Scoring documents in a database

• US 8,131,717 B1
• Filed: 01/19/2010
• Issued: 03/06/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/10/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University (Stanford Management Co.)
• Original Assignee: Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University (Stanford Management Co.)
• Inventors: Page, Lawrence
• Primary Examiner(s): LE, UYEN T
• Application Number:
  US12/689,846
• Time in Patent Office: 777 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/726
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/382 using citations hypermedia G06F16/94
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99937 Sorting

Abstract

A method may include identifying a linked document that is linked to by a group of linking documents; identifying links between the linking documents and the linked document; assigning a weight to each of the identified links; and determining a score for the linked document based on the identified links between the linking documents and the linked document, and the weights assigned to each of the identified links.

Claims

1. A method performed by a computer, the method comprising:

receiving, by the computer, a search term from a user;

performing, by the computer, a search to identify a set of first documents based on the search term;

generating, by the computer, a first score for each first document in the set of the first documents based on a matching of the search term to a content of the first documents;

identifying, by the computer, second documents that include links to the first documents in the set of first documents;

determining, by the computer, a score for each of the second documents;

determining, by the computer, a second score for each of the first documents in the set of first documents based on the scores of the second documents that include links to the first document;

generating, by the computer, a final score for each of the first documents in the set of first documents based on the first score and the second score;

sorting, by the computer, the first documents in the set of first documents based on the final scores to form a ranked set of search results; and

providing, by the computer, the ranked set of search results to the user.

2. The method of claim 1, where the scores for the second documents are determined independent from the search term.

3. The method of claim 1, where for one of the second documents that includes a link to one of the first documents, the method further comprises:

identifying a first location at which the one of the first documents is stored;

identifying a second location at which the one of the second documents is stored; and

assigning a weight to the link from the one of the second documents to the one of the first documents based on whether the first location differs from the second location,

where the second score for the one of the first documents is generated based on the weight assigned to the link.

4. The method of claim 3, where identifying the first location includes:

identifying a first server on which the one of the first documents is stored; and

where identifying the second location includes;

identifying a second server on which the one of the second documents is stored.

5. The method of claim 3, where identifying the first location includes:

identifying a first domain in which the one of the first documents is located; and

where identifying the second location includes;

identifying a second domain in which the one of the second documents is located.

6. The method of claim 1, where determining the second score for each of the first documents includes:

assigning weights to the links included in the second documents, and

generating the second score for one of the first documents based on;

the score of one or more of the second documents, and

the weights assigned to the links, included in the one or more of the second documents, that point to the one of the first documents.

7. The method of claim 6, where assigning the weights to the links includes:

identifying a first server on which the first document is served,

identifying a second server on which the second documents is stored, and

assigning different weights to the links, included in the second documents, when the first server differs from the second server than when the first server is the same as the second server.

8. The method of claim 6, where assigning the weights to the links includes:

identifying a first domain with which the first document is associated,

identifying a second domain with which the second documents is associated, and

assigning different weights to the links, included in the second documents, when the first domain differs from the second domain than when the first domain is the same as the second domain.

9. The method of claim 1, where determining the second score for each of the first documents includes:

determining information regarding bookmarks associated with the user, and

generating the second score, for one of the first documents, based on;

the information regarding the bookmarks, and

the score of one or more of the second documents that includes a link to the one of the first documents.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

crawling a network to locate the first documents and the second documents; and

creating a directed graph of the first and second documents, the directed graph identifying the links from the second documents to the first documents.

11. The method of claim 1, where performing the search includes:

identifying documents based on the search term,

determining whether text of links, in the identified documents, match the search term, each of the links identifying a respective document, and

generating search results, as the set of first documents, that include the documents and one or more of the respective documents identified by the text of the links that match the search term.

12. The method of claim 11, where the text of one of the links includes anchor text associated with the one of the links.

13. The method of claim 11, where the text of one of the links includes:

anchor text associated with the one of the links, and

text located adjacent the anchor text in one of the identified documents.

14. A computer-readable medium that stores instructions executable by a computer, the computer-readable medium comprising:

one or more instructions to obtain a search term;

one or more instructions to perform a search to identify a set of first documents based on the search term;

one or more instructions to calculate a first score for each first document in the set of the first documents based on a matching of the search term to a content of the first documents;

one or more instructions to identify second documents that include links to the first documents in the set of first documents;

one or more instructions to determine a score for each of the second documents;

one or more instructions to determine a second score for each of the first documents in the set of first documents based on the scores of the second documents that contain include links to the first document;

one or more instructions to generate a ranking score for each of the first documents in the set of first documents based on the first score and the second score;

one or more instructions to sort the first documents in the set of first documents based on the ranking scores to form a ranked set of search results; and

one or more instructions to output the ranked set of search results.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, where the scores for the second documents are determined independent from the search term.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, where for one of the second documents that includes a link to one of the first documents, the computer-readable medium further comprises:

one or more instructions to identify a first location at which the one of the first documents is located;

one or more instructions to identify a second location at which the one of the second documents is located; and

one or more instructions to assign a weight to the link from the one of the second documents to the one of the first documents based on whether the first location differs from the second location,

where the second score for the one of the first documents is generated based on the weight assigned to the link.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, where the one or more instructions to identify the first location include:

one or more instructions to identify a first server on which the one of the first documents is stored; and

where the one or more instructions to identify the second location includes;

one or more instructions to identify a second server on which the one of the second documents is stored.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, where the one or more instructions to identify the first location include:

one or more instructions to identify a first domain in which the one of the first documents is located; and

where the one or more instructions to identify the second location includes;

one or more instructions to identify a second domain in which the one of the second documents is located.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, where the one or more instructions to determine the second score for each of the first documents includes:

one or more instructions to determine information regarding bookmarks associated with the user, and

one or more instructions to generate the second score, for one of the first documents, based on;

the information regarding the bookmarks, and

the score of one or more of the second documents that includes a link to the one of the first documents.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, further comprising:

one or more instructions to crawl a network to locate the first documents and the second documents; and

one or more instructions to create a directed graph of the first and second documents, the directed graph identifying the links from the second documents to the first documents.

21. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, where the one or more instructions to perform the search includes:

one or more instructions to identify documents based on the search term,

one or more instructions to determine whether text of links, in the identified documents, match the search term, each of the links identifying a respective document, and

one or more instructions to generate search results, as the set of first documents, that include the documents and one or more of the respective documents identified by the text of the links that match the search term.

22. The computer-readable medium of claim 21, where the text of one of the links includes anchor text associated with the one of the links.

23. The computer-readable medium of claim 21, where the text of one of the links includes:

anchor text associated with the one of the links, and

text located adjacent the anchor text in one of the identified documents.

24. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, where the one or more instructions to determine the second score for each of the first documents includes:

one or more instructions to assign weights to the links included in the second documents, and

one or more instructions to generate the second score for one of the first documents based on;

the score of one or more of the second documents, and

the weights assigned to the links, included in the one or more of the second documents, that point to the one of the first documents.

25. The computer-readable medium of claim 24, where the one or more instructions to assign the weights to the links includes:

one or more instructions to identify a first server on which the first document is served,

one or more instructions to identify a second server on which the second documents is stored, and

one or more instructions to assign different weights to the links, included in the second documents, when the first server differs from the second server than when the first server is the same as the second server.

26. The computer-readable medium of claim 24, where the one or more instructions to assign the weights to the links includes:

one or more instructions to identify a first domain with which the first document is associated,

one or more instructions to identify a second domain with which the second documents is associated, and

one or more instructions to assign different weights to the links, included in the second documents, when the first domain differs from the second domain than when the first domain is the same as the second domain.