429 results about "Web search query" patented technology

A system and method for efficiently searching directory listing information to obtain more relevant results is provided. In a computer system running a computing application, it is advantageous to provide search capabilities, in the form of a search engine, to operators to assist them in their effort of retrieving desired data. The search engine may cooperate with a data store having directory listing information to provide listings data to an operator. In an illustrative implementation, this search engine may be deployed on an Internet Web site that offers business listing information. The search system may comprise a user interface to enter search query information, a data store that houses a variety of directory listing information according to a predefined data taxonomy, and a means for displaying the search results. In operation, the search engine offers a variety of search options, such as, search by business name, by business categories levels, by geographic position of the user or the business, or a combination thereof. Depending on the search query entered, the search engine will perform either a bounded search (i.e. a search bounded to a specific geographic area), a proximity search (i.e. a search proximate to a computed centroid), or a combination of the two to find the most relevant directory listings. Using the inputted search qualifiers, the search engine polls the data store according to a predefined set of rules and instructions for the relevant directory listing information. These rules are directly related to the taxonomy of the data store.

Systems and method for enhancing search functionality provided to a user. In certain aspects, a query processing engine automatically decomposes queries into constituent units that are related to concepts in which a user may be interested. The query processing engine decomposes queries into one or more constituent units per query using statistical methods. In certain aspects, no real world knowledge is used in determining units. In other aspects, aspects of world and content knowledge are introduced to enhance and optimize performance, for example, manually using a team of one or more information engineers.

A search engine includes a decision component that determines whether documents that are returned in response to a user search query are likely to be very relevant to the search query. Links that refer to documents that the search engine determines to likely be very relevant may be displayed with visual cues that assist the user in browsing the links. The decision component may base its decision on a number of parameters, including: (1) the position of the document in a ranked list of search results, (2) the click through rate of the document, (3) relevance scores for the document and other documents that are returned as hits in response to the search query, and (4) whether the document is classified as a pornographic document (the search engine may refrain from showing visual cues for potentially pornographic documents).

A distributed network search mechanism may be provided for consumers coupled to a network to search information providers coupled to the network. Consumers may make search requests according to a query routing protocol. A network hub may be configured to receive search requests from consumers. The hub may also receive registration requests from information providers according to the query routing protocol. Information providers register with the hub to indicate search queries in which they are interested in receiving. When a query request is received, the hub resolves the query request with a provider registration index. The hub matches search query information from the query request with provider registrations to determine which providers have registered to receive search queries like the current search query. The hub then routes the search query to matching providers according to the query routing protocol.

Dynamic pricing models which facilitate efficient distribution of digital content online. Particular implementations of the invention dynamically base pricing for digital content on relatively current, aggregated information regarding Internet user behavior and preferences, such as search query and / or page hit logs. Some implementations of the present invention are directed to pricing digital content based on the inherent properties of digital content and the mechanics of how electronic files are typically distributed on the Internet.

A method includes determining a facet from a web page to be indexed for searching, indexing the web page with the facet in a search index, augmenting a user's web search query with the facet, searching the search index for the facet-augmented query, and presenting to the user, as a search result, the web page based on a correlation of the query and the facet. Another method includes receiving a user's web search query, augmenting the query with a facet, and transmitting the augmented query to a search engine. A further method includes agreeing with an advertiser to associate a web page with a facet, and indexing the web page with the facet in a search index.

A distributed network search mechanism may be provided for consumers coupled to a network to search information providers coupled to the network. Consumers may make search requests according to a query routing protocol. A network hub may be configured to receive search requests from consumers. The hub may also receive registration requests from information providers according to the query routing protocol. Information providers register with the hub to indicate search queries in which they are interested in receiving. When a query request is received, the hub resolves the query request with a provider registration index. The hub matches search query information from the query request with provider registrations to determine which providers have registered to receive search queries like the current search query. The hub then routes the search query to matching providers according to the query routing protocol.

