Information retrieval using user-generated metadata
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method for improving information retrieval in response to a query input by a user to a user computer during a browsing session, the method comprising:
- collecting user-generated metadata indicative of user choices regarding documents returned responsive to a prior query;
storing the user-generated metadata on a storage medium;
modifying an initial search index with the user-generated metadata to obtain a modified search index, by a computer processor; and
storing the modified search index,wherein the initial search index is an initial term-document matrix having relevance scores as elements, the relevance scores indicating relationship of salient terms of documents in a corpus to the documents in the corpus, andwherein the modified search index is obtained by modifying the initial term-document matrix to highlight the relationship between documents related to the user-generated metadata and a subset of the salient terms.
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Abstract
System, device and method for using user-generated metadata to arrive at a modified search index that emphasizes a relationship between documents selected by a user during a prior search session and salient terms of those documents. An initial search index is modified by adding a synthetic term and a synthetic document to terms and documents that are used to arrive at the elements of the index and by modifying the relevance scores to highlight one or more of the search terms, the synthetic term, and the synthetic document. Synthetic term ties a cluster of related documents together and synthetic document ties terms of these documents together. Synthetic term is not found in any other documents and synthetic document does not belong to any normal corpus of documents. Modified index aids in re-generating prior user choices because it contains artifacts reflecting associations that user perceived between various terms and documents.
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Citations
36 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method for improving information retrieval in response to a query input by a user to a user computer during a browsing session, the method comprising:
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collecting user-generated metadata indicative of user choices regarding documents returned responsive to a prior query; storing the user-generated metadata on a storage medium; modifying an initial search index with the user-generated metadata to obtain a modified search index, by a computer processor; and storing the modified search index, wherein the initial search index is an initial term-document matrix having relevance scores as elements, the relevance scores indicating relationship of salient terms of documents in a corpus to the documents in the corpus, and wherein the modified search index is obtained by modifying the initial term-document matrix to highlight the relationship between documents related to the user-generated metadata and a subset of the salient terms. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A computer-implemented method for information retrieval in response to a present query input by a user to a user computer, the method comprising:
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obtaining an initial term-document matrix having relevance scores as elements, the relevance scores indicating relationship of salient terms of documents in a corpus to the documents in the corpus; collecting and storing user-generated metadata identifying first documents related together through previous user selections or previous user interests or both; synthesizing a synthetic term associating the first documents together; obtaining relevance scores of the synthetic term with the documents in the corpus; and adding the relevance scores of the synthetic term to the initial term-document matrix to obtain a modified term-document matrix. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A computer-implemented method for information retrieval in response to a present query input by a user to a user computer, the method comprising:
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obtaining an initial term-document matrix having relevance scores as elements, the relevance scores indicating relationship of salient terms of documents in a corpus to the documents; collecting and storing user-generated metadata identifying first documents related together through previous user selections or previous user interests or both; identifying first salient terms as a subset of salient terms of the first documents; synthesizing a synthetic document associating the first documents together through associating the first salient terms together; obtaining relevance scores of the synthetic document with the salient terms of the documents in the corpus; and adding the relevance scores of the synthetic document to the initial term-document matrix to obtain a modified term-document matrix. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A device for improving information retrieval in response to a query by a user, the device comprising:
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means for receiving an initial search index showing relevance of documents in a corpus of searched document to salient terms of the documents; means for collecting and storing user-generated metadata indicative of user choices during a document search session; means for modifying the initial search index according to the user-generated metadata to obtain a modified search index; means for applying the query to the modified search index; and means for providing a set of documents discovered from the corpus of searched documents responsive to the query, wherein user-selected documents are chosen by the user from among the discovered documents, and wherein the modified search index is obtained by modifying the initial search index to emphasize a relationship between the user-selected documents and a subset of salient terms of the user-selected documents. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34)
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35. A repository for collecting user-generated metadata and generating a modified search index, the repository comprising:
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an input and output interface for receiving an initial search index; a storage medium for storing the initial search index and for storing user-generated metadata indicative of user choices during a browsing session; and a processor for modifying the initial search index according to the user-generated metadata to generate the modified search index, wherein the modified search index is generated by modifying the initial search index to emphasize a relationship between user-selected documents and a subset of salient terms of the user-selected documents, wherein the user-selected documents are chosen from among documents returned to a user during the browsing session; wherein the modified search index includes relevance scores pertaining to a synthetic term associating together the user-selected documents, and wherein the synthetic term does not occur in documents of a corpus of searched documents. - View Dependent Claims (36)
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Specification