Determining relevancy and desirability of terms

• US 8,954,424 B2
• Filed: 05/01/2013
• Issued: 02/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/09/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Original Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Inventors: Gupta, Raghav, Xu, Sichun
• Primary Examiner(s): Fan, Shiow-Jy
• Application Number:
  US13/875,074
• Publication Number:
  US 20130246407A1
• Time in Patent Office: 650 Days
• Field of Search: 707/722, 707/723, 707/731, 707/E17.082, 707/999.007
• US Class Current: 707/723
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3334 Selection or weighting of terms from queries, including natural language queries

Abstract

A system and method to sort search results based upon a desirability value is illustrated. This desirability value may be based upon the difference between a demand value and a supply value. Demand may be based upon user activity such as click-throughs, purchases, price, or location. Supply may be based upon a supply of keywords that may be the number of times a word is used in search or item title. The system and method may include receiving a search query, associating a first numerical value with a keyword that is a part of the search query, tracking user activity associated with the keyword, associating a second numerical value with the keyword based upon the user activity, finding a difference value between the first and second numerical values, associating this difference value with the keyword, sorting keywords based upon the difference values, and returning the search results of the sorting.

Claims

1. A set of hardware processor arranged to:

receive search results in response to a user search query;

present a user interface element, the user interface element to allow the user to weight search results;

receive, from the user via the user interface element, a weighting corresponding to a category, the category being one of a plurality of categories making up a demand score;

calculate an adjusted demand score by applying the weighting to the category, the adjusted demand score being part of a runtime context of satisfying the user search query;

determine a summarization threshold corresponding to a display area of a user device used to initiate the search query;

for each search result in the search results;

create a summarized text for a body of text in the search result by, for each word in a body of text of the search result;

assign the word a relevance score based on the runtime context;

include the word in the summarized text when the relevance score is above the summarization threshold; and

replace the word in the summarized text with a placeholder character when the relevance score is below the summarization threshold, and multiple placeholder characters may be combined into one; and

deliver respective summarized texts for the search results to the user device organized based on the adjusted demand score.

2. The hardware processor of claim 1, wherein the category is relevance.

3. The hardware processor of claim 1, wherein the category is an auction date.

4. The hardware processor of claim 3, wherein the auction date is an ending date.

5. The hardware processor of claim 1, wherein the category is price.

6. The hardware processor of claim 1, wherein the user interface element is arranged to receive the weighting via the user manipulating a representation of a physical object.

7. The hardware processor of claim 6, wherein the representation of the physical object includes selectable representations of at least three positions of the physical object.

8. The hardware processor of claim 6, wherein the user interface element is a slider.

9. A machine-readable medium (MRM) that is not a transitory propagating signal, the MRM including instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

receiving search results in response to a user search query;

presenting a user interface element, the user interface element to allow the user to weight search results;

receiving, from the user via the user interface element, a weighting corresponding to a category, the category being one of a plurality of categories making up a demand score;

calculating an adjusted demand score by applying the weighting to the category, the adjusted demand score being part of a runtime context of satisfying the user search query;

determining a summarization threshold corresponding to a display area of a user device used to initiate the search query;

for each search result in the search results;

creating a summarized text for a body of text in the search result by, for each word in a body of text of the search result;

assigning the word a relevance score based on the runtime context;

including the word in the summarized text when the relevance score is above the summarization threshold; and

replacing the word in the summarized text with a placeholder character when the relevance score is below the summarization threshold, and multiple placeholder characters may be combined into one; and

delivering respective summarized texts for the search results to the user device organized based on the adjusted demand score.

10. The MRM of claim 9, wherein the category is relevance.

11. The MRM of claim 9, wherein the category is an auction date.

12. The MRM of claim 11, wherein the auction date is an ending date.

13. The MRM of claim 9, wherein the category is price.

14. The MRM of claim 9, wherein the user interface element is arranged to receive the weighting via the user manipulating a representation of a physical object.

15. The MRM of claim 14, wherein the representation of the physical object includes selectable representations of at least three positions of the physical object.

16. The MRM of claim 14, wherein the user interface element is a slider.

17. A method performed by a set of hardware processors, the method comprising:

receiving search results in response to a user search query;

presenting a user interface element, the user interface element to allow the user to weight search results;

receiving, from the user via the user interface element, a weighting corresponding to a category, the category being one of a plurality of categories making up a demand score;

calculating an adjusted demand score by applying the weighting to the category, the adjusted demand score being part of a runtime context of satisfying the user search query;

determining a summarization threshold corresponding to a display area of a user device used to initiate the search query;

for each search result in the search results;

creating a summarized text for a body of text in the search result by, for each word in a body of text of the search result;

assigning the word a relevance score based on the runtime context;

including the word in the summarized text when the relevance score is above the summarization threshold; and

replacing the word in the summarized text with a placeholder character when the relevance score is below the summarization threshold, and multiple placeholder characters may be combined into one; and

delivering respective summarized texts for the search results to the user device organized based on the adjusted demand score.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the category is relevance.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the category is an auction date.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the auction date is an ending date.