Associating resources with entities

• US 9,400,789 B2
• Filed: 07/17/2013
• Issued: 07/26/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/20/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Connor, James T., Verstak, Alexandre A., Acharya, Anurag
• Primary Examiner(s): Coby, Frantz
• Application Number:
  US13/944,705
• Publication Number:
  US 20150169562A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,105 Days
• Field of Search: 707/740, 707/758, 707/738, 707/737, 707/748, 707/723, 707/728, 707/708, 707/751, 707/732, 715/210, 715/215
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/285 Clustering or classification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/334 Query execution G06F16/335 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/335 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles filtering in web context G06F16/9535, G06F16/9536
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/35 Clustering; Classification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for associating resources with entities. One of the methods includes clustering a plurality of first documents into one or more first document groups, wherein each of the one or more first document groups is associated with a proper name of an author; receiving a query that specifies a particular proper name of a particular author; generating a result list of one or more documents that satisfy the query, the documents being listed in order of rank; ranking the one or more first document groups based on the one or more documents that satisfy the query; and providing the one or more first document groups, wherein the one or more first document groups are presented in an order based on the ranking.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for identifying information to be added to an author profile for an author, the author profile identifying documents classified as being authored by the author, and the method comprising:

clustering a plurality of first documents into one or more first document groups, wherein each of the one or more first document groups is associated with a respective author proper name;

after clustering the plurality of first documents into the one or more first document groups;

receiving author information from an author;

generating a query that specifies a particular name of the author and one or more items of the author information received from the author;

generating a result list of one or more documents that satisfy the query, the documents being ranked according to a document rank;

ranking the one or more first document groups based on how many documents in the result list are included in each of the one or more first document groups, the ranking favoring first document groups having more documents from the result list over first document groups having fewer documents from the result list; and

providing data describing the one or more first document groups in an order according to the ranking for selection by the author for inclusion in an author profile for the author that identifies documents classified as being authored by the author.

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

receiving a selection of one or more of the first document groups; and

in response to receiving the selection, including data identifying the documents in the one or more selected first document groups in the author profile for the author as documents authored by the author.

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

clustering a plurality of second documents into one or more second document groups, wherein each of the one or more second document groups is associated with a respective author proper name;

for each of the one or more second document groups;

determining a correspondence score for the second document group in reference to the author profile for the author;

determining whether or not the correspondence score satisfies a threshold; and

when the correspondence score satisfies the threshold, including data identifying the second documents in the second document group as documents authored by the author in the author profile for the author.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the correspondence score for each of the one or more second document groups is based on a count of documents that are in both the second document group and in the author profile, a count of documents that are in the second document group and have never been in the author profile, and a count of documents that are in the second document group and have been removed from the author profile.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein clustering the plurality of first documents into one or more first document groups comprises:

clustering the plurality of first documents into one or more first document groups based on one or more respective features of the plurality of first documents, wherein the one or more features include at least one of;

title;

place of publication;

documents referenced by the first documents;

documents that reference the first documents;

or

names of authors.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein, when the one or more features include proper names of authors, the one or more features of the documents further include at least one of:

author email addresses;

or

author affiliations.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein ranking the one or more first document groups comprises:

for each of the one or more first document groups;

determining a count of documents that are in both the first document group and among the one or more documents that satisfy the query;

determining a respective rank for each of the documents that are in both the first document group and among the one or more documents that satisfy the query; and

determining a name matching score, wherein the name matching score represents a similarity between the name associated with the first document group and the particular name of the author;

calculating a respective score for the first document group based on the count of documents, the respective rank for each of the documents that are in both the first document group and among the one or more documents that satisfy the query, and the name matching score; and

ranking the one or more first document groups based on their respective scores.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first documents comprise one or more resources from a social network that are associated with a first author proper name in the social network.

