Systems and methods for providing searchable prior history

• US 8,918,401 B1
• Filed: 04/08/2010
• Issued: 12/23/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Marmaros, David, Lawrence, Steve
• Primary Examiner(s): Perveen, Rehana
• Assistant Examiner(s): BUI, THUY T
• Application Number:
  US12/756,844
• Time in Patent Office: 1,720 Days
• Field of Search: 707/758, 707/748, 707/706, 707/736, 707/609, 707/723, 715/234, 715/700, 709/203
• US Class Current: 707/748
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation

Abstract

A system may obtain search results associated with a search performed using a search query. The system may modify the search results, if necessary, based at least in part on information associated with prior document accesses by a user and present the modified search results to the user. The modification of the search results might including adding, deleting, and/or reordering items in the search results. One or more advertisements relevant to the search query may also be presented to the user along with the modified search results.

Claims

1. A method performed by a client device, comprising:

receiving, by the client device, a search query from a user;

transmitting, by the client device, the search query to a server device;

receiving, from the server device, a first set of search results, where each search result, in the first set of search results, has a respective first score;

performing, by the client device, a search of a memory local to the client device to generate a second set of search results from a corpus of documents obtained prior to receiving the first set of search results, where each search result, in the second set of search results, has a respective second score;

comparing, by the client device, the first set of search results and the second set of search results to identify a particular search result that is included in both the first set of search results and the second set of search results;

generating, by the client device, a final score for the particular search result by combining the respective first score with a weighted, respective second score; and

presenting, on a display associated with the client device, the first set of search results, where the particular search result is presented based on the final score.

2. The method of claim 1, where performing the search of the memory local to the client device to generate the second set of search results comprises:

searching, by the client device, a history database that stores information regarding a plurality of documents that were accessed by the user prior to receiving the search query.

3. The method of claim 2, where the history database stores, for the plurality of documents, information regarding how the user interacted with a particular document of the plurality of documents.

4. The method of claim 3, where the information regarding how the user interacted with the particular document comprises:

the number of times that the user has access the particular document,

the dates when the user accessed the particular document,

the amount of time that the user spent accessing the particular document, or

whether the user saved a reference to the particular document.

5. The method of claim 3, where performing the search of the memory local to the client device to generate the second set of search results comprises:

including the particular document in the second set of search results when the particular document was accessed by the user at least a threshold number of times.

6. The method of claim 3, where performing the search of the memory local to the client device to generate the second set of search results comprises:

including the particular document in the second set of search results when a threshold amount of time has passed between when the user last accessed the particular document and when the client device performed the search of the memory local to the client device to generate the second set of search results.

7. The method of claim 3, where performing the search of the memory local to the client device to generate the second set of search results comprises:

including the particular document in the second set of search results when the user has shut down a browser window used to access the particular document prior to when the client device performed the search of the memory local to the client device to generate the second set of search results.

8. The method of claim 2, where the history database stores, for the plurality of documents, information regarding how the user rated a particular document of the plurality of documents.

9. The method of claim 8, where performing the search of the memory local to the client device to generate the second set of search results comprises:

removing the particular document from the second set of search results when history database indicates that the user negatively rated the particular document.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

ordering the first set of search results based on the respective first scores.

11. The method of claim 10, where presenting the first set of search results comprises:

reordering the particular search result within the first set of search results based on the final score for the particular search result.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

permitting the user to stop the client device from generating the final score for the particular search result, and

presenting the first set of search results based on the respective first scores when the user stops the client device from generating the final score for the particular search result.

13. A device, comprising:

a memory to store instructions; and

a processor to execute the instructions to;

receive a search query from a user,

transmit the search query to a server device,

receive a first set of search results, where each search result, in the first set of search results, has a respective first score,

perform a search of a memory local to the device to identify a second set of search results from a corpus of documents obtained prior to receiving the first set of search results, where each search result, in the second set of search results, has a respective second score,

compare the first set of search results and the second set of search results to identify a particular search result that is included in both the first set of search results and the second set of search results,

generate a final score for the particular search result by combining the respective first score and a weighted, respective second score; and

present the first set of search results, where the particular search result is presented based on the final score.

14. The device of claim 13, where, when generating the final score for the particular search result by combining the respective first score and the weighted, respective second score, the processor is further generate the final score in accordance with the expression:

the final score=the respective first score+weight*the respective second score.

15. The device of claim 13, where, when generating the final score for the particular search result by combining the respective first score and the weighted, respective second score, the processor is further generate the final score in accordance with the expression:

the final score=the respective first score*(1+weight*the respective second score).

16. The device of claim 13, where the processor is further to:

permit the user to stop the device from generating the final score for the particular search result.

17. The device of claim 13, where the processor is further to:

add a particular search result from the identified second set of search results to the first set of search results when the comparison between the first set of search results and the second set of search results does not include the particular search result from the identified second set of search results.

18. The device of claim 17, where, when adding the particular search result from the identified second set of search results to the first set of search results, the processor is further to:

add the particular search result from the identified second set of search results to a prominent place in the first set of search results.

19. The device of claim 18, where the prominent place in the first set of search results is a beginning of the first set of search results.

20. The device of claim 13, where the processor is further to:

order the first set of search results based on the respective first scores.

21. The device of claim 20, where, when presenting the first set of search results, the processor is further to:

reorder the particular search result within the first set of search results based on the final score for the particular search result.

22. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions executable by at least one processor for performing a method, the computer-readable medium comprising:

one or more instructions to receive a search query from a user;

one or more instructions to transmit the search query to a server device;

one or more instructions to receive a first set of search results, where each search result, in the first set of search results, has a respective rank;

one or more instructions to perform a search of a memory local to a client device to generate a second set of search results from a history database that stores information regarding a plurality of documents that were accessed by the user prior to receiving the first set of search results;

one or more instructions to compare the first set of search results and the second set of search results to identify a particular search result that is included in both the first set of search results and the second set of search results;

one or more instructions to modify the rank of the particular search result a predetermined number of positions toward a top of the first set of search results; and

one or more instructions to present the first set of search results, where the position of the particular search result within the first set of search results is based on the modified rank of the particular search result.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, further comprising:

one or more instructions to parse the first set of search results to identify information contained in the first set of search results.

24. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, where the one or more instructions to perform the search of the memory local to the client device to generate the second set of search results further comprises:

one or more instructions to identify one or more search terms used in the search query, and

one or more instructions to perform the search of the memory local to the client device, using the identified one or more search terms, to generate the second set of search results.