Grammar Model for Structured Search Queries

• US 20140136564A1
• Filed: 11/12/2012
• Published: 05/15/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/12/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Kari Lee Yofay, Lars Eilstrup Rasmussen
• Inventors: Lee, Yofay Kari, Cohen, Michael Benjamin, Boucher, Maxime, Azzolini, Alisson Gusatti, Li, Xiao, Rasmussen, Lars Eilstrup, Hymes, Kathryn, Campbell, Amy
• Granted Patent: US 9,105,068 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/769
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/288 Entity relationship models
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/33 Querying
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9024 Graphs; Linked lists G06F16/9027 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/90324 using system suggestions
• 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 40/253 Grammatical analysis; Style critique
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method includes accessing a social graph that includes a plurality of nodes and edges, receiving an unstructured text query, identifying nodes and edges that correspond to n-grams of the text query, accessing a context-free grammar model, identifying grammars having query tokens that correspond to the identified nodes and edges, determining a score for each identified grammar, and then generating structured queries based on the identified grammars based on strings generated by the grammars.

Claims

1. A method comprising, by a computing device:

accessing a social graph comprising a plurality of nodes and a plurality of edges connecting the nodes, each of the edges between two of the nodes representing a single degree of separation between them, the nodes comprising;

a first-user node corresponding to a first user associated with an online social network; and

a plurality of second nodes that each correspond to a concept or a second user associated with the online social network;

receiving from the first user an unstructured text query;

identifying one or more edges or one or more second nodes, each of the identified edges or identified nodes corresponding to at least a portion of the unstructured text query;

accessing a context-free grammar model comprising a plurality of grammars, each grammar comprising one or more query tokens;

identifying one or more grammars, each identified grammar having one or more query tokens corresponding to at least one of the identified second nodes or identified edges;

determining a first score for each identified grammar; and

generating one or more structured queries, each structured query corresponding to an identified grammar having first score greater than a grammar-threshold score wherein the structured query is based on a string generated by the identified grammar, each structured query comprising the query tokens of the corresponding identified grammar, wherein one or more of the query tokens of the structured query corresponds to at least one of the identified second nodes or identified edges.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the unstructured text query comprises one or more n-grams, and wherein each of the identified edges or identified nodes corresponds to at least one of the n-grams.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein each n-gram comprises one or more characters of text entered by the first user.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein each n-gram comprises a contiguous sequence of n items from the text query.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein identifying one or more edges or second nodes comprises:

determining a second score for each n-gram that the n-gram corresponds to an edge or a second node;

selecting one or more edges having a second score greater than an edge-threshold score, each of the identified edges corresponding to at least one of the n-grams; and

selecting one or more second nodes having a second score greater than a node-threshold score, each of the identified second nodes being connected to at least one of the identified edges, each of the identified second nodes corresponding to at least one of the n-grams.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the second score for each n-gram is a probability that the n-gram corresponds to an edge or a second node.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the first score for each grammar is based on the degree of separation between the first-user node and the identified second nodes corresponding to the query tokens of the grammar.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the first score for each grammar is based on the identified edges corresponding to the query tokens of the grammar.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the first score for each grammar is based on the number of identified edges connected to the identified second nodes corresponding to the query tokens of the grammar.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the first score for each grammar is based on the search history associate with the first user.

11. One or more computer-readable non-transitory storage media embodying software that is operable when executed to:

access a social graph comprising a plurality of nodes and a plurality of edges connecting the nodes, each of the edges between two of the nodes representing a single degree of separation between them, the nodes comprising;

a first-user node corresponding to a first user associated with an online social network; and

a plurality of second nodes that each correspond to a concept or a second user associated with the online social network;

receive from the first user a unstructured text query;

identify one or more edges or one or more second nodes, each of the identified edges or identified nodes corresponding to at least a portion of the unstructured text query;

access a context-free grammar model comprising a plurality of grammars, each grammar comprising one or more query tokens;

identify one or more grammars, each identified grammar having one or more query tokens corresponding to at least one of the identified second nodes or identified edges;

determine a first score for each identified grammar; and

generate one or more structured queries, each structured query corresponding to an identified grammar having first score greater than a grammar-threshold score wherein the structured query is based on a string generated by the identified grammar, each structured query comprising the query tokens of the corresponding identified grammar, wherein one or more of the query tokens of the structured query corresponds to at least one of the identified second nodes or identified edges.

12. The media of claim 11, wherein the unstructured text query comprises one or more n-grams, and wherein each of the identified edges or identified nodes corresponds to at least one of the n-grams.

13. The media of claim 12, wherein each n-gram comprises one or more characters of text entered by the first user.

14. The media of claim 12, wherein each n-gram comprises a contiguous sequence of n items from the text query.

15. The media of claim 12, wherein identifying one or more edges or second nodes comprises:

determining a second score for each n-gram that the n-gram corresponds to an edge or a second node;

selecting one or more edges having a second score greater than an edge-threshold score, each of the identified edges corresponding to at least one of the n-grams; and

selecting one or more second nodes having a second score greater than a node-threshold score, each of the identified second nodes being connected to at least one of the identified edges, each of the identified second nodes corresponding to at least one of the n-grams.

16. The media of claim 15, wherein the second score for each n-gram is a probability that the n-gram corresponds to an edge or a second node.

17. The media of claim 11, wherein determining the first score for each grammar is based on the degree of separation between the first-user node and the identified second nodes corresponding to the query tokens of the grammar.

18. The media of claim 11, wherein determining the first score for each grammar is based on the identified edges corresponding to the query tokens of the grammar.

19. The media of claim 11, wherein determining the first score for each grammar is based on the number of identified edges connected to the identified second nodes corresponding to the query tokens of the grammar.

20. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

a memory coupled to the processors comprising instructions executable by the processors, the processors operable when executing the instructions to;

access a social graph comprising a plurality of nodes and a plurality of edges connecting the nodes, each of the edges between two of the nodes representing a single degree of separation between them, the nodes comprising;

a first-user node corresponding to a first user associated with an online social network; and

a plurality of second nodes that each correspond to a concept or a second user associated with the online social network;

receive from the first user a unstructured text query;

identify one or more edges or one or more second nodes, each of the identified edges or identified nodes corresponding to at least a portion of the unstructured text query;

access a context-free grammar model comprising a plurality of grammars, each grammar comprising one or more query tokens;

identify one or more grammars, each identified grammar having one or more query tokens corresponding to at least one of the identified second nodes or identified edges;

determine a first score for each identified grammar; and

generate one or more structured queries, each structured query corresponding to an identified grammar having first score greater than a grammar-threshold score wherein the structured query is based on a string generated by the identified grammar, each structured query comprising the query tokens of the corresponding identified grammar, wherein one or more of the query tokens of the structured query corresponds to at least one of the identified second nodes or identified edges.