Generating query suggestions using contextual information
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
- receiving an original query;
selecting a plurality of documents responsive to the original query according to a ranking of the respective documents;
generating a plurality of term vectors, the plurality of term vectors including a term vector for each document;
truncating each term vector to include only highest-weighted terms from the respective document to provide a plurality of truncated term vectors;
combining the plurality of truncated term vectors containing the highest-weighted terms to produce a search query centroid, the search query centroid being a vector of the most common terms among the terms in the plurality of truncated term vectors;
searching a centroid repository for previously stored centroids matching the search query centroid;
converting each of a first number of the most highly-ranked centroids into a candidate query;
examining the candidate queries in a ranked order;
adding each candidate query to a set of query suggestions if the respective candidate query contains a threshold number of terms that are not included in the original query; and
providing the set of query suggestions in response to the original query.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A search engine receives a query from an end-user. The search engine executes the query on a content database and identifies a set of matching content. The search engine utilizes the matching content to generate a query vector describing the end-user query. The search engine searches a repository of other vectors, called “centroids,” to produce a ranked set of centroids matching the query vector. These centroids are converted into search queries and form a set of candidate queries. The search engine filters the candidate queries to identify ones that are likely to be meaningful to the end-user. The selected candidate queries are returned to the end-user as query suggestions.
-
Citations
15 Claims
-
1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
-
receiving an original query; selecting a plurality of documents responsive to the original query according to a ranking of the respective documents; generating a plurality of term vectors, the plurality of term vectors including a term vector for each document; truncating each term vector to include only highest-weighted terms from the respective document to provide a plurality of truncated term vectors; combining the plurality of truncated term vectors containing the highest-weighted terms to produce a search query centroid, the search query centroid being a vector of the most common terms among the terms in the plurality of truncated term vectors; searching a centroid repository for previously stored centroids matching the search query centroid; converting each of a first number of the most highly-ranked centroids into a candidate query; examining the candidate queries in a ranked order; adding each candidate query to a set of query suggestions if the respective candidate query contains a threshold number of terms that are not included in the original query; and providing the set of query suggestions in response to the original query. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
-
-
6. A system comprising:
-
a computer-readable medium coupled to the one or more computers having instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the one or more computers, cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising; receiving an original query; selecting a plurality of documents responsive to the original query according to a ranking of the respective documents; generating a plurality of term vectors, the plurality of term vectors including a term vector for each document; truncating each term vector to include only highest-weighted terms from the respective document to provide a plurality of truncated term vectors; combining the plurality of truncated term vectors containing the highest-weighted terms to produce a search query centroid, the search query centroid being a vector of the most common terms among the terms in the plurality of truncated term vectors; searching a centroid repository for previously stored centroids matching the search query centroid; converting each of a first number of the most highly-ranked centroids into a candidate query; examining the candidate queries in a ranked order; adding each candidate query to a set of query suggestions if the respective candidate query contains a threshold number of terms that are not included in the original query; and providing the set of query suggestions in response to the original query. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10)
-
-
11. A computer program product having a computer-readable storage medium having executable computer program instructions recorded thereon for providing suggestions to a client computer, the computer program instructions configured to implement a method comprising:
-
receiving an original query; selecting a plurality of documents responsive to the original query according to a ranking of the respective documents; generating a plurality of term vectors, the plurality of term vectors including a term vector for each document; truncating each term vector to include only highest-weighted terms from the respective document to provide a plurality of truncated term vectors; combining the plurality of truncated term vectors containing the highest-weighted terms to produce a search query centroid, the search query centroid being a vector of the most common terms among the terms in the plurality of truncated term vectors; searching a centroid repository for previously stored centroids matching the search query centroid; converting each of a first number of the most highly-ranked centroids into a candidate query; examining the candidate queries in a ranked order; adding each candidate query to a set of query suggestions if the respective candidate query contains a threshold number of terms that are not included in the original query; and providing the set of query suggestions in response to the original query. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
-
Specification