Relevance ranked faceted metadata search engine

• US 8,135,708 B2
• Filed: 10/06/2006
• Issued: 03/13/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/05/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Executive Development Corp.
• Original Assignee: BNA
• Inventors: Morton, John
• Primary Examiner(s): SYED, FARHAN M
• Application Number:
  US11/544,531
• Publication Number:
  US 20080010263A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,985 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/728
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques

Abstract

One embodiment of the invention may include a method for searching data files using different search engines, each of which produces different search results. The different search results may then be combined to produce additional search results that represent the relevance of the data files. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

obtaining a first relevance ranking of a taxonomy item in a particular data file using a first search engine;

obtaining a second relevance ranking of the taxonomy item in the particular data file using a second search engine that is different from the first search engine;

receiving a first user-controllable weighting factor to apply to the first relevance ranking obtained using the first search engine;

receiving a second user-controllable weighting factor to apply to the second relevance ranking obtained using the second search engine;

normalizing the first relevance ranking and the second relevance ranking;

responsive to the first relevance ranking satisfying a relevance threshold, obtaining a third relevance ranking based on the first relevance ranking, the first user-controllable weighting factor, the second relevance ranking, and the second user-controllable weighting factor;

storing the particular data file and the third relevance ranking for future use;

obtaining a fourth relevance ranking of the taxonomy item in an additional data file using the first search engine;

obtaining a fifth relevance ranking of the taxonomy item in the additional data file using the second search engine;

obtaining a sixth relevance ranking based on the fourth relevance ranking and the fifth relevance ranking; and

producing search results for the particular data file and the additional data file based on the third relevance ranking and the sixth relevance ranking,

wherein each of the first relevance ranking and the second relevance ranking are not based on data files other than the particular data file.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the third relevance ranking is based on an average of the first relevance ranking and the second relevance ranking.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first relevance ranking is based on metadata of the particular data file.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first relevance ranking is based on a full text search of the particular data file.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the third relevance ranking is stored as metadata of the particular data file.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending a plurality of normalized relevance rankings to a display device to enable a user to compare efficacies of a plurality of search engines.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the first relevance ranking is included in the particular data file by a supplier of the particular data file.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the first relevance ranking is based on a frequency that one or more terms associated with the taxonomy item appear in text of the particular data file.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the first relevance ranking is based on where one or more terms associated with the taxonomy item appear in text of the particular data file.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the first relevance ranking is based on whether one or more terms associated with the taxonomy item appear in metadata of the particular data file.

5. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory storing instructions executable by the processor to;

obtain a first relevance ranking of a taxonomy item in a particular data file using a first search engine;

obtain a second relevance ranking of the taxonomy item in the particular data file using a second search engine that is different from the first search engine;

receive a first user-controllable weighting factor to apply to the first relevance ranking obtained using the first search engine;

receive a second user-controllable weighting factor to apply to the second relevance ranking obtained using the second search engine;

normalize the first relevance ranking and the second relevance ranking;

responsive to the first relevance ranking satisfying a relevance threshold, obtain a third relevance ranking based on the first relevance ranking, the first user-controllable weighting factor, the second relevance ranking, and the second user-controllable weighting factor;

store the particular data file and the third relevance ranking for future use;

obtain a fourth relevance ranking of the taxonomy item in an additional data file using the first search engine;

obtain a fifth relevance ranking of the taxonomy item in the additional data file using the second search engine;

obtain a sixth relevance ranking based on the fourth relevance ranking and the fifth relevance ranking; and

produce search results for the particular data file and the additional data file based on the third relevance ranking and the sixth relevance ranking,

wherein each of the first relevance ranking and the second relevance ranking are not based on data files other than the particular data file.

6. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause a computer to:

obtain a first relevance ranking of a taxonomy item in a particular data file using a first search engine;

obtain a second relevance ranking of the taxonomy item in the particular data file using a second search engine that is different from the first search engine;

receive a first user-controllable weighting factor to apply to the first relevance ranking obtained using the first search engine;

receive a second user-controllable weighting factor to apply to the second relevance ranking obtained using the second search engine;

normalize the first relevance ranking and the second relevance ranking;

responsive to the first relevance ranking satisfying a relevance threshold, obtain a third relevance ranking based on the first relevance ranking, the first user-controllable weighting factor, the second relevance ranking, and the second user-controllable weighting factor;

store the third relevance ranking;

obtain a fourth relevance ranking of the taxonomy item in an additional data file using the first search engine;

obtain a fifth relevance ranking of the taxonomy item in the additional data file using the second search engine;

obtain a sixth relevance ranking based on the fourth relevance ranking and the fifth relevance ranking; and

produce search results for the particular data file and the additional data file based on the third relevance ranking and the sixth relevance ranking,

wherein each of the first relevance ranking and the second relevance ranking are not based on data files other than the particular data file.

7. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the computer, cause the computer to obtain the third relevance ranking based on an average of the first relevance ranking and the second relevance ranking.

8. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the computer, cause the computer to base the first relevance ranking on whether the taxonomy item or a term related to the taxonomy item appears in metadata of the particular data file.

9. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the computer, cause the computer to base the first relevance ranking on an imported relevance ranking in the particular data file from a supplier of the particular data file.