Processing social search results

• US 9,311,411 B2
• Filed: 08/25/2011
• Issued: 04/12/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Ahari, Sanaz, Hoad, Timothy C., Vijaywargi, Deepak, Saraf, Yatharth
• Primary Examiner(s): WILSON, KIMBERLY LOVEL
• Application Number:
  US13/218,418
• Publication Number:
  US 20130054587A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,692 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results

Abstract

Techniques are described herein for processing social search results. Such social search results may be included in a relatively higher-ranked (e.g., a highest-ranked) subset of a user'"'"'s search results and/or selected from a relatively lower-ranked subset of the user'"'"'s search results in response to a determination that the relatively higher-ranked subset includes social search result(s). In one example, the social search results (or a subset thereof) may be annotated to include publicly available rich metadata. Such metadata may be extracted from user profiles on social networking domains from which the social search results are received. In another example, the social search results (or a subset thereof) may be clustered such that they are consecutively ranked. In yet another example, the social search results (or a subset thereof) may be configured to be displayed in a designated arrangement (e.g., in a grid having multiple columns).

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining an initial subset of a plurality of search results that are retrieved based on a search query, each search result in the initial subset having a relevance with regard to the search query that exceeds a relevance threshold;

determining that the initial subset includes one or more first social search results, each first social search result indicating information from a user profile on a social networking domain;

based on determining that the initial subset includes the one or more first social search results, selecting one or more second social search results from the plurality of search results based on each of the one or more second social search results indicating information from a user profile on a social networking domain, each second social search result having a relevance with regard to the search query that does not exceed the relevance threshold;

determining that a quantity of the one or more first social search results exceeds a designated threshold; and

based on the quantity of the one or more first social search results exceeding the designated threshold, combining a designated subset of the one or more second social search results and at least a portion of the initial subset that includes the one or more first social search results to provide a presentation subset of the plurality of search results that is to be presented to a user that is associated with the search query.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

ranking the plurality of search results based on a relevance of each of the plurality of search results with respect to the search query to provide a plurality of rankings of the plurality of respective search results, a relatively greater ranking corresponding to a relatively greater relevance with respect to the search query, a relatively lower ranking corresponding to a relatively lower relevance with respect to the search query; and

determining that each second social search result in the designated subset has a ranking that is greater than a ranking threshold;

wherein combining the designated subset of the one or more second social search results and at least the portion of the initial subset that includes the one or more first social search results comprises;

combining the designated subset of the one or more second social search results and at least the portion of the initial subset that includes the one or more first social search results in response to determining that each second social search result in the designated subset has a ranking that is greater than the ranking threshold.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

re-ranking each second social search result in the designated subset such that the second social search results in the designated subset and the one or more first social search results provide a series of results that have consecutive rankings.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

configuring the presentation subset to cause the first and second social search results therein to be displayed in a grid that includes a plurality of columns.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

determining that each of the first and second social search results in the presentation subset includes an image of a user that is associated therewith;

wherein configuring the presentation subset comprises;

configuring the presentation subset to cause the first and second social search results therein to be displayed in the grid in response to determining that each of the first and second social search results in the presentation subset includes an image of a user that is associated therewith.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

extracting publicly available rich metadata from user profile pages that correspond to the first and second social search results in the presentation subset; and

updating the first and second social search results in the presentation subset to include the rich metadata.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

configuring the presentation subset to cause at least two results from a combination of the first and second social search results in the presentation subset to be displayed in at least two respective columns of a grid.

8. A method comprising:

ranking a plurality of search results that are retrieved in response to a search query based on a relevance of each of the plurality of search results with respect to the search query to provide a plurality of rankings of the plurality of respective search results, a relatively greater ranking corresponding to a relatively greater relevance with respect to the search query, a relatively lower ranking corresponding to a relatively lower relevance with respect to the search query;

determining an initial subset of the plurality of search results, each search result in the initial subset having a ranking that exceeds a ranking threshold;

determining that the initial subset includes a plurality of social search results, each social search result indicating information from a user profile on a social networking domain, the plurality of social search results including at least a first subset and a second subset, the first subset including at least one first social search result having at least one respective first ranking of the plurality of rankings, the second subset including at least one second social search result having at least one respective second ranking of the plurality of rankings;

determining that the at least one first ranking and the at least one second ranking are not consecutive; and

