Creating targeting information for a user

• US 8,909,631 B1
• Filed: 08/25/2011
• Issued: 12/09/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Seth, Rohan, Sacks, Joshua J., Covell, Michele, Chu, Michael, Baluja, Shumeet, Marwood, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Reyes, Mariela
• Application Number:
  US13/217,605
• Time in Patent Office: 1,202 Days
• Field of Search: 707/724, 707/728, 707/751
• US Class Current: 707/724
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer program products, including computer programs encoded on a computer readable storage medium, for providing content to a user based on the mode of the user. A method includes: providing a data structure that includes query logs; processing query logs to determine candidate queries that satisfy a criteria, the processing including determining a location of interest, if any, for each query log entry and where the criteria requires an entry to have been submitted from a location that is different from a location of interest associated with the entry; evaluating the candidate queries to determine targeting information for the location of interest; receiving a request for content from a user that is proximate to the location of interest or has expressed an interest in the location of interest; and providing content to the user based at least in part on the targeting information.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

providing a data structure that includes one or more historical query logs, each query log including query log entries, each query log entry comprising a respective search query submitted by an individual to a search computer system;

accessing the query log entries of the one or more historical query logs;

determining a location of interest for one or more of the query log entries, wherein the location of interest for each query log entry is based on text of the respective search query or a view of a map application associated with the query log entry;

determining, for each of the one or more query log entries, a submission location corresponding to where the respective search query was submitted;

calculating, for each of the one or more query log entries, a distance between the location of interest for the query log entry and the submission location of the query log entry;

determining, for each of the one or more query log entries, whether the calculated distance exceeds a threshold value, and identifying the query log entry as a candidate query only if the calculated distance exceeds the threshold value;

evaluating the one or more candidate queries to determine particular targeting information for the location of interest;

receiving a request for content from a user that is proximate to the location of interest or that has expressed an interest in the location of interest; and

providing content to the user based at least in part on the particular targeting information determined from the one or more candidate queries.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the submission location is determined based on an IP (Internet Protocol) address of a client device that submitted the query.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein one query log is a log of an individual, and where processing the query log entries for the one query log includes sorting queries into three or more groups based on a location of where the queries were submitted, the locations selected from home, work and away.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the submission location is determined based on a mode of the user, and wherein the mode is selected from either at work, home or away.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the submission location is derived from a location based service available to a device that submitted the query.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the historical query logs are logs developed from the search computer system that included a search control that was presented along with a map application viewport for use in presenting location data, wherein each query log entry includes query terms and location information describing a location that was concurrently being presented in the viewport at the time a respective query was received, and wherein the view of a map application associated with the query log entry corresponds to a map shown in the viewport at the time of the query.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the submission location corresponding to where each search query was submitted is based at least in part on a time that each search query was submitted.

7. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

a machine-readable medium comprising instructions stored therein, which when executed by the processors, cause the processors to perform operations comprising;

accessing query log entries of one or more historical query logs, each query log entry comprising a respective search query submitted by an individual to a search system;

determining a location of interest for one or more of the query log entries, wherein the location of interest for each query log entry is based on text of the respective search query or a view of a map application associated with the query log entry;

determining, for each of the one or more query log entries, a submission location corresponding to where the respective search query was submitted;

calculating, for each of the one or more query log entries, a distance between the location of interest for the query log entry and the submission location of the query log entry;

determining, for each of the one or more query log entries, whether the calculated distance exceeds a threshold value, and identifying the query log entry as a candidate query only if the calculated distance exceeds the threshold value;

evaluating the one or more candidate queries to determine particular targeting information for the location of interest;

receiving a request for content from a user that is proximate to the location of interest or that has expressed an interest in the location of interest; and

providing content to the user based at least in part on the particular targeting information determined from the one or more candidate queries.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions stored therein, that when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

provide a data structure that includes one or more historical query logs, each query log including query log entries, each query log entry comprising a respective search query submitted by an individual to a search system;

access the query log entries of the one or more historical query logs;

determining a location of interest for one or more of the query log entries, wherein the location of interest for each query log entry is based on text of the respective search query or a view of a map application associated with the query log entry;

determining, for each of the one or more query log entries, a submission location corresponding to where the respective search query was submitted;

calculating, for each of the one or more query log entries, a distance between the location of interest for the query log entry and the submission location of the query log entry;

determining, for each of the one or more query log entries, whether the calculated distance exceeds a threshold value, and identifying the query log entry as a candidate query only if the calculated distance exceeds the threshold value;

evaluate the one or more candidate queries to determine particular targeting information for the location of interest;

receive a request for content from a user that is proximate to the location of interest or that has expressed an interest in the location of interest; and

provide content to the user based at least in part on the particular targeting information determined from the one or more candidate queries.