Method and system to process a data search request

• US 8,332,383 B2
• Filed: 09/29/2005
• Issued: 12/11/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/16/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PayPal, Inc. (PayPal Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Inventors: Posner, Nicholas David, Idury, Ramana M., Henderson, Richard Douglas, Shoup, Randall Scott, Kumar, Vijay, Monier, Louis Marcel Gino, Baird-Smith, Anselm Paul, Nelson, Thomas, Gupta, Raghav, Tutundjian, Raffi, Smalley, Preston Grant, Bolivar, Alvaro
• Primary Examiner(s): Trujillo, James
• Assistant Examiner(s): Black, Linh
• Application Number:
  US11/238,643
• Publication Number:
  US 20060265391A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,630 Days
• Field of Search: 707/3, 707/5, 707/708, 707/728
• US Class Current: 707/708
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3322 using system suggestions G06F16/3325 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3338 Query expansion
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/90328 using search space presentation or visualization, e.g. category or range presentation and selection
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/90335 Query processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques

Abstract

A method and system to process a data search request. The system includes a query controller module to receive the data search request that includes constraints; a reduced constraint builder module to formulate a plurality of search definitions that are formulated to exclude at least one constraint; and a search engine to perform searches of a data source to generate search results and to utilize the search results to calculate counts of data items that respectively correspond to the search definitions. The query controller module communicates the counts of data items and the corresponding search definitions to a client machine. Each of the search definitions is formulated to include a constraint set.

Claims

1. A system to process a data search request, the system including:

a query controller module to receive, via an interface of a computer system, the data search request, the data search request including a plurality of constraints corresponding to a query;

a search engine to perform a search of a data source based on the data search request to find and count a number of data items;

a reduced constraint builder module to formulate, within the computer system, a plurality of search definitions, in response to an identification of the number of data items in excess of a predetermined threshold minimum number of data items, wherein each search definition of a subset of the plurality of constraints is formulated to exclude at least one constraint;

wherein the search engine is configured to perform a plurality of searches of the data source for each of the plurality of search definitions to generate a plurality of search results corresponding to each search definition, and to utilize the plurality of search results to calculate, within the computer system, a corresponding data item count for each search definition; and

wherein the query controller module is configured to communicate, via the interface of the computer system, the count of data items for the each search definition, the plurality of search definitions, and the number of data items corresponding to the data search request to a client machine for simultaneous display.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the search definitions is formulated to include a constraint set that is unique, and wherein the constraints of the constraint set are selected from a group including a keyword constraint, a category constraint, a search parameter constraint, and an attribute constraint.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the query controller communicates at least one from a group including a list of constraint sets and a table of constraint sets.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the table of constraint sets includes a predetermined plurality of columns and the list of constraint sets includes a predetermined plurality of rows.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein each constraint set is selectable by the user to display associated data items.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the data items are located within the data source utilizing a user-selected constraint set.

7. The system of claim 2, wherein the query controller communicates each constraint set in a list in such a manner to identify at least one of the plurality of constraints that have been excluded from the respective constraint set.

8. The system of claim 2, wherein the query controller communicates a user interface that displays excluded constraints in a visually differentiated manner with respect to included constraints.

9. The system of claim 2, wherein the list of constraint sets is sorted according to a number of constraints, of the plurality of constraints, excluded from the respective constraint set.

10. The system of claim 2, wherein the list of constraint sets is sorted according to the number of data items located by a corresponding search definition.

11. The system of claim 2, wherein the reduced constraint builder module determines whether a constraint set associated with an excluded constraint corresponds to a count of data items that equals a count of data items associated with a constraint set without an excluded constraint, and if so, not displaying the search definition associated with the excluded constraint.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the reduced constraint builder module removes predetermined constraints from each of the search definitions.

13. The system of claim 1, including a query builder module that determines whether the search request includes a predetermined threshold minimum number of constraints, and wherein the reduced constraints builder module formulates the plurality of search definitions if the number of constraints exceeds the predetermined threshold minimum number of constraints.

14. The system of claim 1, including a query builder module that determines whether the search request includes a predetermined threshold maximum number of constraints, and wherein the reduced constraints builder module formulates the plurality of search definitions if the number of constraints does not exceed the predetermined threshold maximum number of constraints.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the search engine performs a search based on the data search request and the reduced constraint builder module formulates the plurality of search definitions if the number of data items found does not exceed a predetermined threshold maximum number of data items.

16. The system of claim 1, including an expansion module to identify predetermined sets of constraints included within the data search request as an atomic constraint, and wherein the reduced constraint builder module formulates the plurality of search definitions utilizing the atomic constraint to identify data items.

17. The system of claim 1, including an expansion module to automatically expand at least one constraint included within the search request.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the expansion module automatically expands the at least one constraint generates an expression that includes the at least one constraint and a further constraint that is automatically determined to correspond to the at least one constraint.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the expression is treated as a single constraint in the formulation of the plurality of search definitions.

