App Store Search Query Revision for External Data Integration
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Solution Overview
Problem
App store search results are limited to information hosted within the app store, failing to incorporate relevant external information such as user reviews from online forums, which can provide comprehensive and up-to-date data about apps.
Innovation Solution
The method involves revising an app search query to produce a second query tailored for web searches, analyzing web search results to identify relevant apps, and incorporating these findings into app store search results, allowing for the presentation of relevant apps not solely hosted on the app store without user intervention.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If search is limited to information hosted on the app store, then search results are easy to obtain and control, but the completeness and relevance of search results deteriorate due to exclusion of external information
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a web search engine as an intermediary component that bridges the app store search system and external web information. The web search engine receives queries from the app store, performs web searches, and returns results that are then processed and integrated into the app store search results, enabling external information incorporation without directly integrating all external sources into the app store infrastructure
Solution Approach 2:
The search system is enhanced to perform multiple search functions: it can search within the app store catalog, search the web for additional information, and synthesize results from both sources. This multi-functional approach allows the same search interface to access both internal and external information sources, improving completeness without requiring separate search systems
2Measurement precision
If web search results are incorporated into app store search, then the relevance and accuracy of search results improve, but the processing time and computational resources increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs web searches selectively rather than for all queries. It determines when web searching is necessary based on query characteristics, app store result quality, and user behavior patterns. For some queries, only app store search is performed, while for other queries web search is added to enhance results, optimizing the balance between accuracy improvement and time expenditure
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary analysis of app store search results before initiating web searches. It evaluates the quality and completeness of initial app store results to determine whether additional web searching is needed, avoiding unnecessary web searches when app store results are already sufficient, thus reducing processing time while maintaining accuracy
3Adaptability or versatility
If external web information is used to annotate apps, then the versatility and usefulness of search results improve, but the complexity of data processing and integration increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses feedback from web search results to improve future app store search results. User interactions with web-search-enhanced results, such as clicks, downloads, and feedback, are analyzed to refine the weighting and selection of web-searched information in future queries, creating an adaptive system that learns from user behavior to optimize data integration complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts relevant information from web pages and isolates it as separate data structures that can be processed and integrated into the app store search system. By extracting and organizing web information into structured formats (such as app metadata, user reviews, ratings), the system reduces the complexity of integrating unstructured web data while maintaining versatility
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for providing app store search results. An example method includes responsive to a first search query directed to an app store: revising the first search query to produce a second search query different from the first search query; obtaining, from an Internet search engine, second search results responsive to the second search query; analyzing the second search results to identify apps available on the app store that are relevant to the second search query; obtaining, from the app store, first search results responsive to the first search query that identify apps available in the app store; and modifying the first search results based on analyzing the second search results.