Social static ranking for search

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9298835-B2
Application number	US-201414556430-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 1, 2014
Priority date	Jul 27, 2012
Publication date	Mar 29, 2016
Grant date	Mar 29, 2016

Abstract

In one embodiment, one or more computing devices receive, from a client device of a first user, a query from the first user. The computer devices search a social graph to identify one or more nodes of the social graph that are relevant to the query. The computer devices obtain a static rank for each identified node. The static rank is based at least in part on a number of edges of a particular edge type that are connected to the node in the graph or attributes of edges connected to the node in the graph. The computer devices send to the client device of the first user for display, a search-results page responsive to the received query. The search-results page includes reference to one or more nodes having a static rank greater than a threshold rank.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising, by one or more computing devices:
receiving, from a client device of a first user, a query from the first user;
searching a social graph to identify one or more nodes of the social graph that are relevant to the query;
obtaining a static rank for each identified node, wherein the static rank is based at least in part on a number of edges of a particular edge type that are connected to the node in the graph or attributes of edges connected to the node in the graph and based at least in part on a value for each node assigned to one of a plurality of search indices, wherein the value is calculated based at least in part on one or more factors, wherein the factors comprise a number of edges of a particular edge type that are connected to the node in the graph or attributes of edges connected to the node in the graph, and wherein the value comprises a combination of sub-values, each sub-value being calculated for one of a plurality of edge types connected to the node; and
sending to the client device of the first user for display, a search-results page responsive to the received query, the search-results page comprising reference to one or more nodes having a static rank greater than a threshold rank.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising assigning each of a plurality of nodes of the graph of a social-networking system to one of the plurality of search indices, each search index corresponding to a node type, each node assigned to a search index comprising the node type that the search index corresponds to.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising ranking the nodes assigned to the search index based at least in part on their values.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising providing search indices for storage to facilitate responding to queries encompassing objects represented by the nodes assigned to the search indices.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the static rank is based at least in part on the search indices.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the search indices are stored within the social-networking system.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising retrieving search results comprising one or more nodes that are relevant to the query and wherein the search-results page includes the search results.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein retrieving search results comprises:
identifying a set of nodes having a static rank greater than a threshold; and
ranking the set of nodes using a ranking model.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein:
the values for nodes assigned to a search index are determined according to predetermined ranking criteria for the search index; and
different search indices have different ranking criteria.

10. The method of claim 2 , wherein calculating separate sub-values comprises, for each of the plurality of edge types connected to the node:
determining a number of edges of the edge type connected to the node; and
multiplying the number by a weight corresponding to the edge type.

11. The method of claim 2 wherein:
a first node type comprises users;
a second node type comprises places/pages;
a third node type comprises groups;
a fourth node type comprises posts;
a fifth node type comprise images/videos;
a sixth node type comprises applications; and
a seventh node type comprise events.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein one or more nodes of the graph are external to the social-networking system in one or more third-party systems.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
accessing a social graph comprising a plurality of nodes and a plurality of edges connecting the nodes, the nodes comprising:
a first node corresponding to a first user associated with an online social network; and
plurality of second nodes each corresponding to a plurality of objects respectively, associated with the online social network, each object being of a particular object type.

14. The method of claim 1 , where in the search-results page is a user interface of a native application associated with the online social network on a client device of the first user.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the search-results page is a webpage of the online social network accessed by a browser client of the client device of the first user.

16. One or more computer-readable non-transitory storage media embodying software that is operable when executed to:
receive, from a client device of a first user, a query from the first user;
search a social graph to identify one or more nodes of the social graph that are relevant to the query;
obtain a static rank for each identified node, wherein the static rank is based at least in part on a number of edges of a particular edge type that are connected to the node in the graph or attributes of edges connected to the node in the graph and based at least in part on a value for each node assigned to one of a plurality of search indices, wherein the value is calculated based at least in part on one or more factors, wherein the factors comprise a number of edges of a particular edge type that are connected to the node in the graph or attributes of edges connected to the node in the graph, and wherein the value comprises a combination of sub-values, each sub-value being calculated for one of a plurality of edge types connected to the node; and
send to the client device of the first user for display, a search-results page responsive to the received query, the search-results page comprising reference to one or more nodes having a static rank greater than a threshold rank.

17. A system comprising: one or more processors; and a memory coupled to the processors comprising instructions executable by the processors, the processors being operable when executing the instructions to:
receive, from a client device of a first user, a query from the first user;
search a social graph to identify one or more nodes of the social graph that are relevant to the query;
obtain a static rank for each identified node, wherein the static rank is based at least in part on a number of edges of a particular edge type that are connected to the node in the graph or attributes of edges connected to the node in the graph and based at least in part on a value for each node assigned to one of a plurality of search indices, wherein the value is calculated based at least in part on one or more factors, wherein the factors comprise a number of edges of a particular edge type that are connected to the node in the graph or attributes of edges connected to the node in the graph, and wherein the value comprises a combination of sub-values, each sub-value being calculated for one of a plurality of edge types connected to the node; and
send to the client device of the first user for display, a search-results page responsive to the received query, the search-results page comprising reference to one or more nodes having a static rank greater than a threshold rank.

Assignees

• Facebook Inc

Inventors

• Sankar Sriram
• Woss Gintaras Andrius
• Raina Rajat
• Gubin Maxim

Classifications

• G06Q10/40

  Business processes related to social networking or social networking services · CPC title

• G06F16/9535

  Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation · CPC title

• G06F16/00

  Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor · CPC title

• G06F16/328

  Management therefor · CPC title

• G06F16/24578 Primary

  using ranking · CPC title