An “Interactive Word Lattice” provides a user interface for interacting with and selecting user-modifiable paths through a lattice-based representation of alternative suggested text segments in response to a user's text segment input, such as phrases, sentences, paragraphs, entire documents, etc. More specifically, the user input is provided to a trained paraphrase generation model that returns a plurality of alternative text segments having the same or similar meaning as the original user input. An interactive graphical lattice-based representation of the alternative text segments is then presented to the user. One or more words of each alternative text segment represents a “node” of the lattice, while each connection between nodes represents a lattice “edge. Both nodes and edges are user modifiable. Each possible path through the lattice corresponds to a different alternative text segment. Users select a path through the lattice to select an alternative text to the original input.

A method and system for ranking results for a network search query. The method includes receiving a network search query; obtaining weblogs relevant to the search query from a database; scoring the weblogs based on a time when information pertaining to the search query appeared on weblogs; and displaying a ranking of the weblogs.

A system may receive one or more terms of a search query. The system may automatically identify prior search queries that include the one or more terms of the search query from a history of prior search queries. The system may automatically identify possible spelling corrected search queries based on the one or more terms of the search queries. The system may automatically receive remote server-based query completion suggestions including the one or more terms of the search query. The system may present query refinement options, the query refinement box being populated with the prior search queries as suggested queries for possible selection by a user, the identified possible spelling corrected search queries, and the received query completion suggestions.

Community search query technology operable to provide users with the means to collaborate on search queries and share their query results with other users in a community is disclosed. The community search query technology provides a collaborative search engine that utilizes community feedback and personal profiles. The community search query technology also comprises personal task, information management, project creation, listing queries by activity categories, setting deadlines for ongoing search needs, setting up search queues, and annotation of search sessions.

A system and method are disclosed for utilizing local intent to provide geographically relevant information in response to a search query. The search query results and advertisements may be chosen based at least in part on the local intent and geographic range of the search query. The search query may be assigned a location identifier based on the local intent that is used to expand the geographic range for ranking and selecting relevant content and advertisements.

A system, method, and processor readable medium including processor readable code embodied therein are provided that enable a user to refine a search query using a graphical user interface. A user may be presented with a graphical user interface (GUI). The GUI may enable the user to input parameters into a first search query. The first search query may be run in a database. The system may determine whether any documents stored in the database satisfy the first search query. If the system determines that one or more documents satisfy the first search query, the system may retrieve a search results that includes the one or more documents. The system may then determine what type of information is included in the search result. Based on the type of information determination, the system may identify a search refinement option that may enable the user to limit the search result. The user may select a search refinement option to limit the search. The search refinement option may be applied to only those documents found in the search result. In this manner, the search query that includes the search refinement option does not need to be run against all of the objects in the database again.

A computer-implemented method is provided, which includes receiving from a user a first search query consisting of one or more first query terms, and receiving from the user an indication of a desired level of personalization of refinement options for the search query. Responsively to the search query, a set of one or more refinement terms is generated at least in part responsively to the indication. The set of refinement terms is presented to the user. Responsively to a selection of at least one of the refinement terms by the user, the selected at least one refinement term is added to the first search query to generate a second search query. Search results are presented to the user responsively to the second search query. Other embodiments are also described.

Community search query technology operable to provide users with the means to collaborate on search queries and share their query results with other users in a community is disclosed. The community search query technology provides a collaborative search engine that utilizes community feedback and personal profiles. The community search query technology also includes personal task, information management, project creation, listing queries by activity categories, setting deadlines for ongoing search needs, setting up search queues, and annotation of search sessions.

A search service provides a set of search results (420) in response to a search query from a user, and provides one or more suggested search queries (430), for selection by the user to generate more search results, at least one of the suggested search queries having a correspondence with a corresponding subset of one or more of the search results. The set of search results are sent with an indication of the corresponding suggested search queries, for presentation to the user with a visual representation of the correspondence. Such a visual representation can mean locating the suggested search query adjacent to its corresponding search result, and can enable a user to select an appropriate further search query more quickly with a minimum of clicks, or less time for a user reviewing less relevant information or more efficient use of screenspace.

