Personalized content suggestions in computer networks

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10963528-B2
Application number	US-201916543905-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 19, 2019
Priority date	May 2, 2016
Publication date	Mar 30, 2021
Grant date	Mar 30, 2021

Abstract

Computer systems, devices, and associated methods of providing personalized content suggestion are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, a method performed by a search engine includes receiving an indication to perform a search for content items from a member. In response to the received indication, the search engine generates a list of content items represented as nodes in an interaction graph. The nodes uniquely correspond to the member from whom the indication to perform the search is received. In the nodes, at least one is indirectly connected to a node representing the member via at least one other node in the interaction graph.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method for providing personalized content suggestions in a computer system accessible to multiple members via a computer network, the method comprising:
receiving, via the computer network, an input representing an indication to perform a search for content items from a member; and
in response to receiving the input representing the indication, with the computer system,
generating a list of content items corresponding to the member by querying, according to a first level of indirectness, an interaction graph having (i) multiple interconnected nodes each representing one of the members or a content item and (ii) a plurality of interaction indicators individually between pairs of the nodes, wherein at least one of the content item in the generated list corresponds to a node that is indirectly connected at the first level of indirectness to another node representing the member;
determining whether a number of the content items in the generated list is below a preset threshold;
in response to determining that the number of the content items in the generated list is below the preset threshold, regenerating the list of content items by querying the interaction graph according to a second level of indirectness higher than the first level of indirectness; and
presenting at least some of the content items in the regenerated list to the member via the computer network.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving the input representing the indication to perform the search includes receiving, from the member, a click on a search box displayed on a webpage or detecting hovering of a cursor over the search box on the webpage.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein providing the personalized content suggestion includes separating at least some of the generated list of content items into two or more groups based on corresponding content types and causing the provided personalized content suggestion to be displayed in the two or more groups.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
subsequent to presenting at least some of the content items,
receiving a search query from the member, the received search query containing a keyword; and
in response to receiving the search query, filtering the content items in the generated list based on the keyword in the search query.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
subsequent to presenting at least some of the content items,
receiving a search query from the member, the received search query containing a keyword;
in response to receiving the search query,
filtering the content items in the generated list based on the keyword in the search query; and
dynamically updating the presented at least some of the content items based on the filtered list of content items.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein:
the member is a first member;
the node representing the member is a first node on the interaction graph; and
the at least one of the nodes indirectly connected to the node representing the member includes a node representing a document or website interacted with by a second member corresponding to a second node directly connected to the first node representing the first member.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein:
the node representing the member is a first node; and
the at least one of the nodes indirectly connected to the node representing the member includes a second node representing a document contained on a website interacted with by the member, wherein the document has not been directly interacted with by the member.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein:
the node representing the member is a first node;
the interaction graph further includes a second node directly connected to the first node, the second node representing an expertise of the member; and
the at least one of the nodes indirectly connected to the node representing the member includes a node representing a document or website interacted with by other members with the same expertise.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein generating the list of content items includes:
identifying, in the interaction graph, a first group of nodes indirectly connected to the node representing the member by a single other node;
determining whether a number of the identified first group of nodes exceeds a threshold; and
in response to determining that the number of the identified first group of nodes does not exceed the threshold, identifying, in the interaction graph, a second group of nodes indirectly connected to the node representing the member by two other nodes.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein:
the member is a first member;
the node representing the member is a first node;
the generate list of content items is a first list of content items; and
the method further includes:
receiving another indication to perform another search for content items from a second member; and
in response to the received another indication, generating a second list of content items by identifying a first group of nodes directly connected to the second member and a second group of nodes indirectly connected to a node representing the second member by at least one another node; and
the generated first list contains content items different than those in the generated second list.

11. A computing system, comprising:
a processor; and
a memory containing instructions executable by the processor to cause the processor to:
upon receiving, via a computer network, an indication to perform a search for content items from a member of an organization having multiple members,
identify a first node corresponding to the member in an interaction graph associated with the organization, the interaction graph having multiple nodes individually representing one of the members or a content item accessible within the organization, individual pairs of the nodes being interconnected by an interaction indicator representing prior interaction therebetween;
identify, according to a first level of indirectness, a set of second nodes indirectly connected to the first node via multiple interaction indicators in the interaction graph;
determine whether a number of the second nodes in the identified set is below a preset threshold;
in response to determining that the number of the second nodes in the identified set is below the preset threshold, regenerating the set by querying the interaction graph according to a second level of indirectness higher than the first level of indirectness; and
present at least some of the identified second nodes in the regenerated set as a search suggestion to the member via the computer network.

12. The computing device of claim 11 wherein to identify the set of the second nodes includes to traverse the interaction graph from the first node to one of the second nodes via an intermediate node connected to both the first and second nodes by first and second interaction indicators, respectively.

13. The computing device of claim 11 wherein:
to identify the set of the second nodes includes to traverse the interaction graph from the first node to one of the second nodes via an intermediate node connected to both the first and second nodes by first and second interaction indicators, respectively;
the second node corresponding to a content item accessible within the organization; and
the intermediate node corresponding to another member who has interacted with the content item represented by the second node.

14. The computing device of claim 11 wherein:
to identify the set of the second nodes includes to traverse the interaction graph from the first node to one of the second node via an intermediate node conne

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Meyerzon Dmitriy
• Voronkov Nikita
• Ray Aninda
• Skarbovsky Alina

Classifications

• G06F16/9535 Primary

  Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation · CPC title

• G06F16/248

  Presentation of query results · CPC title

• G06F16/90328

  using search space presentation or visualization, e.g. category or range presentation and selection · CPC title