20. The system of claim 2, wherein the reduced constraint builder module determines whether the constraint set includes a first constraint that is excluded from the constraint set, and if so, excludes a second constraint from the constraint set.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein the expansion module expands any one from a group of constraints including a keyword constraint to any one from a group of constraints including, a category constraint, a search parameter constraint, and an attribute constraint.

22. The system of claim 18, wherein the expansion module expands any one from a group of constraints including a category constraint to any one from a group of constraints including, a keyword constraint, a search parameter constraint, and an attribute constraint.

23. The system of claim 18, wherein the expansion module expands any one from a group of constraints including a search parameter constraint to any one from a group of constraints including, a category constraint, a keyword constraint, and an attribute constraint.

24. The system of claim 18, wherein the expansion module expands any one from a group of constraints including an attribute constraint to any one from a group of constraints including, a category constraint, a keyword constraint, and a search parameter constraint.

25. A computer-implemented method to process a data search request, the method including:

receiving, via an interface of a computer system, the data search request, the data search request including a plurality of constraints corresponding to a query;

performing a search of a data source based on the data search request to find and count a number of data items;

formulating, within the computer system, a plurality of search definitions, responsive to identifying the number of data items exceeding a predetermined threshold minimum number of data items, each search definition of a subset of the plurality of constraints being formulated to exclude at least one constraint;

performing a plurality of searches of the data source for each of the plurality of search definitions to generate a plurality of search results corresponding to each search definition; and

utilizing the plurality of search results, calculating, within the computer system, a corresponding data item count for each search definition; and

communicating, via the interface of the computer system, the count of data items for the each search definition, the plurality of search definitions, and the number of data items corresponding to the data search request to a client machine for simultaneous display.

26. The computer-implemented method of claim 25, wherein each of the search definitions is formulated to include a constraint set that is unique, and wherein the constraints of the constraint set are selected from a group including a keyword constraint, a category constraint, a search parameter constraint, and an attribute constraint.

27. The computer-implemented method of claim 26, wherein the communicating includes communicating at least one from a group including a list of constraint sets and a table of constraint sets.

28. The computer-implemented method of claim 27, wherein the table of constraint sets includes a predetermined plurality of columns and the list of constraint sets includes a predetermined plurality of rows.

29. The computer-implemented method of claim 26, wherein each constraint set is selectable by the user to display associated data items.

30. The computer-implemented method of claim 29, wherein the data items are located within the data source utilizing a user-selected constraint set.

31. The computer-implemented method of claim 26, wherein the communicating includes communicating each constraint set in a list in such a manner to identify at least one of the plurality of constraints that have been excluded from the respective constraint set.

32. The computer-implemented method of claim 26, wherein the communicating includes communicating a user interface that displays excluded constraints in a visually differentiated manner with respect to included constraints.

33. The computer-implemented method of claim 26, wherein the list of constraint sets is sorted according to a number of constraints, of the plurality of constraints, excluded from the respective constraint set.

34. The computer-implemented method of claim 26, wherein the list of constraint sets is sorted according to the number of data items located by a corresponding search definition.

35. The computer implemented method of claim 26, including determining whether a constraint set associated with an excluded constraint corresponds to a count of data items that equals a count of data items associated with a constraint set without an excluded constraint, and if so, not displaying the search definition associated with the excluded constraint.

36. The computer-implemented method of claim 25, wherein the formulating of the plurality of search definitions includes removing predetermined constraints from each of the search definitions.

37. The computer-implemented method of claim 25, including determining whether the search request includes a predetermined threshold minimum number of constraints, and formulating the plurality of search definitions if the number of constraints exceeds the predetermined threshold minimum number of constraints.

38. The computer-implemented method of claim 25, including determining whether the search request includes a predetermined threshold maximum number of constraints, and formulating the plurality of search definitions if the number of constraints does not exceed the predetermined threshold maximum number of constraints.

39. The computer-implemented method of claim 25, including performing a search based on the data search request and formulating the plurality of search definitions if the number of data items found does not exceed a predetermined threshold maximum number of data items.

40. The computer-implemented method of claim 25, including identifying predetermined sets of constraints included within the search request as an atomic constraint, and formulating the plurality of search definitions utilizing the atomic constraint to identify data items.

41. The computer-implemented method of claim 25, automatically expanding at least one constraint included within the search request.

42. The computer-implemented method of claim 41, wherein the automatically expanding the at least one constraint includes generating an expression that includes the at least one constraint and a further constraint that is automatically determined to correspond to the at least one constraint.

43. The computer-implemented method of claim 42, wherein the expression is treated as a single constraint in the formulation of the plurality of search definitions.

44. The computer-implemented method of claim 26, including determining whether the constraint set includes a first constraint that is excluded from the constraint set, and if so, excluding a second constraint from the constraint set.

45. The computer-implemented method of claim 42, wherein the automatic expanding includes expanding any one from a group of constraints including a keyword constraint to any one from a group of constraints including, a category constraint, a search parameter constraint, and an attribute constraint.

