Deriving user intent from a user query

• US 7,974,976 B2
• Filed: 05/18/2007
• Issued: 07/05/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/09/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Srivastava, Utkarsh, Vee, Erik, Yahia, Sihem Amer, Shanmugasundaram, Jayavel
• Primary Examiner(s): LE, DEBBIE M
• Application Number:
  US11/750,512
• Publication Number:
  US 20080114759A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,509 Days
• Field of Search: 707/736, 707/708, 707/742, 707999001- 7, 7079991-102
• US Class Current: 707/736
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

A system and method for deriving user intent from a query. The system includes a query engine, and an advertisement engine. The query engine receives a query from the user. The query engine analyzes the query to determine a query intent that is matched to a domain. The query may be further analyzed to derive predicate values based on the query and the domain hierarchy. The domain and associated information may then be matched to a list of advertisements. The advertisement may be assigned an ad match score based on a correlation between the query information and various listing information provided in the advertisement.

Claims

1. A method for deriving user intent from a query, the method comprising the steps of:

defining a plurality of domains that correspond to a plurality of possible user intents, each domain having a hierarchy of predicates;

receiving a query from the user, the query containing a plurality of keywords; and

selecting a domain based on the query and the hierarchy of predicates;

determining if at least one term in the query matches at least one predicate value of an entry;

determining a corresponding position in the hierarchy for the at least one predicate value matching the at least one term in the query;

generating inverted lists for each keyword of the plurality of keywords based on the hierarchy;

generating a plurality of queries wherein a query of the plurality of queries is generated for each entry in the inverted list, wherein a web page is updated based on at least one query of the plurality of queries.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising determining a value of predicates in the hierarchy located above the corresponding position of the predicate value based on the predicate value and the hierarchy.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising determining a value of predicates in the hierarchy located below the corresponding position of the predicate value based on the query and the hierarchy.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising combining the plurality of queries.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein combining the plurality of queries includes merging at least two queries of the plurality of queries if no inconsistencies exist between the at least two queries.

6. The method according to claim 4, further comprising performing plurality of queries.

7. The method according to claim 4, further comprising updating query interface controls based on the plurality of queries.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the query interface controls are updated based on consistent predicates between the plurality of queries.

9. A system for generating advertisements for display to a user, the system comprising:

a computer system including;

a query engine configured to receive a query over a network connection from the user, the query including a plurality of keywords, the query engine being configured to identify a domain based on the query; and

an advertisement selection engine in communication with the query engine, the advertisement selection engine selecting a domain based on the query and a hierarchy of predicates for the domain;

wherein the advertisement engine is configured to determine if at least one term in the query matches at least one predicate value of an entry, the advertisement engine being configured to determine a corresponding position in the hierarchy for the at least one predicate value matching the at least one term in the query, wherein the advertisement engine generates inverted lists for each keyword of the plurality of keywords based on the hierarchy and generates a plurality of queries wherein a query of the plurality of queries is generated for each entry in the inverted list, wherein a web page is updated based on at least one query of the plurality of queries.

10. The system according to claim 9, wherein the advertisement engine is configured to determine a value of predicates in the hierarchy located above the corresponding position of the predicate value based on the predicate value and the hierarchy.

11. The system according to claim 10, wherein the advertisement engine is configured to determine a value of predicates in the hierarchy located below the corresponding position of the predicate value based on the query and the hierarchy.

12. The system according to claim 9, wherein the advertisement engine includes a query combination block configured to combine the plurality of queries.

13. The system according to claim 12, wherein the query combination block merges at least two queries of the plurality of queries if no inconsistencies exist between the at least two queries.

14. The system according to claim 12, wherein the advertisement engine performs the plurality of queries.

15. The system according to claim 9, wherein the advertisement engine updates the query interface controls based on consistent predicates between the plurality of queries.

16. In a computer readable storage medium having stored therein instructions executable by a programmed processor for deriving user intent from a query, the storage medium comprising instructions for:

defining a plurality of domains that correspond to a plurality of possible user intents, each domain having a hierarchy of predicates;

receiving a query from the user, the query containing a plurality of keywords; and

selecting a domain based on the query and the hierarchy of predicates;

determining if at least one term in the query matches at least one predicate value of an entry;

determining a corresponding position in the hierarchy for the at least one predicate value matching the at least one term in the query;

generating inverted lists for each keyword of the plurality of keywords based on the hierarchy;

generating a plurality of queries wherein a query of the plurality of queries is generated for each entry in the inverted list, wherein a web page is updated based on at least one query of the plurality of queries.

17. The computer readable medium according to claim 16, further comprising instructions for determining a value of predicates in the hierarchy located above the corresponding position of the predicate value based on the predicate value and the hierarchy.

18. The computer readable medium according to claim 16, further comprising instructions for determining a value of predicates in the hierarchy located below the corresponding position of the predicate value based on the query and the hierarchy.

19. The computer readable medium according to claim 16, further comprising instructions for combining the plurality of queries.

20. The computer readable medium according to claim 19, wherein instructions for combining the plurality of queries includes instructions for merging at least two queries of the plurality of queries if no inconsistencies exist between the at least two queries.

21. The computer readable medium according to claim 19, further comprising instructions for performing plurality of queries.

22. The computer readable medium according to claim 16, wherein the query interface controls are updated based on consistent predicates between the plurality of queries.