Searching with metadata comprising degree of separation, chat room participation, and geography

• US 8,024,328 B2
• Filed: 12/18/2006
• Issued: 09/20/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Singhal, Nikhil, Seidman, Eytan, Dolin, Robert M., Torres, Michael I.
• Primary Examiner(s): Vo; Tim T.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Fan; Shiow-Jy
• Application Number:
  US11/640,704
• Publication Number:
  US 20080147722A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,737 Days
• Field of Search: 707 1-103, 707/103.R, 707/999.003, 707/E17.084, 707/E17.109, 707/706, 707/758, 707/723
• US Class Current: 707/723
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation

Abstract

Searches can be performed by attaching social contact metadata to a query where the metadata may be related to a degree of separation, chat room participation and geographical information related to an owner'"'"'s contacts. Searches can then be executed by generalized search engines based at least in part on the metadata. The metadata may include contact identifiers that are unique across one or more social networks, and may include contacts for individual people as well as groups or other affiliations.

Claims

1. A method of presenting search results embodied in instructions in a storage medium and executed at least in part utilizing a micro-processor, comprising:

receiving a query from a user;

attaching metadata to the query based at least in part on

a level of participation in a chat room of at least one of the user or one or more entities with which the user has a relationship,

a degree of separation between the user and at least one entity with which the user has a relationship, where an increased number of nodes and edges between two nodes is indicative of a greater degree of separation, and

a geography of at least one geographically oriented entity with which the user has a relationship; and

ranking one or more results of the query based at least in part on the metadata comprising at least one of

placing a first result higher than a second result, the first result corresponding to a first chat room and the second result corresponding to a second chat room, the user having a first level of participation with the first chat room and a second level of participation with the second chat room, the first level of participation higher than the second level of participation,

placing a third result higher than a fourth result, the third result corresponding to a first degree of separation between the user and a first entity and the fourth result corresponding to a second degree of separation between the user and a second entity, the first degree of separation being a lesser degree of separation than the second degree of separation, or

placing a fifth result higher than a sixth result, the fifth result corresponding to a first geographically oriented entity with which the user has a relationship and the sixth result corresponding to a second geographically oriented entity with which the user has a relationship, the user being geographically closer to the first geographically oriented entity than to the second geographically oriented entity.

2. The method of claim 1, the ranking comprising filtering at least some of the results.

3. The method of claim 1, comprising:

sending the query to a server; and

executing the query based at least in part on the metadata.

4. The method of claim 1, the metadata comprising at least one tag for respective degrees of separations between the user and the at least one entity.

5. The method of claim 1, the metadata based at least in part on the user'"'"'s friends, a social network, a blog, a unique identifier, or group membership.

6. The method of claim 1, comprising returning the results as a link to a social network.

7. The method of claim 1, the relationship comprising at least one of a mutual, two way, one way, peer-to-peer, or company-employee relationship.

8. The method of claim 1, the at least one entity comprising at least one of an employer, a company, an educational institution, a geographically oriented group, or another user.

9. The method of claim 1, comprising:

building an index based at least in part on the metadata;

searching the index utilizing a generalized search engine; and

displaying the results in a browser based at least in part on the metadata.

10. A system configured to present search results comprising:

one or more micro-processors;

one or more memory units coupled to at least one of the micro-processors;

a server component configured to accept a query from a user;

a database component comprising metadata indicative of

a level of participation in a chat room of at least one of the user or one or more entities with which the user has a relationship,

node cluster data indicative of a degree of separation between the user and at least one entity with which the user has a relationship, where an increased number of nodes and edges between two nodes is indicative of a greater degree of separation, and

a geography of at least one geographically oriented entity with which the user has a relationship; and

a content delivery component configured to generate and rank one or more results for the query based at least in part on the metadata and at least one of

place a first result higher than a second result, the first result corresponding to a first chat room and the second result corresponding to a second chat room, the user having a first level of participation with the first chat room and a second level of participation with the second chat room, the first level of participation higher than the second level of participation,

place a third result higher than a fourth result, the third result corresponding to a first degree of separation between the user and a first entity and the fourth result corresponding to a second degree of separation between the user and a second entity, the first degree of separation being a lesser degree of separation than the second degree of separation, or

place a fifth result higher than a sixth result, the fifth result corresponding to a first geographically oriented entity with which the user has a relationship and the sixth result corresponding to a second geographically oriented entity with which the user has a relationship, the user being geographically closer to the first geographically oriented entity than to the second geographically oriented entity, at least some of at least one of the server, database, or content delivery component implemented at least in part utilizing at least one of the micro-processors.

11. The system of claim 10, the node cluster data based at least in part on an implied social network.

12. The system of claim 10, comprising a network component configured to generate at least some of the metadata based at least in part on the query.

13. The system of claim 10, the user or at least one of the entities comprising unique entity identifiers.

14. The system of claim 10, at least two of the entities comprising groups and the content delivery component configured to rank the results based at least in part on an average degree of separation respective groups have with the user.

15. The system of claim 10, the content delivery component configured to return at least one result in the form of a link to a social network.

16. The system of claim 10, at least one of the relationships comprising at least one of a contact list, a distribution list, a club membership, or a group membership.

17. The system of claim 10, the content delivery component configured to filter at least some of the results.

18. The system of claim 10, the metadata comprising at least one tag for respective degrees of separations between the user and the at least one entity.

19. A tangible computer-readable storage device comprising computer-executable instructions, which when executed via a processor on a computer perform acts, comprising:

receiving a query from a user;

attaching metadata to the query based at least in part on

a level of participation in a chat room of at least one of the user or one or more entities with which the user has a relationship,

a degree of separation between the user and at least one entity with which the user has a relationship, where an increased number of nodes and edges between two nodes is indicative of a greater degree of separation, the degree of separation based at least in part on a type of relationship the user has with the corresponding entity, and

a geography of at least one geographically oriented entity with which the user has a relationship; and

ranking one or more results of the query based at least in part on the metadata comprising at least one of

placing a first result higher than a second result, the first result corresponding to a first chat room and the second result corresponding to a second chat room, the user having a first level of participation with the first chat room and a second level of participation with the second chat room, the first level of participation higher than the second level of participation,

placing a third result higher than a fourth result, the third result corresponding to a first degree of separation between the user and a first entity and the fourth result corresponding to a second degree of separation between the user and a second entity, the first degree of separation being a lesser degree of separation than the second degree of separation, or

placing a fifth result higher than a sixth result, the fifth result corresponding to a first geographically oriented entity with which the user has a relationship and the sixth result corresponding to a second geographically oriented entity with which the user has a relationship, the user being geographically closer to the first geographically oriented entity than to the second geographically oriented entity.

20. The computer-readable storage device of claim 19, at least one of the relationships based at least in part on an implied social network.