Fault-tolerant search

• US 9,934,308 B2
• Filed: 01/28/2015
• Issued: 04/03/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/05/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Quotient Technology Inc.
• Original Assignee: Quotient Technology Inc.
• Inventors: Roloff, Jeffrey
• Primary Examiner(s): Brooks, David T
• Application Number:
  US14/607,903
• Publication Number:
  US 20150142843A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,161 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3322 using system suggestions G06F16/3325 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3325 Reformulation based on results of preceding query
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0237 using prediction or retrieval techniques

Abstract

In an embodiment, a method comprises performing a first search based on a first text string; based on the first search, identifying one or more search results; after identifying the one or more search results, causing the one or more search results to be displayed; while the one or more search results are displayed: receiving input that changes the first text string to a modified text string; in response to receiving the input: performing a second search based, at least in part, on a portion of the modified text string, and determining that no search results are identified based on the second search; after determining that no search results are identified based on the second search, continuing to display the one or more search results; wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

displaying one or more search results from a previous search of a particular database;

receiving first input specifying a query of the particular database comprising a first text string comprising one or more terms;

processing the query against the particular database by performing a first search of the particular database for the one or more terms;

in response to identifying no search results for the query, classifying each of the one or more terms, of the first text string, as a bad term;

adding the one or more terms to a first list that is empty before the one or more terms are classified as bad terms;

receiving second input that changes the first text string to a second text string;

determining whether a particular term in the second text string begins with a term in the first list;

in response to determining that the particular term in the second text string begins with a term in the first list, removing the particular term from the second text string;

processing the query against the particular database by performing a second search of the particular database for only the second text string without the particular term;

in response to identifying no search results based on the second search, incrementing a counter;

determining whether the counter is equal to a particular threshold;

continuing to display the one or more search results that were displayed from the previous search only if the counter is less than the particular threshold.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the previous search was performed prior to the first search and includes a particular text string that is a strict subset of the first text string.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving, determining, and removing are performed subsequent to the first search but prior to any subsequent search.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising, prior to performing the first search:

analyzing the first text string to identify a plurality of search terms of the one or more terms of the first text string; and

for each search term of the plurality of search terms, determining, based on one or more criteria, whether to remove one or more characters from said each search term.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein:

removing the particular term from the second text string comprises adding the particular term to a second list that is different than the first list; and

the method further comprising;

determining whether the second text string is empty;

in response to determining that the second text string is not empty, replacing the first list with the second list.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

determining whether the second text string is the same as the first text string.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

in response to determining that the second text string is the same as the first text string, continuing to display the one or more search results without performing another search.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising in response to determining that the second text string is not the same as the first text string, performing the second search based on the second text string.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

in response to determining that no search results are found based on the second search, identifying, in the second text string, a set of terms, wherein each term in the set of terms starts with a term in a second list but does not match the term in the second list;

increasing a counter for each term in the set of terms.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

in response to determining that the counter is equal to a particular number, adding a certain term in the set of terms to the first list.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether a number of terms in the first list is lower than a particular threshold;

continuing to display the one or more search results only in response to determining that the number of terms in the first list is lower than the particular threshold.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining the particular threshold based on a network connection of a client device that performs the first search;

wherein the size of the particular threshold is based on the existence of the network connection or a type of network connection.

13. One or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause:

displaying one or more search results from a previous search of a particular database;

receiving first input specifying a query of the particular database comprising a first text string comprising one or more terms;

processing the query against the particular database by performing a first search of the particular database for the one or more terms;

in response to identifying no search results for the query, classifying each of the one or more terms, of the first text string, as a bad term;

adding the one or more terms to a first list that is empty before the one or more terms are classified as bad terms;

receiving second input that changes the first text string to a second text string;

determining whether a particular term in the second text string begins with a term in the first list;

in response to determining that the particular term in the second text string begins with a term in the first list, removing the particular term from the second text string;

processing the query against the particular database by performing a second search of the particular database for only the second text string without the particular term;

in response to identifying no search results based on the second search, incrementing a counter;

determining whether the counter is equal to a particular threshold;

continuing to display the one or more search results that were displayed from the previous search only if the counter is less than the particular threshold.

14. The one or more non-transitory storage media of claim 13, wherein the previous search was performed prior to the first search and includes a particular text string that is a strict subset of the first text string.

15. The one or more non-transitory storage media of claim 13, wherein receiving, determining, and removing are performed subsequent to the first search but prior to any subsequent search.