Searching using access controls

• US 9,141,656 B1
• Filed: 09/06/2012
• Issued: 09/22/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/06/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Lopyrev, Mikhail, Roehrig, Hein, Kulick, Matthew E., Heymans, Maureen
• Primary Examiner(s): Jalil, Neveen Abel
• Assistant Examiner(s): BISKEBORN, KRISTOFER M
• Application Number:
  US13/604,861
• Time in Patent Office: 1,111 Days
• Field of Search: 705/319
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2228 Indexing structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

Techniques include: identifying one or more first entities who have connections to more than a threshold number of other entities; identifying first content in the search index that is authored by the first entities; and associating author restricts with the first content, where the author restricts include data identifying entities who authored corresponding content. The techniques may also include: identifying one or more second entities who have social connections to one or more entities who authored second content, where the one or more second entities have connections to less than the threshold number other entities; associating searcher restricts with the second content; and providing the search index updated with searcher and author restricts.

Claims

1. A method performed by one or more processing devices, comprising:

comparing, for each entity of a plurality of entities, a number of connections associated with the entity, in one or more corresponding social graphs, to a threshold number of connections to other entities;

based on the comparison, identifying one or more first entities of the plurality of entities that are associated with a number of connections greater than the threshold number of connections to other entities, and in response;

identifying first content items in a search index that are authored by the one or more first entities, and

associating, for each first content item, a respective author restrict with the first content item, the author restrict comprising data identifying the respective entity that authored the first content item;

based on the comparison, identifying one or more second entities of the plurality of entities that are associated with a number of connections less than the threshold number of connections to the other entities, and in response;

identifying second content items in the search index that are authored by the one or more second entities, and

associating, for each second content item, one or more searcher restricts with the second content item, each searcher restrict of the one or more searcher restricts comprising data that identifies an other entity of a subset of the one or more other entities that are social connected to the second entity that authored the second content item, wherein the first content items are not associated with any searcher restricts;

updating the search index to include the respective author restricts associated with each first content item and the respective one or more searcher restricts associated with each second content item; and

storing the updated search index in memory.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising associating, for at least some of the second content items, a respective author restrict with the second content item.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a newly-created association between two entities of the plurality of entities, a first entity of the two entities authoring a third content item that is associated with an author restrict comprising data that identifies the first entity; and

issuing, to a second entity of the two entities, the author restrict comprising data that identifies the first entity.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

updating the search index to associate a searcher restrict comprising data identifying the second entity of the two entities with content authored by the first entity of the two entities.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the author restrict comprising data that identifies the first entity of the two entities is used in searching for a predefined period of time.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein, at maximum, the predefined period of time is a time between updates of the search index.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining a search query comprising an author restrict and a searcher restrict;

matching the author restrict to a corresponding author restrict associated with content in the search index, and matching the searcher restrict to a corresponding searcher restrict associated with content in the search index; and

retrieving, from the search index, content in the search index that is associated with the corresponding author restrict, and content in the search index that is associated with the searcher restrict.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

updating the search index periodically to incorporate, into the search index, content that has been identified since the search index was last updated, the content that has been identified since the search index was last updated being associated with searcher restricts.

9. One or more non-transitory machine-readable media storing instructions that are executable by one or more processing devices to perform operations comprising:

comparing, for each entity of a plurality of entities, a number of connections associated with the entity, in one or more corresponding social graphs, to a threshold number of connections to other entities;

based on the comparison, identifying one or more first entities of the plurality of entities that are associated with a number of connections greater than the threshold number of connections to other entities, and in response;

identifying first content items in a search index that are authored by the one or more first entities, and

associating, for each first content item, a respective author restrict with the first content item, the author restrict comprising data identifying the respective entity that authored the first content item;

based on the comparison, identifying one or more second entities of the plurality of entities that are associated with a number of connections less than the threshold number of connections to other entities, and in response;

identifying second content items in the search index that are authored by he one or more second items, and

associating, for each second content item, one or more searcher restricts with the second content item, each searcher restrict of the one or more searcher restricts comprising data that identifies an other entity of a subset of the one or more other entities that are social connected to the second entity that authored the second content item, wherein the first content items are not associated with any searcher restricts;

updating the search index to include the respective author restricts associated with each first content item and the respective one or more searcher restricts associated with each second content item; and

storing the updated search index in memory.

10. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 9, wherein the operations comprise associating, for at least some of the second content items, a respective author restrict with the second content item.

11. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 9, wherein the operations comprise:

identifying a newly-created association between two entities of the plurality of entities, a first entity of the two entities being authoring a third content item that is associated with an author restrict comprising data that identifies the first entity; and

issuing, to a second entity of the two entities, the author restrict comprising data that identifies the first entity for the first of the two entities.

12. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 10, wherein the operations comprise:

updating the search index to associate a searcher restrict comprising data identifying the second entity of the two entities with content authored by the first entity of the two entities.

13. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 12, wherein the author restrict comprising data that identifies the first entity of the two entities is used in searching for a predefined period of time.

14. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 13, wherein, at maximum, the predefined period of time is a time between updates of the search index.

15. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 9, wherein the operations comprise:

obtaining a search query comprising an author restrict and a searcher restrict;

matching the author restrict to a corresponding author restrict associated with content in the search index, and matching the searcher restrict to a corresponding searcher restrict associated with content in the search index; and

retrieving, from the search index, content in the search index that is associated with the corresponding author restrict, and content in the search index that is associated with the searcher restrict.

16. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 9, wherein the operations comprise:

updating the search index periodically to incorporate, into the search index, content that has been identified since the search index was last updated, the content that has been identified since the search index was last updated being associated with searcher restricts.

17. A system comprising:

an indexing engine for performing operations comprising;

comparing, for each entity of a plurality of entities, a number of connections associated with the entity, in one or more corresponding social graphs, to a threshold number of connections to other entities;

based on the comparison, identifying one or more first entities of the plurality of entities that are associated with a number of connections greater than the threshold number of connections to other entities, and in response;

identifying first content items in a search index that are authored by the one or more first entities, and

associating, for each first content item, a respective author restrict with the first content item, the author restrict comprising data identifying the respective entity that authored the first content item;

based on the comparison, identifying one or more second entities of the plurality of entities that are associated with a number of connections less than the threshold number of connections to the other entities, and in response;

identifying second content items in the search index that are authored by the one or more second entities, and

associating, for each second content item, one or more searcher restricts with the second content item, each searcher restrict of the one or more searcher restricts comprising data that identifies an other entity of a subset of the one or more other entities that are social connected to the second entity that authored the second content item, wherein the first content items are not associated with any searcher restricts;

memory storing an updated search index to include the respective author restricts associated with each first content item and the respective one or more searcher restricts associated with each second content item.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the operations comprise associating, for at least some of the second content items, a respective author restrict with the second content item.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the operations comprise:

identifying a newly-created association between two entities of the plurality of entities, a first entity of the two entities authoring a third content item that is associated with an author restrict comprising data that identifies the first entity; and

issuing, to a second entity of the two entities, the author restrict comprising data that identifies the first entity.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the operations comprise:

updating the search index to associate a searcher restrict comprising data identifying the second entity of the two entities with content authored by the first entity of the two entities.