Method and system for querying information

• US 8,898,180 B2
• Filed: 01/11/2010
• Issued: 11/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/12/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
• Inventors: Xie, Yuheng, Ou, Wenwu
• Primary Examiner(s): VU, BAI DUC
• Application Number:
  US12/655,980
• Publication Number:
  US 20100179948A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,779 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/765
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/23 Updating
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24573 using data annotations, e.g. user-defined metadata
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3338 Query expansion
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results

Abstract

Performing a query includes receiving a user input, determining a first set of query keywords based at least in part on the user input, obtaining, based on at least some of the first set of query keywords, a user feedback log that includes historical query results, determining a second set of query keywords based on the user feedback log, and making a query based on at least some of the second set of query keywords.

Claims

1. A method of performing a query, comprising:

receiving a user input;

determining a first set of query keywords based at least in part on the user input, comprising;

determining whether the user input includes characters of a character based language;

in the event that the user input includes the characters of the character based language;

partitioning the user input into words based on context; and

adding the partitioned words into the first set of query keywords;

obtaining, based on at least some of the first set of query keywords, a user feedback log that includes historical query results that are in response to previously made queries using the first set of query keywords, and selection frequencies, wherein the selection frequencies include;

selection frequencies of the historical query results, selection frequencies of content of the historical query results, or a combination thereof;

obtaining a user characteristic of the user who generated the user input;

determining a second set of query keywords based at least in part on the user feedback log and the user characteristic, comprising;

partitioning the historical query results into a plurality of partitioned words based on context; and

determining the second set of query keywords based at least in part on the plurality of partitioned words; and

making a query based on at least some of the second set of query keywords,

wherein the user characteristic includes user region, user gender, user age, user career, user taste, or any combination thereof;

wherein the second set of query keywords includes;

one or more words that are adjacent to at least some of the plurality of partitioned words, one or more words that include at least a portion of a word of the plurality of partitioned words, one or more words that include at least a partitioned word in the plurality of partitioned words in the event that the first query keyword includes a substring of the partitioned word, or any combination thereof; and

wherein the second set of query keywords includes one or more latent words that correspond to the first set of query keywords, the one or more latent words having a latent meaning with respect to the first set of query keywords, the latent meaning comprising words that appear in pairs, a plurality of words that appear in a certain order, a word or a character that forms another word, or any combination thereof.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

returning a query result; and

updating a user feedback database with the query result.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the user feedback log includes a historical query result obtained using at least some of the first set of query keywords as a query target.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the selection frequency is determined based at least in part on one or more of:

click frequencies on the historical query results, display frequencies on the historical query results, reading time on the historical query results, or importance of the historical query results.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein making the query based on at least some of the second set of query keywords includes sending the at least some of the second set of query keywords to a search engine.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the user feedback log is obtained at least in part according to the user characteristic.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining of the second set of query keywords includes analyzing IP address, user-side browser historical data, user-side cookie data, user web registration information, or any combination thereof.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the character based language includes Chinese.

9. A query system comprising:

an interface configured to receive a user input;

one or more processors coupled to the interface, configured to;

determine a first set of query keywords based at least in part on the user input, comprising;

determine whether the user input includes characters of a character based language;

in the event that the user input includes the characters of the character based language;

partition the user input into words based on context; and

add the partitioned words into the first set of query keywords;

obtain, based on at least some of the first set of query keywords, a user feedback log that includes historical query results that are in response to previously made queries using the first set of query keywords, and selection frequencies, wherein the selection frequencies include;

selection frequencies of the historical query results, selection frequencies of content of the historical query results, or a combination thereof;

obtain a user characteristic of the user who generated the user input;

determine second set of query keywords based at least in part on the user feedback log and the user characteristic, comprising;

partition the historical query results into a plurality of partitioned words based on context; and

determine the second set of query keywords based at least in part on the plurality of partitioned words; and

make a query based on at least some of the second set of query keywords,

wherein the user characteristic includes user region, user gender, user age, user career, user taste, or any combination thereof;

wherein the second set of query keywords includes;

one or more words that are adjacent to at least some of the plurality of partitioned words, one or more words that include at least a portion of a word of the plurality of partitioned words, one or more words that include at least a partitioned word in the plurality of partitioned words in the event that the first query keyword includes a substring of the partitioned word, or any combination thereof; and

wherein the second set of query keywords includes one or more latent words that correspond to the first set of query keywords, the one or more latent words having a latent meaning with respect to the first set of query keywords, the latent meaning comprising words that appear in pairs, a plurality of words that appear in a certain order, a word or a character that forms another word, or any combination thereof; and

one or more memories coupled to the one or more processors, configured to provide the processors with instructions.

10. The system of claim 9, further comprising:

returning a query result; and

updating a user feedback database with the query result.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the user feedback log includes a historical query result obtained using at least some of the first set of query keywords as a query target.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the selection frequency is determined based at least in part on one or more of:

click frequencies on the historical query results, display frequencies on the historical query results, reading time on the historical query results, or importance of the historical query results.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein making the query based on at least some of the second set of query keywords includes sending the at least some of the second set of query keywords to a search engine.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the user feedback log is obtained at least in part according to the user characteristic.