Entity Chain Identification for Search Accuracy
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Solution Overview
Problem
Search engines face difficulties in identifying whether a local store is part of a chain of stores, often leading to erroneous results due to shared names among unrelated geographic entities, and struggle to provide a consistent user interface for chain members in search results.
Innovation Solution
A method and system for generating and storing entity chain information, where geographic entities are analyzed to identify similarities and groupings, with a similarity score determining membership in an entity chain, and search results are reordered based on this information to provide a consistent user experience.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a search engine assumes that two entities with similar names are part of an entity chain, then the search engine can quickly identify potential chain members, but this leads to erroneous results since unrelated geographic entities can share the same name
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an entity chain identification component that acts as an intermediary between the search query processing and the entity matching process. This component analyzes multiple data sources including entity names, geographic locations, categories, and common features to determine whether entities belong to the same chain, rather than relying on simple name matching alone
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the parameters used for entity comparison from solely name-based matching to a multi-parameter approach that includes geographic location, entity category, common features, and chain-specific attributes. This allows the system to distinguish between unrelated entities with similar names and actual chain members
2Loss of information
If a search engine provides detailed information about each individual store, then the search results are comprehensive, but the user interface becomes inconsistent when searching for chain members
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges information about individual stores with chain-level information to create a unified search result presentation. When entities are identified as part of an entity chain, the system combines their data and presents them in a consistent format that maintains both individual store details and chain-wide context
Solution Approach 2:
The search result generation component is designed to handle both individual entity searches and chain-wide searches uniformly. It automatically adapts the presentation format based on whether the queried entity is part of a chain, providing a universal interface that works consistently for all search types
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and systems for generating and storing entity chain information, and for responding to search queries according to the entity chain information is presented. As a service obtains information regarding geographic entities, a plurality of entity records corresponding to each of a plurality of geographic entities is created (or updated) in an entity store. The service then analyzes the plurality of geographic entities (via the entity information in each of the entity records) to identify geographic entities that belong to an entity chain. Information regarding the identified entity chains are then also stored in the entity store.