METHOD AND SYSTEM TO UTILIZE SESSION QUERIES IN REAL TIME TO IMPROVE GEO PRECISION OF SPONSORED LISTINGS

• US 20120166468A1
• Filed: 12/28/2010
• Published: 06/28/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Gupta, Ankur K., Gnanamani, Arun Kumar
• Granted Patent: US 9,443,026 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/768
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0256 User search
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location

Abstract

Contextual or cumulative interpretation is applied to individual user queries to improve the accuracy of sponsored and/or non-sponsored search results. Queries are interpreted based on present features derived from a user query in the context of past features derived from qualified past queries such as those previously received during a user query session. Based on contextual interpretation, present features may be augmented using past features. A search is performed using augmented features instead of present features. Contextual interpretation of queries improves search system understanding of the context in which queries are submitted, which is particularly helpful when interpolating query intent to develop features not expressed in a query. Contextual interpretation permits queries to be interpreted and treated more uniformly and more intelligently. As a result, users and advertisers benefit from more precise sponsored and/or non-sponsored search results. As one example, contextual interpretation can improve the geo-precision of sponsored search results.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving a user query input to a search engine;

determining at least one present geo feature for the user query;

determining at least one qualified past geo feature for at least one past user query; and

augmenting the at least one present geo feature with the at least one qualified past geo feature.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining at least one search result for the augmented at least one present geo feature.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one search result comprises at least one sponsored search result.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

determining at least one non-sponsored search result for the at least one present geo feature, thereby using different geo features to determine sponsored and non-sponsored search results for the user query.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

qualifying the at least one past geo feature for at least one past query by determining that the at least one past query and the user query were received during a same session.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the same session comprises the same geo session based on queries having the same geo context.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein query geo context is determined by query pattern recognition.

8. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

further qualifying the at least one past geo feature for at least one past query by determining that the at least one past query and the user query were received within a qualifying time interval.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein augmenting comprises:

weighting the at least one geo feature;

weighting the at least one past geo feature; and

merging the weighted past and present geo features into the augmented at least one present geo feature.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein merging comprises eliminating weighted past and present geo features whose weight is less than a threshold weight.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein merging comprises eliminating duplicate features and adjusting a weight of a feature whose duplicate was eliminated.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing the augmented at least one present geo feature as an entry in a data structure used to interpret subsequent queries.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein a stored entry in the data structure comprises a session identifier, at least one geo feature and a query timestamp.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is selectively applied when geo intent is not expressed in the user query and is not applied when geo intent is expressed in the user query.

15. A search system, comprising:

a session-based query processing module that interprets a user query based on the user query and previous queries accumulated during a session with the user, wherein the session-based query processing module is configured to;

receive the user query;

determine at least one present feature for the user query;

determine at least one past feature for at least one past user query received during the session;

augment the at least one present feature with the at least one past feature; and

determine at least one search result for the augmented at least one present feature.

16. The search system of claim 15, wherein the session comprises a geo session.

17. The search system of claim 15, wherein the session-based query module comprises:

a geo identification module that identifies geo features in queries; and

a geo session cache module configured to store past geo features for past queries.

18. A computer readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a computer, perform session-based query processing that interprets a user query based on the user query and previous queries accumulated during a session with the user by:

determining at least one present feature for the user query;

determining at least one past feature for at least one past user query received during the session;

augmenting the at least one present feature with the at least one past feature; and

determining at least one search result for the augmented at least one present feature.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the session comprises a geo session.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the at least one search result comprises at least one sponsored search result.