Group-by attribute value in search results

• US 7,921,106 B2
• Filed: 08/03/2006
• Issued: 04/05/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/03/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Liu, Yue, Wu, Qiang, Chen, Hua, Ma, Wei-Ying, Nie, Zaiqing
• Primary Examiner(s): Vo; Tim T.
• Assistant Examiner(s): SANDERS, AARON J
• Application Number:
  US11/462,090
• Publication Number:
  US 20080033915A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,706 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/723
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques

Abstract

Search results are ranked by applying sub-relevancies within a search result list. This permits search result lists to be further refined into more manageable relevant groupings from a user'"'"'s perspective. The sub-relevancies or ‘group-by’ parameters are derived from search result attributes. Attribute values from the attributes are employed in a ranking scheme to group the search results based on attribute value relevancy. The grouped search results can then be displayed to users via a search result page. In one instance users can select which attribute value is used to group the search result list. Ranking processes are based on object ranking algorithms that consider each attribute value as an object type. Some instances provide for search result list group condensing based on relevancy of the attribute values as well. A top-k instance can be employed to limit the search results to control the amount of time required for processing groupings.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented apparatus that enhances search result listings, comprising:

a processor operatively coupled to a computer readable medium having stored thereon the following computer executable components;

an attribute value ranking component comprising a search engine search result list sorted by search results rank, and further sorted by attribute value as a primary sort and rank as a secondary sort, wherein an attribute value rank is calculated for each of the attribute values;

grouped search results comprising the search result list resorted by the calculated attribute value ranks, and further resorted by the attribute values, and still further resorted by the search results rank;

a search result display component that provides search result groupings based on the group-by ranking for interaction with a user; and

computer-readable storage medium comprising data structures and code for causing a computer to execute the attribute value ranking and search result display components,

wherein the object oriented search result list references a plurality of information pages each comprising an object block representing an object classified as an object type having attributes for which the object block contains elements identified as attribute values,

wherein the attribute pertains to a source of a respective information page.

2. The computer-implemented apparatus of claim 1, wherein the attribute value ranking component accepts user or system preferences for selecting attributes on which to base the group-by ranking.

3. The computer-implemented apparatus of claim 1, wherein the display component provides a user selectable set of attributes that are available for group-by ranking of the object oriented search result list.

4. The computer-implemented apparatus of claim 1, wherein the attribute value ranking component limits the group-by ranking to a top-k number of object oriented search results, where k is an integer.

5. The computer-implemented apparatus of claim 1, wherein the attribute value ranking component employs an object oriented ranking process in providing the group-by ranking.

15. A computer-implemented device employing the apparatus of claim 1 comprising at least one selected from the group consisting of a computer, a server, and a handheld electronic device.

6. A computer-implemented method for enhancing search result listings, comprising:

employing a processor executing computer executable instructions stored on a computer readable storage medium to implement the following acts;

obtaining a search result list from an object oriented search engine sorted by rank;

sorting the search result list by attribute value as a primary sort and rank as a secondary sort;

calculating the attribute value'"'"'s rank for each attribute value;

resorting the search result list based on, at least in part, the attribute value rank as a primary sort, attribute value as a secondary sort, and search result rank as a tertiary sort to obtain attribute value based grouped search results; and

displaying the resorted search result list to a user on a search result page in groups associated with an attribute value,

wherein the search result list references a plurality of information pages each comprising an object block representing an object classified as an object type having attributes for which the object block contains elements identified as attribute values,

wherein the attribute pertains to a source of a respective information page.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 further comprising:

determining the attribute value based grouped search results based on, at least in part, an object oriented ranking process.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 further comprising:

utilizing user or system preferences for determining which attributes on which to base the attribute value based grouped search results.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 further comprising:

limiting the attribute value based grouped search results to a top-k number to bound a processing time, where k is an integer.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein more than one search result is displayed per attribute value on the search result page.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 further comprising:

subsequent to displaying the resorted search result list, providing a user selectable attribute input for the resorted search result list; and

regrouping and displaying the search result list based on, at least in part, the selected attribute when prompted by the user.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 further comprising:

determining the attribute value based grouped search results by employing a combination function with a scaling factor that preserves a desired attribute.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 further comprising:

condensing the resorted search result list based on attribute value rank.

14. A computer-implemented device employing the method of claim 6 comprising at least one selected from the group consisting of a computer, a server, and a handheld electronic device.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, further comprising sorting the search result list comprised of links to a plurality of authored information pages by attribute value comprised of author as the primary sort and rank as the secondary sort.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, further comprising sorting the search result list comprised of links to a plurality of shopping information pages by attribute value comprised of brands as the primary sort and rank as the secondary sort.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein resorting the search result list comprises, at least in part, the attribute value rank as a first sort, attribute value as a second sort, and search result rank as a sort to obtain attribute value based grouped search results, wherein the first sort, the second sort, and the third sort comprise at least three separate sorts of the resorting.

24. The method of claim 6, wherein calculating the attribute value'"'"'s rank comprises utilizing an object ranking algorithm.

19. A computer implemented search result listings system having a processor, memory and data storage subsystems, the computer implemented search result listings system, comprising:

object oriented search results sorted by rank from an object oriented search engine based upon, at least in part, attribute values as a primary sort, and an object oriented search result ranking as a secondary sort, the object oriented search results obtained via the processor;

a plurality of information pages referenced by the object oriented search results, wherein each of the plurality of information pages comprises an object block representing an object classified as an object type having attributes for which the object block contains elements identified as attribute values;

a plurality of individual successive sorts of the object oriented search results, wherein the plurality of individual successive sorts comprises an initial attribute value rank sort, an intervening attribute value sort, and a final search result rank sort, and each subsequent sort is based upon results from a previous sort, the plurality of individual successive sorts obtained via the processor;

groupings of search results based upon a group-by ranking of results of the plurality of individual successive sorts; and

a resorted search result list displayed to a user on a search result page in groups associated with an attribute value via the computer system.

20. The computer implemented system of claim 19, further comprising:

a user selected attribute preference from which the group-by ranking is based.

21. The computer implemented system of claim 20, further comprising another resorted search result list displayed to the user in response to another user selected attribute preference.

22. The computer implemented system of claim 19, wherein results from one of the plurality of individual successive sorts forms a basis for a subsequent one of the plurality of individual successive sorts.

23. The computer implemented system of claim 19, further comprising:

attribute value determinations based upon the groupings of search results via a combination function with a scaling factor.