Programmable search engine

• US 7,693,830 B2
• Filed: 08/10/2005
• Issued: 04/06/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/10/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Guha, Ramanathan V.
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, CAM LINH T
• Application Number:
  US11/202,423
• Publication Number:
  US 20070038616A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,700 Days
• Field of Search: 707 1- 5, 707 6- 8, 707/10
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3338 Query expansion
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching

Abstract

A programmable search engine system is programmable by a variety of different entities, such as client devices and vertical content sites to customize search results for users. Context files store instructions for controlling the operations of the programmable search engine. The contest files are processed by various context processors, which use the instructions therein to provide various pre-processing, post-processing, and search engine control operations.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving in a search engine a distinct search query input from each of a plurality of users, each search query input being identified as an input received through an interface provided to the respective user by a third-party content provider;

receiving a context file from the third-party content provider, where the context file is explicitly defined and provided by the third-party content provider to the search engine for processing search query inputs, and where the context file is associated with the third-party content provider and not with any of the plurality of users;

using commands in the context file to control an organization and a presentation of search results resulting from the processing of each of the respective search query inputs, including;

processing each respective search query input using the commands in the identified context file to produce a respective context processed search query;

generating respective context processed search results responsive to the respective context processed search query;

storing the respective context processed search results on a memory; and

providing the respective context processed search results to each respective user in accordance with the commands in the context file.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein processing each respective search query input using the commands in the identified context file comprises:

programmatically altering each respective search query input according to the commands in the context file.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein programmatically altering each respective search query input comprises:

adding at least one term to each respective search query input using query modification commands specified in the context file.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein programmatically altering each respective search query input comprises:

replacing at least one term of each respective search query input according to query modification commands specified in the context file.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein programmatically altering each respective search query input according to the commands in the context file comprises:

processing the context file on a client device from which each search query input is received.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein programmatically altering each search query input according to the commands in the context file comprises:

processing the context file on a host system that received each search query input from the respective user.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein programmatically altering each search query input according to the commands in the context file comprises:

processing the context file on a search engine system including the search engine.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein processing each search query input using the commands in the identified context file comprises:

programmatically altering execution of the search engine according to search engine parameters in the context file.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein programmatically altering execution of the search engine comprises:

selecting at least one document collection specified in the context file for searching using each search query input.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein programmatically altering execution of the search engine comprises:

selecting one or more search engines specified in the context file for processing each search query input.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein programmatically altering execution of the search engine comprises:

selecting at least one search algorithm parameter specified in the context file for use by the search engine when processing each search query input.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein generating respective context processed search results responsive to the context processed search query includes:

programmatically altering the respective context processed search results according to the commands in the context file.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein programmatically altering the respective context processed search results comprises:

filtering the respective context processed search results using a restriction filter specified in the context file.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein programmatically altering the respective context processed search results comprises:

ranking the respective context processed search results using ranking parameters specified in the context file.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein programmatically altering the respective context processed search results comprises:

clustering the respective context processed search results using clustering parameters specified in the context file.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein programmatically altering the respective context processed search results comprises:

processing the respective context processed search results on a client device from which each search query input is received, according to the commands in the context file.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein programmatically altering the respective context processed search results comprises:

processing the respective context processed search results on a host system that received each search query input from the respective user, according to the commands in the context file.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein programmatically altering the respective context processed search results comprises:

processing the respective context processed search results on search engine system including the search engine, according to the commands in the context file.

19. The method of claim 12, wherein programmatically altering the respective context processed search results comprises:

providing at least one navigational link to another context file, the navigational link specified in the context file.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

responsive to a user selection of the navigational link, accessing the other context file and processing the other context file.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein processing the other context file comprises at least of the operations of:

executing a search query on a search query phrase specified in the other context file;

filtering the respective context processed search results using filters specified in the other context file;

ranking the respective context processed search results using ranking parameters specified in the other context file;

clustering the respective context processed search results using clustering parameters specified in the other context file; and

annotating the respective context processed search results using annotations specified in the other context file.

22. The method of claim 12, wherein programmatically altering the respective search results comprises:

annotating the respective search results using annotations specified in the context file.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying a context file comprises:

identifying the context file based on the user.

24. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying the context file based on a host site from which the search query input is received.

25. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying the context file based on at least one query term.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

identifying the context file based on the search query denoting a class or instance of an object.

27. The method of claim 1, wherein processing each respective search query input comprises:

retrieving the context file from a host system from which each respective search query input was received.

28. The method of claim 1, wherein processing each respective search query input comprises:

retrieving the context file from a repository of cached context files, each cached context file associated with a host system from which the context file was received.

29. The method of claim 1, wherein processing each respective search query input comprises:

retrieving the context file from a repository of global context files.

30. The method of claim 1, wherein processing each respective search query input comprises:

responsive to the context file including a redirection command to another context file, processing the other context file.

31. The method of claim 1, wherein processing each respective search query input comprises:

responsive to the context file including a related context command identifying a context file, annotating the respective search results with a labeled link that causes processing of the related context file.

32. The method of claim 1, wherein processing each respective search query input comprises:

responsive to the context file including a related context command identifying a context file, annotating the respective context processed search results with a link to the related context file.