Information retrieval systems face challenging problems with delivering highly relevant and highly inclusive search results in response to a user's query. Contextual personalized information retrieval uses a set of integrated methodologies that can combine automatic concept extraction / matching from text, a powerful fuzzy search engine, and a collaborative user preference learning engine to provide accurate and personalized search results. The system can include constructing a search query to execute a search of a database. The system can parse an input query from a user conducting the search of the database into sub-strings, and can match the sub-strings to concepts in a semantic concept network of a knowledge base. The system can further map the matched concepts to criteria and criteria values that specify a set of constraints on and scoring parameters for the matched concepts.

In one embodiment, a method is illustrated including receiving a search query, parsing the search query to identify first and second search terms, determining a relationship between the first and second search terms based on their respective domain assignments, conducting a search based on the respective domain assignments, and displaying a result of the search based on the respective domain assignments, and the relationship between the first and second search terms, as at least one rephrasing of the search query.

A computer search involves expanding a user query with two synonym dictionaries—actions and object—and then validating the expanded queries by comparison with entries in a Subject-Action-Object Knowledge Database (SAO KB) in a discipline corresponding to the query. The latter is prepared from natural language texts and contains fields with subjects, actions, objects, and “main parts of objects” extracted from the object.

A system determines whether a term of a search query is a term with little significance based on a context of the search query. The system performs a search based on the search query while considering the term with little significance as optional when the search query includes the term with little significance and presents a list of search results based on the search.

A search engine for searching a corpus improves the relevancy of the results by classifying multiple terms in a search query as a single semantic unit. A semantic unit locator of the search engine generates a subset of documents that are generally relevant to the query based on the individual terms within the query. Combinations of search terms that define potential semantic units from the query are then evaluated against the subset of documents to determine which combinations of search terms should be classified as a semantic unit. The resultant semantic units are used to refine the results of the search.

A database search system includes a database of search terms, each search term associated with a bid amount payable by an advertiser of a plurality of advertisers and a search engine responsive to search queries from searchers for searching the database. A flight management agent is responsive to advertiser-specified parameters for adjusting bid amounts of search listings to manage expenditures over a time interval.

A search engine receives a query from an end-user. The search engine executes the query on a content database and identifies a set of matching content. The search engine utilizes the matching content to generate a query vector describing the end-user query. The search engine searches a repository of other vectors, called “centroids,” to produce a ranked set of centroids matching the query vector. These centroids are converted into search queries and form a set of candidate queries. The search engine filters the candidate queries to identify ones that are likely to be meaningful to the end-user. The selected candidate queries are returned to the end-user as query suggestions.

A database search system includes a database of search terms, each search, term associated with a bid amount payable by an advertiser of a plurality of advertisers and a search engine responsive to search queries from searchers for searching the database. A flight management agent is responsive to advertiser-specified parameters for adjusting bid amounts of search listings to manage expenditures over a time interval.

In accordance with one or more embodiments of the invention, a method and system are provided of processing a search query entered by a user of a device having a text input interface with overloaded keys. The search query is directed at identifying an item from a set of items. Each of the items has one or more associated descriptors. The system receives from the user an ambiguous search query directed at identifying a desired item. The search query is a prefix substring of each of at least two words relating to the desired item. The system dynamically identifies a group of one or more items from the set of items having one or more descriptors matching the search query as the user enters each character of the search query. The system outputs identification of the one or more items of the identified group to be displayed on the device operated by the user.

Methods and systems for processing data, including metadata and an index database. In one exemplary method, a first folder, representing a first search query, is stored, and a second folder, representing a second search query wherein the second folder has a predetermined hierarchical relationship to the first folder, is stored, and the search queries are used to search one or both of an index database and a metadata database. In the metadata database, the type of metadata for one file type differs from the type of metadata for another file type.