Providing search results based on a compositional query

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11003729-B2
Application number	US-201214651381-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 12, 2012
Priority date	Dec 12, 2012
Publication date	May 11, 2021
Grant date	May 11, 2021

Abstract

A technique for providing search results may include determining a first entity type, a second entity type, and a relationship type based on a compositional query. The technique may also include identifying nodes of a knowledge graph corresponding to entity references of the first entity type and entity references of the second entity type. The technique may also include determining from the knowledge graph an attribute value corresponding to the relationship type for each entity reference of the first entity type and for each entity reference of the second entity type. The technique may also include comparing the attribute value of each entity reference of the first entity type with the attribute value of each entity reference of the second entity type. The technique may also include determining one or more resultant entity references from the entity references of the first entity type based on the comparing.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
determining, using at least one or more processors, a first entity type, a second entity type, and a spatial relationship based on a compositional query submitted via a text box of a geographical user interface, wherein the spatial relationship defines a distance criterion between the first entity type and the second entity type;
identifying, using at least one or more of the processors, nodes of a knowledge graph corresponding to entity references of the first entity type and entity references of the second entity type;
determining, from the knowledge graph, using at least one or more of the processors, a location for each entity reference of the first entity type and for each entity reference of the second entity type;
comparing, using at least one or more of the processors, the location of each entity reference of the first entity type with the location of each entity reference of the second entity type to determine a distance between each of the entity references of the first entity type and each of the entity references of the second entity type;
determining, using at least one or more of the processors, two or more first resultant entity references from the entity references of the first entity type and two or more second resultant entity references from the entity references of the second entity type based on the distances between one or more of the first resultant entity references of the first entity type and one or more of the second resultant entity references of the second entity type satisfying the distance criterion defined by the spatial relationship determined based on the compositional query;
causing to be displayed, as locational annotations on a map of the geographical user interface, using at least one or more of the processors, search results for the compositional query, the search results including the two or more first resultant entity references and the two or more second resultant entity references,
wherein the two or more first resultant entity references are assigned a first representation as the locational annotations, on the map of the geographical user interface, for the two or more first resultant entity references,
wherein the two or more second resultant entity references are assigned a second representation as the locational annotations, on the map of the geographical user interface, for the two or more second resultant entity references, and
wherein the second representation is distinct from the first representation; and

causing to be provided, using at least one or more of the processors, a filter menu along with the map of the geographical user interface and along with the search results for the compositional query, the filter menu allowing the search results for the compositional query to be adjusted on the map of the geographical user interface in response to user interaction with the filter menu, the user interaction with the filter menu adjusting the distance criterion defined by the spatial relationship.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the comparing further comprises accessing a reference table comprising a plurality of comparison values between entity references of the first entity type and entity references of the second entity type.

3. A computer-implemented method comprising:
receiving, using at least one or more processors, a compositional query indicating a first entity type, a second entity type, and a spatial relationship between a plurality of entity references of the first entity type and a plurality of entity references of the second entity type, wherein the spatial relationship defines a distance criterion, and wherein the compositional query is received via a text box of a geographical user interface;
determining, using at least one or more of the processors, from a knowledge graph, two or more pairs of entity references that meet the distance criterion, the two or more pairs comprising at least:
a first pair of entity references that includes a first entity reference, of the entity references of the first entity type, and a second entity reference, of the entity references of the second entity type, and
a second pair of entity references that includes an additional first entity reference, of the entity references of the first entity type and an additional second entity reference, of the entity references of the second entity type wherein the additional first entity reference is in addition to the first entity reference, and wherein the additional second entity reference is in addition to the second entity reference; and

causing to be displayed, using at least one or more of the processors, from the two or more pairs, representations of the entity references of the first entity type and the entity references of the second entity type, wherein causing to be displayed the representations of the entity references comprises:
initially causing to be displayed an initial map of a geographical user interface that includes the representations of the plurality of entity references of the first entity type and the plurality of entity references of the second entity type from the two or more pairs, the representations being displayed as locational annotations on the initial map of the geographical user interface,
wherein the first entity reference, of each of the two or more pairs of entity references, is assigned a first representation, of the representations, as the locational annotations on the map of the geographical user interface,
wherein the second entity reference, of each of the two or more pairs of entity references, is assigned a second representation, of the representations, as the locational annotations on the map of the geographical user interface, and
wherein the second representation is distinct from the first representation, and

causing to be removed, from the initial map of the geographical user interface, and based on user interaction with a filter menu that is displayed along with the initial map of the geographical user interface, representations of entity references not included in the two or more pairs, the user interaction with the filter menu altering the distance criterion defined by the spatial relationship, wherein a range of the distance criterion is based on the user interaction with the filter menu on the initial map of the geographical user interface.

4. A system comprising:
a database comprising a knowledge graph; and
one or more processors configured to perform operations comprising:
determining a first entity type, a second entity type, and a spatial relationship based on a compositional query submitted via a text box of a geographical user interface, wherein the spatial relationship defines a distance criterion between the first entity type and the second entity type;
identifying nodes of the knowledge graph corresponding to entity references of the first entity type and entity references of the second entity type;
determining, from the knowledge graph, a location for each entity reference of the first entity type and for each entity reference of the second entity type;
comparing the location of each entity reference of the first entity type with the location of each entity reference of the second entity type to determine a distance between each of the entity references of the first entity type and each of the entity references of the second entity type;
determining two or more first resultant entity references from the entity references of the first entity type and two or more second result resultant entity references from the entity references of the second entity type based on the distances between one or more of the first resultant entity references of the first entity type and one or more of the second resultant entity references of the second entity type satisfying t

Assignees

• Google Inc
• Lou Jinyu
• Google Llc

Inventors

• Lou Jinyu
• Chai Ying
• Ding Chen
• Chen Lijie
• Hu Liang
• Liu Kejia
• Pan Weibin
• Huang Yanlai
• Huynh David Francois

Classifications

• G06F16/284

  Relational databases · CPC title

• G06F16/288

  Entity relationship models · CPC title

• G06F16/248

  Presentation of query results · CPC title

• G06F16/9537 Primary

  Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries · CPC title