Watch time based ranking

• US 9,098,511 B1
• Filed: 03/06/2013
• Issued: 08/04/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/02/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Kaiserlian, Christian, Hylton, Jeremy, Lawry, James, Kressler, Bryan M., Angelov, Stanislav Plamenov, Elson, David, Agraz, David, Pham, Phong Thanh
• Primary Examiner(s): Morrison, Jay
• Assistant Examiner(s): Gortayo, Dangelino
• Application Number:
  US13/787,096
• Time in Patent Office: 881 Days
• Field of Search: 707/725, 707/603, 707/706, 707/709, 707/722, 707/723, 707/748, 707/732, 725/14, 725/46, 725/47, 725/725, 725/603, 725/706, 725/709, 725/722, 725/723, 725/748
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3331 Query processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3346 using probabilistic model
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/435 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/489 using time information
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/70 of video data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25891 being end-user preferences retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44224 Monitoring of user activity on external systems, e.g. Internet browsing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4826 using recommendation lists, e.g. of programs or channels sorted out according to their score
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4828 for searching program descriptors retrieval of video data G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6582 Data stored in the client, e.g. viewing habits, hardware capabilities, credit card number arrangements where receivers interact with the broadcast H04H20/38

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for ranking search results. One of the methods includes identifying one or more sessions for a query and associating watch times of the respective resources watched in the sessions with the query. One or more watch time signals are calculated for a first resource and the query based on the watch times associated with the query. A first search result responsive to the query is obtained, wherein the first search result identifies the first resource and has an associated score S. A new score S′ is calculated based on a least S and a watch time function, the watch time function being a function of the one or more watch time signals. The new score S′ is provided to a process for ranking search results including the first search result.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

identifying one or more sessions for a query, each session comprising a chain of respective resources linked to each other and watched by a respective user, each session beginning with a first resource that was identified by a first search result responsive to the query and linked to one or more second resources, wherein each second resource was associated with a different resource in the session by a respective link, and wherein the user visited each second resource by following the links;

associating a total of watch times of the respective resources watched in the sessions with the query;

calculating one or more watch time signals for the first resource and the query based on the total of watch times associated with the query;

after the one or more sessions have ended;

receiving the query from a user;

obtaining a search result responsive to the query, wherein the search result identifies the first resource and has an associated score S;

calculating an updated score S′

based on at least S and a watch time function, the watch time function being a function of the one or more watch time signals; and

providing the updated score S′

to a process for ranking search results including the search result.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each respective link is a reference to a respective suggested resource.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein resources in a session comprise video content, and wherein a watch time of a resource is a length of time that a user spent watching the video content.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

computing a total of watch times for the session using pings received during the session, wherein each ping identifies a point in video content that a user has reached.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the watch time function is given by:

S′

=S×

M_Q,Di,

wherein M_Q,Di is a watch time multiplier computed from the one or more watch time signals for the query and the first resource.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the one or more watch time signals for the first resource include two or more watch time signals, and the watch time multiplier is based on a product of two or more of the watch time signals for the first resource.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein one of the one or more watch time signals is a document-query fraction score that is based on a portion of a total k of the watch times associated with the query that are attributable to the first resource.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein one of the one or more watch time signals is a relative document performance score that is based on ratio of (1) an average session watch time for the first resource in the sessions of the query, to (2) an average session watch time for all resources in the sessions of the query.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein one of the one or more watch time signals is a clicks per impression score that is based on a ratio of (1) a number of times the first resource in the sessions of the query was selected as a search result to (2) a number of impressions for the first resource in the sessions of the query.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein one of the one or more watch time signals is a watch time per watch score that is based on an average session watch time for the first resource in viewing sessions of the query.

11. A system comprising:

one or more computers and one or more storage devices storing instructions that are operable, when executed by the one or more computers, to cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising;

identifying, by a processor of a computer in the one or more computers, one or more sessions for a query, each session comprising a chain of respective resources and linked to each other and watched by a respective user, each session beginning with a first resource that was identified by a first search result responsive to the query linked to one or more second resources, wherein each second resource was associated with a different resource in the session by a respective link, and wherein the user visited each second resource by following the links;

associating a total of watch times of the respective resources watched in the sessions with the query;

calculating one or more watch time signals for the first resource and the query based on the total of watch times associated with the query;

after the one or more sessions have ended;

receiving the query from a user;

obtaining a search result responsive to the query, wherein the search result identifies the first resource and has an associated score S;

calculating an updated score S′

based on at least S and a watch time function, the watch time function being a function of the one or more watch time signals; and

providing the updated score S′

to a process for ranking search results including the first search result.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein each respective link is a reference to a respective suggested resource.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein resources in a session comprise video content, and wherein a watch time of a resource is a length of time that a user spent watching the video content.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the operations further comprise:

computing a total of watch times for the session using pings received during the session, wherein each ping identifies a point in video content that a user has reached.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the watch time function is given by:

S′

=S×

M_Q,Di,

wherein M_Q,Di is a watch time multiplier computed from the one or more watch time signals for the query and the first resource.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the one or more watch time signals for the first resource include two or more watch time signals, and the watch time multiplier is based on a product of two or more of the watch time signals for the first resource.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein one of the one or more watch time signals is a document-query fraction score that is based on a portion of a total k of the watch times associated with the query that are attributable to the first resource.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein one of the one or more watch time signals is a relative document performance score that is based on ratio of (1) an average session watch time for the first resource in the sessions of the query, to (2) an average session watch time for all resources in the sessions of the query.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein one of the one or more watch time signals is a clicks per impression score that is based on a ratio of (1) a number of times the first resource in the sessions of the query was selected as a search result to (2) a number of impressions for the first resource in the sessions of the query.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein one of the one or more watch time signals is a watch time per watch score that is based on an average session watch time for the first resource in viewing sessions of the query.