Providing query suggestions

• US 8,732,171 B2
• Filed: 01/28/2010
• Issued: 05/20/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/28/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Paparizos, Stelios, Anderson, Chris, Crumb, Janine, Nair, Ajay, Yan, An, Gemmell, James, Tertychnyi, Gennadii
• Primary Examiner(s): SYED, FARHAN M
• Application Number:
  US12/695,758
• Publication Number:
  US 20110184951A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,573 Days
• US Class Current: 707/737
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3322 using system suggestions G06F16/3325 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9532 Query formulation

Abstract

Methods and computer-readable media are provided for determining suggested queries. A user enters a search website, and the user is identified based on a user identification. Suggested queries are determined based on a group associated with the user. This association is created by extracting queries from data logs, categorizing the queries into groups based on their respective subject matter, associating the user with one or more groups, and determining suggested queries for each group. The suggested queries are communicated for display.

Claims

1. One or more computer-readable storage media storing computer-useable instructions that, when used by one or more computing devices, cause the one or more computing devices to perform a method comprising:

associating a user with at least one of a plurality of groups based on one or more of a subject matter of past queries submitted by the user or website links previously selected by the user;

storing the association of the user with the at least one of the plurality of groups in a first database;

receiving an indication that the user has entered at least a portion of a first alphanumeric string of a search query into a search box, the at least the portion of the first alphanumeric string of the search query associated with a first subject matter;

identifying the user based on a user identification (ID) associated with the user;

accessing the first database and using the user ID to determine the at least one of the plurality of groups with which the user is associated;

accessing a second database comprising queries categorized into a plurality of groups based on a subject matter of each of the queries;

identifying one or more queries in the second database that are categorized into a group of the plurality of groups that is the same as the at least one of the plurality of groups with which the user is associated, the identified one or more queries comprising one or more suggested queries, the one or more suggested queries associated with a second subject matter that is unrelated to the first subject matter of the at least the portion of the first alphanumeric string; and

communicating for display the one or more suggested queries, wherein a quantity of the one or more suggested queries is less than a quantity of total queries for the group of the plurality of groups.

2. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein the one or more suggested queries are communicated for display prior to the user entering the at least a portion of the first alphanumeric string.

3. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein the one or more suggested queries are determined based on one or more of a popularity of each of the queries or how recently each of the queries was submitted to a search engine.

4. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of a quantity of the one or more suggested queries is determined based on one or more of trends or topics associated with the at least one of the plurality of groups with which the user is associated.

5. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein the queries in the second database are extracted from one or more data logs that include one or more of a web log, a query log, a toolbar log, or a browser log.

6. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a user selection of one of the one or more suggested queries; and

communicating for display one or more search results that are selected based on the one of the one or more suggested queries.

7. One or more computer-readable storage media storing computer-useable instructions that, when used by one or more computing devices, cause the one or more computing devices to perform a method comprising:

associating a user with at least one of a plurality of groups based on one or more of a subject matter of past queries submitted by the user or website links previously selected by the user;

storing the association of the user with the at least one of the plurality of groups in a first database;

receiving user input in a search box that includes at least a portion of a user-submitted query;

based on the user-submitted query, accessing a second database to determine one or more suggested alphanumeric strings, wherein the second database contains a plurality of alphanumeric strings that are each associated with at least one category based, in part, on a subject matter of each of the plurality of alphanumeric strings, and wherein the second database further contains one or more structured expressions each comprising a first category and at least a second category related to the first category;

communicating for display the one or more suggested alphanumeric strings;

receiving from the user a selection of a first alphanumeric string of the one or more suggested alphanumeric strings, the first alphanumeric string associated with a first category;

accessing the first database to determine the at least one of the plurality of groups with which the user is associated;

identifying a first structured expression in the second database that has a first category matching the first category associated with the first alphanumeric string and a second category that matches the at least one of the plurality of groups with which the user is associated;

using the second database, determining at least a second alphanumeric string associated with the second category of the first structured expression

communicating for display the first alphanumeric string in association with the at least the second alphanumeric string as a first suggested query.

8. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 7, wherein the first structured expression is derived from a plurality of queries extracted from one or more data logs.

9. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 8, wherein the at least the second alphanumeric string is further determined based, in part, on a popularity of the at least the second alphanumeric string, wherein the popularity is determined based on a number of instances that the at least the second alphanumeric string is listed in the one or more data logs.

10. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 8, wherein patterns of representative categories associated with alphanumeric strings are analyzed to determine the structured expressions.

11. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 8, wherein the first suggested query is not contained in the one or more data logs.

12. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 7, wherein the first suggested query has never before been submitted as a query to a search engine.

13. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 7, wherein the first structured expression represents new functionality of a search engine.

15. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 7, further comprising:

accessing the second database to identify a second structured expression comprising the first category and at least a third category related to the first category, wherein the third category matches the at least one of the plurality of groups with which the user is associated;

determining at least a third alphanumeric string associated with the third category of the second structured expression; and

communicating for display the first alphanumeric string in association with the at least the third alphanumeric string as a second suggested query.

14. One or more computer-readable storage media storing computer-useable instructions that, when used by one or more computing devices, cause the one or more computing devices to perform a method comprising:

associating a user with at least one of a plurality of groups based on one or more of a subject matter of past queries submitted by the user or website links previously selected by the user;

storing the association of the user with the at least one of the plurality of groups in a first database;

receiving an indication that the user has entered at least a portion of a search query into a search box;

accessing the first database to determine the at least one of the plurality of groups with which the user is associated;

accessing a second database comprising;

     1) alphanumeric strings categorized into categories based on a subject matter of each of the alphanumeric strings, and

     2) structured expressions comprising a first category and a second category related to the first category;

using the second database identifying a first alphanumeric string having a first category that matches the at least one of the plurality of groups with which the user is associated;

communicating for display as a suggested query at least the first alphanumeric string;

receiving user input selecting the first alphanumeric string;

accessing the second database to identify at least one structured expression having a first category that matches the first category of the first alphanumeric string and a second category related to the first category;

using the second database, identifying a second alphanumeric string associated with the second category of the at least one structured expression;

extracting the second alphanumeric string from the second database and combining the second alphanumeric string with the first alphanumeric string to generate a suggested query;

communicating for the display the suggested query;

receiving a selection of the suggested query; and

communicating for display a plurality of search results that are identified based on the suggested query.