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Methods and systems for dynamically suggesting answers to questions submitted to a portal of an online service

  • US 9,218,423 B2
  • Filed: 04/30/2013
  • Issued: 12/22/2015
  • Est. Priority Date: 06/14/2010
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A method comprising:

  • receiving, at a host system, user input from a user system that is remote from the host system, the user input including one or more input terms;

    searching, by the host system, a storage area communicatively connected to the host system for one or more search strings recorded from prior searches that are related to the user input, the search strings each having one or more search terms;

    identifying, by the host system, a subset of the recorded search strings that are related to the user input, as a result of the searching;

    determining, by the host system, a score for each of the search strings in the subset, the score being a value that indicates an expected likelihood that the user is interested in the search string, wherein the score for each of the search strings is based on a plurality of factors including;

    how many of the search terms in the search string are included in the user input, andhow relevant a set of search results for the search string is; and

    ranking, by the host system, the search strings in the subset, in accordance with the determined scores; and

    sending, from the host system to the user system, the search strings in the subset to be listed in order of the ranking as suggestions to the user for use in requesting a search.

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