Document ranking based on document classification

• US 8,224,827 B2
• Filed: 09/26/2011
• Issued: 07/17/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2003
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Dean, Jeffrey, Haahr, Paul, Henzinger, Monika, Lawrence, Steve, Pfleger, Karl, Sercinoglu, Olcan, Tong, Simon
• Primary Examiner(s): Vy, Hung T
• Application Number:
  US13/244,841
• Publication Number:
  US 20120016888A1
• Time in Patent Office: 295 Days
• Field of Search: 707/705, 707/706, 707/722, 707/723, 707/728, 707/736, 707/748, 707/751, 707/758, 715/500, 715/200, 706/46
• US Class Current: 707/748
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0246 Traffic
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching

Abstract

A system may determine an extent to which a document is selected when the document is included in a set of search results, generate a score for the document based, at least in part, on the extent to which the document is selected when the document is included in a set of search results; and rank the document with regard to at least one other document based, at least in part, on the score.

Claims

1. A method performed by one or more devices, the method comprising:

determining, by at least one of the one or more devices, a first average amount of time that a first set of users spent accessing a document during a first time period;

determining, by at least one of the one or more devices, a second average amount of time that a second set of users spent accessing the same document during a second time period, the second time period occurring after the first time period;

comparing, by at least one of the one or more devices, the first average amount of time to the second average amount of time

determining, by at least one of the one or more devices and based on the comparing, that the first average amount of time is different from the second average amount of time

classifying, by at least one of the one or more devices, the document as stale or fresh based on determining that the first average amount of time is different from the second average amount of time, the classifying including;

classifying the document as stale when the first average amount of time is greater than the second average amount of time, and

classifying the document as fresh when the first average amount of time is less than the second average amount of time

generating, by at least one of the one or more devices, a score for the document based on classifying the document as stale or fresh; and

ranking, by at least one of the one or more devices, the document with regard to at least one other document based on the generated score.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a quantity of times that the document is selected out of a plurality of documents, and

where generating the score includes generating the score further based on the determined quantity of times that the document is selected out of the plurality of documents.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

lowering a ranking of the document, with regard to the at least one other document, when the document is classified as stale.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

increasing a ranking of the document, with regard to the at least one other document, when the document is classified as fresh.

5. The method of claim 1, where the generated score is a first score, the method further comprising:

generating a second score, for the document, that is based on a relevance of the document to a search query; and

combining the first and second scores to generate an overall score,

where ranking the document includes ranking the document with regard to the at least one other document based on the overall score.

6. A system, comprising:

one or more devices to;

determine a first average amount of time that a first set of users spent accessing a document during a first time period;

determine a second average amount of time that a second set of users spent accessing the same document during a second time period, the second time period occurring after the first time period;

compare the first average amount of time to the second average amount of time;

determine, based on the comparing, that the first average amount of time is different from the second average amount of time

classify the document as stale or fresh based on determining that the first average amount of time is different from the second average amount of time, when classifying the document, at least one of the one or more devices further being to;

classify the document as stale when the first average amount of time is greater than the second average amount of time, and

classify the document as fresh when the first average amount of time is less than the second average amount of time

generate a score for the document based on classifying the document as stale or fresh; and

rank the document with regard to at least one other document based on the generated score.

7. The system of claim 6, where the one or more devices are further to:

determine a quantity of times that the document is selected out of a plurality of documents, and

where when generating the score, the one or more devices are to generate the score further based on the determined quantity of times that the document is selected out of the plurality of documents.

8. The system of claim 6, where the one or more devices are further to:

lower a ranking of the document, with regard to the at least one other document, when the document is classified as stale.

9. The system of claim 6, where the one or more devices are further to:

increase a ranking of the document, with regard to the at least one other document, when the document is classified as fresh.

10. The system of claim 6, where the generated score is a first score, where the one or more devices are further to:

generate a second score, for the document, that is based on a relevance of the document to a search query; and

combine the first and second scores to generate an overall score,

where when ranking the document, the one or more devices are to rank the document with regard to the at least one other document based on the overall score.

11. A computer-readable memory device, comprising:

a plurality of computer-executable instructions, which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to;

determine a first average amount of time that a first set of users spent accessing a document during a first time period;

determine a second average amount of time that a second set of users spent accessing the same document during a second time period, the second time period occurring after the first time period;

compare the first average amount of time to the second average amount of time

determine, based on the comparing, that the first average amount of time is different from the second average amount of time

classify the document as stale or fresh based on determining that the first average amount of time is different from the second average amount of time, when classifying the document, the one or more devices further being to;

classify the document as stale when determining that the first average amount of time is greater than the second average amount of time, and

classify the document as fresh when determining that the first average amount of time is less than the second average amount of time

generate a score for the document based on classifying the document as stale or fresh; and

rank the document with regard to at least one other document based on the generated score.

12. The computer-readable memory device of claim 11, where the plurality of computer-executable instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

determine a quantity of times that the document is selected out of a plurality of documents, and

where the computer-executable instructions, which cause the one or more processors to generate the score, further cause the one or more processors to generate the score further based on the determined quantity of times that the document is selected out of the plurality of documents.

13. The computer-readable memory device of claim 11, where the plurality computer-executable instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

lower a ranking of the document, with regard to the at least one other document, when the document is classified as stale.

14. The computer-readable memory device of claim 11, where the plurality of computer-executable instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

increase a ranking of the document, with regard to the at least one other document, when the document is classified as fresh.

15. The computer-readable memory device of claim 11, where the generated score is a first score, where the plurality computer-executable instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

generate a second score, for the document, that is based on a relevance of the document to a search query; and

combine the first and second scores to generate an overall score,

where the plurality of computer-executable instructions, which cause the one or more processors to rank the document, further cause the one or more processors to rank the document with regard to the at least one other document based on the overall score.