Resolving queries based on automatic determination of requestor geographic location

• US 8,166,025 B1
• Filed: 07/29/2010
• Issued: 04/24/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2003
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: AOL Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Virdy, Ajaipal Singh
• Primary Examiner(s): Breene, John E
• Assistant Examiner(s): MYINT, DENNIS Y
• Application Number:
  US12/846,329
• Time in Patent Office: 635 Days
• Field of Search: 707/724, 707/730, 707/728
• US Class Current: 707/724
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries

Abstract

Resolving a query term includes receiving at least one query term from a requestor and determining a geographic location of the requestor. The geographic location of the requestor may be determined by accessing an electronic information store containing a requestor profile including geographic information about the requestor, where the requestor profile is used by more than one program. The query term is resolved against electronic information within at least one electronic information store to determine whether one or more matches exist and a result is generated that accounts for the geographic location of the requestor.

Claims

1. A method of providing ordered search results, comprising the steps of:

receiving at least one term of a query related to a search request;

determining a geographical area associated with a requestor of the query;

generating, with at least one processor, multiple search results associated with the term and the geographical area, the multiple search results including first search results relevant to the term and second search results relevant to the geographical area;

comparing a quantity of the first search results with a quantity of the second search results;

selecting whether to prioritize the first search results or the second search results based on the comparison; and

ordering the multiple search results for display, wherein the ordering comprises;

ordering a list of the multiple search results based on a comparison of relative relevancy of the multiple search results to the term if the selecting prioritizes the first search results; and

ordering a list of the multiple search results based on a comparison of relative geographic proximity of the multiple search results to the geographical area if the selecting prioritizes the second search results.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining the geographical area associated with a requestor of the query comprises:

determining the geographical area without soliciting geographic location information from the requestor.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining the geographical area associated with a requestor of the query comprises:

accessing a profile of the requestor, the profile including data associated with the geographical area.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the profile is accessed by at least one of a first program to order the multiple search results and a second program performing a function unrelated to ordering the multiple search results.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the profile is preexisting and was created for a purpose other than ordering the multiple search results.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

determining a geocode based on the geographical area; and

associating the geocode with the requestor.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

enabling the requestor to override the determined geographical area.

8. A method for providing an ordered list of search results, comprising the steps of:

receiving at least one query term from a requestor;

determining a geographical area associated with the requestor;

generating, with at least one processor, search results associated with the term and the geographical area;

comparing a first quantity of the search results that are relevant to the term with a second quantity of search results that are relevant to the geographical area;

selecting to prioritize the first quantity or the second quantity of search results based on the comparison; and

ordering the search results for display, wherein the ordering comprises;

ordering a list of the search results based on a comparison of relative relevancy of the search results to the term if the selecting prioritizes the first quantity of search results; and

ordering a list of the search results based on a comparison of relative geographic proximity of the search results to the geographical area if the selecting prioritizes the second quantity of search results.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising analyzing the query term with respect to information in at least one electronic information store to determine the search results.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the information is associated with different geocodes, and wherein analyzing the query term comprises:

identifying individual matches from the information by comparing a geocode of the requestor with different geocodes of the information.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising determining computer network information associated with the requestor and determining the geographical area using the determined computer network information.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the computer network information comprises at least one of an Internet Protocol (IP) address associated with the requestor or a location of a service provider gateway of the requestor, and wherein the step of determining the geographical area comprises determining the geographical area using the IP address associated with the requestor or the location of the service provider gateway of the requestor.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the computer network information is not provided by the user.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of ordering the search results:

ordering the search results by proximity to the geographical area associated with the requestor and relevance of the query term.

15. The method of claim 8, wherein the method further comprises:

narrowing an amount of information for analysis in generating the search results based on the geographical area of the requestor; and

comparing the query term against the narrowed information to determine the search results.

16. The method of claim 8, further comprising the steps of:

associating a representation of the geographical area of the requestor with the query term; and

resolving the query term and the representation of the geographical area against information in at least one electronic information store to determine the search results.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the representation of the geographical area includes a geocode of the requestor.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the geocode includes a geographic taxonomy.

19. The method of claim 8, further comprising the step of:

enabling the requestor to override the determined geographical area.

20. The method of claim 8, further comprising determining the geographical area associated with a requestor of the query by accessing a profile of the requestor, the profile including data associated with the geographical area.