Techniques for ranking search results
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
- presenting, by a search system, to a user who has a personal profile in the search system and belongs in the search system to one or more communities, a range of levels of personalization of search results, including a personalized level, a global level that is not personalized, and a community level between the personalized level and the global level;
receiving from the user, by the search system, an indication of a desired preference that a mixture of two or more of the levels be used for ranking search results;
regardless of whether the mixture includes the community level of personalization, maintaining in the search system that the user belongs to the one or more communities;
receiving from the user, by the search system, a search query comprising one or more query terms;
responsively to the search query, generating, by the search system, a search result listing;
ranking, by the search system, at least a portion of the search result listing at least in part responsively to the indication, including, if the mixture includes the community level of personalization, ranking the at least a portion of the search result listing in part based on characteristics of the one or more communities to which the user belongs; and
presenting, by the search system, at least a portion of the ranked search result listing to the user.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A computer-implemented method is provided, which includes presenting to a user (30) a range of levels of personalization of search results, including a personalized level, a global level that is not personalized, and a community level between the personalized level and the global level. An indication (550) of a desired one of the levels, and a search query (52) consisting of one or more query terms, are received from the user (30). Responsively to the search query, a search result listing (54) is generated. At least a portion of the search result listing (54) is ranked at least in part responsively to the indication (550), and at least a portion of the ranked search result (54) listing is presented to the user (30). Other embodiments are also described.
280 Citations
30 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
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presenting, by a search system, to a user who has a personal profile in the search system and belongs in the search system to one or more communities, a range of levels of personalization of search results, including a personalized level, a global level that is not personalized, and a community level between the personalized level and the global level; receiving from the user, by the search system, an indication of a desired preference that a mixture of two or more of the levels be used for ranking search results; regardless of whether the mixture includes the community level of personalization, maintaining in the search system that the user belongs to the one or more communities; receiving from the user, by the search system, a search query comprising one or more query terms; responsively to the search query, generating, by the search system, a search result listing; ranking, by the search system, at least a portion of the search result listing at least in part responsively to the indication, including, if the mixture includes the community level of personalization, ranking the at least a portion of the search result listing in part based on characteristics of the one or more communities to which the user belongs; and presenting, by the search system, at least a portion of the ranked search result listing to the user. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A computer-implemented method comprising:
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constructing, by a search system, a topic association graph (TAG) that includes terms as vertices, each of which vertices is linked to one or more other vertices by respective edges having respective edge scores; presenting, by the search system, to a user who has a personal profile in the search system and belongs in the search system to one or more communities, a range of levels of personalization of search results, including a personalized level, a global level that is not personalized, and a community level between the personalized level and the global level; receiving from the user, by the search system, an indication of a desired preference that a mixture of two or more of the levels be used for ranking search results; regardless of whether the mixture includes the community level of personalization, maintaining in the search system that the user belongs to the one or more communities; receiving, by the search system, from the user a search query, which comprises one or more terms included in a portion of the vertices of the TAG; responsively to the search query, generating, by the search system, a search result listing including a plurality of documents; and if the mixture includes the community level of personalization; generating, by the search system, one or more subgraphs of the TAG, each of which subgraphs consists of all of the terms of the search query plus one or more terms of the TAG that are most highly linked in the TAG to all of the terms of the search query; ranking, by the search system, at least a portion of the search result listing at least in part responsively to a comparison between (a) the one or more subgraphs of the TAG and (b) at least a portion of the documents of the search result listing; and presenting, by the search system, at least a portion of the ranked search result listing to the user. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14)
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15. Apparatus comprising a search system, which comprises:
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an interface for communicating with a user; and a processor, which is configured to present to the user who has a personal profile in the search system and belongs in the search system to one or more communities, via the interface, a range of levels of personalization of search results, including a personalized level, a global level that is not personalized, and a community level between the personalized level and the global level;
receive from the user, via the interface, an indication of a desired preference that a mixture of two or more of the levels be used for ranking search results;
regardless of whether the mixture includes the community level of personalization, maintain in the search system that the user belongs to the one or more communities;
receive from the user, via the interface, a search query consisting of one or more query terms;
responsively to the search query, generate a search result listing;
rank at least a portion of the search result listing at least in part responsively to the indication, including, if the mixture includes the community level of personalization, ranking the at least a portion of the search result listing in part based on characteristics of the one or more communities to which the user belongs; and
present at least a portion of the ranked search result listing to the user via the interface. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. Apparatus comprising a search system, which comprises:
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an interface for communicating with a user; and a processor, which is configured to construct a topic association graph (TAG) that includes terms as vertices, each of which vertices is linked to one or more other vertices by respective edges having respective edge scores;
present to a user who has a personal profile in the search system and belongs in the search system to one or more communities, a range of levels of personalization of search results, including a personalized level, a global level that is not personalized, and a community level between the personalized level and the global level;
receive from the user an indication of a desired preference that a mixture of two or more of the levels be used for ranking search results;
regardless of whether the mixture includes the community level of personalization, maintain in the search system that the user belongs to the one or more communities;
receive from the user, via the interface, a search query, which comprises one or more terms included in a portion of the vertices of the TAG;
responsively to the search query, generate a search result listing including a plurality of documents; and
, if the mixture includes the community level of personalization;
(i) generate one or more subgraphs of the TAG, each of which subgraphs consists of all of the terms of the search query plus one or more terms of the TAG that are most highly linked in the TAG to all of the terms of the search query;
