Personalizing search results

• US 8,538,970 B1
• Filed: 12/30/2004
• Issued: 09/17/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Tucker, Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Wilson
• Application Number:
  US11/024,968
• Time in Patent Office: 3,183 Days
• Field of Search: 707/10, 707/104.1, 707 1- 5, 707705-712, 707721-737, 707748-754, 707765-768
• US Class Current: 707/748
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation

Abstract

A system receives a search query from a user and performs a search of a corpus of documents, based on the search query, to form a ranked set of search results. The system re-ranks the set of search results based on preferences of the user, or a group of users, and provides the re-ranked search results to the user.

Claims

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

receiving a search query from a user;

performing, based on the search query, a search of information regarding a corpus of documents to identify a ranked set of search results;

identifying a first set of documents that are preferred by the user or a group of users;

identifying a second set of documents that are different than the first set of documents,

each document, in the second set of documents, being ranked higher than a threshold based on a global document ranking algorithm;

generating an intersection set,

documents included in the intersection set being common to both the first set and the second set;

identifying at least one document, in the intersection set, that includes a link to a particular document in the ranked set of search results;

re-ranking, based on at least one weight assigned to the at least one document, the particular document in the set of search results to obtain re-ranked search results; and

providing the re-ranked search results to the user.

2. The method of claim 1, where the ranked set of search results is ranked based on a link-based document ranking algorithm.

3. The method of claim 1, where identifying the first set of documents includes:

collecting information from a query history or document browsing history associated with the user or the group of users; and

identifying the first set of documents based on the collected information.

4. The method of claim 1, where identifying the first set of documents includes:

receiving a user input; and

identifying the first set of documents based on the user input.

5. The method of claim 1, where identifying the first set of documents includes:

identifying documents that are disfavored by the user or the group of users; and

excluding the documents, that are disfavored by the user or group of users, from the first set of documents.

6. The method of claim 1, where the second set of documents includes a substantial entirety of a corpus of aggregated documents.

16. The method of claim 1, where the at least one weight assigned to the at least one document reflects a preference for the least one document by the user or the group of users.

7. A computer-readable memory device containing instructions for controlling at least one processor, the instructions comprising:

one or more instuctions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to;

receive a search query from a user;

perform, based on the search query, a search of information regarding a corpus of documents to identify a ranked set of search result documents;

identify a first set of documents, each document in the first set of documents being ranked higher than a threshold based on a global document ranking algorithm;

identify a second set of documents associated with preferences of the user, the second set of documents being identified based on a query history or document browsing history associated with the user;

generate an intersection set, documents in the intersection set being common to both the first set and the second set;

identify at least one document in the intersection set that includes a link to a particular document in the ranked set of search result documents;

re-rank, in the ranked set of search result documents, the particular document based on at least one weight assigned to the at least one document to form a re-ranked set of search result documents; and

provide information associated with the re-ranked set of search result documents to the user.

12. The computer-readable memory device of claim 7, where the preferences represent one or more features associated with favored documents or disfavored documents associated with the user.

17. The computer-readable memory device of claim 7, where the ranked set of search result documents is ranked based on a link-based document ranking algorithm.

18. The computer-readable memory device of claim 7, where at least one instruction of the one or more instructions, to identify the second set of documents, includes:

one or more instructions to collect information from a query history or document browsing history associated with the user; and

one or more instructions to identify the second set of documents based on the collected information.

19. The computer-readable memory device of claim 7, where at least one instruction of the one or more instructions, to identify the second set of documents, includes:

one or more instructions to receive a user input; and

one or more instructions to identify the second set of documents based on the user input.

20. The computer-readable memory device of claim 7, where at least one instruction of the one or more instructions, to identify the second set of documents, includes:

one or more instructions to identify, as the second set of documents, a substantial entirety of a corpus of aggregated documents.

21. The computer-readable memory device of claim 7, where the at least one weight assigned to the at least one document reflects an amount of preference, of the user, for the at least one document.

8. A system, comprising:

a computer-implemented interface to receive a search query from a client device associated with a user; and

a computer-implemented processing unit to;

initiate a search of information regarding a corpus of documents, based on the search query, to identify a ranked set of search result documents,

identify a first set of documents, each document in the first set of documents being ranked higher than a threshold by a global document ranking algorithm,

identify a second set of documents, associated with preferences of the user or a group of users that includes the user, from a query history or document browsing history associated with the user,

generate an intersection set, documents in the intersection set being common to both the first set and the second set,

identify at least one document in the intersection set that includes a link to a particular document in the ranked set of search result documents,

re-rank, in the ranked set of search result documents, the particular document based on at least one weight assigned to the at least one document, to identify a re-ranked set of search result documents, and

provide information associated with the re-ranked search result documents to the user.

13. The system of claim 8, where the preferences represent one or more features associated with favored documents or disfavored documents associated with the user or the group of users.

22. The system of claim 8, where the ranked set of search result documents is ranked based on a link-based document ranking algorithm.

23. The system of claim 8, where the computer-implemented processing unit, when identifying the second set of documents, is further to:

collect information from a query history or document browsing history associated with the user, and

identify the second set of documents based on the collected information.

24. The system of claim 8, where the computer-implemented processing unit, when identifying the second set of documents, is further to:

receive a user input; and

identify the second set of documents based on the user input.

25. The system of claim 8, where the computer-implemented processing unit, when identifying the second set of documents, is further to:

identify, as the second set of documents, a substantial entirety of a corpus of aggregated documents.

26. The system of claim 8, where the at least one weight assigned to the at least one document reflects an amount of preference for the at least one document by the user or the group of users.

9. A computer-implemented system, comprising:

a memory to store a search query from a client device associated with a user;

one or more processors to;

search information regarding a corpus of documents, based on the search query, to identify a ranked set of search result documents;

identify a first set of documents;

identify a second set of documents that are different than the first set of documents;

generate an intersection set,

each of the documents in the intersection set;

being included in both the first set of documents and the second set of documents, and

linking to one or more documents in the ranked set of search result documents;

re-rank the ranked set of search result documents based on weights assigned to the documents in the intersection set,

the weights being based on preferences of the user; and

provide information associated with the re-ranked set of search result documents to the user.

14. The computer-implemented system of claim 9, where the first set of documents is identified based on the preferences of the user.

15. The computer-implemented system of claim 9, where each document, included in the second set of documents, is ranked higher than a threshold based on a global document ranking algorithm.

10. A method performed by one or more computer systems, the method comprising:

identifying a first set of documents associated with preferences of a user or a group of users,

the first set of documents being identified from a query history or document browsing history associated with the user or the group of users;

identifying a second set of documents that are different than the first set of documents;

receiving information identifying a ranked set of search results associated with a search performed on a corpus of documents, for the user,

where the ranked set of search results is ranked based on a link-based document ranking algorithm;

identifying a third set of documents,

each of the documents in the third set of documents being common to both the first set and the second set;

identifying at least one document in the third set of documents that has a link to a particular document in the ranked set of search results;

re-ranking the ranked set of search results based on one or more weights assigned to the at least one document,

where the one or more weights are based on the preferences of the user or the group of users; and

providing information associated with the re-ranked set of search result documents to the user.

11. The method of claim 10, where the preferences represent one or more features associated with favored documents or disfavored documents associated with the user or a group of users.

27. The method of claim 10, where the search is performed based on a search query from the user.

28. The method of claim 10, where identifying the second set of documents further includes:

receiving a user input; and

identifying the second set of documents based on the user input.

29. The method of claim 10, where identifying the second set of documents further includes:

identifying, as the second set of documents, a substantial entirety of a corpus of aggregated documents.