Identifying affiliated domains

• US 9,178,848 B1
• Filed: 07/23/2007
• Issued: 11/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/23/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Li, Wenxin, Diligenti, Michelangelo, Upstill, Trystan
• Primary Examiner(s): Henderson, Esther B
• Assistant Examiner(s): DESAI, MARGISHI V
• Application Number:
  US11/781,847
• Time in Patent Office: 3,025 Days
• Field of Search: 709/245, 709/223, 715/733, 379/32.03, 705/80, 705/50
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/30 Managing network names, e.g. use of aliases or nicknames name-to-address mapping H04L61/45
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4511 using domain name system [DNS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/563 Data redirection of data network streams

Abstract

Systems, methods, and computer program products are provided for identifying affiliated domains. A method includes identifying a plurality of domains, where each domain is associated with a particular hostname and each domain includes one or more resources, identifying a set of one or more linked domains, designating one or more domains within the set of linked domains as being affiliated with the first domain, and storing the domain affiliation information. Linked domains are domains from the plurality of domains that are linked to the first domain, and a second domain is linked to the first domain if one of the first or the second domains includes resources containing navigation links to resources of the other domain.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving initial search results from a user search query including an ordered list of results, each result corresponding to a web domain;

determining a particular location for a user;

identifying a plurality of local domains, each local domain being a web domain that corresponds to the particular location of the user;

identifying a first result within the list of results corresponding to a first web domain, the first web domain being a local domain;

identifying a second result within the list of results corresponding to a second web domain designated as affiliated with the first domain, where the first domain has a same second level domain as the second domain, where the second domain is affiliated if it is linked to the first domain, and where the second domain is linked to the first domain if one of the first or the second domains includes resources containing one or more hyperlinks to resources of the other domain;

modifying the ordered list of results by altering one or more positions of the results, including altering a position of the second result, that correspond to a domain affiliated with one of the local domains within the list of results using one or more processors; and

presenting the list of results to the user.

2. The method of claim 1, where altering the position of the second result includes demoting the second result within the list of results.

3. The method of claim 1, where altering the position of the second result includes promoting the second result within the list of results.

4. The method of claim 1, where altering the position of the second result includes clustering the second result with the first result within the list of results.

5. The method of claim 1, where the second domain is affiliated if it is directly linked to the first domain.

6. The method of claim 1, where the second domain is affiliated if it is linked to the first domain within a specified number of steps.

7. The method of claim 1, where the second domain is affiliated only if it has the same second-level domain name as the first domain.

8. The method of claim 1, where demoting the second result includes swapping a rank of the second result with a rank of the first result within the list of results.

9. The method of claim 8, where swapping a rank of a first affiliated result and a rank of a second affiliated result is performed according to presumption heuristics.

10. The method of claim 1, where demoting the second result within the list of results includes demoting the second result by a predetermined number of places within the ordered list of results.

11. A non-transitory computer readable medium encoded with a computer program, the program comprising instructions that when executed by one or more computers cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:

receiving initial search results from a user search query including an ordered list of results, each result corresponding to a web domain;

determining a particular location for a user;

identifying a plurality of local domains, each local domain being a web domain that corresponds to the particular location of the user;

identifying a first result within the list of results corresponding to a first web domain, the first web domain being a local domain;

identifying a second result within the list of results corresponding to a second web domain designated as affiliated with the first domain, where the first domain has a same second level domain as the second domain, where the second domain is affiliated if it is linked to the first domain, and where the second domain is linked to the first domain if one of the first or the second domains includes resources containing one or more hyperlinks to resources of the other domain,

modifying the ordered list of results by altering one or more positions of the results, including altering a position of the second result, that correspond to a domain affiliated with the one of the local domains within the list of results; and

presenting the list of results to the user.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 11, where altering the position of the second result includes demoting the second result within the list of results.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 11, where altering the position of the second result includes promoting the second result within the list of results.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 11, where altering the position of the second result includes clustering the second result with the first result within the list of results.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 11, where the second domain is affiliated if it is directly linked to the first domain.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 11, where the second domain is affiliated if it is linked to the first domain within a specified number of steps.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 11, where the second domain is affiliated only if it has the same second-level domain name as the first domain.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 11, where demoting the second result includes swapping a rank of the second result with a rank of the first result within the list of results.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 18, where swapping a rank of a first affiliated result and a rank of a second affiliated result is performed according to presumption heuristics.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 11, where demoting the second result within the list of results includes demoting the second result by a predetermined number of places within the ordered list of results.

21. A system, comprising:

one or more computers; and

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

receiving initial search results from a user search query including an ordered list of results, each result corresponding to a web domain;

determining a particular location for a user;

identifying a plurality of local domains, each local domain being a web domain that corresponds to the particular location of the user;

identifying a first result within the list of results corresponding to a first web domain, the first web domain being a local domain;

identifying a second result within the list of results corresponding to a second web domain designated as affiliated with the first domain, where the first domain has a same second level domain as the second domain, where the second domain is affiliated if it is linked to the first domain, and where the second domain is linked to the first domain if one of the first or the second domains includes resources containing one or more hyperlinks to resources of the other domain,

modifying the ordered list of results by altering one or more positions of the results, including altering a position of the second result, that correspond to a domain affiliated with one or more local domains within the list of results; and

presenting the list of results to the user.

22. The system of claim 21, where the altering the position of the second result includes demoting the second result within the list of results.

23. The system of claim 21, where the altering the position of the second result includes promoting the second result within the list of results.

24. The system of claim 21, where altering the position of the second result includes clustering the second result with the first result within the list of results.

25. The system of claim 21, where the second domain is affiliated if it is directly linked to the first domain.

26. The system of claim 21, where the second domain is affiliated if it is linked to the first domain within a specified number of steps.

27. The system of claim 21, where the second domain is affiliated only if it has the same second-level domain name as the first domain.

28. The system of claim 21, where demoting the second result includes swapping a rank of the second result with a rank of the first result within the list of results.

29. The system of claim 28, where swapping a rank of a first affiliated result and a rank of a second affiliated result is performed according to presumption heuristics.

30. The system of claim 21, where demoting the second result within the list of results includes demoting the second result by a predetermined number of places within the ordered list of results.