increasing the at least one second ranking to be consecutive with the at least one first ranking in response to determining that the at least one first ranking and the at least one second ranking are not consecutive.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

determining that a quantity of the plurality of social search results exceeds a designated threshold;

wherein increasing the at least one second ranking comprises;

increasing the at least one second ranking to be consecutive with the at least one first ranking further in response to determining that the quantity of the plurality of social search results exceeds the designated threshold.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

determining that the at least one second ranking exceeds a second ranking threshold that is less than the first ranking threshold;

wherein increasing the at least one second ranking comprises;

increasing the at least one second ranking to be consecutive with the at least one first ranking further in response to determining that the at least one second ranking exceeds the second ranking threshold.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

configuring the initial subset of the plurality of search results to cause the plurality of social search results to be displayed in a grid that includes a plurality of columns.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining that each social search result in the plurality of social search results includes an image of a user that is associated with that social search result;

wherein configuring the initial subset of the plurality of search results comprises;

configuring the initial subset of the plurality of search results to cause the plurality of social search results to be displayed in the grid in response to determining that each social search result in the plurality of social search results includes an image of a user that is associated with that social search result.

13. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

extracting publicly available rich metadata from user profile pages that correspond to the plurality of social search results; and

updating the plurality of social search results to include the rich metadata.

14. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

in response to determining that the initial subset includes the plurality of social search results, selecting one or more additional social search results from the plurality of search results based on each of the one or more additional social search results indicating information from a user profile on a social networking domain, each additional social search result having a ranking that does not exceed the ranking threshold; and

combining a designated subset of the one or more additional social search results and at least a portion of the initial subset that includes the plurality of social search results to provide a presentation subset of the plurality of search results that is to be presented to a user that is associated with the search query.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

determining that each additional social search result in the designated subset has a ranking that is greater than a second ranking threshold that is less than the first ranking threshold;

wherein combining the designated subset of the one or more additional social search results and at least the portion of the initial subset that includes the plurality of social search results comprises;

combining the designated subset of the one or more additional social search results and at least the portion of the initial subset that includes the plurality of social search results in response to determining that each additional social search result in the designated subset has a ranking that is greater than the second ranking threshold.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

re-ranking each additional social search result in the designated subset such that the additional social search results in the designated subset and the plurality of social search results provide a series of results that have consecutive rankings.

17. A system comprising:

subset determination logic that includes electrical circuitry and is configured to determine an initial subset of a plurality of search results that are retrieved based on a search query, each search result in the initial subset having a relevance with regard to the search query that exceeds a relevance threshold;

social determination logic configured to determine whether the initial subset includes one or more first social search results, each first social search result indicating information from a user profile on a social networking domain;

selection logic configured to select one or more second social search results from the plurality of search results based on each of the one or more second social search results indicating information from a user profile on a social networking domain in response to a determination that the initial subset includes the one or more first social search results, each second social search result having a relevance with regard to the search query that does not exceed the relevance threshold;

combination logic configured to combine a designated subset of the one or more second social search results and at least a portion of the initial subset that includes the one or more first social search results to provide a presentation subset of the plurality of search results that is to be presented to a user that is associated with the search query; and

ranking logic configured to rank the plurality of search results based on a relevance of each of the plurality of search results with respect to the search query to provide a plurality of rankings of the plurality of respective search results, a relatively greater ranking corresponding to a relatively greater relevance with respect to the search query, a relatively lower ranking corresponding to a relatively lower relevance with respect to the search query,

the ranking logic further configured to re-rank each second social search result in the designated subset such that the second social search results in the designated subset and the one or more first social search results provide a series of results that have consecutive rankings.

18. The system of claim 17, further comprising:

extraction logic configured to extract publicly available rich metadata from user profile pages that correspond to the first and second social search results in the presentation subset; and

update logic configured to update the first and second social search results in the presentation subset to include the rich metadata.

19. The system of claim 17, further comprising:

configuration logic that configures the presentation subset to cause at least two results from a combination of the first and second social search results in the presentation subset to be displayed in at least two respective columns of a grid.

20. The system of claim 19, further comprising:

image determination logic configured to determine whether each of the first and second social search results in the presentation subset includes an image of a user that is associated therewith;

wherein the configuration logic configures the presentation subset to cause at least two results from the combination of the first and second social search results in the presentation subset to be displayed in the at least two respective columns of the grid in response to a determination that each of the first and second social search results in the presentation subset includes an image of a user that is associated therewith.