Hybrid and iterative keyword and category search technique

• US 8,667,007 B2
• Filed: 05/26/2011
• Issued: 03/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/26/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Tao, Jim J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Shanmugasundaram, Kannan
• Application Number:
  US13/117,042
• Publication Number:
  US 20120303651A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,013 Days
• Field of Search: 707/769
• US Class Current: 707/769
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3322 using system suggestions G06F16/3325 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3323 using document space presentation or visualization, e.g. category, hierarchy or range presentation and selection
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/90324 using system suggestions
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/90328 using search space presentation or visualization, e.g. category or range presentation and selection
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques

Abstract

Provided are techniques for providing recommendations to improve a query. A query with query keywords and selected categories is received. In response to determining that the selected categories are ranked high with reference to query relevance indicator values for each of the selected categories, a query relevance indicator of the query is calculated with each subcategory using keyword relevance indicators, each subcategory is ranked based on the query relevance indicators, and the ranked subcategories are provided for use in selecting new categories to be submitted with the query.

Claims

1. A system for providing recommendations to improve a query, comprising:

a processor; and

storage coupled to the processor, wherein the storage stores a computer program, and wherein the processor executes the computer program to perform operations, operations comprising;

receiving a query with query keywords and selected categories; and

in response to determining that the selected categories are ranked high with reference to query relevance indicator values for each of the selected categories,

determining whether a lowest category level has been reached in the selected categories;

in response to determining that the lowest category level has been reached,

ranking individual services that are at the lowest category levels; and

providing one or more high ranked services from the ranked individual services; and

in response to determining that the lowest category level has not been reached,

calculating a keyword relevance indicator of each keyword in the query for each subcategory of each of the selected categories, wherein the keyword relevance indicator for a keyword is calculated using a keyword frequency of the keyword and an inverse service frequency of a subcategory;

calculating a query relevance indicator of the query with each subcategory using the retrieved keyword relevance indicators, wherein the query relevance indicator is generated based on a keyword relevance indicator of a keyword specified in the query and a keyword relevance indicator of a keyword in the subcategory that is not specified in the query;

ranking each subcategory based on the query relevance indicators; and

providing the ranked subcategories for use in selecting new categories to be submitted with the query.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

in response to determining that at least one of the selected categories is ranked low with reference to the query relevance indicator values for each of the selected categories,

identifying a pair of synonyms with a first one of the synonyms associated with a query keyword and a second one of the synonyms associated with a category keyword; and

providing a recommendation that the query keyword be replaced with a synonym from the pair of synonyms.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the pair of synonyms is identified for the query keywords that have low keyword relevance indicator values for non-top-ranked selected categories.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

for category keywords in non-top-ranked selected categories with high keyword relevance indicator values, identifying the category keywords that are not in the query and for which synonyms are not identified; and

providing a recommendation that the identified category keywords be added to the query.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

identifying query keywords having low keyword relevance indicator values for non-top-ranked selected categories and having high keyword relevance indicator values for top-ranked, but un-selected categories;

from the identified query keywords, identifying the query keywords for which synonyms are not identified; and

providing a recommendation that the query keywords for which synonyms were not identified be removed from the query.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

providing recommendations regarding the query keywords for use in revising the query; and

receiving a revised query based on the provided recommendations.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

executing the query in a current form; and

providing a list of one or more services.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

iterating through levels of categories.

8. A computer program product for providing recommendations to improve a query, the computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code,

when executed by a processor of a computer, is configured to perform;

receiving a query with query keywords and selected categories; and

in response to determining that the selected categories are ranked high with reference to query relevance indicator values for each of the selected categories,

determining whether a lowest category level has been reached in the selected categories;

in response to determining that the lowest category level has been reached,

ranking individual services that are at the lowest category Levels; and

providing one or more high ranked services from the ranked individual services; and

in response to determining that the lowest category level has not been reached,

calculating a keyword relevance indicator of each keyword in the query for each subcategory of each of the selected categories, wherein the keyword relevance indicator for a keyword is calculated using a keyword frequency of the keyword and an inverse service frequency of a subcategory;

calculating a query relevance indicator of the query with each subcategory using the calculated keyword relevance indicators, wherein the query relevance indicator is calculated based on a keyword relevance indicator of a keyword specified in the query and a keyword relevance indicator of a keyword in the subcategory that is not specified in the query;

ranking each subcategory based on the query relevance indicators; and

providing the ranked subcategories for use in selecting new categories to be submitted with the query.

9. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the computer readable program code, when executed by the processor of the computer, is configured to perform:

in response to determining that at least one of the selected categories is ranked low with reference to the query relevance indicator values for each of the selected categories,

identifying a pair of synonyms with a first one of the synonyms associated with a query keyword and a second one of the synonyms associated with a category keyword; and

providing a recommendation that the query keyword be replaced with a synonym from the pair of synonyms.

10. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the pair of synonyms is identified for the query keywords that have low keyword relevance indicator values for non-top-ranked selected categories.

11. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the computer readable program code, when executed by the processor of the computer, is configured to perform:

for category keywords in non-top-ranked selected categories with high keyword relevance indicator values, identifying the category keywords that are not in the query and for which synonyms are not identified; and

providing a recommendation that the identified category keywords be added to the query.

12. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the computer readable program code, when executed by the processor of the computer, is configured to perform:

identifying query keywords having low keyword relevance indicator values for non-top-ranked selected categories and having high keyword relevance indicator values for top-ranked, but un-selected categories;

from the identified query keywords, identifying the query keywords for which synonyms are not identified; and

providing a recommendation that the query keywords for which synonyms were not identified be removed from the query.

13. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the computer readable program code, when executed by the processor of the computer, is configured to perform:

providing recommendation regarding the query keywords for use in revising the query; and

receiving a revised query based on the provided recommendations.

14. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the computer readable program code, when executed by the processor of the computer, is configured to perform:

executing the query in a current form; and

providing a list of one or more services.

15. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the computer readable program code, when executed by the processor of the computer, is configured to perform:

iterating through levels of categories.