Organizing search results in a topic hierarchy

• US 8,214,361 B1
• Filed: 09/30/2008
• Issued: 07/03/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Dave, Kushal, Sandler, Mark M.
• Primary Examiner(s): To, Baoquoc
• Application Number:
  US12/242,464
• Time in Patent Office: 1,372 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/732
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/35 Clustering; Classification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including medium-encoded computer program products, for searching a data set and returning search results organized in a hierarchy of categories are disclosed. A set of categories is provided for organizing a set of search results, wherein each category is associated with one or more search results. The set of search results is organized into a hierarchy of categories, the hierarchy including at least one category from the set of categories. At least a portion of the hierarchy of categories is displayed and a user request to modify the hierarchy of categories is received. The hierarchy of categories is modified in accordance with the user request.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a search request from a first user;

performing a search based on the search request;

providing a set of search results;

providing a set of categories for organizing the set of search results, wherein each category is identified based, at least in part, on one or more search results;

organizing the set of search results into a hierarchy of categories, the hierarchy including at least one category from the set of categories;

displaying at least a portion of the hierarchy of categories to the first user;

receiving a request from the first user to modify the hierarchy of categories;

modifying the hierarchy of categories in accordance with the request from the first user;

associating the modified hierarchy of categories with a user profile for the first user;

storing the modified hierarchy of categories associated with the first user to provide a customized hierarchy of categories to the first user for use in response to subsequent search requests from the first user; and

providing a customized category hierarchy for the first user based on the user profile for the first user in response to a subsequent search request from the first user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein modifying the hierarchy of categories comprises adding a new category to generate a modified hierarchy of categories, the new category capable of being associated with one or more search results.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

defining sets of search results, wherein each set corresponds to a category for organizing search results and comprises the one or more search results associated with the category; and

providing the search result from the set of search results.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein adding the new category comprises receiving a user selection from a list of categories.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein adding the new category comprises receiving a user entry defining the new category.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein defining the new category comprises a previously defined category not included in the hierarchy, automatically selected on the basis of the user entry.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein a plurality of user requests to modify the hierarchy of categories is received.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the user request to modify the hierarchy of categories comprises feedback data relating to one or more of the categories, the method further comprising storing the feedback data in connection with a profile, wherein the profile is associated with the user.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

associating a webpage with at least one category in response to at least one user request to associate the webpage with the at least one category;

displaying the webpage on a web browser;

displaying at least one category in connection with the webpage; and

receiving a user request to associate the webpage with the at least one category.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of search results is a first set of search results, and the method further comprises organizing a second set of search results for the second user based on the modified hierarchy of categories associated with the first user.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving a request from the first user to modify the hierarchy of categories includes a request to move a search result from a first category to a second category;

and wherein modifying the hierarchy of categories in accordance with the request from the first user includes moving the search result from the first category to the second category.

12. A system for searching a data set and returning search results organized in a hierarchy of categories comprising:

at least one user computer device;

at least one data server storing a data set;

a search engine subsystem capable of receiving a search request from a first user, accessing the at least one data server, searching the data set to return search results organized in a set of categories, the categories identified based, at least in part, on the search results and organized in a hierarchy of categories, and the search engine subsystem further capable of accepting a request from the first user to modify the hierarchy of categories, modifying the hierarchy of categories in response to the request to modify the hierarchy received from the first user, associating the modified hierarchy of categories with a user profile for the first user, wherein the modified hierarchy of categories associated with the first user is different from a hierarchy of categories associated with a second user, storing the modified hierarchy of categories associated with the user profile for the first user to provide a customized hierarchy of categories to the first user for use in response to subsequent search requests from the first user, and providing a customized category hierarchy for the first user based on the user profile for the first user in response to a subsequent search request from the first user.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the data set is a worldwide public network.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the search engine subsystem comprises a subtraction module capable of responding to the request from the first user to modify the hierarchy of categories by removing at least one category from the hierarchy according to the user request.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the search engine subsystem comprises a category adding a module capable of responding to the request from the first user to modify the hierarchy of categories by adding at least one category to the hierarchy according to the user request.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the at least one added category is a user-created category.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the search engine subsystem comprises a user voting module capable of receiving feedback data and using the data to affect a future organization of search results into the hierarchy of categories.

18. An article comprising a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium storing instructions for causing computer processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

receiving a search query from a first user;

conducting a search of a data set based on the search query to generate a set of search results;

identifying a set of categories associated with the set of search results, the set of categories identified based, at least in part on, the set of search results;

organizing the set of search results into a hierarchy of categories;

presenting the hierarchy of categories on a graphical user interface to the first user;

receiving a user request from the first user to modify the hierarchy of categories;

modifying the hierarchy of categories or a future hierarchy of categories based on the received user request from the first user to modify the hierarchies;

associating the modified hierarchy of categories with a user profile for the first user,

storing the modified hierarchy of categories associated with the user profile for the first user to provide a customized hierarchy of categories to the first user for use in response to subsequent search requests from the first user; and

providing a customized category hierarchy for the first user based on the user profile for the first user in response to a subsequent search request from the first user.

19. The article of claim 18, wherein the user request to modify the hierarchy of categories includes a request to add a new category associated with at least one search result in the set of search results.

20. The article of claim 18, wherein the user request to modify the hierarchy of categories is user feedback data related to at least one category in the hierarchy of categories, and wherein the machine-readable medium further stores instructions for causing computer processing apparatus to perform operations comprising altering the association of a category with a search result based on the user feedback data.

21. The article of claim 18, wherein the machine-readable medium further stores instructions for causing computer processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

receiving a user request to associate a file in the data set with a category; and

associating the file with the category according to the user request.

22. The article of claim 21, wherein the file is a webpage and the user request to associate the file with the category is received through a web browser presenting the webpage.

23. The article of claim 21, wherein the file is included in a future set of search results and the category associated with the file according to the user request is identified in a set of categories associated with the set of future search results.