Structured search queries

• US 10,691,684 B2
• Filed: 11/01/2016
• Issued: 06/23/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 11/01/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BloomReach, Inc.
• Original Assignee: BloomReach, Inc.
• Inventors: Jaikumar, Padmini, Bothale, Antariksh Vinod, Fernandez, Omar Eduardo, Ye, Wally Chien Ching
• Primary Examiner(s): Park, Grace
• Application Number:
  US15/340,343
• Publication Number:
  US 20180121480A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,330 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/242 Query formulation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/245 Query processing

Abstract

A system for generating structured queries and carrying out searches using the structured queries may result in high quality queries and may adequately simulate natural language for suggested search queries. In embodiments, attributes and matching product/services may be extracted from various data sources. Structured queries that include the attributes, products/services, and/or additional terms may be combined to form a structured query. In various embodiments, each structured query may be structured according to a pre-defined pattern that is selected based on the type of relevant product and/or service.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for adding structured queries to a structured query database of a structured query system, comprising:

transmitting, over a network, from a search query interface of the structured query system a search interface for installing on a computing device of a user for prompting the user to submit a search query text;

at an attribute extractor of the structured query system, searching an item feed, thereby identifying attributes;

at the attribute extractor, extracting attributes from the item feed;

at a search stemmer of the structured query system, removing ineffective attributes;

at a structured query generator of the structured query system, generating a structured query from the extracted attributes remaining after the ineffective attributes have been removed according to a structured query pattern;

at a structured query indexer of the structured query system, indexing the structured query at a structured query database; and

at a structured query ranking assessor of the structured query system, ranking the indexed structured query comprising determining a relevance of each structured query for a corresponding one of products or service,

wherein removing the ineffective attributes comprises determining at least one of;

determining whether or not an attribute comprises a binary yes or no value;

determining whether or not the attribute is one of merchant specific data or metadata regarding at least one of products or services;

or

determining whether or not the attribute is common across at least one all products or services offered by a merchant.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein searching the item feed comprises comparing an entry of an attribute dictionary against one or more terms in the item feed.

3. The method claim 1, wherein the item feed comprises an index of at least one of products or services offered for sale by a merchant.

4. The method claim 1, wherein the structured query pattern is selected based on a type of item described by the extracted attributes.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

at the search query interface, receiving over the network the search query text submitted by a user;

determining a set of suggested structured queries;

selecting a designated structured query of the set of suggested structured queries; and

executing a search on the designated structured query.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising returning a set of search results to the user.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein selecting a designated structured query of the set of suggested structured queries comprises receiving a structured query selection from the user.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein determining a set of suggested structured queries comprises determining if the search query includes an inferred item.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein ranking the indexed structured query is based on at least one of a popularity of an attribute-item combination in user-submitted search queries, frequency of the attribute-item combination in at least one of the item feed or at least one of an index of products or services offered for sale by a merchant, a specificity of the attribute to an item, or a user input comprising at least one of a search query, user search preferences, or previous user search behaviors.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising at a search query spellchecker, determining which terms of the search query comprise a misspelled word.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein removing the extracted attribute based on the determination that the attribute is ineffective further comprises determining if the attribute is one of not useful or not desirable for assisting potential consumers find at least one of products or services for which they are searching.

11. A computer system for executing a search comprising:

a search query interface adapted to transmit over a network a search interface for installing on a computing device of a user for prompting the user to submit a search query text;

an attribute extractor, adapted to search an item feed to identify and extract attributes therefrom, thereby resulting in a group of extracted attributes, wherein the item feed comprises at least one of an index of products or services with corresponding attributes;

a search stemmer adapted to remove selected attributes from the group of extracted attributes based on a determination that the attribute is ineffective, thereby creating a stemmed group of extracted attributes, wherein the determination that the attribute is ineffective comprises at least one of determining whether or not the attribute comprises a binary yes or no value;

determining whether or not the attribute is one of merchant specific data or metadata regarding at least one of products or services;

or determining whether or not the attribute is common across at least one of all products or services offered by a merchant;

a structured query generator adapted to generate structured queries from remaining stemmed group of extracted attributes, the structured queries being patterned after one or more pre-defined rules;

a structured query indexer adapted to index the structured queries stored at a structured query database; and

a structured query ranking assessor adapted to rank the indexed structured query comprising determining a relevance of each structured query for a corresponding one of products or services.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the structured query ranking assessor is further adapted to rank the indexed structured queries based on at least one of a popularity of an attribute-item combination in user-submitted search queries, frequency of the attribute-item combination in at least one of the item feed or at least one of an index of products or services offered for sale by a merchant, a specificity of the attribute to an item, or a user input comprising at least one of a search query, user search preferences, or previous user search behaviors.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the search query interface is further adapted to:

receive over the network the search query text submitted by a user;

determine if the search query text includes an inferred item, the inferred item comprising a name of an item identified in one of the structured queries that are indexed at the structured query database;

if the search query text includes an inferred item, identify a set of candidate structured queries that include the inferred item;

if the search query text does not include an inferred item, identify a set of candidate structured queries based on similarity to the search query text;

receive a selection of a selected structured query from the set of candidate structured queries; and

execute a search on the selected structured query.

14. The system of claim 13, further comprising a search query spellchecker adapted to determine which terms of the search query text, if any, comprise a misspelled word.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the search query interface is adapted to search the structured query database for entries for which the search query text is a prefix.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the attribute extractor is adapted to search the item feed by comparing an entry of an attribute dictionary against one or more terms in the item feed.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the search stemmer is further adapted to determine if the attribute is one of not useful or not desirable for assisting potential consumers find at least one of products or services for which they are searching.