Block importance analysis to enhance browsing of web page search results

• US 20060123042A1
• Filed: 12/07/2004
• Published: 06/08/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Ma, Wei-Ying, Xie, Xing, Miao, Gengxin
• Time in patent office: 0 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents

Abstract

Systems and methods for block importance analysis to enhance browsing of web page search results are described. In one aspect, a server analyzes content of a document as a function of multiple block importance criteria. The server assigns a respective block importance level of multiple importance levels to respective block(s) of the analyzed content. The server generates one or more customized documents from block(s) of the content as a function of respective assigned block importance level(s) of the block(s). Each of the one or more customized documents is generated in a particular format of multiple formats to enhance user interaction with the document on a small form factor computing device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

analyzing, by a server, content of a document as a function of multiple block importance criteria;

responsive to the analyzing, assigning a respective block importance level of multiple importance levels to respective block(s) of the content; and

generating one or more customized documents from block(s) of the content as a function of respective assigned block importance level(s) of the block(s), each of the one or more customized documents being generated in a particular format of multiple formats to enhance user interaction with the document on a small form factor computing device.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the document is a web page.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the block importance criteria identify a most prominent part of the document.

4. A method as recited in claim 3, wherein the most prominent part is a headline or main content corresponding to a topic of the document.

5. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the block importance criteria identify information not relevant to a topic of the document.

6. A method as recited in claim 5, wherein the information comprises document navigation or directory information.

7. A method as recited in claim 5, wherein the information comprises information relevant to a theme of the document such as a related topic or topic index.

8. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the block importance criteria identify noisy information including an advertisement, a copyright indication, or a decoration.

9. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the multiple importance levels comprise a first, second, and third importance level, content associate with the first level being of lesser importance than content associated with the second or the third level, content associate with the second level being less important than content associated with the third level.

10. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the multiple formats comprise a thumbnail view, an optimized one-column view, and a main content view.

11. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the particular format is specified by a user and communicated in a request message to the server by a client computing device.

12. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein analyzing is performed responsive to receiving a request from a client computing device to fetch the document, the document being selected by the user from an annotated list of search results, the annotated list comprising one or more explicit hints for selection by the user to indicate the particular format.

13. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein analyzing is performed prior to receiving a request from a client computing device to fetch the document, the document being selected by the user from an annotated list of search results, the annotated list comprising one or more explicit hints for selection by the user to indicate the particular format.

14. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein analyzing further comprises:

partitioning the document into multiple semantic blocks;

for each semantic block of the semantic blocks, extracting spatial features and content features;

for each semantic block of the semantic blocks, generating a respective feature vector from respective spatial and content features;

creating a semantic tree of the document from respective feature vectors generated from the semantic blocks, the semantic tree grouping related content in respective blocks of the multiple semantic blocks; and

and assigning a respective degree of coherence to node(s) of the semantic tree.

15. A method as recited in claim 14, wherein the spatial or content features comprise a location, a personal profile, a time of day, a schedule, or a browsing history.

16. A method as recited in claim 14, wherein the partitioning is implemented with a vision-based page segmentation algorithm.

17. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein assigning further comprises training a model to map block features to respective ones of the multiple importance values.

18. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving search results from a search engine, the search results comprising a link associated with the document;

annotating the search results with one or more explicit hints for selection by a user to indicate any one format of the multiple formats, each format of the formats indicating a respective page layout for the one or more customized documents, portion(s) of the content being inserted or left out of the respective layout as a function block importance level(s) associated with the portion(s); and

communicating the annotated search results to a target client computing device.

19. A computer-readable medium comprising computer-program instructions executable by a processor for:

analyzing, by a server, content of a document as a function of multiple block importance criteria;

responsive to the analyzing, assigning a respective block importance level of multiple importance levels to respective block(s) of the content; and

generating one or more customized documents from block(s) of the content as a function of respective assigned block importance level(s) of the block(s), each of the one or more customized documents being generated in a particular format of multiple formats to enhance user interaction with the document on a small form factor computing device.

20. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 19, wherein the document is a web page.

21. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 19, wherein the block importance criteria identify a most prominent part of the document.

22. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 21, wherein the most prominent part is a headline or main content corresponding to a topic of the document.

23. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 19, wherein the block importance criteria identify information not relevant to a topic of the document.

24. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 23, wherein the information comprises document navigation or directory information.

25. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 23, wherein the information comprises information relevant to a theme of the document such as a related topic or topic index.

26. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 19, wherein the block importance criteria identify noisy information including an advertisement, a copyright indication, or a decoration.

27. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 19, wherein the multiple importance levels comprise a first, second, and third importance level, content associate with the first level being of lesser importance than content associated with the second or the third level, content associate with the second level being less important than content associated with the third level.

28. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 19, wherein the multiple formats comprise a thumbnail view, an optimized one-column view, and a main content view.

29. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 19, wherein the particular format is specified by a user and communicated in a request message to the server by a client computing device

30. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 19, wherein the computer-program instructions for analyzing are performed responsive to receiving a request from the client computing device to fetch the document, the document being selected by the user from an annotated list of search results, the annotated list comprising one or more explicit hints for selection by the user to indicate the particular format.

31. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 19, wherein the computer-program instructions for analyzing are prior to receiving a request from a client computing device to fetch the document, the document being selected by the user from an annotated list of search results, the annotated list comprising one or more explicit hints for selection by the user to indicate the particular format.

32. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 19, wherein the computer-program instructions for analyzing further comprise instructions for:

partitioning the document into multiple semantic blocks;

for each semantic block of the semantic blocks, extracting spatial features and content features;

for each semantic block of the semantic blocks, generating a respective feature vector from respective spatial and content features;

creating a semantic tree of the document from respective feature vectors generated from the semantic blocks, the semantic tree grouping related content in respective blocks of the multiple semantic blocks; and

and assigning a respective degree of coherence to node(s) of the semantic tree.

33. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 32, wherein the spatial or content features comprise a location, a personal profile, a time of day, a schedule, or a browsing history.

34. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 32, wherein the computer-program instructions for partitioning are implemented with a vision-based page segmentation algorithm.

35. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 19, wherein the computer-program instructions for analyzing further comprise instructions for training a model to map block features to respective ones of the multiple importance values.

36. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 19, wherein the computer-program instructions further comprise instructions for:

receiving search results from a search engine, the search results comprising a link associated with the document;

annotating the search results with one or more explicit hints for selection by a user to indicate any one format of the multiple formats, each format of the formats indicating a respective page layout for the one or more customized documents, portion(s) of the content being inserted or left out of the respective layout as a function block importance level(s) associated with the portion(s); and

communicating the annotated search results to a target client computing device.

40. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 21, wherein the most prominent part is a headline or main content corresponding to a topic of the document.

37. A computing device comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor, the memory comprising computer-program instructions executable by the processor for;

analyzing, by a server, content of a document as a function of multiple block importance criteria;

responsive to the analyzing, assigning a respective block importance level of multiple importance levels to respective block(s) of the content; and

generating one or more customized documents from block(s) of the content as a function of respective assigned block importance level(s) of the block(s), each of the one or more customized documents being generated in a particular format of multiple formats to enhance user interaction with the document on a small form factor computing device.

38. A computing device as recited in claim 37, wherein the document is a web page.

39. A computing device as recited in claim 37, wherein the block importance criteria identify a most prominent part of the document.

41. A computing device as recited in claim 37, wherein the block importance criteria identify information not relevant to a topic of the document.

42. A computing device as recited in claim 41, wherein the information comprises document navigation or directory information.

43. A computing device as recited in claim 41, wherein the information comprises information relevant to a theme of the document such as a related topic or topic index.

44. A computing device as recited in claim 37, wherein the block importance criteria identify noisy information including an advertisement, a copyright indication, or a decoration.

45. A computing device as recited in claim 37, wherein the multiple importance levels comprise a first, second, and third importance level, content associate with the first level being of lesser importance than content associated with the second or the third level, content associate with the second level being less important than content associated with the third level.

46. A computing device as recited in claim 37, wherein the multiple formats comprise a thumbnail view, an optimized one-column view, and a main content view.

47. A computing device as recited in claim 37, wherein the particular format is specified by a user and communicated in a request message to the server by a client computing device.

48. A computing device as recited in claim 37, wherein the computer-program instructions for analyzing are performed responsive to receiving a request from the client computing device to fetch the document, the document being selected by the user from an annotated list of search results, the annotated list comprising one or more explicit hints for selection by the user to indicate the particular format.

49. A computing device as recited in claim 37, wherein the computer-program instructions for analyzing are prior to receiving a request from the client computing device to fetch the document, the document being selected by the user from an annotated list of search results, the annotated list comprising one or more explicit hints for selection by the user to indicate the particular format.

50. A computing device as recited in claim 37, wherein the computer-program instructions for analyzing further comprise instructions for:

partitioning the document into multiple semantic blocks;

for each semantic block of the semantic blocks, extracting spatial features and content features;

for each semantic block of the semantic blocks, generating a respective feature vector from respective spatial and content features;

creating a semantic tree of the document from respective feature vectors generated from the semantic blocks, the semantic tree grouping related content in respective blocks of the multiple semantic blocks; and

and assigning a respective degree of coherence to node(s) of the semantic tree.

51. A computing device as recited in claim 50, wherein the spatial or content features comprise a location, a personal profile, a time of day, a schedule, or a browsing history.

52. A computing device as recited in claim 50, wherein the computer-program instructions for partitioning are implemented with a vision-based page segmentation algorithm.

53. A computing device as recited in claim 37, wherein the computer-program instructions for analyzing further comprise instructions for training a model to map block features to respective ones of the multiple importance values.

54. A computing device as recited in claim 37, wherein the computer-program instructions further comprise instructions for:

receiving search results from a search engine, the search results comprising a link associated with the document;

annotating the search results with one or more explicit hints for selection by a user to indicate any one format of the multiple formats, each format of the formats indicating a respective page layout for the one or more customized documents, portion(s) of the content being inserted or left out of the respective layout as a function block importance level(s) associated with the portion(s); and

communicating the annotated search results to a target client computing device.