DIVERSIFYING SEARCH RESULTS

• US 20160147755A1
• Filed: 11/21/2014
• Published: 05/26/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/21/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Original Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Inventors: Melichar, Miroslav, Goldberg, David, Ching, Michael, Libenzi, Davide
• Granted Patent: US 10,019,523 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation

Abstract

Disclosed are a system comprising a computer-readable storage medium storing at least one program, and a computer-implemented method for generating search results. A data access module accesses search results data indicative of a plurality items and that is indicative of ranking values of the plurality of items. A controller module generates page data based on the search results data. The controller module selects a first item from the plurality of items. A diversification module accesses a first rule of the page data. The diversification module determines a deviance value and a reordering-cost value of a second item from the plurality of items. The controller module can select, based at least on a first combination of the deviance and the reordering-cost values of the second item, the second item for placement ahead of the first item on the page data.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a data access module configured to access search results data that is indicative of a plurality of items and that is indicative of ranking values of the plurality of items;

a controller module configured to generate, for display on a client device, page data based on the search results data, the controller module being configured to select a first item from the plurality of items; and

a diversification module, including one or more processors, configured to;

access a first rule that is indicative of a first diversity characteristic of the page data;

based at least on the first rule, determine a deviance value of a second item from the plurality of items; and

based at least on the ranking values of the first and second items,

determine a reordering-cost value of the second item,

the controller module being configured to select, based at least on a first combination of the deviance and the reordering-cost values of the second item, the second item for placement ahead of the first item on the page data.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the diversification module is further configured to;

access a second rule that is indicative of a second diversity characteristic of the page data;

based at least on the second rule, determine a deviance value of a third item from the plurality of items; and

based at least on the ranking values of the first and third items,

determine a reordering-cost value of the third item; and

the controller module is further configured to;

determine whether the first combination is greater than a second combination of the deviance and the reordering-cost values of the third item, wherein the selection of the second item for placement ahead of the first item being in response to a determination that the first combination is greater than the second combination; and

in response to a determination that the second combination is greater than the first combination, select the third item for placement ahead of the first item.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the ranking values are indicative of the first item being ranked higher than the second item in the search results data.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the search results data includes an attribute-value pair for each of the plurality of items, wherein the first rule is indicative of a threshold condition for a number of items to be included in the page data that have attribute-value pairs that match an attribute-template pair.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the search results data includes an attribute-value pair for each of the plurality of items, wherein the first rule is indicative of a threshold condition for the number of items to be included in the page data that have attribute-value pairs that match an attribute-template pair, wherein the threshold condition corresponds to at least one of a minimum number or a maximum number.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the search results data includes an attribute-value pair for each of the plurality of items, wherein the first rule is indicative of a threshold condition for a number of items to be included in the page data that have attribute-value pairs that match an attribute-template pair, wherein the attribute-template pair is indicative of an attribute and a value.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the search results data includes an attribute-value pair for each of the plurality of items, wherein the first rule is indicative of a threshold condition for a number of items to be included in the page data that have attribute-value pairs that match an attribute-template pair, wherein the attribute-template pair is indicative of an attribute and a wildcard indicator.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the diversification module is configured to perform the determination of the deviance value by assigning the deviance value a non-positive value in response to a determination that the rule can be at least partially satisfied by selecting the second item ahead of the first item.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the diversification module is configured to perform the determination of the reordering-cost value based on a determination of a difference in ranking between the second item and the first item in accordance with ranking data.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the second item corresponds to a highest-ranking unplaced item of the plurality of items that has a positive deviance value.

11. The system of claim 1, further comprising a search engine module configured to generate the search results data.

12. A computer-implemented method of providing digital search results data for display, the method comprising:

accessing search results data that is indicative of a plurality of items and that is indicative of ranking values of the plurality of items; and

generating, by one or more processors for display on a client device, results page data based on the search results data, the generating of the results page data comprising;

selecting a first item from the plurality of items;

accessing a first rule that is indicative of a diversity characteristic of a search results page;

based at least on the first rule, determining a replacement-reward value of a second item from the plurality of items;

based at least on the ranking values of the first and second items,

determining a reordering-cost value of the second item; and

based at least on a first combination of the replacement-reward and the reordering-cost values of the second item, selecting the second item for placement ahead of the first item on the result page data.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, further comprising:

accessing a second rule that is indicative of a second diversity characteristic of the page data;

based at least on the second rule, determining a deviance value of a third item from the plurality of items; and

based at least on the ranking values of the first and third items, determining a reordering-cost value of the third item;

determining whether the first combination is greater than a second combination of the deviance and the reordering-cost values of the third item, wherein the selecting of the second item for placement ahead of the first item is in response to a determination that the first combination is greater than the second combination; and

in response to a determination that the second combination is greater than the first combination, selecting the third item for placement ahead of the first item.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the ranking values are indicative of the first item being ranked higher than the second item in the search results data.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the search results data includes an attribute-value pair for each of the plurality of items, wherein the first rule is indicative of a threshold condition for the number of items to be included in the page data that have attribute-value pairs that match an attribute-template pair.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the search results data includes an attribute-value pair for each of the plurality of items, wherein the first rule is indicative of a threshold condition for the number of items to be included in the page data that have attribute-value pairs that match an attribute-template pair, wherein the threshold condition corresponds to at least one of a minimum number or a maximum number.

17. A machine-readable storage medium embodying instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

accessing search results data that is indicative of a plurality of items and that is indicative of ranking values of the plurality of items; and

generating, by one or more processors for display on a client device, results page data based on the search results data, the generating of the results page data comprising;

selecting a first item from the plurality of items;

accessing a first rule that is indicative of a diversity characteristic of the search results page;

based at least on the first rule, determining a replacement-reward value of a second item from the plurality of items;

based at least on the ranking values of the first and second items,

determining a reordering-cost value of the second item; and

based at least on a first combination of the replacement-reward and the reordering-cost values of the second item, selecting the second item for placement ahead of the first item on the result page data.

18. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 17, further embodying instructions that, when executed by the machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

accessing a second rule that is indicative of a second diversity characteristic of the page data;

based at least on the second rule, determining a deviance value of a third item from the plurality of items; and

based at least on the ranking values of the first and third items, determining a reordering-cost value of the third item;

determining whether the first combination is greater than a second combination of the deviance and the reordering-cost values of the third item, wherein the selecting of the second item for placement ahead of the first item being in response to a determination that the first combination is greater than the second combination; and

in response to a determination that the second combination is greater than the first combination, selecting the third item for placement ahead of the first item.

19. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the ranking values are indicative of the first item being ranked higher than the second item in the search results data.

20. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the search results data includes an attribute-value pair for each of the plurality of items, wherein the first rule is indicative of a threshold condition for the number of items to be included in the page data that have attribute-value pairs that match an attribute-template pair.