Search systems and methods using in-line contextual queries

• US 8,655,872 B2
• Filed: 10/15/2008
• Issued: 02/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kraft, Reiner
• Primary Examiner(s): LeRoux, Etienne
• Assistant Examiner(s): BIBBEE, JARED M
• Application Number:
  US12/251,638
• Publication Number:
  US 20090070326A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,952 Days
• Field of Search: 707/706, 707/710, 707/722, 707/723
• US Class Current: 707/723
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for implementing searches using contextual information associated with a Web page (or other document) that a user is viewing when a query is entered. The page includes a contextual search interface that has an associated context vector representing content of the page. When the user submits a search query via the contextual search interface, the query and the context vector are both provided to the query processor and used in responding to the query.

Claims

1. A method of contextual searching, the method comprising the computer-implemented steps of, at a server:

receiving, at the server, from a client, a first query, wherein the first query is a set of one or more query terms received from a search form field at the client;

generating, at the server, a first search result based at least on the first query and a first context vector associated with the first query;

wherein the first context vector comprises context data indicating a set of one or more context terms that were not from the search form field;

wherein the set of one or more context terms is representative of first content displayed by a first application executing on the client when the first query was submitted;

wherein the first context vector is separate from and not identical to the first query;

transmitting, from the server, the first search result to the client; and

transmitting, from the server, to the client, for display with the first search result, additional data, wherein the additional data comprises at least one of;

an indication of which terms, used to produce the first search results, were obtained from the first context vector rather than the search form field ;

or

data indicating one or more queries selected, independent of the first query, based on the first context vector;

wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the additional data is the indication of which terms, used to produce the first search results, were obtained from the first context vector rather than the search form field.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising, at the server:

transmitting to the client, with the search result, code which, when executed by the first application, causes the first application to display one or more controls for creating and submitting a modified context vector;

wherein creating the modified context vector comprises at least one of;

adding a context term to the set of one or more context terms, removing a context term from the set of one or more context terms, or changing a context term in the set of one or more context terms.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising,

the server transmitting to the client, with the search result, code which, when executed by the first application, causes the first application to display one or more controls for creating and submitting a modified context vector;

after transmitting the first search result, the server receiving, from the client, via the one or more controls, a second query and the modified context vector;

wherein the modified context vector is not identical to the second query;

wherein the modified context vector is not identical to the first context vector;

generating a second search result based at least on the modified context vector and the second query;

transmitting the second search result to the client.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the second query is identical to the first query.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the additional data is the data indicating the one or more queries selected, independent of the first query, based on the first context vector.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising selecting the one or more related queries based on having previously received the one or more queries in association with the first context vector.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first search result and the additional data are transmitted to the client in a web page.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising, at the server:

receiving, from the client, with the first query, in data for a second field that was not displayed at the client and that is different from the search form field configured to accept search terms, the first context vector.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising, at the server:

receiving, from the client, with the first query, data indicating that the first content was displayed by a first application executing on the client when the first query was submitted;

generating the first context vector based on the first content.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the first content is content that has been highlighted in the first application.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the search result includes at least one of:

identifying documents within a search corpus that match search criteria selected based, at least in part, on the first context vector;

or

ranking a plurality of documents that match the first query based, at least in part, on the first context vector.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the context vector is one of:

data included in source code for a web page in which the first content was embedded, or data generated by the client based on the first content when the query was submitted.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the first content is a particular web page at a particular URL.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the first content is one of:

an email, an instant message, or a word-processing document.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the first content is a document that is open in the first application at the client, wherein the first query is from a second application at the client other than the first application.

13. A method for contextual searching, the method comprising:

receiving, at a server, from a client, first data for a first field of a search form and second data that is not from the first field of the search form;

wherein the first data is a query comprising one or more query terms entered in the first field of the search form, wherein the first field is a search form field configured to accept search terms from a user;

wherein the second data indicates or includes first content and an indication that the first content was displayed by a first application at the client when the first query was submitted;

wherein the first content is separate from and not identical to the query;

generating, at the server, a context vector based on the first content;

wherein the context vector comprises context data indicating a set of one or more context terms;

wherein the set of one or more context terms is representative of the first content;

wherein the context vector is not identical to the query;

generating, at the server, a search result based at least on the query and the context vector; and

transmitting the search result to the client;

wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the first content is content that has been highlighted in the first application.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein generating the context vector comprises tokenizing the first content to identify the context terms.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the first content is a particular web page at a particular URL.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the first content is one of:

an email, an instant message, or a word-processing document.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein the first content is a document that is open in the first application at the client, wherein the query is from a second application at the client other than the first application.

23. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by one or more computing devices, cause performance of, at a server:

receiving, at the server, from a client, a first query, wherein the first query is a set of one or more query terms received from a search form field at the client;

generating, at the server, a first search result based at least on the first query and a first context vector associated with the first query;

wherein the first context vector comprises context data indicating a set of one or more context terms that were not from the search form field;

wherein the set of one or more context terms is representative of first content displayed by a first application executing on the client when the first query was submitted;

wherein the first context vector is separate from and not identical to the first query;

transmitting, from the server, the first search result to the client; and

transmitting, from the server, to the client, for display with the first search result,

additional data, wherein the additional data comprises at least one of;

an indication of which terms, used to produce the first search results, were obtained from the first context vector rather than the search form field ;

or

data indicating one or more queries selected, independent of the first query, based on the first context vector.

24. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 23, wherein the additional data is the indication of which terms, used to produce the first search results, were obtained from the first context vector rather than the search form field.

25. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 24, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more computing devices, further cause performance of, at the server:

transmitting to the client, with the search result, code which, when executed by the first application, causes the first application to display one or more controls for creating and submitting a modified context vector;

wherein creating the modified context vector comprises at least one of;

adding a context term to the set of one or more context terms, removing a context term from the set of one or more context terms, or changing a context term in the set of one or more context terms.

26. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 24, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more computing devices, further cause performance of:

the server transmitting to the client, with the search result, code which, when executed by the first application, causes the first application to display one or more controls for creating and submitting a modified context vector;

after transmitting the first search result, the server receiving, from the client, via the one or more controls, a second query and the modified context vector;

wherein the modified context vector is not identical to the second query;

wherein the modified context vector is not identical to the first context vector;

generating a second search result based at least on the modified context vector and the second query;

transmitting the second search result to the client.

27. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 26, wherein the second query is identical to the first query.

28. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 23, wherein the additional data is the data indicating the one or more queries selected, independent of the first query, based on the first context vector.

29. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 28, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more computing devices, further cause performance of selecting the one or more related queries based on having previously received the one or more queries in association with the first context vector.

30. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 23, wherein the first search result and the additional data are transmitted to the client in a web page.

31. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 23, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more computing devices, further cause performance of, at the server:

receiving, from the client, with the first query, in data for a second field that was not displayed at the client and that is different from the search form field configured to accept search terms, the first context vector.

32. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 23, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more computing devices, further cause performance of, at the server:

receiving, from the client, with the first query, data indicating that the first content was displayed by a first application executing on the client when the first query was submitted;

generating the first context vector based on the first content.

33. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 23, wherein the first content is content that has been highlighted in the first application.

34. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 23, wherein generating the search result includes at least one of:

identifying documents within a search corpus that match search criteria selected based, at least in part, on the first context vector;

or

ranking a plurality of documents that match the first query based, at least in part, on the first context vector.

35. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 23, wherein the context vector is one of:

data included in source code for a web page in which the first content was embedded, or data generated by the client based on the first content when the query was submitted.

36. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 23, wherein the first content is a particular web page at a particular URL.

37. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 23, wherein the first content is one of:

an email, an instant message, or a word-processing document.

38. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 23, wherein the first content is a document that is open in the first application at the client, wherein the first query is from a second application at the client other than the first application.

39. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by one or more computing devices, cause performance of:

receiving, at a server, from a client, first data for a first field of a search form and second data that is not from the first field of the search form;

wherein the first data is a query comprising one or more query terms entered in the first field of the search form, wherein the first field is a search form field configured to accept search terms from a user;

wherein the second data indicates or includes first content and an indication that the first content was displayed by a first application at the client when the first query was submitted;

wherein the first content is separate from and not identical to the query;

generating, at the server, a context vector based on the first content;

wherein the context vector comprises context data indicating a set of one or more context terms;

wherein the set of one or more context terms is representative of the first content;

wherein the context vector is not identical to the query;

generating, at the server, a search result based at least on the query and the context vector; and

transmitting the search result to the client.

40. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 39, wherein the first content is content that has been highlighted in the first application.

41. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 39, wherein generating the context vector comprises tokenizing the first content to identify the context terms.

42. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 39, wherein the first content is a particular web page at a particular URL.

43. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 39, wherein the first content is one of:

an email, an instant message, or a word-processing document.

44. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 39, wherein the first content is a document that is open in the first application at the client, wherein the query is from a second application at the client other than the first application.