(ii) rank at least a portion of the search result listing at least in part responsively to a comparison between (a) the one or more subgraphs of the TAG and (b) at least a portion of the documents of the search result listing; and
(iii) present at least a portion of the ranked search result listing to the user via the interface. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23)
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24. A computer software product, the product comprising a tangible computer-readable non-transitory medium in which program instructions are stored, which instructions, when read by a computer of a search system, cause the computer to present to a user who has a personal profile in the search system and belongs in the search system to one or more communities a range of levels of personalization of search results, including a personalized level, a global level that is not personalized, and a community level between the personalized level and the global level;
- receive from the user an indication of a desired preference that a mixture of two or more of the levels be used for ranking search results;
regardless of whether the mixture includes the community level of personalization, maintain in the search system that the user belongs to the one or more communities;
receive from the user a search query comprising one or more query terms;
responsively to the search query, generate a search result listing;
rank at least a portion of the search result listing at least in part responsively to the indication, including, if the mixture includes the community level of personalization, ranking the at least a portion of the search result listing in part based on characteristics of the one or more communities to which the user belongs; and
present at least a portion of the ranked search result listing to the user. - View Dependent Claims (25)
- receive from the user an indication of a desired preference that a mixture of two or more of the levels be used for ranking search results;
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26. A computer software product, the product comprising a tangible computer-readable non-transitory medium in which program instructions are stored, which instructions, when read by a computer of a search system, cause the computer to construct a topic association graph (TAG) that includes terms as vertices, each of which vertices is linked to one or more other vertices by respective edges having respective edge scores;
- present to a user who has a personal profile in the search system and belongs in the search system to one or more communities, a range of levels of personalization of search results, including a personalized level, a global level that is not personalized, and a community level between the personalized level and the global level;
receive from the user an indication of a desired preference that a mixture of two or more of the levels be used for ranking search results;
regardless of whether the mixture includes the community level of personalization, maintain in the search system that the user belongs to the one or more communities;
receive from the user a search query, which comprises one or more terms included in a portion of the vertices of the TAG;
responsively to the search query, generate a search result listing including a plurality of documents; and
, if the mixture includes the community level of personalization;
(i) generate one or more subgraphs of the TAG, each of which subgraphs consists of all of the terms of the search query plus one or more terms of the TAG that are most highly linked in the TAG to all of the terms of the search query;
(ii) rank at least a portion of the search result listing at least in part responsively to a comparison between (a) the one or more subgraphs of the TAG and (b) at least a portion of the documents of the search result listing; and
(iii) present at least a portion of the ranked search result listing to the second user. - View Dependent Claims (27)
- present to a user who has a personal profile in the search system and belongs in the search system to one or more communities, a range of levels of personalization of search results, including a personalized level, a global level that is not personalized, and a community level between the personalized level and the global level;
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28. A computer-implemented method comprising:
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presenting, by a search system, to a user who has a personal profile in the search system and belongs in the search system to one or more communities, a range of levels of personalization of search results, including a personalized level, a global level that is not personalized, and a community level between the personalized level and the global level; receiving from the user, by the search system, an indication of a desired preference that two or more of the levels be used for ranking the search results; regardless of whether the desired preference includes the community level of personalization, maintaining in the search system that the user belongs to the one or more communities; receiving from the user, by the search system, a search query comprising one or more query terms; responsively to the search query, generating, by the search system, a search result listing; ranking, by the search system, at least a portion of the search result listing at least in part responsively to a mixture of the two or more user-indicated levels, including, if the mixture includes the community level of personalization, ranking the at least a portion of the search result listing in part based on characteristics of the one or more communities to which the user belongs; and presenting, by the search system, at least a portion of the ranked search result listing to the user.
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29. Apparatus comprising a search system, which comprises:
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an interface for communicating with a user; and a processor, which is configured to present to the user who has a personal profile in the search system and belongs in the search system to one or more communities, via the interface, a range of levels of personalization of search results, including a personalized level, a global level that is not personalized, and a community level between the personalized level and the global level;
receive from the user, via the interface, an indication of the desired preference by receiving an indication of a desired preference that two or more of the levels be used for ranking the search results;
regardless of whether the desired preference includes the community level of personalization, maintain in the search system that the user belongs to the one or more communities;
rank the at least a portion of the search result listing at least in part responsively to a mixture of the two or more user-indicated levels, including, if the mixture includes the community level of personalization, ranking the at least a portion of the search result listing in part based on characteristics of the one or more communities to which the user belongs; and
present at least a portion of the ranked search result listing to the user via the interface.
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30. A computer software product, the product comprising a tangible computer-readable non-transitory medium in which program instructions are stored, which instructions, when read by the computer, cause the computer to present, to a user who has a personal profile in the search system and belongs in the search system to one or more communities, a range of levels of personalization of search results, including a personalized level, a global level that is not personalized, and a community level between the personalized level and the global level;
- receive from the user an indication of a desired preference that two or more of the levels be used for ranking the search results;
regardless of whether the desired preference includes the community level of personalization, maintain in the computer that the user belongs to the one or more communities;
receive from the user a search query comprising one or more query terms;
responsively to the search query, generate a search result listing;
rank at least a portion of the search result listing at least in part responsively to a mixture of the two or more user-indicated levels, including, if the mixture includes the community level of personalization, ranking the at least a portion of the search result listing in part based on characteristics of the one or more communities to which the user belongs; and
present at least a portion of the ranked search result listing to the user.
- receive from the user an indication of a desired preference that two or more of the levels be used for ranking the search results;
Specification