Surfacing forums associated with a search string

• US 7,933,864 B1
• Filed: 09/20/2010
• Issued: 04/26/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Dicker, Russell A., Ahmed, Waqas, King, Joseph
• Primary Examiner(s): Trujillo; James
• Assistant Examiner(s): Spieler; William
• Application Number:
  US12/886,422
• Time in Patent Office: 218 Days
• Field of Search: 707/608, 707/708
• US Class Current: 707/608
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/018 Certifying business or products
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

Creation, association, and/or placement of search forums for searches strings enable users to discuss aspects of both searches and elements associated with the searches, and further enable the users to view discussions from other users. The search forum may be generated from variations of the search string. In addition or alternatively, search strings may be associated with existing item forums, category forums, and tag forums. Search forums may be placed with, for example, search results or with items, categories, and/or tags, among other possibilities, to provide user access to the search forums.

Claims

1. A method of managing forums, the method comprising:

receiving a search string for searching an electronic catalog of items, the search string including a plurality of search terms; and

generating a forum based on at least one search term included in the search string received for searching the electronic catalog of items, the generating to include;

creating a plurality of variations of the search string, each of the plurality of variations including at least one search term and a weight;

aggregating the weights for each variation to create a variation aggregate score; and

creating the forum for variations when the associated variation aggregate score reaches a threshold value.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein generating variations of the search string includes at least one of replacing one of the plurality of search terms with an alternatively spelled search term, replacing one of the plurality of search terms with a synonym of the search term, or modifying arrangement of the plurality of search terms.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising identifying items associated with the search string to create a search result.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising causing a display of the forum as a part of a search result.

5. The method as recited in claim 4, further comprising implementing a graphical user interface for the forum, the graphical user interface to include:

a first portion to capture the search string for searching the electronic catalog of items;

a second portion for displaying results associated with the search string; and

a third portion to display the forum for the search string.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether a forum associated with the search string or with one of the variations of the search string exists prior to the generating; and

at least partly in response to determining that a forum associated with the search string or one of the variations exists, selecting a forum from at least one of a tag forum, a category forum, or a search forum.

7. The method as recited in claim 6, further comprising

determining if the search string or one of the variations of the search string is associated with at least one of a tag corresponding to the tag forum, a category corresponding to the category forum, or an existing search term corresponding to the search forum.

8. A method comprising:

obtaining a search string of at least one search term, the search string to facilitate retrieving elements in a search result that are related to at least one of the search terms; and

generating a search forum based at least in part on the at least one search term included in the search string, the generating to include;

creating a plurality of variations of the search string, each of the plurality of variations including at least one search term and a weight;

aggregating the weights for each variation of the plurality of variations to create a variation aggregate score for each respective variation; and

creating the search forum for a variation when the respective variation has an associated variation aggregate score that reaches a threshold value.

9. The method as recited in claim 8, further comprising surfacing the search forum with the search result.

10. The method as recited in claim 9, wherein surfacing the search forum with the search result includes surfacing the search forum with a related search string, the related search string including at least one common search term with the search string.

11. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein generating the search forum based on the at least one search term includes selecting the search string from multiple search strings generated within a predetermined time period, the multiple search strings having a usage count during the predetermined time period that reaches a predetermined usage threshold.

12. The method as recited in claim 8, further comprising associating the plurality of variations with at least one of a tag having a tag forum or a category having a category forum, each of the associated tag forums and category forums being surfaced with the search result.

13. The method as recited in claim 8, further comprising surfacing the search forum with at least a tag or a category related to the search string.

14. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein the obtaining the search string of at least one search term comprises implementing a graphical user interface to include:

a first portion to capture the search string;

a second portion for displaying results associated with the search string; and

a third portion to display the search forum.

15. One or more computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed on one or more processors, configure a computer to perform operations comprising:

creating variations of a search string, each variation having a weight corresponding to a similarity between the variation and the search string;

aggregating respective weights of each variation of the variations to create an aggregate weight associated with the variation;

determining when the aggregate weight reaches a threshold value based on the aggregating;

creating a search forum for the variation that has the aggregate weight that reaches the threshold based on the determining; and

causing a display of the search forum.

16. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 15, wherein the search forum is placed on a website hosting an electronic catalog of items.

17. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 15, the operations further comprising:

associating the variation with at least one of a tag having a tag forum or a category having a category forum;

creating a related forum for each of the associated tag forum and the associated category forums; and

causing the display of the related forum proximate the search forum.

18. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 17, the operations further comprising:

selecting an item from search results associated with the search string, the item having a category and at least one tag;

selecting at least one of a category forum associated with the category or a tag forum associated with the tag; and

causing the display of the category forum or the tag forum proximate the search forum.

19. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 18, wherein selecting a tag forum includes selecting the tag forum associated with a tag having a highest tag score.

20. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 18, wherein selecting an item includes selecting the item by determining a click through of users for the search string.