Method and system of managing and using profile information

• US 8,886,645 B2
• Filed: 10/15/2008
• Issued: 11/11/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/15/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: ChaCha Search, Inc.
• Original Assignee: ChaCha Search, Inc.
• Inventors: Jones, Scott A., Cooper, Thomas E.
• Primary Examiner(s): MAMILLAPALLI, PAVAN
• Application Number:
  US12/251,876
• Publication Number:
  US 20090100047A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,218 Days
• Field of Search: 707/733, 707/734
• US Class Current: 707/733
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24 Querying
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3326 using relevance feedback from the user, e.g. relevance feedback on documents, documents sets, document terms or passages
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0224 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/30 Profiles

Abstract

A method and system for matching a search request to a human assistant and/or other items based on information indicated in a profile associated with the search request is described. A ranking of a guide is determined based on matching of information associated with the guide and information associated with a search request. Profile information such as demographic, geographic, personality, areas of interest, people, hobbies, etc. may be used in addition to other information such as keywords or categories which are associated with a request in order to select a guide. Items such as a search result, an advertisement, a search resource, a previous query, etc. may be selected based on profile information associated with the item. Profile information may be associated with an item based on profile information associated with a guide and/or a user who has expressed an opinion regarding the item.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving a search request from a source;

associating the search request with a value of a characteristic of a human assistant obtained from profiles of human assistants comprising at least one of demographic, geographic, personality and interest area information;

selecting a human searcher based on a ranking of the human searcher for the characteristic;

the human searcher performing a search based on a query;

recording a result of the search in a database in association with the query;

providing the result responsive to the search request when the search request is submitted subsequent to the human searcher performing the search;

ranking the result based on a match of the query to the search request;

providing the result based on the ranking and a rating of the human searcher for the value and the characteristic;

assigning to an item a profile of a human guide when the human guide takes an action indicating the item;

rating, by a processor, the item based on the search request and the query;

ranking the item based on a match of the profile assigned to the item to the value and the characteristic associated with the search request; and

selecting the item responsive to the search request based on the rating of the item and the ranking of the item.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the item is an available human searcher.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the characteristic is geographic information.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the characteristic is demographic information.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the value of the characteristic is provided by a person selected for the search request and the characteristic excludes subject matter of the search request.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the value of the characteristic is provided by the source of the search request.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the assigning is based on an action of a person expressing an opinion regarding the item.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the associating is performed based on a selection of a description of the human assistant.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the item is one of a search result, an advertisement, a category and a keyword and is determined to be relevant to the search request by the human searcher selected based on the value of the characteristic.

10. A method, comprising:

performing a selection based on an association of a search request with an item;

associating the search request with a value of a characteristic of a human assistant obtained from profiles of human assistants comprising at least one of demographic, geographic, personality and interest area information;

selecting a human searcher based on a ranking of the human searcher for the characteristic;

the human searcher performing a search based on a query;

recording a result of the search in a database in association with the query;

providing the result responsive to the search request when the search request is submitted subsequent to the human searcher performing the search;

ranking the result based on a match of the query to the search request;

providing the result based on the ranking and a rating of the human searcher for the value and the characteristic;

linking the item with a profile of a human assistant when an action of the human assistant indicates an opinion regarding the item;

associating a property different than the search request and indicated in the profile with the search request;

obtaining a rank of the item based on content of a query of the search request;

receiving a rating of the profile for the property;

performing, by a processor, the selection based on the rank and the rating; and

presenting information of the item responsive to the search request in accordance with said selection.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the linking is based on an action of the human assistant and the item is one or more of a resource used to perform a search, a search result of the human searcher and an advertisement associated with the human searcher.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein said information indicates a number of items distinguished by the property, and said items are ranked and presented in an order based on the ranking.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein said presenting includes displaying the information to a user submitting the search request.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein said linking includes parsing content of the query of the search request and generating a profile for the search request, the profile including the property based on the content of the query.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein said associating is executed by the human searcher presented with information of a user determined by the search request.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein said linking is based on a category determined based on a classification of a keyword of the search request and a value of the property associated with the category by a user submitting the search request.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein the search request is submitted from a mobile device.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having embodied therein an instruction causing a computer to execute an operation, comprising:

receiving a search request from a source;

associating the search request with a value of a characteristic other than subject matter indicated by the search request obtained from profiles of human assistants comprising at least one of demographic, geographic, personality and interest area information;

selecting a human searcher based on a ranking of the human searcher for the characteristic;

the human searcher performing a search based on a query;

recording a result of the search in a database in association with the query;

providing the result responsive to the search request when the search request is submitted subsequent to the human searcher performing the search;

ranking the result based on a match of the query to the search request;

providing the result based on the ranking and a rating of the human searcher for the value and the characteristic;

associating a human assistant with an item when determining that the human assistant has provided an opinion regarding the item;

determining a profile including the characteristic based on the human assistant;

associating the profile with the item;

rating the item based on the subject matter of the search request and a query provided to the human assistant when the opinion is obtained;

ranking the item based on the profile and the value; and

selecting the item responsive to the search request based on the ranking and the rating.

19. An apparatus, comprising:

a search system comprising a computer receiving a search request, performing a selection based on the search request of an item associated with a human searcher, linking the item and a profile including a property of the human searcher other than subject matter indicated by the search request obtained from profiles of human assistants comprising at least one of demographic, geographic, personality and interest area information when the human searcher takes an action indicating an opinion regarding the item, selecting the human searcher based on a ranking of the human searcher for a characteristic, the human searcher performing a search based on a query, recording a result of the search in a database in association with the query, providing the result responsive to the search request when the search request is submitted subsequent to the human searcher performing the search, ranking the result based on a match of the query to the search request, providing the result based on the ranking and a rating of the human searcher for a value and the characteristic, associating the search request with a value of the property determined based on a user, selecting the item based on a rank of the item, determining the rank based on a match of the item to the subject matter of the search request and the value of the property and the profile; and

a user system providing the search request and receiving the item in accordance with said selection.