System and method for providing a topic-directed search
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented system for providing a topic-directed search, comprising:
- a plurality of evergreen indexes for topically-limited subject areas, each of the subject areas comprising articles of digital information and for each of the evergreen indexes, comprising;
a hierarchy of topics; and
a fine-grained topic model paired to each of the topics in the topic hierarchy, each of the fine-grained topic models comprising a pattern evaluable against the articles, wherein the pattern identifies such articles matching the fine-grained topic model'"'"'s topic, that are both electronically-stored in persistent storage;
a computer comprising a processor and memory within which code for execution by the processor is stored, comprising;
a topic builder that, for each topic in each of the evergreen indexes, maintains a coarse-grained topic model comprising;
a characteristic word extractor that extracts characteristic words from the articles identified by the fine-grained topic models of each topic; and
a characteristic word scorer that assigns scores to the characteristic words; and
a search engine that specifies a topic search comprising search terms, and that evaluates the coarse-grained topic model of each of the topics in the evergreen indexes by matching the search terms and accumulating their scores;
a user interface that visually presents the evergreen indexes comprised of the topics that comprise the coarse-grained topic models having the best scores; and
further comprising at least one of;
a display module comprising code for execution by the processor that comprises;
a topic emphasizer highlighting the topics in the best scoring evergreen indexes as presented in the user interface, comprising at least one of emphasizing a to percentile of the articles corresponding to the search query, emphasizing the topics whose matching coarse-grained topic models have a cumulative score exceeding a threshold, and emphasizing the topics comprising top-scoring characteristic words that match the search terms; and
a topic elider eliding the topics presented in the user interface that fall below a set matching score;
an index identifier identifying the best scoring evergreen indexes by one or more of name, theme, and augmented community of online users; and
a pattern evaluator evaluating each of the patterns for the fine-grained topic models comprised in the best scoring evergreen indexes against the digital information, the fine-grained topic models corresponding to the topics that comprise the coarse-grained topic models having the best scores, and providing access to at least a part of only that digital information that matches at least one of the patterns.
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Abstract
A system and method for providing a topic-directed search is provided, which advantageously harnesses user-provided topical indexes and an ability to characterize indexes according to how articles fall under their topical organizations. A corpus of articles and an index that includes topics from the articles is maintained. For each topic, a coarse-grained topic model is built, which includes the characteristic words included in the articles relating to the topic and scores assigned to the characteristic words. A search query is executed against the index. The topics that match the search terms are chosen by their scores. The topics that match the coarse-grained topic models and the articles corresponding to the search query are presented. In contrast to conventional search engines, search results are organized according to topic and search results can be offered across multiple indexes, where part of returned results are selected from most-relevant indexes with their most-relevant topics.
391 Citations
16 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented system for providing a topic-directed search, comprising:
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a plurality of evergreen indexes for topically-limited subject areas, each of the subject areas comprising articles of digital information and for each of the evergreen indexes, comprising; a hierarchy of topics; and a fine-grained topic model paired to each of the topics in the topic hierarchy, each of the fine-grained topic models comprising a pattern evaluable against the articles, wherein the pattern identifies such articles matching the fine-grained topic model'"'"'s topic, that are both electronically-stored in persistent storage; a computer comprising a processor and memory within which code for execution by the processor is stored, comprising; a topic builder that, for each topic in each of the evergreen indexes, maintains a coarse-grained topic model comprising; a characteristic word extractor that extracts characteristic words from the articles identified by the fine-grained topic models of each topic; and a characteristic word scorer that assigns scores to the characteristic words; and a search engine that specifies a topic search comprising search terms, and that evaluates the coarse-grained topic model of each of the topics in the evergreen indexes by matching the search terms and accumulating their scores; a user interface that visually presents the evergreen indexes comprised of the topics that comprise the coarse-grained topic models having the best scores; and
further comprising at least one of;a display module comprising code for execution by the processor that comprises; a topic emphasizer highlighting the topics in the best scoring evergreen indexes as presented in the user interface, comprising at least one of emphasizing a to percentile of the articles corresponding to the search query, emphasizing the topics whose matching coarse-grained topic models have a cumulative score exceeding a threshold, and emphasizing the topics comprising top-scoring characteristic words that match the search terms; and a topic elider eliding the topics presented in the user interface that fall below a set matching score; an index identifier identifying the best scoring evergreen indexes by one or more of name, theme, and augmented community of online users; and a pattern evaluator evaluating each of the patterns for the fine-grained topic models comprised in the best scoring evergreen indexes against the digital information, the fine-grained topic models corresponding to the topics that comprise the coarse-grained topic models having the best scores, and providing access to at least a part of only that digital information that matches at least one of the patterns. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 15)
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8. A computer-implemented method for providing a topic-directed search, comprising:
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maintaining a plurality of evergreen indexes for topically-limited subject areas, each of the subject areas comprising articles of digital information and for each of the evergreen indexes, comprising; specifying a hierarchy of topics; and pairing a fine-grained topic model to each of the topics in the topic hierarchy, each of the fine-grained topic models comprising a pattern evaluable against the articles, wherein the pattern identifies such articles matching the fine-grained topic model'"'"'s topic; for each topic in each of the evergreen indexes, maintaining a coarse-grained topic model comprising; specifying characteristic words extracted from the articles identified by the fine-grained topic models of each topic; and assigning scores to the characteristic words; specifying a topic search comprising search terms; evaluating the coarse-grained topic model of each of the topics in the evergreen indexes by matching the search terms and accumulating their scores; presenting the evergreen indexes comprised of the topics that comprise the coarse-grained topic models having the best scores through a user interface; and
further comprising at least one of;highlighting the topics in the best scoring evergreen indexes as presented in the user interface, comprising at least one of; emphasizing a to percentile of the articles corresponding to the search query; emphasizing the topics whose matching coarse-grained topic models have a cumulative score exceeding a threshold; and emphasizing the topics comprising top-scoring characteristic words that match the search terms; eliding the topics presented in the user interface that fall below a set matching score; identifying the best scoring evergreen indexes by one or more of name, theme, and augmented community of online users; and evaluating each of the patterns for the fine-grained topic models comprised in the best scoring evergreen indexes against the digital information, the fine-grained topic models corresponding to the topics that comprise the coarse-grained topic models having the best scores, and providing access to at least a part of only that digital information that matches at least one of the patterns. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16)
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Specification