Variable search query vertical access

• US 9,910,887 B2
• Filed: 04/25/2013
• Issued: 03/06/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 04/25/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Sankar, Sriram, Dhamdhere, Kedar
• Primary Examiner(s): Lazaro, David R
• Application Number:
  US13/870,113
• Publication Number:
  US 20140324963A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,776 Days
• Field of Search: 709201, 709202, 709203, 709204, 709205, 709206
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/245 Query processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24575 using context
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9574 of access to content, e.g. by caching
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method includes receiving from a user of an online social network a search query input comprising a character string having a number of characters; accessing one or more verticals that each store objects associated with the online social network, where if the number of characters is less than or equal to a threshold number, then accessing a first set of verticals, and if the number of characters is greater than the threshold number, then accessing the first set of verticals and a second set of verticals; searching each accessed vertical to identify one or more objects associated with the vertical that substantially match the character string; and sending to the user references to the identified objects.

Claims

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

receiving, from a client system of a first user of an online social network, a search query input comprising a character string having a first number of characters;

accessing one or more verticals, each vertical being external to the client system and storing one or more objects of a particular object-type of a plurality of object types associated with the online social network, wherein;

if the first number is less than or equal to a first threshold number, then accessing one or more first verticals, wherein each first vertical stores objects of a first object-type; and

if the first number is greater than the first threshold number, then accessing the one or more first verticals and one or more second verticals, wherein each second vertical stores objects of a second object-type different than the first object-type;

searching each accessed vertical to identify one or more objects associated with the vertical that substantially match the character string; and

sending, to the client system of the first user, one or more references to one or more of the identified objects, respectively.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein accessing one or more verticals further comprises:

if the first number is greater than a second threshold number, then accessing the one or more first verticals, the one or more second verticals, and one or more third verticals, wherein each third vertical stores objects of a third object-type different than the first and second object-types, and wherein the second threshold number is greater than the first threshold number.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein:

the first threshold number is one, two, three, four, or five characters; and

the second threshold number is at least one character greater than the first threshold number.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first object-type and

the second object-type are each selected from a group consisting of:

a user, a photo, a post, a webpage, an application, a location, or a user group.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first threshold number is one, two, three, four, or five characters.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

accessing a social graph comprising a plurality of nodes and a 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; and

a plurality of second nodes that each correspond to a concept or a second user associated with the online social network.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein each node of the plurality of nodes is associated with a particular object.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein each first vertical is a users vertical storing one or more user-profile pages of the online social network, each user-profile page corresponding to a node of the plurality of nodes.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein each second vertical is a selected from a group consisting of:

a photos vertical;

a posts vertical;

a pages vertical;

a locations vertical;

an applications vertical;

or a user-groups vertical.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein searching the accessed verticals to identify one or more objects associated with the vertical that substantially match the character string comprises:

if the first number is less than or equal to a first threshold number, then searching the users verticals to identify one or more second nodes within one degree of separation of the first node; and

if the first number is greater than the first threshold number, then searching the users verticals to identify one or more second nodes within two degrees of separation of the first node.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the character string is a user-generated character string received from a client system associated with the first user, and wherein the user-generated character string is entered by the first user in a query field and rendered at the client device as each character of the character string is entered by the user.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

auto-populating, at the client system, the query field with the references to the identified objects.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein searching the accessed verticals to identify one or more objects associated with the vertical that substantially match the character string comprises using one or more string matching algorithms to attempt to match the character string with a string of characters associated with each of one or more of the objects.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a selection of one of the references from the first user; and

sending the object corresponding to the reference to the first user.

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

receive, from a client system of a first user of an online social network, a search query input comprising a character string having a first number of characters;

access one or more verticals, each vertical being external to the client system and storing one or more objects of a particular object-type of a plurality of object types associated with the online social network, wherein;

if the first number is less than or equal to a first threshold number, then access one or more first verticals, wherein each first vertical stores objects of a first object-type; and

if the first number is greater than the first threshold number, then access the one or more first verticals and one or more second verticals, wherein each second vertical stores objects of a second object-type different than the first object-type;

search each accessed vertical to identify one or more objects associated with the vertical that substantially match the character string; and

send, to the client system of the first user, one or more references to one or more of the identified objects, respectively.

16. 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 system of a first user of an online social network a search query input comprising a character string having a first number of characters;

access one or more verticals, each vertical being external to the client system and storing one or more objects of a particular object-type of a plurality of object types associated with the online social network, wherein;

if the first number is less than or equal to a first threshold number, then access one or more first verticals, wherein each first vertical stores objects of a first object-type; and

if the first number is greater than the first threshold number, then access the one or more first verticals and one or more second verticals, wherein each second vertical stores objects of a second object-type different than the first object-type;

search each accessed vertical to identify one or more objects associated with the vertical that substantially match the character string; and

send, to the client system of the first user one or more references to one or more of the identified objects, respectively.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein:

each first vertical is a users vertical storing one or more user-profile pages of the online social network, each user-profile page corresponding to a node of the plurality of nodes, and

each second vertical is a selected from a group consisting of;

a photos vertical;

a posts vertical;

a pages vertical;

a locations vertical;

an applications vertical;

or a user-groups vertical.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein accessing one or more first verticals comprises:

accessing a users vertical comprising one or more user-profile pages of the online social network, each user-profile page corresponding to a node of the plurality of nodes; and

searching the users vertical for one or more user-profile pages, wherein each user-profile page corresponds to a node that is separated by an edge from a node corresponding to the first user.