Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090327256 | GRAMMAR COMPRESSION - Compression of extensive, rule-based grammars used to facilitate search queries is provided herein. Rule-based grammars includes a list of rules that each comprise a sequence of token classes. Each token class is a logical grouping of tokens, and each token is a string of characters. A grammar is parsed to identify rules and token classes. Unimportant token classes are identified and sets of unimportant token classes are merged to generated merged token classes. A compressed grammar is generated by substituting the merged token classes into the grammar for corresponding unimportant token classes used to generate the merged token classes. | 12-31-2009 |
20100241647 | Context-Aware Query Recommendations - Described is a search-related technology in which context information regarding a user's prior search actions is used in making query recommendations for a current user action, such as a query or click. To determine whether each set or subset of context information is relevant to the user action, data obtained from a query log is evaluated. More particularly, a query transition (query-query) graph and a query click (query-URL) graph are extracted from the query log; vectors are computed for the current action and each context/sub-context and evaluated against vectors in the graphs to determine current action-to-context similarity. Also described is using similar context to provide the query recommendations, using parameters to control the similarity strictness, and/or whether more recent context information is more relevant than less recent context information, and using context information to distinguish between user sessions. | 09-23-2010 |
20100306214 | IDENTIFYING MODIFIERS IN WEB QUERIES OVER STRUCTURED DATA - Described is using modifiers in online search queries for queries that map to a database table. A modifier (e.g., an adjective or a preposition) specifies the intended meaning of a target, in which the target maps to a column in that table. The modifier thus corresponds to one or more functions that determine which rows of data in the column match the query, e.g., “cameras under $400” maps to a camera (or product) table, and “under” is the modifier that represents a function (less than) that is used to evaluate a “price” target/data column. Also described are different classes of modifiers, and generating the dictionaries for a domain (corresponding to a table) via query log mining. | 12-02-2010 |
20100318546 | SYNOPSIS OF A SEARCH LOG THAT RESPECTS USER PRIVACY - Described is releasing output data representing a search log, in which the data is suitable for most data mining/analysis applications, but is safe to publish by preserving user privacy. The search log is processed such that a query is only included if a sufficient count of that query is present; noise may be added. User contributions that are considered may be limited to a maximum number of queries. The output may indicate how often (possibly plus noise) that each query appeared. Other output may comprise a query-action graph, a query-inaction graph and/or a query-reformulation graph, with nodes representing queries and nodes representing actions, inactions or reformulations (e.g., clicked URLs, skipped URLs, or selected related queries), and edges between nodes representing action, skip or selection counts (possibly plus noise). The output may correspond to the top results/related queries returned from a search. | 12-16-2010 |
20110047171 | ANSWERING WEB QUERIES USING STRUCTURED DATA SOURCES - Described is answering online web queries from a structured data store, such as a products database. An online web search query is modified into an evaluation expression for accessing a structured data store (e.g., a database, XML file, a flat table) to find search results. A query is matched to a pattern, which is used to generate the expression, as well as determine to which structured data store the query is routed. Tokens (e.g., words) in the query are processed against a dictionary of token classes (sets of tokens) and patterns (sets of token classes) to annotate the query to map the query to the matching pattern. A translation process generates the expression based on translation hints that correspond to the matching pattern. Also described is offline mining of query logs to generate the dictionaries. | 02-24-2011 |
20110173191 | ASSESSING QUALITY OF USER REVIEWS - User generated reviews and scores associated with the reviews may be used to train a review scoring model with textual features of the reviews. The review scoring model may be used to predict scores for newly received reviews. One or more constraints based on social networking application data associated with an author of a review may be used to adjust the predicted score of the review. | 07-14-2011 |
20110307517 | RELAXATION FOR STRUCTURED QUERIES - A structured query may specify attribute values for attributes. An estimate of the number of items that will match the structured query if it is applied to a structured database is determined. If the estimated number of items is below a threshold, the structured query may be relaxed to form new candidate structured queries. The number of candidate queries may be determined based on a desired running time. Each of the candidate structured queries may be determined by changing one or more attribute values of the attributes of the structured query. Estimates of the number of items each of the candidate structured queries will match is determined, and the candidate structured query that has the highest matching estimation is used to query the database. The matching results may be output. | 12-15-2011 |
20110313993 | GRAMMAR COMPRESSION - Compression of extensive, rule-based grammars used to facilitate search queries is provided herein. Rule-based grammars include a list of rules that each comprise a sequence of token classes. Each token class is a logical grouping of tokens, and each token is a string of characters. A grammar is parsed to identify rules and token classes. Unimportant token classes are identified and sets of unimportant token classes are merged to generated merged token classes. A compressed grammar is generated by substituting the merged token classes into the grammar for corresponding unimportant token classes used to generate the merged token classes. | 12-22-2011 |
20120226661 | INDEXING FOR LIMITED SEARCH SERVER AVAILABILITY - Documents are replicated among servers comprising a search engine based on the value of each document by approximating its value as one of the top search results for one or more exemplary queries. Documents are allocated among servers comprising a search engine by calculating a relevance value for each document and then distributing the documents evenly to the servers. A subset of servers are selected from among a plurality of servers comprising a search engine using term-based, server-specific histograms reflecting the number of instances of the term in each document allocated to each server, and then selecting servers to service a query based on the documents on those servers. | 09-06-2012 |