Intent driven search result rich abstracts

• US 7,958,109 B2
• Filed: 02/06/2009
• Issued: 06/07/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/06/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Lin, Yi-An, Billawala, Youssef, Pfeifer, Jan, Haas, Kevin
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong; Don
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen; Kim T
• Application Number:
  US12/367,225
• Publication Number:
  US 20100205199A1
• Time in Patent Office: 851 Days
• Field of Search: 707/706, 707/722
• US Class Current: 707/706
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/345 Summarisation for human users
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation

Abstract

Techniques for providing useful information to a user in response to a search query are provided. Based on the search query, one or more potential intents of the user are identified and a plurality of matching resources are identified. For at least one matching resource, a particular abstract template is selected based on the one or more potential intents. Each abstract (a) corresponds to a different intent than any other intent to which any other abstract template of the plurality of abstract templates corresponds, and (b) dictates a different manner of displaying information about a matching resource than any other manner of displaying dictated by any other abstract template of the plurality of abstract templates. A search results page is generated and sent to the user. The search results page includes an abstract for the at least one matching resource. The abstract is displayed based on the particular abstract template.

Claims

1. A machine-implemented method comprising:

receiving a query from a user;

based on the query, determining one or more potential intents of the user;

based on the query, determining a plurality of matching resources that includes a first matching resource and a second matching resource that is different than the first matching resource;

for the first matching resource of the plurality of matching resources, selecting, based on the one or more potential intents, a first abstract template from a plurality of abstract templates;

for the second matching resource of the plurality of matching resources, selecting, based on the one or more potential intents, a second abstract template from the plurality of abstract templates;

wherein each abstract template of the plurality of abstract templates;

(a) corresponds to a different intent than any other intent to which any other abstract template of the plurality of abstract templates corresponds, and

(b) dictates a different manner of displaying information about a resource than any other manner of displaying dictated by any other abstract template of the plurality of abstract templates; and

generating a search results page that includes;

for the first matching resource, a first abstract that is displayed based on the first abstract template, and

for the second matching resource, a second abstract that is displayed based on the second abstract template;

wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first abstract template corresponds to a first intent and the second abstract template corresponds to a second intent that is different than the first intent.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising annotating the query to generate an annotated query, wherein determining the one or more potential intents of the user is based on the annotated query.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein annotating the query is based on one or more of the following:

information about the user, time of day when the query was submitted by the user, geographical location of the user, and a history of web use of the user.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein annotating the query includes performing at least one of:

identifying one or more synonyms of one or more words in the query and associating the one or more synonyms with the query,

generating one or more particular words that are morphological variants of one or more words in the query and associating the one or more particular words with the query, or

identifying one or more entities associated with one or more words in the query and associating the one or more entities with the query.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the query is a first query, the plurality of matching resources is a first plurality of matching resources, and the search results page is a first search results page;

the method further comprising after generating the search results page;

receiving a second query from a second user;

based on the second query, determining one or more second potential intents of the second user;

based on the second query, determining a second plurality of matching resources that includes the first matching resource that was included in the first plurality of matching resources;

for the first matching resource, selecting, based on the one or more second potential intents, a third abstract template from the plurality of abstract templates,

wherein the third abstract template is different than the first abstract template;

generating a second search results page that is different than the first search results page and that includes a third abstract for the first matching resource, wherein the third abstract is displayed based on the third abstract template.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein:

at least one intent of the plurality of potential intents corresponds to the first abstract template and a third abstract template;

the third abstract template is not included in the plurality of abstract templates; and

selecting the first abstract template from the plurality of abstract templates also includes selecting, for the first matching resource, the third abstract template.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein each abstract template of the plurality of abstract templates dictates at least one of:

which information about a matching resource is to be displayed, or how information about a matching resource is to be displayed.

11. One or more storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the performance of the method of claim 1.

12. One or more storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the performance of the method of claim 2.

13. One or more storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the performance of the method of claim 3.

14. One or more storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the performance of the method of claim 4.

15. One or more storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the performance of the method of claim 5.

17. One or more storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the performance of the method of claim 7.

19. One or more storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the performance of the method of claim 9.

20. One or more storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the performance of the method of claim 10.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein:

each abstract template of the plurality of abstract templates dictates a different manner of displaying information extracted from a resource than any other manner of displaying dictated by any other abstract template of the plurality of abstract templates; and

information extracted from the first matching resource is Resource Description Framework (RDF) information extracted from the first matching resource.

22. One or more storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the performance of the method of claim 21.

6. A machine-implemented method comprising:

receiving a query from a user;

determining a plurality of potential intents of the user;

sending the plurality of potential intents to the user to be displayed;

receiving, from the user, a selection of a particular intent from the plurality of potential intents;

based on the query, determining a plurality of matching resources;

for a particular matching resource of the plurality of matching resources, selecting, based on the particular intent, a particular abstract template from a plurality of abstract templates;

wherein each abstract template of the plurality of abstract templates;

(a) corresponds to a different intent than any other intent to which any other abstract template of the plurality of abstract templates corresponds, and

(b) dictates a different manner of displaying information about a resource than any other manner of displaying dictated by any other abstract template of the plurality of abstract templates; and

generating a search results page that includes, for the particular matching resource a particular abstract that is displayed based on the particular abstract template;

wherein sending the plurality of potential intents and receiving the selection of the particular intent are performed before generating the search results page;

wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.

16. One or more storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the performance of the method of claim 6.

8. A machine-implemented method of comprising:

receiving a query from a user;

based on the query, determining one or more potential intents of the user;

based on the query, determining a plurality of matching resources;

for a particular matching resource of the plurality of matching resources, selecting, based on the one or more potential intents, a first abstract template and a second abstract template from the plurality of abstract templates,

wherein the first abstract template is different than the second abstract template;

wherein each abstract template of the plurality of abstract templates;

(a) corresponds to a different intent than any other intent to which any other abstract template of the plurality of abstract templates corresponds, and

(b) dictates a different manner of displaying information about a resource than any other manner of displaying dictated by any other abstract template of the plurality of abstract templates; and

generating a search results page that includes;

for the particular matching resource, a first abstract that is displayed based on the first abstract template, and

for the particular matching resource, a second abstract that is displayed based on the second abstract template;

wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.

18. One or more storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the performance of the method of claim 8.