Search equalizer

• US 8,301,616 B2
• Filed: 07/14/2006
• Issued: 10/30/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Guha, Sudipta, Rabbat, Ralph
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Debbie
• Assistant Examiner(s): TRAN, ANHTAI V
• Application Number:
  US11/486,818
• Publication Number:
  US 20080016034A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,300 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/708
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing

Abstract

A method for processing query data is described that includes receiving a query portion from a client over a network. For each of multiple search contexts, a relevance score is determined, based on the query portion. Each search context corresponds to a different set of information against which queries can be executed. Indication of the relevance scores is provided to the client over the network. Determining the relevance score and providing indication are performed prior to an input indicating a complete query or in response thereto. The method may also include associating shortcuts with search contexts, selecting a set of shortcuts based, at least in part, on the relevance scores for the search contexts and the association between the shortcuts and search contexts, and sending the set of shortcuts to the client. The shortcuts include links for accessing a content location associated with the shortcut.

Claims

1. A method for processing query data, comprising:

in response to each character of a plurality of characters being entered into a client, and without activation in said client of a button control whose activation causes a currently entered query comprising said plurality of characters to be submitted over a network to a search engine, receiving a separate query portion from said client over said network, thereby receiving a plurality of query portions;

wherein each query portion of said plurality of query portions is a portion of a same query;

for each received query portion of said plurality of query portions, determining, for each search context of a plurality of search contexts, a relevance score based on one or more suggested queries derived from said received query portion, thereby determining a separate plurality of relevance scores for each received query portion of the plurality of query portions;

wherein each search context of the plurality of search contexts is a different set of information that has been previously searched using the one or more suggested queries to obtain links relevant to the one or more suggested queries;

wherein the one or more suggested queries derived from said received query portion include at least one query that is not the same as the received query portion; and

in response to each character of said plurality of characters being entered into said client, and for each particular query portion of said plurality of query portions, providing to said client over said network an indication of multiple relevance scores that were determined for said particular query portion, each relevance score of said multiple relevance scores being associated with a different search context in the plurality of search contexts;

wherein the step of providing the indication of relevance scores is performed by one or more processors in a computer system.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the steps of determining a relevance score and providing an indication are performed prior to receiving input that indicates that said query portion represents a complete query, wherein the one or more suggested queries are complete queries that the user is predicted to enter based upon the query portion.

3. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising:

associating shortcuts with search contexts;

selecting a set of shortcuts based, at least in part, on said relevance scores for said search contexts and the association between said shortcuts and said search contexts; and

sending said set of shortcuts to said client;

wherein said each of said shortcuts comprises a link for accessing a content location associated with said shortcut.

4. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising:

ranking category-significant web portals according to said relevance scores; and

displaying each of said category-significant web portals with a different one of the relevance score rankings at said client.

5. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein said query portion comprises a random query portion, further comprising categorizing said random query portion into each of said search contexts further based on said relevance score.

6. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein said indication comprises a graphical representation of each said relevance score.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

performing, at a search engine, a plurality of searches over a period of time in response to a plurality of search requests, each search request of the plurality of search requests comprising a query and search context selection information instructing the search engine to perform the query on a specific search context of the plurality of search contexts, the specific search context specifically selected for entering the query;

wherein each search context of the plurality of search contexts is a different set of searchable information for obtaining links relevant to the plurality of search requests;

based at least on the search context selection information included in the search requests for the period of time, logging the numbers of times the search engine is instructed to perform each query on each specific search context of a plurality of search contexts;

subsequent to the period of time, receiving from the client, over the network, a particular query portion of the plurality of query portions, said particular query being a complete query or portion thereof;

based on the logged numbers of times the search engine was instructed to perform each query on each specific search context, determining, for each specific search context of the plurality of search contexts;

(a) at least one of;

the number of times the search engine was instructed to perform the particular query on the specific search context over the period of time, or the number of times the search engine was instructed to perform a suggested query derived from the particular query on the specific search context over the period of time; and

(b) a particular relevance score of the particular query to the search context, the relevance score being calculated using at least one of;

the number of times the search engine was instructed to perform the particular query on the specific search context over the period of time, or the number of times the search engine was instructed to perform a suggested query derived from the particular query on the specific search context over the period of time;

providing to said client over said network an indication of each said particular relevance Score.

8. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein determining each relevance score of each plurality of relevance scores comprises:

using a normalizing function based at least on ;

(1) a total number of queries that have been previously submitted in any of the plurality of search contexts over a period of time and (2) a total number of queries that have been previously submitted in a specific search context over the period of time.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein determining each relevance score of each plurality of relevance scores comprises:

determining two or more suggested queries for a particular query portion, wherein at least one of the suggested queries is different from the particular query portion;

determining, for each specific search context of the plurality of search contexts, the number of times each of the two or more suggested queries was directed to the specific search context over the period of time;

wherein each relevance score is based at least on the numbers determined for each of the two or more suggested queries for a corresponding search context.

10. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising determining a particular relevance score for a particular search context by at least performing one of:

calculating a frequency of the number of times a particular query portion was directed to the particular search context over a period of time compared to the number of times the particular query portion was received in a plurality of search requests, or calculating a frequency of the number of times one or more suggested queries based on the particular query portion were directed to the particular search context over the period of time compared to the number of times the one or more suggested queries were received in a plurality of search requests.

11. One or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more computing devices, cause performance of the method recited in claim 1.

12. The method of claim 1,

wherein providing to said client an indication of relevance scores in the plurality of relevance scores comprises providing to said client a graphical representation of the plurality of relevance scores;

wherein the graphical representation comprises a plurality of bars, each bar being representative of a different relevance score in the plurality of relevance scores, the size of each bar being based on upon its represented relevance score;

wherein, in response to each character of the plurality of characters, the one or more computing devices provides a different graphical representation, wherein the sizes of one or more of the plurality of bars are different for each different graphical representation.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of search contexts include a plurality of collections of information, each collection being tailored to a specific topic or a specific demographic group.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

performing a plurality of searches over a period of time in response to a plurality of search requests, each search request of the plurality of search requests comprising a query directed to a specific search context, the specific search context specifically selected for entering the query;

wherein each search context is a different set of searchable information for obtaining links relevant to the plurality of search requests;

for the period of time, logging the number of times each query is directed to each specific search context of a plurality of search contexts;

wherein each determined relevance score is calculated based on the logging.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending to the client code that causes the client to display a link to each of the different search contexts in the plurality of search contexts, and that further causes the client to rearrange the links as the multiple relevance scores change in response to each character of said plurality of characters.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to one or more characters of said plurality of characters being entered into said client, sending code to the client that causes the client to display one or more suggested queries;

sending to client code that causes the client to display, when the one or more suggested queries are selected, indications of multiple relevance scores that were determined for the one or more suggested queries.

17. One or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more computing devices, cause performance of the method recited in claim 2.

18. One or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more computing devices, cause performance of the method recited in claim 3.

19. One or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more computing devices, cause performance of the method recited in claim 4.

20. One or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more computing devices, cause performance of the method recited in claim 5.

21. One or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more computing devices, cause performance of the method recited in claim 6.

22. One or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more computing devices, cause performance of the method recited in claim 7.

23. The method of claim 7,

wherein providing to said client an indication of each said relevance score comprises providing to said client a graphical representation of said relevance scores;

wherein the graphical representation comprises a plurality of bars, each bar being representative of a different score of said relevance scores, the size of each bar being based on upon its represented relevance score.

24. The method of claim 7, wherein the plurality of search contexts includes a web portal.

25. The method of claim 7, wherein the plurality of search contexts includes a search vertical.

26. The method of claim 7, wherein each query of each of the plurality of searches is entered in an interactive text field configured to accept a query directed to a specific search context and send, to the search engine, the search context selection information identifying the specific search context.

27. One or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more computing devices, cause performance of the method recited in claim 8.

28. One or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more computing devices, cause performance of the method recited in claim 9.

29. One or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more computing devices, cause performance of the method recited in claim 10.

30. One or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more computing devices, cause performance of the method recited in claim 12.

31. One or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more computing devices, cause performance of the method recited in claim 13.

32. One or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more computing devices, cause performance of the method recited in claim 14.

33. One or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more computing devices, cause performance of the method recited in claim 15.

34. One or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more computing devices, cause performance of the method recited in claim 16.

35. One or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more computing devices, cause performance of the method recited in claim 23.

36. One or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more computing devices, cause performance of the method recited in claim 24.

37. One or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more computing devices, cause performance of the method recited in claim 25.

38. One or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more computing devices, cause performance of the method recited in claim 26.