Search Alert System Using PageRank Thresholds
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users are overwhelmed by numerous search results from search engines, and existing systems require manual registration of queries to receive alerts for continuing interests, leading to irrelevant notifications due to minor changes in web content or ranking algorithms.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented method that accesses Internet usage data to identify and rerun search queries corresponding to continuing user interests, evaluates new search results based on predefined criteria, and sends relevant links to the user for display, without explicit user input.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the search engine sends alerts for all changes to search results, then the user is notified of new information, but the user receives too many uninteresting results due to minor changes or spurious ranking changes
Solution Approach 1:
The system changes the parameter of alert selection by using PageRank scores as a threshold criterion. Only documents whose PageRank scores exceed a predetermined threshold are selected for alerting, filtering out low-quality or spurious results while maintaining notification of genuinely important new content.
2Ease of operation
If the user explicitly registers queries for alerts, then the user receives notifications for queries of interest, but the process is too inconvenient for most users
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs self-service by automatically analyzing the user's search history to identify queries of continuing interest. The PageRank algorithm autonomously determines which historical queries warrant alerting based on document importance metrics, eliminating the need for manual user registration while maintaining accuracy in identifying user interests.
3Productivity
If the search engine reruns all prior search queries, then new results are found, but the system generates excessive notifications for queries without continuing interest
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies partial action by selectively rerunning only those search queries identified as having continuing interest, rather than rerunning all historical queries. This selective approach uses PageRank analysis to determine which queries warrant rerunning, conserving computational resources while maintaining productivity in discovering new relevant results.
Data Source
AI summary
A method, system, and graphical user interface for alerting a computer user to new results for a prior search are disclosed. One aspect of the invention involves a graphical user interface on a computer that includes a plurality of links recommended by a search engine for a computer user. The plurality of links are determined by the search engine by: producing search results by rerunning a plurality of search queries that have been performed previously for the computer user, and evaluating the produced search results to select search results that meet predefined search result selection criteria. At least one of the criteria is based on Internet usage data for the user.