9. A system, comprising:

one or more computers configured to perform operations comprising;

clustering a plurality of first documents into one or more first document groups, wherein each of the one or more first document groups is associated with a respective author proper name;

after clustering the plurality of first documents into the one or more first document groups;

receiving author information from an author;

generating a query that specifies a particular name of the author and one or more items of the author information received from the author;

generating a result list of one or more documents that satisfy the query, the documents being ranked according to a document rank;

ranking the one or more first document groups based on how many documents in the result list are included in each of the one or more first document groups, the ranking favoring first document groups having more documents from the result list over first document groups having fewer document from the result list; and

providing data describing the one or more first document groups in an order according to the ranking for selection by the author for inclusion in an author profile for the author that identifies documents classified as being authored by the author.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving a selection of one or more of the first document groups; and

in response to receiving the selection, including data identifying the one or more selected first document groups in the author profile for the author as documents authored by the author.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise:

clustering a plurality of second documents into one or more second document groups, wherein each of the one or more second document groups is associated with a respective author proper name;

for each of the one or more second document groups;

determining a correspondence score for the second document group in reference to the author profile for the author;

determining whether or not the correspondence score satisfies a threshold; and

when the correspondence score satisfies the threshold, including data identifying the second documents in the second document group as documents authored by the author in the author profile for the author.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the correspondence score is based on a count of documents that are in both the second document group and in the author profile, a count of documents that are in the second document group and have never been in the author profile, a count of documents that are in the second document group and have been removed from the author profile.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein clustering the plurality of first documents into one or more first document groups comprises:

clustering the plurality of first documents into one or more first document groups based on one or more respective features of the plurality of first documents, wherein the one or more features include at least one of;

title;

place of publication;

documents referenced by the first documents;

documents that reference the first documents;

or

names of authors.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein, when the one or more features include proper names of authors, the one or more features of the documents further include at least one of:

author email addresses;

or

author affiliations.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein ranking the one or more first document groups comprises:

for each of the one or more first document groups;

determining a count of documents that are in both the first document group and among the one or more documents that satisfy the query;

determining a respective rank for each of the documents that are in both the first document group and among the one or more documents that satisfy the query; and

determining a name matching score, wherein the name matching score represents a similarity between the name associated with the first document group and the particular name of the author;

calculating a respective score for the first document group based on the count of documents, the respective rank for each of the documents that are in both the first document group and among the one or more documents that satisfy the query, and the name matching score; and

ranking the one or more first document groups based on their respective scores.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the first documents comprise one or more resources from a social network that are associated with a first author proper name in the social network.

17. A computer program product, encoded on one or more non-transitory computer storage media, comprising instructions that when executed by one or more computers cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:

clustering a plurality of first documents into one or more first document groups, wherein each of the one or more first document groups is associated with a respective author proper name;

after clustering the plurality of first documents into the one or more first document groups;

receiving author information from an author;

generating a query that specifies a particular name of the author and one or more items of the author information received from the author;

generating a result list of one or more documents that satisfy the query, the documents being ranked according to a document rank;

ranking the one or more first document groups based on how many documents in the result list are included in each of the one or more first document groups, the ranking favoring first document groups having more documents from the result over first document groups having fewer documents from the result list; and

providing data describing the one or more first document groups in an order according to the ranking for selection by the author for inclusion in an author profile for the author that identifies documents classified as being authored by the author.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving a selection of one or more of the first document groups; and

in response to receiving the selection, including data identifying the one or more selected first document groups in the author profile for the author as documents authored by the author.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the operations further comprise:

clustering a plurality of second documents into one or more second document groups, wherein each of the one or more second document groups is associated with a respective author proper name;

for each of the one or more second document groups;

determining a correspondence score for the second document group in reference to the author profile for the author;

determining whether or not the correspondence score satisfies a threshold; and

when the correspondence score satisfies the threshold, including data identifying the second documents in the second document group as documents authored by the author in the author profile for the author.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the correspondence score is based on a count of documents that are in both the second document group and in the author profile, a count of documents that are in the second document group and have never been in the author profile, a count of documents that are in the second document group and have been removed from the author profile.

21. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein clustering the plurality of first documents into one or more first document groups comprises:

clustering the plurality of first documents into one or more first document groups based on one or more respective features of the plurality of first documents, wherein the one or more features include at least one of;

title;

place of publication;

documents referenced by the first documents;

documents that reference the first documents;

or

names of authors.

22. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein, when the one or more features include proper names of authors, the one or more features of the documents further include at least one of:

author email addresses;

or

author affiliations.

23. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein ranking the one or more first document groups comprises:

for each of the one or more first document groups;

determining a count of documents that are in both the first document group and among the one or more documents that satisfy the query;

determining a respective rank for each of the documents that are in both the first document group and among the one or more documents that satisfy the query; and

determining a name matching score, wherein the name matching score represents a similarity between the name associated with the first document group and the particular name of the author;

calculating a respective score for the first document group based on the count of documents, the respective rank for each of the documents that are in both the first document group and among the one or more documents that satisfy the query, and the name matching score; and

ranking the one or more first document groups based on their respective scores.

24. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the first documents comprise one or more resources from a social network that are associated with a first author proper name in the social network.

25. A computer-implemented method for identifying information to be added to an author profile, the author profile identifying documents classified as being authored by the author, and the method comprising:

assigning each document from a plurality of documents to one or more document groups, wherein each document is associated with one or more respective author names, wherein each of the document groups includes documents associated with a respective one of the author names, and wherein the plurality of documents includes documents having authors associated with multiple author names;

receiving from a user a name input that specifies an input author name of a particular author and one or more items of author information characterizing the particular author;

generating a query that specifies the input author name and the one or more items of author information;

obtaining search results that identify one or more result documents that satisfy the query;

ranking the one or more document groups based on how many result documents identified by the search results are included in each of the one or more document groups, the ranking favoring document groups having more result documents from the search results over document groups having fewer result documents from the search results; and

assigning to a particular author profile for the particular author one or more document groups based on the ranking, the particular author profile identifying documents classified as being authored by the particular author.

26. The computer-implemented method of claim 25, further comprising assigning to the particular author profile one or more additional document groups, comprising:

determining a correspondence score for each of one or more of the document groups in reference to the particular author profile;

determining that the correspondence score for a first document group of the one or more document groups satisfies a threshold; and

adding documents in the first document group to the particular author profile as documents authored by the particular author.

27. The computer-implemented method of claim 26, wherein the correspondence score for each document group is based on a count of documents that are in both the document group and in the particular author profile, a count of documents that are in the document group and have never been in the particular author profile, and a count of documents that are in the document group and have been removed from the particular author profile.

28. The computer-implemented method of claim 25, wherein assigning to the particular author profile one or more assigned document groups comprises:

presenting to the user a response that identifies one or more highest-ranked document groups according to the ranking;

receiving from the user a selection input that identifies a selected one or more document groups from among the one or more highest-ranked document groups; and

adding documents in the selected one or more document groups to the particular author profile as documents authored by the particular author.

29. The computer-implemented method of claim 25, wherein assigning each document from a plurality of documents to one or more document groups comprises:

assigning the documents based on one or more features of the documents, wherein the one or more features include at least one of;

title;

place of publication;

other documents referenced by the documents;

other documents that reference the documents;

or

names of authors.

30. The computer-implemented method of claim 29, wherein, when the one or more features include proper names of authors, the one or more features of the documents further include at least one of author email addresses or author affiliations.

31. A system comprising:

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

assigning each document from a plurality of documents to one or more document groups, wherein each document is associated with one or more respective author names, wherein each of the document groups includes documents associated with a respective one of the author names, and wherein the plurality of documents includes documents having authors associated with multiple author names;

receiving from a user a name input that specifies an input author name of a particular author and one or more items of author information characterizing the particular author;

generating a query that specifies the input author name and the one or more items of author information;

obtaining search results that identify one or more result documents that satisfy the query;

ranking the one or more document groups based on how many result documents identified by the search results are included in each of the one or more document groups, the ranking favoring document groups having more result documents from the search results over document groups having fewer result documents from the search results; and

assigning to a particular author profile for the particular author one or more document groups based on the ranking, the particular author profile identifying documents classified as being authored by the particular author.

