Personalized structured search queries for online social networks

• US 9,396,272 B2
• Filed: 04/11/2014
• Issued: 07/19/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/19/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Cohen, Michael Benjamin, Lee, Yofay Kari, Boucher, Maxime, Azzolini, Alisson Gusatti, Li, Xiao, Rasmussen, Lars Eilstrup
• Primary Examiner(s): Reyes, Mariela
• Assistant Examiner(s): VU, THONG H
• Application Number:
  US14/251,026
• Publication Number:
  US 20140222854A1
• Time in Patent Office: 830 Days
• Field of Search: 707/769, 707/798, 707/723, 707/802, 715/751
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9024 Graphs; Linked lists G06F16/9027 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/90324 using system suggestions
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9536 Search customisation based on social or collaborative filtering
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles

Abstract

In particular embodiments, a method includes receiving an text query, identifying nodes and edges from a social graph that correspond to character strings from the text query, and then generating recommended queries that include references to the identified nodes and edges.

Claims

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

receiving, from a client device associated with a first user of an online social network, a text query comprising one or more character strings, the online social network being associated with a social graph comprising a plurality of nodes and a plurality of edges connecting the nodes;

identifying one or more nodes and one or more edges of the social graph by determining one or more nodes and one or more edges of the social graph that match at least a portion of one or more of the character strings, wherein each of the identified nodes is within a threshold degree of separation within the social graph of a node corresponding to the first user;

generating one or more recommended queries that each comprise the character strings of the text query and references to one or more of the identified nodes and one or more of the identified edges; and

sending, to the client device associated with the first user in response to receiving the text query, one or more of the recommended queries for presentation to the first user.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising accessing the social graph comprising the plurality of nodes and the plurality of edges connecting the nodes, each of the edges between two of the nodes representing a single degree of separation between them, the nodes comprising:

a first node corresponding to the first user associated with the online social network; and

one or more second nodes that each correspond to a second user associated with the online social network, each of the second nodes being within the threshold degree of separation from the first node.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein identifying one or more nodes and one or more edges of the social graph comprising:

identifying one or more of the second nodes, each of the identified second node corresponding to one or more of the character strings; and

identifying one or more of the edges, each of the identified edges being connected to one of the second nodes, and each of the identified edges corresponding to one or more of the character strings.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving from the first user a selection of one of the recommended queries.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating search results corresponding to the selection of one of the recommended queries, each search result comprising a reference to a node of the plurality of nodes.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying one or more nodes comprises, for each character string:

determining for each node of the plurality of nodes whether the node matches the character string; and

identifying each node that matches the character string.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein each character strings comprises one or more characters of text entered by the first user.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the threshold degree of separation is one, two, three, or all.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein each node of the plurality of nodes is associated with a structured document.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving from the first user the text query comprises receiving one or more characters of a character string as the first user at a client system enters the character string into a graphical user interface comprising a query field, and wherein the character string is entered by the first user into the query field.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the graphical user interface is displayed on a user interface of a native application associated with the online social network.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the graphical user interface is displayed on a webpage associated with the online social network accessed by a browser client.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising presenting the one or more sent structured queries to the first user, wherein, for each sent structured query, one or more of the references of the sent structured query is highlighted as presented to indicate the reference corresponds to an identified second node or an identified edge.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the text query is received from a third-party system via a call through an application programming interface associated with the online social network from the client device associated with the first user.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending, to a third-party system, search results corresponding to one of the structured queries in response to receiving from the third-party system a call through an application programming interface associated with the online social network from the client device associated with the first user.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the text query is received from a third-party system via a communication channel associated with the online social network from the client device associated with the first user.

17. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

a memory coupled to the processors comprising instructions executable by the processors, the processors operable when executing the instructions to;

receive, from a client device associated with a first user of an online social network, a text query comprising one or more character strings, the online social network being associated with a social graph comprising a plurality of nodes and a plurality of edges connecting the nodes;

identify one or more nodes and one or more edges of the social graph, by determining one or more nodes and one or more edges of the social graph that match at least a portion of one or more of the character strings, wherein each of the identified nodes is within a threshold degree of separation within the social graph of a node corresponding to the first user;

generate one or more recommended queries that each comprise the character strings of the text query and references to one or more of the identified nodes and one or more of the identified edges; and

send, to the client device associated with the first user in response to receiving the text query, one or more of the recommended queries for presentation to the first user.

18. One or more computer-readable non-transitory storage media embodying software that is operable when executed to:

receive, from a client device associated with a first user of an online social network, a text query comprising one or more character strings, the online social network being associated with a social graph comprising a plurality of nodes and a plurality of edges connecting the nodes;

identify one or more nodes and one or more edges of the social graph, by determining one or more nodes and one or more edges of the social graph that match at least a portion of one or more of the character strings, wherein each of the identified nodes is within a threshold degree of separation within the social graph of a node corresponding to the first user;

generate one or more recommended queries that each comprise the character strings of the text query and references to one or more of the identified nodes and one or more of the identified edges; and

send, to the client device associated with the first user in response to receiving the text query, one or more of the recommended queries for presentation to the first user.