Hierarchical Concept Clusters for Ambiguous Search Input
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Solution Overview
Problem
Incremental search systems on input and display constrained devices face challenges in presenting relevant results when user input is sparse or ambiguous, especially with overloaded keypads, leading to increased results and cognitive load on display constrained devices.
Innovation Solution
A method of dynamically rearranging search results into hierarchically organized concept clusters using metadata to group content items into explicit and user-implied clusters, allowing for better organization and presentation of results based on common themes and user input, even with ambiguous text inputs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If incremental search is used on input constrained devices, then the amount of text input is reduced, but the results become ambiguous and less relevant
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments search results into hierarchical concept clusters based on metadata relationships. Results are organized from general to specific concepts, allowing users to navigate through clustered groups rather than viewing flat ambiguous results. This segmentation resolves the contradiction by maintaining ease of incremental input while improving result relevance through structured organization.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces concept clusters as intermediary structures between the user's ambiguous incremental search input and the actual content results. These clusters act as mediators that interpret ambiguous input by grouping related results under hierarchical concept headings, thereby improving relevance without requiring more precise user input.
2Adaptability or versatility
If ambiguous text input is accepted, then more potential results are returned, but cognitive load increases on display constrained devices
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting ambiguous search results into hierarchical concept clusters, the patent reduces the cognitive load of processing ambiguous input. Instead of presenting users with a flat list of potentially unrelated results, the system organizes them into structured clusters that reveal patterns and relationships, making the information more manageable despite input flexibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent adds a hierarchical dimension to search results by organizing them into concept clusters with multiple levels. This dimensional transformation takes the flat, ambiguous result set and structures it vertically into nested clusters, allowing users to navigate through layers of abstraction rather than processing all results at once, thereby reducing cognitive load while maintaining input versatility.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods of and systems for dynamically rearranging search results into hierarchically organized concept clusters are provided. A method of searching for and presenting content items as an arrangement of conceptual clusters to facilitate further search and navigation on a display-constrained device includes providing a set of content items and receiving incremental input to incrementally identify search terms for content items. Content items are selected and grouped into sets based on how the incremental input matches various metadata associated with the content items. The selected content items are grouped into explicit conceptual clusters and user-implied conceptual clusters based on metadata in common to the selected content items. The clustered content items are presented according to the conceptual clusters into which they are grouped.