QUERY TEMPLATES AND LABELED SEARCH TIP SYSTEM, METHODS, AND TECHNIQUES

• US 20090019020A1
• Filed: 03/14/2008
• Published: 01/15/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fiver LLC
• Original Assignee: VCVC III LLC (Vulcan, Inc.)
• Inventors: Reichhold, Jonathan D., Dhillon, Navdeep S., Tusk, Carsten
• Granted Patent: US 8,954,469 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2428 Query predicate definition using graphical user interfaces, including menus and forms G06F16/2423 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/30 of unstructured textual data document management systems G06F16/93
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques

Abstract

Methods, systems, and techniques for creating, managing, and using query templates to facilitate the execution of relationship queries are provided. Example embodiments provide a Query Template System “QTS”, which enables users, a system, program code, or other people or code to define search tips (i.e., predefined searches) through the generation of query templates that can be used by other users or code, to perform relationship searches using IQL. In one embodiment, the QTS includes a QT editor, a QT dispatcher, a QT creation and index management system, and one or more QT data repositories and indexes. These components cooperate to create and maintain query templates and to search for and retrieve matching query templates. This abstract is provided to comply with rules requiring an abstract, and it is submitted with the intention that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims.

Claims

1. A method in a computing system for facilitating providing augmented information, comprising:

receiving one or more generated query templates, each having at least an associated input specification, an associated relationship query specification, and an associated output presentation specification;

storing the received one or more query templates in a data repository;

in response to receiving indication of an entity,

retrieving one or more matching query templates from the data repository;

supplying the received entity indication to the retrieved one or more query templates; and

for each of one or more of the retrieved query templates, automatically invoking the query template to cause a relationship query to be executed using the supplied entity indication according to the associated relationship query specification and presenting search results according to the associated output presentation specification to provide information that augments the indicated entity.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the data repository is an inverted index.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein each generate query template has at least an associated description or one or more associated tags, and wherein the one or more matching query templates are determined at least in part based upon matching the indicated entity as a keyword against the associated description or the associated one or more tags.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the associated description or the associated one or more tags are stored as keys in an inverted index of query templates.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the query templates are invoked transparently such that the augmented information is presented along with the indicated entity without requiring input from a user.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the method is invoked from a server that does not execute the method.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the server provides a website used for social networking.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein the server provides information browsing capabilities.

9. The method of claim 6 wherein the server is used to implement a portal or a client-side code module.

10. A method in a computing system for automatically generating a relationship query comprising:

receiving an indication of a relationship query that specifies a relationship search that provides grammatical clause based information regarding one or more entities, entity types, actions, action types, topics, concepts, or ontology paths;

receiving an indication of a description of the indicated relationship query;

receiving an indication of an input specification to associate with the indicated relationship query; and

generating a query template that associates the indicated input specification with the indicated relationship query and the indicated description such that the generated query template, when triggered, determines input based upon the associated input specification and automatically executes the associated relationship query to generate search results.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the indicated input specification is an interactive input specification and the generated query template, when triggered, presents a prompt for input based upon the associated input specification.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising, when input is received in response to the presented prompt, the relationship query associated with the query template is executed to generate the search results.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein the indicated input specification indicates at least one of an entity, an entity type, a topic, a concept, or an ontology path to be supplied by at least one of a user or calling program code.

14. The method of claim 10 wherein the indicated input specification is a trigger that is matched to an entity, entity type, a topic, a concept, or ontology path specification received from client code.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising presenting the description associated with the query template when the query template is triggered.

16. The method of claim 10 wherein the relationship query associated with the query template is specified using one or more IQL expressions.

17. The method of claim 10, further comprising presenting an interface for adding an interactive input capability to the indicated relationship query for receiving the indication of the input specification to associate with the query.

18. The method of claim 10 wherein the query template is generated as a result of generating a search tip associated with a search query.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the generated search tip is an automatically generated search tip based in part upon a designated set of relationship searches that are automatically executed in response to input of a search term or phrase.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the generated search tip results from a nonempty result of executing one or more of the designated set of relationship searches.

21. The method of claim 19 wherein the search term or phrase is at least one of one or more keywords or a relationship search specification.

22. The method of claim 18 wherein the associated relationship query of the generated query template corresponds at least in part to a relationship search specification associated with the generated search tip.

23. The method of claim 10, further comprising presenting an interface for receiving the indication of the description of the indicated relationship query.

24. The method of claim 10, further comprising receiving an indication of one or more tags to associate with the indicated relationship query.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein the one or more tags are user definable labels that can be associated with one or more of relationship searches, keyword searches, or web pages.

26. The method of claim 24 wherein the one or more tags are used for keyword matching by a search engine.

27. The method of claim 10, further comprising presenting the generated query template as part of a ranked list.

28. The method of claim 10 wherein the query template, when triggered, executes the associated relationship query to generate search results that are displayed as relationships between two or more entities.

29. The method of claim 10 wherein each relationship indicates an event or action involving the two or more entities.

30. The method of claim 10 wherein the query template, when triggered, executes the associated relationship query to generate search results that are displayed as a list of entities.

31. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving an indication of an output specification, and wherein the generated query template associates the indicated relationship query with the indicated output specification such that the query template, when triggered, displays search results of the executed associated relationship query according to the indicated output specification.

32. The method of claim 31 wherein the output specification identifies attributes of a table and the query template, when triggered, displays search results of the executed associated relationship query as a table formatted according to the output specification.

33. The method of claim 10, further comprising retrieving the generated query template based at least in part upon matching a received one or more terms to the indicated description associated with the query template.

34. A computer-readable medium containing content that, when executed, produces augmented information by performing a method comprising:

receiving an indication of a relationship query expression that provides grammatical clause based information;

receiving an indication of an input specification to associate with the indicated relationship query expression; and

generating a query template that associates the indicated input specification with the indicated relationship query expression such that the generated query template is configured, when triggered, to retrieve input based upon the associated input specification and to execute the associated relationship query expression to generate search results that are used to produce the augmented information.

35. The computer-readable medium of claim 34 wherein the medium is at least one of a computer memory or an electronic transmissions medium configured to transmit a stored and generated signal containing the contents.

36. The computer-readable medium of claim 34 wherein the medium is computer memory of the computing system and then contents are instructions that control a computer processor to perform the method.

37. A computing system having one or more physical computing devices and, comprising:

one or more memories;

a relationship search engine stored in the one or more memories and configured, when invoked, to execute an indicated relationship search and to return search results;

a query template engine stored in the one or more memories and configured, when invoked, to

retrieve one or more query templates that match at least one of an indicated entity, entity type, topic, concept, ontology path, action, or action type;

cause the relationship search engine to be invoked with one or more relationship searches that are associated with the one or more retrieved query templates; and

forward relationship search results received from the relationship search engine for further presentation.

38. The computing system of claim 37 wherein the query template engine is configured to be invoked by another computing system that is distinct and separate from the computing system, the computing system used to present supplemental information to information being presented by the another computing system.

39. The computing system of claim 38 wherein the another computing system implements at least one of a portal or a widget that can be integrated in other applications or code modules.

40. The computing system of claim 37 wherein the query templates are stored in an inverted index.

41. The computing system of claim 37 wherein at least some of the query templates are automatically generated by a search tip system.

42. The computing system of claim 37 wherein at least some of the query templates are generated by an interactive interface or by editing existing query templates.