Algorithmically generated topic pages with interactive advertisements

• US 8,700,630 B2
• Filed: 02/24/2009
• Issued: 04/15/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/24/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Wexler, Mike, Roy, Scott, Lestiyo, Ingrid
• Primary Examiner(s): Trujillo, James
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mamillapalli, Pavan
• Application Number:
  US12/391,968
• Publication Number:
  US 20100228712A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,876 Days
• Field of Search: 707/738
• US Class Current: 707/738
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9038 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0256 User search

Abstract

A method and system for generating a topic page for a search query on a search webpage includes receiving a query at the search webpage on a client. The query is transmitted from the search webpage on the client to a search engine on a server. A topic page generator available to the search engine analyzes the query to identify a plurality of dimensions. One or more content modules, including at least one interactive advertising module, that match one or more of the dimensions are selected from a plurality of sources based on a weight associated with each of the content modules. The weight defines the ranking of a content module. The content modules for the plurality of dimensions are glued together and presented on the topic page in the order of the corresponding weight of the content modules. The order of presentation identifies the relevancy of the content modules to the query. The presented topic page provides the most relevant content modules for the query, and for a user located in a specific geo location.

Claims

1. A method for generating a topic page for a query, comprising:

(a) analyzing a query to identify a plurality of dimensions of the query, the query being a search query and includes one or more keywords entered by a user to initiate a search, the one or more of the plurality of dimensions of the query identified based on at least one other dimension of the query;

(b) selecting one or more content modules, including at least one interactive advertising module, from a plurality of sources that match one or more of the plurality of dimensions of the query;

(c) generating a topic page from the selected content modules;

(d) periodically processing as a batch, a plurality of query terms, through operations (a)-(c); and

(e) saving identification of the selected content modules for the topic page,

wherein generating the topic page further includes,

determining if a particular one of the selected content modules poses a conflict within the topic page; and

resolving the conflict posed by the particular content module so as to enable the topic page to be successfully rendered, in response to the query.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

pre-populating one or more portions of the at least one interactive advertising module based on at least one of the plurality of dimensions, wherein the plurality of dimensions includes a dimension associated with a user submitting the query.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

pre-populating one or more portions of the at least one interactive advertising module based on a topic associated with the query.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein resolving the conflict further includes,

identifying a second content module to replace the particular content module posing the conflict in the topic page, the second content module received from any one of the plurality of sources including a source that provided the particular content module, the second content module matching the one or more of the plurality of dimensions of the query identified within the particular content module.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein resolving the conflict further includes,

flagging the second content module so as to allow the second content module to render in the topic page.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein resolving the conflict further includes,

flagging the particular content module posing the conflict in the topic page so as to prevent the particular content module from rendering on the topic page.

7. A method for generating a topic page for a search query on a search webpage, comprising:

receiving a query at the search webpage;

analyzing the query to identify a plurality of dimensions of the query, the query includes one or more keywords entered by a user to initiate a search, the one or more of the plurality of dimensions of the query identified based on at least one other dimension of the query;

selecting one or more content modules, including at least one interactive advertising module, from a plurality of sources that match one or more of the plurality of dimensions, the selection of the content modules based on a weight associated with each of the plurality of dimensions used for selecting the content modules, the weight defining a ranking of the content modules, wherein the content modules selected from the plurality of sources include one or more secondary content modules, each of the secondary content modules having one or more dimensions that match the one or more of the plurality of dimensions defined in a specific content module selected for the query, the secondary content modules having a lower weight than the corresponding content modules;

generating a topic page from the selected content modules, the content modules presented in an order based on the corresponding weight of the content modules, the order indicating relevancy of the content modules to the query, wherein generating of the topic page further includes,

determining if a particular one of the content modules poses a conflict within the topic page; and

resolving the conflict posed by the particular content module so as to enable the topic page to be successfully rendered, in response to the query.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

pre-populating one or more portions of the at least one interactive advertising module based on at least one of the plurality of dimensions, wherein the plurality of dimensions includes a dimension associated with a user submitting the query.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

pre-populating one or more portions of the at least one interactive advertising module based on a topic associated with the query.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein resolving the conflict further includes,

selecting a particular secondary content module corresponding to the particular content module posing the conflict, the particular secondary content module used to replace the particular content module within the topic page, wherein the particular secondary content module is received from any one of the plurality of sources including the source that provided the particular content module.

11. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

actively tracking statistical data at each of the content modules presented in the topic page, the statistical data identifying popularity of the corresponding content modules;

dynamically determining a current weight of each of the content modules from a plurality of sources based on the statistical data, the current weight defining the current ranking of the content modules;

selecting the content modules from the plurality of sources based on the current ranking; and

presenting the content modules on the topic page, the selection and order of presentation of the content modules reflecting the adjusted ranking of the content modules in the topic page.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein analyzing the query by identifying a plurality of dimensions further including,

determining a geo location associated with the query, the geo location driving the selection of the content modules;

determining a topic of the query; and

identifying one or more intents for the topic, the intent defined for the query based on the geo location.

13. The method of claim 12, the geo location based on at least one of:

a location associated with the topic of the query and a dimension associated with a user submitting the query.

14. A system for generating a topic page for search queries on a search webpage, comprising:

a client configured to generate a query and render the topic page;

a server configured to receive the query from the client, the server including a topic page generator having;

a categorizer module configured to analyze the query and identify a plurality of dimensions of the query, the query being a search query and includes one or more keywords entered by a user to initiate a search, the one or more of the plurality of dimensions of the query identified based on at least one other dimension of the query, wherein the plurality of dimensions includes a geo location associated with the query, a topic based on the geo location and one or more intents for the topic defined for the query based on the geo location;

a module selector configured to select a plurality of content modules, including at least one interactive advertising module, from a plurality of sources that match one or more of the plurality of dimensions;

a module placer configured to execute placement of the plurality of content modules into the topic page, the placement of the content modules defined by metadata associated with each of the content modules, wherein during the generation of the topic page the module placer is further configured to,

determine if a particular one of the selected content modules poses a conflict within the topic page; and

resolve the conflict posed by the particular one of the content modules so as to enable the topic page to be successfully rendered, in response to the query, wherein the server includes a processor.

15. The system of claim 14, further comprising at least one of the module selector and the module placer further configured to pre-populate one or more portions of the at least one interactive advertising module based on at least one of the plurality of dimensions wherein the plurality of dimensions includes a dimension associated with a user submitting the query.

16. The system of claim 14, further comprising at least one of the module selector and the module placer further configured to pre-populate one or more portions of the at least one interactive advertising module based on a topic associated with the query.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the module placer is further configured to resolve the conflict by,

identifying a second content module to replace the particular content module posing the conflict in the topic page, the second content module received from any one of the plurality of sources including a source that provided the particular content module, the second content module matching the one or more of the plurality of dimensions of the query identified within the particular content module, the second content module being flagged to enable rendering on the topic page.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the topic page generator further includes a module ranker configured to actively track and receive user interactions from the topic page on the client, the user interaction including customization of the topic page, wherein the module ranker uses the user interaction to dynamically rank the content modules and update the rank of the content modules in the metadata of the content modules.

19. The system of claim 14, wherein content modules include dynamic content that are updated periodically at the corresponding source.

20. The system of claim 14, further including a module gallery at each of the plurality of sources for storing one or more content modules, the module gallery associated with a specific geo location.