33. The method of claim 1, wherein processing each respective search query input comprises:

modifying each respective search query input responsive to each respective search query input satisfying a query evaluation command.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the query evaluation command comprises at least one a predetermined term to be compared with at least one term of each respective search query input.

35. The method of claim 33, wherein the query evaluation command comprises at least one term of each respective search query input denoting an instance of an object defined in a knowledge base.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein each respective search query input denotes an instance of an object defined in the knowledge by matching a term of each respective search query input with a value of a property associated with the instance of the object.

37. The method of claim 33, wherein the query evaluation command comprises at least one term of each respective search query input denoting a class of an object defined in a knowledge base.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein each respective search query input denotes a class of an object defined in the knowledge by matching a term of each respective search query input with a value of a property associated with the class of the object.

39. The method of claim 1, wherein processing each respective search query input comprises:

responsive to a property value of the user matching a predefined user property, processing each respective search query input.

40. The method of claim 1, wherein processing each respective search query input comprises:

responsive to a property value of each respective search query input matching a predefined object property, processing each respective search query input.

41. The method of claim 1, wherein processing each respective search query input comprises:

responsive to a property value of a respective search result matching a predefined search result property, altering the respective search result according to the command in the context file.

42. The method of claim 1, wherein processing each respective search query input comprises:

responsive to a respective search result satisfying a restriction command included in the context file, including the respective search result in the respective context processed search results.

43. The method of claim 1, wherein processing each respective search query input comprises:

responsive to a respective search result satisfying an annotation command included in the context file, including an annotation specified in the annotation command in the respective context processed search results.

44. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

executing at least one command from the context file, the command selected from a group of commands consisting of;

an query evaluation command for evaluating a property value of a query with respect to a predefined property;

a query modification command for modifying each respective search query input;

a related context command for identifying a related context file in the respective context processed search results; and

a redirection command for identifying a related context file for processing.

45. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

executing at least one command from the context file, the command selected from a group of commands consisting of;

a corpus selection command for selecting a document collection for searching with each respective search query input; and

a search engine parameter command for establishing a parameter of a search engine for processing each respective search query input.

46. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

executing at least one command from the context file, the command selected from a group of commands consisting of;

a restriction command for filtering the respective search results to include only search results of a designated type in the respective context processed search results; and

an annotation command for annotating the respective context processed search results.

47. The method of claim 1, wherein the respective context processed search results are presented with annotations specified in the context file.

48. The method of claim 47, wherein the annotations comprise labels.

49. The method of claim 48, further comprising:

receiving a selection of one of the labels; and

generating respective new search results, wherein the respective new search results are associated with metadata that include the label.

50. The method of claim 47, wherein the annotations comprise links to web pages specified by the third-party content provider.

51. A computer-readable medium encoded with a computer program, the computer program comprising instructions that, when executed, operate to cause a computer to perform operations comprising:

receiving in a search engine a distinct search query input from each of a plurality of users, each search query input being identified as an input received through an interface provided to the respective user by a third-party content provider;

receiving a context file from the third-party content provider, where the context file is explicitly defined and provided by the third-party content provider to the search engine for processing search query inputs, and where the context file is associated with the third party content provider and not with any of the plurality of users;

using commands in the context file to control an organization and a presentation of search results resulting from the processing of each of the respective search query inputs, including;

processing each respective search query input using the commands in the identified context file to produce a respective context processed search query;

generating respective context processed search results responsive to the respective context processed search query; and

providing the respective context processed search results to each respective user in accordance with the commands in the context file.

52. The computer-readable medium of claim 51, wherein the respective context processed search results are presented with annotations specified in the context file.

53. The computer-readable medium of claim 52, wherein the annotations comprise labels.

54. The computer-readable medium of claim 53, further comprising:

receiving a selection of one of the labels; and

generating respective new search results, wherein the respective new search results are associated with metadata that include the label.

55. The computer-readable medium of claim 52, wherein the annotations comprise links to web pages specified by the third-party content provider.

56. A system, comprising:

one or more computers;

a computer-readable medium coupled to the one or more computers and having instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by the one or more computers, cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising;

receiving in a search engine a distinct search query input from each of a plurality of users, each search query input being identified as an input received through an interface provided to the respective user by a third-party content provider;

receiving a context file from the third-party content provider, where the context file is explicitly defined and provided by the third-party content provider to the search engine for processing search query inputs, and where the context file is associated with the third party content provider and not with any of the plurality of users;

using commands in the context file to control an organization and a presentation of search results resulting from the processing of each of the respective search query inputs, including;

processing each respective search query input using the commands in the identified context file to produce a respective context processed search query;

generating respective context processed search results responsive to the respective context processed search query; and

providing the respective context processed search results to each respective user in accordance with the commands in the context file.

57. The system of claim 56, wherein the search results are presented with annotations specified in the context file.

58. The system of claim 57, wherein the annotations comprise labels.

59. The system of claim 58, further comprising:

receiving a selection of one of the labels; and

generating new search results, wherein the respective new search results are associated with metadata that include the label.

60. The system of claim 57, wherein the annotations comprise links to web pages specified by the third-party content provider.