Context-based object retrieval in a social networking system

• US 9,141,707 B2
• Filed: 07/19/2012
• Issued: 09/22/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/19/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Marlow, Cameron Alexander, Cathcart, Robert William, Dunn, Jeffrey Scott, Sagula, Rafael Linden, Nandagopal, Venkataramanan Iyer, Kar, Siddharth, Sun, Eric
• Primary Examiner(s): OBISESAN, AUGUSTINE KUNLE
• Application Number:
  US13/553,760
• Publication Number:
  US 20140025671A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,160 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24575 using context
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46

Abstract

Embodiments improve the ability of users of a social networking system to search for information that is likely to be relevant to them by learning and/or applying a search context associated with selector components used to search for objects of the social networking system. The search context is specific to the use of an individual selector and thus need not be as general as the context of an entire page or set of pages in which selectors can be embedded. The social networking system may learn the context of a selector by monitoring user selections from prior search results performed using the selector.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

providing, to a client device, a graphical user interface including a selector, the selector associated with an object type based on object types of objects from a plurality of prior user selections within result sets of the selector;

receiving a query that was entered into the selector on the client device by a user of a social networking system, the object type associated with the selector before the query is received;

forming a result set by identifying objects matching the query, one or more of the objects of the result set associated with an object type, wherein the object type associated with the selector and the object types of the objects matching the query are nodes of a hierarchical type graph, and wherein an object type of an object matches the object type of the selector if the object type is the same as the object type of the selector or is a subtype of the object type of the selector;

determining distances in the type graph between the object type associated with the selector and the object types of the objects matching the query;

ranking the objects in the result set based at least in part on;

whether the object types associated with the objects in the result set are the same as the object type of the selector or are subtypes of the object type of the selector, and

the determined distances in the type graph; and

providing one or more objects of the result set to the client device for display in visual association with the selector in the graphical user interface.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a plurality of selections of objects from a plurality of users using the selector;

determining one or more types associated with the selected objects; and

determining that the object type is associated with the selector based on the determined types associated with the selected objects.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein determining a type associated with the selector comprises:

identifying a type most frequently associated with the selected objects; and

adding the most frequent type as the object type associated with the selector.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising removing, from the result set, objects with types not matching the object type of the selector.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising ranking a first one of the objects matching the query more highly than a second one of the objects matching the query, responsive to the first one of the objects having an object type matching the object type associated with the selector and the second one of the objects not having an object type matching the object type of the selector.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the user interface is for a page, and the user interface includes a plurality of selectors, at least two selectors of the plurality of selectors associated with different object types.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a selection of one of the objects of the result set from the user.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising modifying the result set based at least in part on a connection between the user and another user.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising modifying the result set based at least in part on a connection between the user and a page on the social networking system.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising modifying the result set based at least in part on a connection between the user and a media item on the social networking system.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising modifying the result set based at least in part on a connection between the user and an application hosted on the social networking system.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising modifying the result set based at least in part on a connection between the user and a group defined by the social networking system.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the user interface that includes the selector is a web page of a third party site external to the social networking system.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing executable computer program instructions comprising:

instructions for providing, to a client device, a graphical user interface including a selector, the selector associated with an object type based on object types of objects from a plurality of prior user selections within result sets of the selector;

instructions for receiving a query that was entered into the selector on the client device, the object type associated with the selector before the query is received;

instructions for forming a result set by identifying objects matching the query, one or more of the objects of the result set associated with an object type, wherein the object type associated with the selector and the object types of the objects matching the query are nodes of a hierarchical type graph, and wherein an object type of an object matches the object type of the selector if the object type is the same as the object type of the selector or is a subtype of the object type of the selector;

instructions for determining distances in the type graph between the object type associated with the selector and the object types of the objects matching the query;

instructions for ranking the objects in the result set based at least in part on;

whether the object types associated with the objects in the result set are the same as the object type of the selector or are subtypes of the object type of the selector, and

the determined distances in the type graph; and

instructions for providing one or more objects of the result set to the client device for display in visual association with the selector in the graphical user interface.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, further comprising:

instructions for receiving a plurality of selections of objects from a plurality of users using the selector;

instructions for determining one or more types associated with the selected objects; and

instructions for determining a type associated with the selector based on the types associated with the selected objects.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein determining a type associated with the selector comprises:

identifying a type most frequently associated with the selected objects; and

adding the most frequent type as the object type associated with the selector.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the user interface is for a page, and the user interface includes a plurality of selectors, at least two selectors of the plurality of selectors associated with different object types.

18. A computer-implemented method comprising:

providing, to a client device, a graphical user interface including a selector, the selector being a graphical component of the graphical user interface and being associated with an object type based on object types of objects from a plurality of prior selections made by a plurality of different users within result sets of the selector;

receiving a query that was entered into the selector on the client device by a user of a social networking system, the object type having been associated with the selector before the query was received;

forming a result set by identifying objects matching the query, one or more of the objects of the result set being associated with an object type, wherein the object type associated with the selector and the object types of the objects matching the query are nodes of a hierarchical type graph, and wherein an object type of an object matches the object type of the selector if the object type is the same as the object type of the selector or is a subtype of the object type of the selector;

determining distances in the type graph between the object type associated with the selector and the object types of the objects matching the query;

ranking the objects in the result set based at least in part on;

whether the object types associated with the objects in the result set are the same as the object type of the selector or are subtypes of the object type of the selector, and

the determined distances in the type graph; and

providing a plurality of the objects of the result set to the client device for display in visual association with the selector in the graphical user interface, wherein the provided plurality of objects comprise at least two different object types.