32. The system of claim 31, the operations further comprising assigning to the particular author profile one or more additional document groups, comprising:

determining a correspondence score for each of one or more of the document groups in reference to the particular author profile;

determining that the correspondence score for a first document group of the one or more document groups satisfies a threshold; and

adding documents in the first document group to the particular author profile as documents authored by the particular author.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein the correspondence score for each document group is based on a count of documents that are in both the document group and in the particular author profile, a count of documents that are in the document group and have never been in the particular author profile, and a count of documents that are in the document group and have been removed from the particular author profile.

34. The system of claim 31, wherein assigning to the particular author profile one or more assigned document groups comprises:

presenting to the user a response that identifies one or more highest-ranked document groups according to the ranking;

receiving from the user a selection input that identifies a selected one or more document groups from among the one or more highest-ranked document groups; and

adding documents in the selected one or more document groups to the particular author profile as documents authored by the particular author.

35. The system of claim 31, wherein assigning each document from a plurality of documents to one or more document groups comprises:

assigning the documents based on one or more features of the documents, wherein the one or more features include at least one of;

title;

place of publication;

other documents referenced by the documents;

other documents that reference the documents;

or

names of authors.

36. The system of claim 35, wherein, when the one or more features include proper names of authors, the one or more features of the documents further include at least one of author email addresses or author affiliations.

37. A computer program product, encoded on one or more non-transitory computer storage media, comprising instructions that when executed by one or more computers cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:

assigning each document from a plurality of documents to one or more document groups, wherein each document is associated with one or more respective author names, wherein each of the document groups includes documents associated with a respective one of the author names, and wherein the plurality of documents includes documents having authors associated with multiple author names;

receiving from a user a name input that specifies an input author name of a particular author and one or more items of author information characterizing the particular author;

generating a query that specifies the input author name and the one or more items of author information;

obtaining search results that identify one or more result documents that satisfy the query;

ranking the one or more document groups based on how many result documents identified by the search results are included in each of the one or more document groups, the ranking favoring document groups having more result documents from the search results over document groups having fewer result documents from the search results; and

assigning to a particular author profile for the particular author one or more document groups based on the ranking, the particular author profile identifying documents classified as being authored by the particular author.

38. The computer program product of claim 37, the operations further comprising assigning to the particular author profile one or more additional document groups, comprising:

determining a correspondence score for each of one or more of the document groups in reference to the particular author profile;

determining that the correspondence score for a first document group of the one or more document groups satisfies a threshold; and

adding documents in the first document group to the particular author profile as documents authored by the particular author.

39. The computer program product of claim 38, wherein the correspondence score for each document group is based on a count of documents that are in both the document group and in the particular author profile, a count of documents that are in the document group and have never been in the particular author profile, and a count of documents that are in the document group and have been removed from the particular author profile.

40. The computer program product of claim 37, wherein assigning to the particular author profile one or more assigned document groups comprises:

presenting to the user a response that identifies one or more highest-ranked document groups according to the ranking;

receiving from the user a selection input that identifies a selected one or more document groups from among the one or more highest-ranked document groups; and

adding documents in the selected one or more document groups to the particular author profile as documents authored by the particular author.

41. The computer program product of claim 37, wherein assigning each document from a plurality of documents to one or more document groups comprises:

assigning the documents based on one or more features of the documents, wherein the one or more features include at least one of;

title;

place of publication;

other documents referenced by the documents;

other documents that reference the documents;

or

names of authors.

42. The computer program product of claim 41, wherein, when the one or more features include proper names of authors, the one or more features of the documents further include at least one of author email addresses or author affiliations.