Search Engine Social Annotation Focus Score
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing search engines often provide low-quality social annotations that clutter search results, diminishing their value and affecting user experience, as they fail to differentiate between navigation and non-navigation queries and adjust annotation quality accordingly.
Innovation Solution
A method to calculate a focus score for search queries, determining the relevance of social annotations by processing users' selections for similar queries, and adjusting the quality of annotations based on the focus score to prioritize valuable annotations for non-navigation queries while minimizing clutter.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If social annotations are provided for all search queries, then user engagement may increase, but search results become cluttered and quality deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by differentiating annotation display based on query type. Navigation queries (e.g., searching for a specific website) receive no annotations, while non-navigation queries (e.g., informational searches) receive annotations. This localized application of annotations ensures they appear only where beneficial, preventing clutter in contexts where they would be harmful while maintaining engagement where they add value.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the parameter of annotation presence based on query characteristics. By calculating a focus score and determining query type, the system dynamically adjusts whether annotations are displayed. This parameter change allows the search results to adapt to different user intents, showing annotations only when they enhance rather than degrade the user experience.
2Loss of information
If social annotations are displayed for navigation queries, then more information is provided, but the annotations are less valuable and consume valuable space
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by making annotation display dependent on query type. For navigation queries where users seek specific destinations, annotations are suppressed because they don't add value. For non-navigation queries where users explore information, annotations are displayed to provide social context. This spatial differentiation ensures annotations appear only where they maintain high reliability and value.
3Quantity of substance
If low-quality annotations are displayed, then more annotations can be shown, but user experience deteriorates due to irrelevant information
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the parameter of annotation quality requirements based on query focus score. For high-focus queries where annotations are displayed, the system lowers the quality threshold to allow more annotations to appear. For low-focus queries where annotations would be less valuable, the system raises the quality threshold or suppresses annotations entirely. This dynamic parameter adjustment optimizes both quantity and relevance of displayed annotations.
Data Source
AI summary
A method including obtaining search results for a search query, determining a type of the search query, calculating a degree of focus score for the search query when the type of the search query is a non-navigation type, determining one or more social annotations to provide for display along with the search results based on the degree of focus score, and providing the one or more social annotations for display with the search results.