Fuzzy keyword searching

• US 7,958,107 B2
• Filed: 04/10/2008
• Issued: 06/07/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/10/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Concert Technology Corporation
• Original Assignee: Abo Enterprises, LLC (Concert Technology Corporation)
• Inventors: Curtis, Scott
• Primary Examiner(s): Breene; John
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ly; Anh
• Application Number:
  US12/100,457
• Publication Number:
  US 20090259647A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,153 Days
• Field of Search: 707/780, 707/706, 707/709, 707/765, 709/203, 709/217, 709/219, 715/700, 715/205, 715/234
• US Class Current: 707/706
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation

Abstract

A fuzzy, or ambiguous, keyword searching process and systems for implementing the fuzzy keyword searching process are provided. In general, one or more keyword search terms are first identified for a search. Next, a user is enabled to adjust a logical fuzziness, or logical ambiguity, for each of the one or more keyword search terms. As used herein, logical fuzziness of a keyword search term refers to the extent to which associated keywords are considered for the search. In one embodiment, the user may also be enabled to view and adjust keyword associations for each of the keyword search terms. A search is then performed based on the one or more keyword search terms and the logical fuzziness of the one or more keyword search terms, and results of the search are presented to the user.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

identifying a keyword search term for a search of content;

adjusting a logical fuzziness of the keyword search term based on input by a user, the logical fuzziness of the keyword search term corresponding to an extent to which a plurality of associated keywords for the keyword search term are utilized for the search of the content;

performing the search of the content based on the keyword search term and the logical fuzziness of the keyword search term; and

presenting results of the search to the user;

wherein performing the search of the content comprises performing the search of the content based on the keyword search term and a number of keywords selected from the plurality of associated keywords based on the logical fuzziness of the keyword search term; and

wherein the number of keywords selected from the plurality of associated keywords increases if the logical fuzziness of the keyword search term is increased by the user and decreases if the logical fuzziness of the keyword search term is decreased by the user.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising enabling the user to view at least a portion of the plurality of associated keywords for the keyword search term.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein enabling the user to view the at least a portion of the plurality of associated keywords for the keyword search term comprises presenting, to the user, one or more keywords from the plurality of associated keywords that are to be used for the search based on a current setting of the logical fuzziness of the keyword search term.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein enabling the user to view the at least a portion of the plurality of associated keywords for the keyword search term comprises presenting, to the user, all of the plurality of associated keywords.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising adjusting the plurality of associated keywords for the keyword search term based on input from the user.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein adjusting the plurality of associated keywords comprises making temporary adjustments to the plurality of associated keywords for the search of the content.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein adjusting the plurality of associated keywords comprises making lasting adjustments to the plurality of associated keywords for the search of the content.

8. The method of claim 5 wherein adjusting the plurality of associated keywords comprises deleting one of the plurality of associated keywords.

9. The method of claim 5 wherein adjusting the plurality of associated keywords comprises adjusting a strength of association between one of the plurality of associated keywords and the keyword search term.

10. The method of claim 5 wherein adjusting the plurality of associated keywords comprises adding a new keyword to the plurality of associated keywords for the keyword search term.

11. The method of claim 5 wherein adjusting the plurality of associated keywords comprises promoting one of the plurality of associated keywords to a new keyword search term for the search of the content.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the number of keywords selected from the plurality of associated keywords corresponds to the logical fuzziness of the keyword search term.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein:

adjusting the logical fuzziness of the keyword search term comprises setting the logical fuzziness of the keyword search term to one of a plurality of logical fuzziness settings based on input by the user; and

performing the search of the content comprises;

selecting one or more keywords from the plurality of associated keywords that have a degree of association with the keyword search term that is greater than a threshold corresponding to the one of the plurality of logical fuzziness settings assigned to the keyword search term; and

performing the search of the content based on the keyword search term and the one or more keywords selected from the plurality of associated keywords for the keyword search term.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein each of the keyword search term and the plurality of associated keywords is a media tag and the content searched comprises media content.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein each of the keyword search term and the plurality of associated keywords is one of a group consisting of:

a predefined keyword and a user-defined keyword.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the content is at least one of a group consisting of:

local content and remote content.

17. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

identifying a plurality of keyword search terms including the keyword search term for the search of the content;

adjusting a logical fuzziness of each keyword search term in a group of two or more of the plurality of keyword search terms in a group-wise fashion based on input by the user; and

performing the search of the content based on the plurality of keyword search terms and the logical fuzziness of each of the plurality of keyword search terms.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising adjusting a logical fuzziness of one or more the plurality of keyword search terms individually based on input by the user.

19. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying the keyword search term comprises receiving, from the user, input corresponding to the keyword search term.

20. A user device comprising:

a) a user interface for receiving input from a user and displaying information to the user; and

b) a control system, associated with the user interface, adapted to;

i) receive input from the user that corresponds to a keyword search term for a search of content;

ii) adjust a logical fuzziness of the keyword search term based on input from the user, the logical fuzziness of the keyword search term corresponding to an extent to which a plurality of associated keywords for the keyword search term are utilized for the search of the content;

iii) perform the search of the content based on the keyword search term and the logical fuzziness of the keyword search term; and

iv) present results of the search to the user via the user interface;

wherein performing the search of the content comprises performing the search of the content based on the keyword search term and a number of keywords selected from the plurality of associated keywords based on the logical fuzziness of the keyword search term; and

wherein the number of keywords selected from the plurality of associated keywords increases if the logical fuzziness of the keyword search term is increased by the user and decreases if the logical fuzziness of the keyword search term is decreased by the user.

21. The user device of claim 20 wherein the content searched comprises at least one of a group consisting of:

content stored locally by the user device and content stored remotely by at least one remote system.

22. The user device of claim 20 wherein the user device is one of a plurality of peer devices forming a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) network, and the content searched comprises content stored by at least one other device from the plurality of peer devices.

23. A central server system comprising:

a) a communication interface communicatively coupling the central server system to a user device via a network, the user device associated with a user; and

b) a control system, associated with the communication interface, adapted to;

i) receive input from the user, via the user device and the communication interface, corresponding to a keyword search term for a search of content;

ii) adjust a logical fuzziness of the keyword search term based on input from the user, the logical fuzziness of the keyword search term corresponding to an extent to which a plurality of associated keywords for the keyword search term are utilized for the search of the content;

iii) perform the search of the content based on the keyword search term and the logical fuzziness of the keyword search term; and

iv) provide results of the search to the user device for presentation to the user;

wherein performing the search of the content comprises performing the search of the content based on the keyword search term and a number of keywords selected from the plurality of associated keywords based on the logical fuzziness of the keyword search term; and

wherein the number of keywords selected from the plurality of associated keywords increases if the logical fuzziness of the keyword search term is increased by the user and decreases if the logical fuzziness of the keyword search term is decreased by the user.