Searching a database of selected and associated resources

• US 8,190,602 B1
• Filed: 01/30/2007
• Issued: 05/29/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Adobe Inc.
• Original Assignee: Adobe Systems Incorporated (Adobe Inc.)
• Inventors: James, Barnaby
• Primary Examiner(s): Mofiz, Apu
• Assistant Examiner(s): RAHMAN, MOHAMMAD N
• Application Number:
  US11/699,646
• Time in Patent Office: 1,946 Days
• Field of Search: 707100-1041, 707/709, 707/711, 707/708, 707/728, 707/748, 707/726
• US Class Current: 707/726
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing

Abstract

Searching a database of selected and associated resources is described, including receiving a selected resource and adding the selected resource to a database, finding an associated resource associated to the selected resource, assigning a weight to the associated resource based on a relationship of the associated resource to the selected resource.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

a computer system receiving a search query;

in response to said receiving the search query, the computer system performing a search of selected resources previously selected by a specified user or specified group of users and associated resources that are linked to or mentioned in one of the selected resources or located within a directory path of one of the selected resources;

wherein said performing a search comprises;

determining search results based on the search query, wherein said determining search results comprises;

determining a relevance score for each of one or more selected resources and each of one or more associated resources, wherein the relevance score for each of the one or more selected resources and associated resources is determined dependent on relevance of the resource to the search query; and

weighting the relevance score for each of the associated resources based on a relationship of the associated resource to one of the selected resources;

wherein for at least one of the associated resources said weighting comprises weighting that associated resource'"'"'s relevance score based on a quantity of path segments separating that associate resource and one of the selected resources; and

the computer system providing search results including at least one selected resource and at least one of said associated resources in response to the search query, wherein the search results are ordered based on the relevance scores for the selected resources and based on the weighted relevance scores for the associated resources.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising adding data indicative of the content of each of the associated resources to a database including data indicative of the selected resources.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more of the selected resource have been previously tagged to associate one or more keywords with each of the tagged resources, and wherein the relevance score is further dependent on the keywords.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising, prior to receiving a search query, receiving a link to select a resource.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying one or more of the associated resources by searching a path including one of the selected resources.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising, in response to said search query, searching resources selected by the specified group of users.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the search query includes an indication of the group of users and wherein selected resources not selected by at least one of the group of users are not considered when searching.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the indication of the group of users is designated using a tree structure.

9. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

a computer system receiving a search query, the search query comprising a request to search at least a portion of a database comprising a previously-generated stored representation of a search space specific to a specified user or specified group of users, the stored representation indicating that a plurality of selected resources previously selected by the specified user or specified group of users define said search space specific to the specified user or specified group of users;

the computer system evaluating the previously-generated stored representation to determine a relationship between the selected resources of said search space specific to the specified user or specified group of users and one or more associated resources not selected by the specified user or specified group of users;

wherein each associated resources is linked to or mentioned in one of the selected resources or located within a directory path of one of the selected resources; and

in response to said receiving and said determining, the computer system returning search results comprising at least one of the selected resources and at least one of the one or more associated resources, and the computer system ordering the returned search results based on weighted relevance scores for one or more of the associated resources, wherein for at least one of the associated resources said weighting comprises generating that associated resource'"'"'s weighted relevance score based on a quantity of path segments separating that associate resource and one of the selected resources.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising adding data indicative of the content of one or more of the associated resources to the database.

11. A system, comprising:

a memory storing executable instructions;

a processor coupled to the memory, wherein the processor is configured to execute said instructions to;

receive a search query; and

in response to receiving the search query, perform a search of selected resources previously selected by a specified user or group of users and associated resources that are linked to or mentioned in one of the selected resources or located within a directory path of one of the selected resource;

wherein to perform the search, the processor is further configured to execute the instructions to;

determine search results based on the search query, wherein to determine the search result, the processor is further configured to execute the instructions to;

determine a relevance score for each of one or more selected resources and each of one or more associated resources, wherein the relevance score for each of the one or more selected resources and associated resources is determined dependent on relevance of the resource to the search query; and

weight the relevance score for each of the associated resources based on a relationship of the associated resource to one of the selected resources;

wherein the program instructions are configured to, for at least one of the associated resources, weight that associated resource'"'"'s relevance score based on a quantity of path segments separating that associate resource and one of the selected resources; and

provide search results including at least one selected resource and at least one of said associated resources in response to the search query, wherein the search results are ordered based on the relevance scores for the selected resources and based on the weighted relevance scores for the associated resources.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein one or more of the selected resource have been previously tagged to associate one or more keywords with each of the tagged resources, and wherein the relevance score is further dependent on the keywords.

13. A computer readable medium storing computer instructions executable for:

receiving a search query; and

in response to said receiving the search query, performing a search of selected resources previously selected by a specified user or group of users and associated resources that are linked to or mentioned in one of the selected resources or located within a directory path of one of the selected resource;

wherein said performing a search comprises;

determining search results based on the search query, wherein said determining search results comprises;

determining a relevance score for each of one or more selected resources and each of one or more associated resources, wherein the relevance score for each of the one or more selected resources and associated resources is determined dependent on relevance of the resource to the search query; and

weighting the relevance score for each of the associated resources based on a relationship of the associated resource to one of the selected resources;

wherein the program instructions are configured to, for at least one of the associated resources, weight that associated resource'"'"'s relevance score based on a quantity of path segments separating that associate resource and one of the selected resources; and

providing search results including at least one selected resource and at least one of said associated resources in response to the search query, wherein the search results are ordered based on the relevance scores for the selected resources and based on the weighted relevance scores for the associated resources.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 13, the computer instructions further executable for adding data indicative of the content of each of the associated resources to a database including data indicative of the selected resources.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein one or more of the selected resource have been previously tagged to associate one or more keywords with each of the tagged resources, and wherein the relevance score is further dependent on the keywords.