Systems and methods for confidence-based selection of hierarchical locations

• US 8,756,222 B1
• Filed: 11/06/2012
• Issued: 06/17/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/06/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Duleba, Krzysztof, Southey, Finnegan, Vyas, Anurag
• Primary Examiner(s): Bullock, Joshua
• Application Number:
  US13/670,225
• Time in Patent Office: 588 Days
• Field of Search: 707/722, 707/603
• US Class Current: 707/722
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries

Abstract

Provided are systems and methods for selecting a hierarchical location corresponding to a geographic location of a client computer. In some embodiments, a request for location information may be received from a client computer. The request may include a token that enables determination of geolocation data based on the token. The geolocation data may include a list of hierarchical locations, such as a postal code, a city, a state, and a county, and each hierarchical location may be associated with a confidence measure. The hierarchical locations may be iteratively traversed from smallest to largest. If the confidence measure of a selected hierarchical location is greater than a threshold, the hierarchical location may be provided as the location information. If the confidence measure of the selected hierarchical location is less than the threshold, the next hierarchical location may be selected and the associated confidence measure compared to the threshold.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for selecting a hierarchical location corresponding to a geographic location of a client computer, the method comprising:

receiving, at one or more processors, a request for location information, the request comprising a token sufficient to geolocate the client computer;

determining, by one or more processors, geolocation data based on the token, the geolocation data comprising a plurality of hierarchical locations, each hierarchical location of the plurality of hierarchical locations encompassing the location below it; and

iteratively traversing, by one or more processors, the plurality of hierarchical locations from the smallest hierarchical location to the largest hierarchical location, each iteration comprising;

determining, by one or more processors, a confidence measure associated with a selected one of the plurality of hierarchal locations;

comparing, by one or more processors, the confidence measure to a threshold;

providing by one or more processors, the selected one of the plurality of hierarchical locations in response to the request for location information from the client computer if the confidence measure is greater than the threshold; and

selecting, by one or more processors, a next hierarchical location of the plurality of hierarchical locations if the confidence measure is less than the threshold.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein providing, by one or more processors, the selected one of the plurality of hierarchical locations in response to the request for location information from the client computer:

determining, by one or more processors, search results based on the location information and a search query received from the client computer; and

transmitting over a network, by one or more processors, the search results to the client computer for display by the client computer.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the threshold is based on the selected one of the plurality of hierarchical locations.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the threshold is based on a category of a search query received from the client computer.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the threshold is independent from the selected one of the hierarchical locations.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the token comprises an Internet Protocol (IP) address assigned to the client computer.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of hierarchical locations comprises a postal code, a city, a state, a country, or any combination thereof.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the request for location information comprises a request for a viewport of an interactive map.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein providing, by one or more processors, the selected one of the plurality of hierarchical locations in response to the request for location information comprises selecting the selected one of the plurality of hierarchical locations as the viewport for the interactive map.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, comprising comparing the selected hierarchical location to a category location, wherein the category location comprises a location associated with a category of a search query received from the client computer.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, comprising discarding the selected hierarchical location based on the comparison to the category location.

12. A non-transitory tangible computer-readable storage medium having executable computer code stored thereon for selecting a hierarchical location corresponding to a geographic location of a client computer, the code comprising a set of instructions that causes one or more processors to perform the following:

receiving, at one or more processors, a request for location information, the request comprising a token sufficient to geolocate the client computer;

determining, by one or more processors, geolocation data based on the token, the geolocation data comprising a plurality of hierarchical locations, each hierarchical location of the plurality of hierarchical locations encompassing the location below it;

iteratively traversing, by one or more processors, the plurality of hierarchical locations from the smallest hierarchical location to the largest hierarchical location, each iteration comprising;

determining, by one or more processors, a confidence measure associated with a selected one of the plurality of hierarchal locations;

comparing, by one or more processors, the confidence measure to a threshold;

providing by one or more processors, the selected one of the plurality of hierarchical locations in response to the request for location information from the client computer if the confidence measure is greater than the threshold; and

selecting, by one or more processors, a next hierarchical location of the plurality of hierarchical locations if the confidence measure is less than the threshold.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein providing, by one or more processors, the first hierarchical location in response to a request for geolocation information corresponding to the client computer comprises:

determining, by one or more processors, search results based on the location information and a search query received from the client computer; and

transmitting over a network, by one or more processors, the search results to the client computer for display by the client computer.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the threshold is based on the selected one of the plurality of hierarchical locations.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the threshold is based on a category of a search query received from the client computer.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the threshold is independent from the selected one of the hierarchical locations.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the plurality of hierarchical locations comprises a postal code, a city, a state, a country, or a combination thereof.

18. A system for selecting a hierarchical location corresponding to a geographic location of a client computer, the system comprising:

one or more processors; and

a memory accessible by the one or more processors, the memory having computer code stored thereon, the code comprising a set of instructions that causes one or more processors to perform the following;

receiving, at one or more processors, a request for location information, the request comprising a token sufficient to geolocate the client computer;

determining, by one or more processors, geolocation data based on the token, the geolocation data comprising a plurality of hierarchical locations, each hierarchical location of the plurality of hierarchical locations encompassing the location below it; and

iteratively traversing, by one or more processors, the plurality of hierarchical locations from the smallest hierarchical location to the largest hierarchical location, each iteration comprising;

determining, by one or more processors, a confidence measure associated with a selected one of the plurality of hierarchal locations;

comparing, by one or more processors, the confidence measure to a threshold;

providing by one or more processors, the selected one of the plurality of hierarchical locations in response to the request for location information from the client computer if the confidence measure is greater than the threshold; and

selecting, by one or more processors, a next hierarchical location of the plurality of hierarchical locations if the confidence measure is less than the threshold.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the threshold is based on the selected one of the plurality of hierarchical locations.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the threshold is based on a category of a search query received from the client computer.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein the threshold is independent of the selected one of the hierarchical locations.

22. The system of claim 18, wherein the plurality of hierarchical locations comprises a postal code, a city, a state, a country, or a combination thereof.