Hierarchical contextual search suggestions

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11762863-B2
Application number	US-201715783582-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 13, 2017
Priority date	Oct 13, 2017
Publication date	Sep 19, 2023
Grant date	Sep 19, 2023

Abstract

Examples of the present disclosure describe systems and methods relating to hierarchical contextual search suggestions. In an example, search suggestions may be provided to a user searching for content of a content management platform. In some examples, the content management platform may manage hierarchical content, such that search suggestions provided to the user for a search query may be associated with content at a level of the hierarchical content accessed by the user. If there is not a sufficient number of search suggestions to provide to the user at the current level of the hierarchy, additional and/or alternative search suggestions may be generated for the user based on content from a different level of the hierarchy. As a result, the user may continue to receive relevant search suggestions, while reducing the amount of computing overhead and analysis used to generate such search suggestions.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
at least one processor; and
memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the system to perform operations, comprising:
receiving a partial search query;
determining context information associated with the partial search query, the context information corresponding to user activity data;
determining, in a data store comprising hierarchical content, a first hierarchical level that is related to the context information;
generating a first set of search suggestions for the partial search query, wherein each search suggestions of the first set of search suggestions is associated with the first hierarchical level;
in response to generating the first set of search suggestions, evaluating quality of the first set of search suggestions based on a relevance metric determined using an automated relevancy ranking module, wherein the relevance metric indicates a relevancy of the first set of search suggestions to the partial search query;
based on determining the quality of the first set of search suggestions is below a threshold, generating a second set of search suggestions for the partial search query, each search suggestion of the second set of search suggestions being associated with a second hierarchical level of the data store, wherein the second hierarchical level is related to the user activity data and is different than the first hierarchical level; and
providing the first set of search suggestions and the second set of search suggestions in response to the partial search query, wherein the first set of search suggestions is provided with an indication of the first hierarchical level and the second set of search suggestions is provided with an indication of the second hierarchical level.

2. The system of claim 1 , further comprising instructions for ranking at least one of the first set of search suggestions or the second set of search suggestions based on the context information.

3. The system of claim 1 , further comprising instructions for evaluating a number of search results in the first set of search suggestions based, at least in part, on whether the number of search results from the data store satisfies a predetermined threshold.

4. The system of claim 1 , further comprising instructions for evaluating one or more search results of the first set of search suggestions based, at least in part, on relevance to the partial search query to determine whether to generate additional search results.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein providing the first set of search suggestions and the second set of search suggestions comprises providing information about a hierarchical level for each search result of the first set of search suggestions or the second set of search suggestions.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein providing the first set of search suggestions and the second set of search suggestions comprises selecting a number of search results from the first set of search suggestions or the second set of search suggestions based on a quantity indication in the context information.

7. The system of claim 1 , further comprising instructions for evaluating quality of the second set of search suggestions based on the relevance metric.

8. A method for generating a set of search results for a search query, comprising:
receiving, at a computing device, a partial search query and context information, the context information corresponding to user activity data;
determining an indication of a first hierarchical level of hierarchical content stored in a data store, wherein the first hierarchical level is related to the context information;
determining a first set of search results based on the partial search query, wherein one or more search results of the first set of search results is associated with the first hierarchical level;
in response to determining the first set of search results, evaluating quality of the set of search results based on a relevance metric determined using an automated relevancy ranking module, wherein the relevance metric indicates a relevancy of the set of search results to the partial search query;
based on determining the quality of the first set of search results is below a threshold, identifying additional content, generating a second set of search suggestions for the partial search query, each search suggestion of the second set of search suggestions being associated with a second hierarchical level of the data store and wherein the second hierarchical level is different than the first hierarchical level; and
providing the first set of search results and the second set of search results in response to the partial search query, wherein the first set of search results is provided with an indication of the first hierarchical level and the second set of search results is provided with an indication of the second hierarchical level.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein determining the first set of search results comprises accessing a pre-generated search result data store at the computing device.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
evaluating the search result data store to determine whether to perform an update; and
when it is determined to perform an update, generating a request for updated search result information.

11. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
evaluating a number of search results in the first set of search results based on a predetermined threshold to determine whether to generate additional search results for the partial search query.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein determining to generate additional search results comprises evaluating one or more search results of the first set of search results based on relevance to the partial search query.

13. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
evaluating quality of the second set of search suggestions based on the relevance metric.

14. A device comprising:
a processor; and
memory storing instructions that, when executed, causes the device to perform operations comprising:
receiving a partial search query and context information;
determining an indication of a first hierarchical level of hierarchical content stored in a data store, wherein the first hierarchical level is related to the context information corresponding to user activity data;
generating a first set of search results based on the partial search query, wherein each search result of the first set of search results is associated with the first hierarchical level;
in response to generating the first set of search results, evaluating quality of the first set of search results based on a relevance metric determined using an automated relevancy ranking module, wherein the relevance metric indicates a relevancy of the first set of search results to the partial search query;
based on determining the quality of the first set of search results is below a threshold, generating a second set of search suggestions for the partial search query, each search suggestion of the second set of search suggestions being associated with a second hierarchical level of the data store, and wherein the second hierarchical level is related to the user activity data and is different than the first hierarchical level; and
providing the first set of search suggestions and the second set of search suggestions in response to the partial search query, wherein the first set of search suggestions is provided with an indication of the first hierarchical level and the second set of search suggestions is provided with an indication of the second hierarchical level.

15. The device of

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Johansen Knut Kristian
• Olsen Bernt Ivar

Classifications

• G06F16/95 Primary

  Retrieval from the web · CPC title

• G06F16/24575 Primary

  using context · CPC title

• G06F16/24578

  using ranking · CPC title

• G06F16/248

  Presentation of query results · CPC title