System and method for providing definitions

• US 8,255,417 B2
• Filed: 06/27/2003
• Issued: 08/28/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/20/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Nevill-Manning, Craig
• Primary Examiner(s): CHANNAVAJJALA, SRIRAMA T
• Application Number:
  US10/608,270
• Publication Number:
  US 20040236739A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,350 Days
• Field of Search: 707/770, 707/767, 707/706, 715/243, 715/259, 715/261
• US Class Current: 707/770
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/00 Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/00 Digital computing or data processing equipment or methods, specially adapted for specific functions information retrieval, database structures or file system structures therefor G06F16/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/242 Dictionaries

Abstract

A system and method for providing definitions is described. A phrase to be defined is received. One or more documents, which each contain at least one definition, are determined. The phrase is matched to at least one of the definitions. One or more definitions for the phrase are presented.

Claims

1. A system for providing definitions, comprising:

a server configured to receive a phrase to be processed and select a plurality of documents each containing at least one definition for the phrase, the server, when selecting, being further configured to perform a search based on a search query that includes a predetermined term indicative of a presence of definitions; and

a user interface configured to present one or more of the definitions for the phrase in an order determined based on a ranking of the documents that contain the presented one or more definitions.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein selecting the plurality of documents each containing at least one definition is performed prior to the receiving of the phrase.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the documents are Web pages.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the predetermined term includes one of glossary, definition, or dictionary.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the selecting includes performing the search on a title field of the plurality of documents.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the selecting includes determining a presence of the phrase in the plurality of documents.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the selecting includes determining an absence of the phrase in the plurality of documents.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein determining the presence of the phrase further includes determining an exact match of the phrase.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the matching comprises modifying the phrase.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein modifying the phrase comprises determining a canonical form of the phrase.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the matching further comprises retrieving an associated definition of the phrase.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the selected documents are determined substantially in real-time in response to the phrase being received from a user.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the presenting further includes processing the definitions.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the presenting one or more definitions for the phrase includes presenting a substantially most common capitalization of the phrase.

15. The system of claim 14, further comprising presenting less common forms of the phrase.

16. The system of claim 1, further comprising determining superstrings of the phrase present in the plurality of documents.

17. The system of claim 16, further comprising presenting at least some of the determined superstrings.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein at least one of the presented superstrings is presented as one of a related phrase or a suggested query.

19. A method for providing definitions, comprising:

receiving a phrase to be processed;

selecting a plurality of documents each containing at least one definition for the phrase, the selecting including performing a search based on a search query that includes a predetermined term indicative of a presence of definitions; and

presenting one or more of the definitions for the phrase in an order determined based on a ranking of the documents that contain the presented one or more definitions.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein selecting the plurality of documents each containing at least one definition is performed prior to receiving of the phrase.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the documents are Web pages.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein the predetermined term includes one of glossary, definition, or dictionary.

23. The method of claim 19, wherein the selecting includes performing the search on a title field of the plurality of documents.

24. The method of claim 19, wherein the selecting includes determining a presence of the phrase in the plurality of documents.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the selecting includes determining an absence of the phrase in the plurality of documents.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein determining the presence of the phrase further includes determining an exact match of the phrase.

27. The method of claim 24, wherein the selecting comprises modifying the phrase.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein modifying the phrase comprises determining a canonical form of the phrase.

29. The method of claim 19, wherein the selecting further comprises retrieving an associated definition of the phrase.

30. The method of claim 19, wherein the selected documents are determined substantially in real-time in response to the phrase being received from a user.

31. The method of claim 19, wherein the presenting further includes processing the definitions.

32. The method of claim 19, wherein the presenting one or more definitions for the phrase includes presenting a substantially most common capitalization of the phrase.

33. The method of claim 32, further comprising presenting less common forms of the phrase.

34. The method of claim 19, further comprising determining superstrings of the phrase present in the plurality of the documents.

35. The method of claim 34, further comprising presenting at least some of the determined superstrings.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein at least one of the presented superstrings is presented as one of a related phrase or a suggested query.