a query submitter in a search results summary overview. That is, the surrogate representations are relatively short summaries or excerpts of the search results that may be presented in place of the search results themselves, thus enabling an overview of various search results to be perceived by a user concurrently. The search results are assigned scores based on the presence, position, and form of some or all of the query within the corresponding surrogate representations. The search results may be sorted or filtered based on the assigned scores. Assigning scores to the search results based on visual characteristics of the surrogate representations mimics how a user may assess the relevance of the search results when viewing a search results summary page.
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Citations
28 Claims
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1. A method for sorting search results, the method comprising:
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submitting a query received from a user to multiple search engines; receiving a set of search results for the query from each of the multiple search engines; accessing a surrogate representation for each of several of the search results; identifying, based on the accessed surrogate representation for each of the several of the search results, visual characteristics of the surrogate representation, the visual characteristics being a portion of the surrogate representation presented to the user in place of the corresponding search result itself and including an excerpt of the corresponding search result that is presented to the user; analyzing the visual characteristics of the surrogate representation, including the excerpt that is presented to the user, for each of the several of the search results; assigning a score to each of the search results based on the analysis of the visual characteristics of the surrogate representation, including the excerpt that is presented to the user, corresponding thereto; and merging the sets of search results based on the scores assigned to the search results, wherein; identifying, based on the accessed surrogate representation for each of the several of the search results, visual characteristics of the surrogate representation comprises identifying a date of each of the several of the search results to be displayed to the user upon presentation of the search results; analyzing the visual characteristics of the surrogate representation for each of the several of the search results comprises analyzing the identified date of each of the several of the search results to be displayed to the user upon presentation of the search results to determine an indication of an age of each of the several of the search results; and assigning a score to each of the search results based on the analysis of the visual characteristics of the surrogate representation corresponding thereto comprises assigning a score to each of the search results based on the indication of the age of each of the several of the search results. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A machine-readable storage device including instructions that when accessed and executed, results in a machine performing operations for sorting search results, comprising:
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submitting a query received from a user to multiple search engines; receiving a set of search results for the query from each of the multiple search engines; accessing a surrogate representation for each of several of the search results; identifying, based on the accessed surrogate representation for each of the several of the search results, visual characteristics of the surrogate representation, the visual characteristics being a portion of the surrogate representation presented to the user in place of the corresponding search result itself and including an excerpt of the corresponding search result that is presented to the user; analyzing the visual characteristics of the surrogate representation, including the excerpt that is presented to the user, for each of the several of the search results; assigning a score to each of the search results based on the analysis of the visual characteristics of the surrogate representation, including the excerpt that is presented to the user, corresponding thereto; merging the sets of search results based on the scores assigned to the search results, wherein; identifying, based on the accessed surrogate representation for each of the several of the search results, visual characteristics of the surrogate representation comprises identifying a date of each of the several of the search results to be displayed to the user upon presentation of the search results; analyzing the visual characteristics of the surrogate representation for each of the several of the search results comprises analyzing the identified date of each of the several of the search results to be displayed to the user upon presentation of the search results to determine an indication of an age of each of the several of the search results; and assigning a score to each of the search results based on the analysis of the visual characteristics of the surrogate representation corresponding thereto comprises assigning a score to each of the search results based on the indication of the age of each of the several of the search results. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26)
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27. A physical tangible hardware system for sorting search results, the system comprising:
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at least one processor; means for submitting a query received from a user to multiple search engines; means for receiving a set of search results for the query from each of the multiple search engines; means for accessing a surrogate representation for each of several of the search results; means for identifying, based on the accessed surrogate representation for each of the several of the search results, visual characteristics of the surrogate representation, the visual characteristics being a portion of the surrogate representation presented to the user in place of the corresponding search result itself and including an excerpt of the corresponding search result that is presented to the user; means for analyzing the visual characteristics of the surrogate representation, including the excerpt that is presented to the user, for each of the several of the search results; means for assigning a score to each of the search results based on the analysis of the visual characteristics of the surrogate representation, including the excerpt that is presented to the user, corresponding thereto; and
means for merging the sets of search results based on the scores assigned to the search results,wherein; means for identifying, based on the accessed surrogate representation for each of the several of the search results, visual characteristics of the surrogate representation comprises identifying a date of each of the several of the search results to be displayed to the user upon presentation of the search results; means for analyzing the visual characteristics of the surrogate representation for each of the several of the search results comprises analyzing the identified date of each of the several of the search results to be displayed to the user upon presentation of the search results to determine an indication of an age of each of the several of the search results; and means for assigning a score to each of the search results based on the analysis of the visual characteristics of the surrogate representation corresponding thereto comprises assigning a score to each of the search results based on the indication of the age of each of the several of the search results.
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28. A method for sorting search results, the method comprising:
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submitting a query received from a user to multiple search engines; receiving a set of search results for the query from each of the multiple search engines; accessing a surrogate representation for each of several of the search results; identifying, based on the accessed surrogate representation for each of the several of the search results, visual characteristics of the surrogate representation, the visual characteristics being a portion of the surrogate representation presented to the user in place of the corresponding search result itself and including an excerpt of the corresponding search result that is presented to the user; analyzing the visual characteristics of the surrogate representation, including the excerpt that is presented to the user, for each of the several of the search results; assigning a score to each of the search results based on the analysis of the visual characteristics of the surrogate representation, including the excerpt that is presented to the user, corresponding thereto; merging the sets of search results based on the scores assigned to the search results; and accessing scores assigned to the search results by each of the multiple search engines, wherein; merging the sets of search results comprises merging the sets of search results based on the scores assigned to the search results based on the analysis of the visual characteristics and based on the accessed scores assigned to the search results by each of the multiple search engines, and merging the sets of search results based on the scores assigned to the search results based on the analysis of the visual characteristics and based on the accessed scores assigned to the search results by each of the multiple search engines comprises placing a higher importance or weight on the accessed scores assigned to the search results by each of the multiple search engines than the scores assigned to the search results based on the analysis of the visual characteristics.
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Specification