Ranking and Providing Search Results Based In Part On A Number Of Click-Through Features

• US 20090106221A1
• Filed: 10/18/2007
• Published: 04/23/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/18/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Meyerzon, Dmitriy, Taylor, Michael J., Shnitko, Yauhen
• Application Number:
  US11/874,579
• Publication Number:
  US 20090106221A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques

Abstract

Embodiments are configured to provide information based on a user query. In an embodiment, a system includes a search component having a ranking component that can be used to rank search results as part of a query response. In one embodiment, the ranking component includes a ranking algorithm that can use one or more click-through features to rank search results which may be returned in response to a query. Other embodiments are available.

Claims

1. A system for providing information comprising:

a search component configured to locate a search result based on a query input;

a database component configured to store information associated with the query input including one or more ranking features, wherein the one or more ranking features can be associated with a user action or user inaction associated with the search result which can be collected with respect to the search result for a same query or a similar query performed by prior users; and

,

a ranking component configured to rank the search result based at least in part on a ranking function and the one or more ranking features, including an action-based feature and an inaction-based feature, wherein the search component can use the rank of the search result when providing search results according to a ranking order.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising an index component configured to use the one or more updated ranking features when performing index operations associated with a search index.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more ranking features comprise one or more dynamic ranking features selected from a group consisting of body, title, author, generated title, an anchor text, and a URL.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more ranking features comprise one or more static ranking features selected from a group consisting of click distance, URL depth, file type, and language.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the ranking function further comprises a scoring function defined as:

$\begin{array}{c}\mathrm{Score}<br><br><br><br>\left(x_1,\mathrm{\dots <br><br>}<br><br>,x_n\right)=\left(\underset{j=1}{\overset{m}{\sum <br><br>}}<br><br>h_j·<br><br>w<br><br><br><br>2_j\right)<br><br><br><br>\mathrm{wherein},\\ h_j=\tanh <br><br>\left(\left(\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{\sum <br><br>}}<br><br>x_i·<br><br>w_{\mathrm{ij}}\right)+t_j\right)\end{array}$

and,

x_i represents one or more inputs to the scoring function,

w2_j represent weights of hidden nodes,

w_ij represent weights of the inputs,

t_j represent a number of thresholds, and,

tanh is a hyperbolic tangent function.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the ranking component can use the one or more click-through parameters when ranking the search result, wherein the one or more click-through parameters further comprise one or more of the following:

a click parameter associated with a number of times that the search result has been clicked;

a skip parameter associated with a number of times that the search result has been skipped;

a first stream parameter corresponding to a union of query strings associated with a clicked search result; and

,

a second stream parameter corresponding to a union of query strings associated with a skipped search result.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the search component is further configured to update one or more of the click-through parameters including using information associated with how a user interacted with the search result when updating the one or more of the click-through parameters.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the search component is further configured to update the one or more click-through parameters, wherein the update of the one or more click-through parameters corresponds with a selected search result or a skipped search result by a user.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the wherein the one or more ranking features comprise one or more dynamic ranking features selected from a group consisting of body, title, author, generated title, an anchor text, and a URL, and one or more static ranking features selected from a group consisting of click distance, URL depth, file type, and language.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein the ranking component is further configured to calculate an input value associated with the click parameter, wherein the calculated input is defined as:

$\text{?}$ $\text{?}<br><br>\text{indicates text missing or illegible when filed}$

11. The system of claim 6, wherein the search component is further configured to calculate an input value associated with the skip parameter, wherein the calculated input is defined as:

$\text{?}$ $\text{?}<br><br>\text{indicates text missing or illegible when filed}$

12. The system of claim 6, wherein the search component is further configured to calculate an input value associated with the first stream parameter, wherein the calculated input is defined as:

$<br><br>\frac{\left(\left(\sum <br><br>\text{?}·<br><br>\log <br><br>\left(\text{?}\right)\right)-M\right)}{S}$ $<br><br>\mathrm{and},<br><br><br><br>\text{?}$ $\text{?}<br><br>\text{indicates text missing or illegible when filed}$

13. The system of claim 6, wherein the search component is further configured to calculate an input value associated with the second stream parameter, wherein the calculated input is defined as:

$<br><br>\frac{\left(\left(\sum <br><br>\text{?}·<br><br>\log <br><br>\left(\text{?}\right)\right)-M\right)}{S}$ $<br><br>\mathrm{and},<br><br><br><br>\text{?}$ $\text{?}<br><br>\text{indicates text missing or illegible when filed}$

14. A search engine configured to:

receive information associated with a query;

locate a search result associated with the query;

calculate a first input associated with a click parameter and the search result;

calculate a second input associated with a skip parameter and the search result; and

,

rank the search result using the first and second inputs.

15. The search engine of claim 14, further configured to:

calculate a third input associated with a first stream parameter and the search result;

calculate a fourth input associated with a second stream parameter and the search result; and

,

rank the search result using at least three of the first, second, third, and fourth inputs.

16. The search engine of claim 14, further configured to update a store with click parameter and skip parameter updates associated with user interactions with the search result.

17. The search engine of claim 14, further configured to update a store with stream parameter updates associated with user interactions with the search result.

18. A method of providing information comprising:

receiving a query which includes one or more keywords;

searching for a candidate based in part on the one or more keywords;

finding query candidates based in part on the one or more keywords;

determining a first input value associated with a prior user action and at least one of the query candidates;

determining a second input value associated with a prior user inaction and at least one of the query candidates; and

,

ranking a set of the query candidates based in part on a scoring determination using a scoring function and one or more of the first and second input values.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

determining a third input value associated with a text stream and a user selection of at least one of the query candidates; and

ranking the set of the query candidates based in part on a scoring determination using a scoring function and one or more of the first, second input, and third input values.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising ranking a set of documents according to a numerical order.