Entity page generation and entity related searching

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10437859-B2
Application number	US-201415115505-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 30, 2014
Priority date	Jan 30, 2014
Publication date	Oct 8, 2019
Grant date	Oct 8, 2019

Abstract

Entity pages are created that are optimized for search engines to return entity information from the entity pages in response to search queries. An entity page may be created for an entity by identifying electronic content sources that include data about the entity. Usage data indicative of how users have consumed data at the electronic content sources is also determined. The usage data is analyzed to identify topics for the entity and topic content is retrieved from the electronic content sources to create topic summaries. An entity page with the topics summaries is generated. When a search engine receives a search query related to the entity, the search engine may provide information from the entity page in response to the search query.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. One or more computer storage media storing computer-useable instructions that, when used by one or more computing devices, cause the one or more computing devices to perform operations for a search engine to generate an entity page with information regarding an entity, the operations comprising:
accessing usage data comprising information indicating how a plurality of users have consumed data from electronic content sources identified as content sources for an entity, the usage data including at least one of search query data, question data, and comment data, the search query data comprising search queries that resulted in one or more of the electronic content sources as search results, the question data comprising questions submitted on one or more of the electronic content sources, and the comments data comprising comments submitted on one or more of the electronic content sources;
identifying a plurality of topics regarding the entity by analyzing the search queries and/or questions or comments from the usage data, each topic from the plurality of topics corresponding to an aspect of the entity;
generating a topic summary for each of the topics using topic content accessed for each of the topics, the topic summary for each of the topics comprising information addressing the aspect of the entity corresponding to the topic;
generating an entity page identifying each of the topics and including the topic summary for each of the topics;
storing the entity page at a data store of the search engine;
receiving a search query submitted by a user;
analyzing the search query to determine the search query is directed to a first topic from the plurality of topics regarding the entity, the first topic corresponding to a first aspect of the entity;
retrieving information from the topic summary for the first topic included in the topic page, the topic summary of the first topic comprising information addressing the first aspect of the entity; and
providing the information in response to the search query for presentation to the user.

2. The one or more computer storage media of claim 1 , wherein the electronic content sources comprise premium content sources including at least one selected from the following: an encyclopedia site, a question and answer site, a social networking service, a business review site, and a product shopping or review site.

3. The one or more computer storage media of claim 1 , wherein accessing the usage data regarding the entity and identifying the topics regarding the entity based on the usage data comprises:
analyzing search engine query logs to identify search queries that resulted in user selections of search results corresponding with at least one of the electronic content sources; and
identifying at least a portion of the topics based on the identified search queries.

4. The one or more computer storage media of claim 1 , wherein accessing the usage data regarding the entity and identifying the topics regarding the entity based on the usage data comprises:
identifying questions regarding the entity submitted by users on at least one selected from the following: a question and answer site, a social networking service, a business review site, and a product shopping or review site; and
identifying at least a portion of the topics based on the identified questions.

5. The one or more computer storage media of claim 1 , wherein identifying the plurality of topics regarding the entity based on the usage data comprises:
clustering usage data into a plurality of clusters; and
identifying a topic for each cluster.

6. The one or more computer storage media of claim 5 , wherein identifying the plurality of topics comprises ranking topics based on popularity information determined for each topic and selecting a set of topics as the plurality of topics based on the rankings.

7. The one or more computer storage media of claim 1 , wherein the topic summary for the first topic comprises a question and answer pair.

8. The one or more computer storage media of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:
generating an entity summary based on information from the electronic content sources; and
wherein the entity page includes the entity summary.

9. A method, performed by one or more processors of a search engine, to generate an entity page with information regarding an entity, the method comprising:
analyzing information from search engine query logs stored by the search engine to identify a plurality of search queries from a plurality of users that resulted in user selections of search results corresponding with electronic content sources identified as content sources for an entity;
identifying a plurality of topics regarding the entity based on the plurality of search queries, each topic from the plurality of topics corresponding to an aspect of the entity;
accessing content from the electronic content sources for the entity to generate a topic summary for each of the plurality of topics, the topic summary for each of the topics comprising information addressing the aspect of the entity corresponding to the topic;
generating an entity page for the entity that identifies each of the topics and includes the topic summary for each of the topics;
storing the entity page at a data store of the search engine;
receiving a search query submitted by a user;
analyzing the search query to determine the search query is directed to a first topic from the plurality of topics regarding the entity, the first topic corresponding to a first aspect of the entity;
retrieving information from the topic summary for the first topic included in the topic page, the topic summary of the first topic comprising information addressing the first aspect of the entity; and
providing the information in response to the search query for presentation to the user.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein identifying the plurality of topics regarding the entity based on the plurality of search queries comprises:
clustering search queries into a plurality of clusters; and
identifying a topic for each cluster.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein identifying the plurality of topics comprises ranking topics based on popularity information determined for each topic and selecting a set of topics as the plurality of topics based on the rankings.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein the topic summary for the first topic comprises a question and answer pair.

13. The method of claim 9 , wherein the operations further comprise:
generating an entity summary based on information from the electronic content sources; and
wherein the entity page includes the entity summary.

14. A system comprising:
one or more processors of a search engine; and
one or more computer storage media storing computer-useable instructions that, when used by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
analyze search engine query logs stored by the search engine to identify a plurality of search queries from a plurality of users that resulted in user selections of search results corresponding with electronic content sources identified as content sources for an entity;
identify a plurality of user-submitted questions regarding the entity on the electronic content sources;
identify a plurality of topics regarding the entity based on the plurality of search queries and the plurality of user-submitted questions, each topic from the plurality of topics corresponding to an aspect of the entity;
generate an entity page that includes the plurality of topics and topic content for each of the topics, the topic content for each of

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc
• Jing Kun
• Zhang Haoyong
• Yang Xiaosong
• Li Jian
• Peng Shuang

Inventors

• Jing Kun
• Zhang Haoyong
• Yang Xiaosong
• Li Jian
• Peng Shuang

Classifications

• G06F16/958

  Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking · CPC title

• G06F16/285 Primary

  Clustering or classification · CPC title

• G06F16/951 Primary

  Indexing; Web crawling techniques · CPC title