46. The computer-implemented method of claim 42, wherein the automatic expansion includes expanding any one from a group of constraints including a category constraint to any one from a group of constraints including, a keyword constraint, a search parameter constraint, and an attribute constraint.

47. The computer-implemented method of claim 42, wherein the automatic expansion includes expanding any one from a group of constraints including a search parameter constraint to any one from a group of constraints including, a category constraint, a keyword constraint, and an attribute constraint.

48. The computer-implemented method of claim 42, wherein the automatic expansion includes expanding any one from a group of constraints including an attribute constraint to any one from a group of constraints including, a category constraint, a keyword constraint, and a search parameter constraint.

49. A machine-readable medium for storing a sequence of instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to:

receive, via an interface of a computer system, the data search request, the data search request including a plurality of constraints corresponding to a query;

perform a search of a data source based on the data search request to find and count a number of data items;

formulate, within the computer system, a plurality of search definitions responsive to an identification of the number of data items in excess of a predetermined threshold minimum number of data items, each search definition of a subset of the plurality of constraints being formulated to exclude at least one constraint;

perform a plurality of searches of the data source for each of the plurality of search definitions to generate a plurality of search results corresponding to each search definition;

utilizing the plurality of search results, calculating, within the computer system, a corresponding data item count for each search definition; and

communicating, via the interface of the computer system, the count of data items for each search definition, the plurality of search definitions, and the number of data items corresponding to the data search request to a client machine for simultaneous display.

50. A system to process a data search request, the system including:

a processor controlling operation of the system, including communication of information and control of a plurality of modules;

a query controller module to receive the data search request, the data search request including a plurality of constraints that includes a first keyword;

an expansion module to associate the first keyword to at least one category;

a search engine to perform a search of a data source based on the data search request to find and count a number of data items;

a reduced constraint builder module to formulate a search definition that includes the at least one category in response to an identification of the number of data items in excess of a predetermined threshold minimum number of data items, each search definition being formulated to exclude at least one constraint; and

a data source to store database tables, including a data item table, a configuration table, and a keyword expansion table, the data item table to store and retrieve data items, the configuration table to store various configurable parameters for the search engine, and the keyword expansion table to expand a keyword constraint to forms of the keyword constraint by the expansion module;

wherein the search engine is configured to perform a search of the data source based on the search definition, and to calculate a data item count for the search definition.

51. The system of claim 50, wherein the plurality of constraints includes a second keyword that is utilized in the search definition.

52. The system of claim 50, wherein the expansion module associates the second keyword to a second constraint that is included in the search definition, the second constraint to include any one of a group of alternate forms of the second keyword including a plural form of the second keyword, an alternate spelling of the second keyword, an alternate word form of the second keyword, an acronym of the second keyword, and a synonym of the second keyword.

53. The system of claim 50, wherein the expansion module identifies predetermined sets of constraints included within the search request as an atomic constraint, and wherein the reduced constraint builder module formulates the search definition utilizing the atomic constraint.

54. A computer-implemented method to process a data search request, the method including:

receiving the data search request, the data search request including a plurality of constraints that includes a first keyword;

associating the first keyword to at least one category;

performing a search of a data source based on the data search request to find and count a number of data items;

formulating a search definition that includes the at least one category in response to an identification of the number of data items in excess of a predetermined threshold minimum number of data items, the search definition formulated to exclude at least one constraint of the plurality of constraints;

performing a search of the data source based on the search definition; and

calculating a data item count corresponding to the search definition.

55. The computer-implemented method of claim 54, wherein the plurality of constraints includes a second keyword that is utilized in the search definition.

56. The computer-implemented method of claim 55, including associating the second keyword to a second constraint that is included in the search definition, the second constraint including any one of a group of alternate forms of the second keyword including a plural form of the second keyword, an alternate spelling of the second keyword, an alternate word form of the second keyword, an acronym of the second keyword, and a synonym of the second keyword.

57. The computer-implemented method of claim 55, including identifying predetermined sets of constraints included within the search request as an atomic constraint, and formulating the search definition utilizing the atomic constraint.

58. A machine-readable medium for storing a sequence of instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to:

receive the data search request, the data search request including a plurality of constraints that includes a first keyword;

associate the first keyword to at least one category;

search a data source based on the data search request to find and count a number of data items;

formulate a search definition that includes the at least one category in response to an identification of the number of data items in excess of a predetermined threshold minimum number of data items, the search definition formulated to exclude at least one constraint of the plurality of constraints;

perform a search of the data source based on the search definition; and

calculate a data item count corresponding to the search definition.

59. A system to process a data search request, the system including:

a first means to receive the data search request, the data search request including a plurality of constraints that includes a first keyword;

a second means to associate the first keyword to at least one category;

a search engine to perform a search of a data source based on the data search request to find and count a number of data items; and

a third means to formulate a search definition that includes the at least one category in response to an identification of the number of data items in excess of a predetermined threshold minimum number of data items, the search definition formulated to exclude at least one constraint of the plurality of constraints;

wherein the search engine is configured to perform a search of the data source based on the search definition.