Ranked navigation element

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9406083-B2
Application number	US-201514802211-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 17, 2015
Priority date	Dec 11, 2012
Publication date	Aug 2, 2016
Grant date	Aug 2, 2016

Abstract

Disclosed are various embodiments for a navigation element generation application. A navigation element comprising a plurality of navigation aids is generated responsive to a search query and other data. A relevance score is calculated for the navigation element. The navigation element is inserted into a ranked list of search result items as a function of the relevance score and communicated to a client.

First claim

Therefore, the following is claimed:

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium embodying a program executable in at least one computing device, the program, when executed by the at least one computing device, causing the at least one computing device to at least:
select a plurality of search results responsive to a search query comprising at least one search term obtained from a client, the search results being selected from a taxonomy comprising a plurality of taxonomy elements and the search term corresponds to at least one of the taxonomy elements;
calculate a plurality of confidence scores as a function of domain knowledge associated with the client, individual ones of the confidence scores corresponding to one of a plurality of navigational aids, wherein individual ones of the plurality of navigation aids comprise a link corresponding to a respective subset of the taxonomy elements corresponding to the search term;
generate a navigation element comprising the plurality of navigation aids as a function of the search query, and the plurality of confidence scores;
generate a plurality of relevance scores, at least one of the relevance scores corresponding to the navigation element, and individual ones of the remainder of the relevance scores corresponding to a corresponding one of the plurality of search results;
generate, as a function of the plurality of relevance scores, a ranked list comprising the plurality of search results and the navigation element; and
communicate at least a subset of the ranked list to the client.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the program further causes the at least one computing device to exclude the navigation element from the ranked list responsive to a placement of the navigation element within the ranked list falling below a threshold.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the navigation element is further generated as a function of browsing behavior with respect to a previously generated navigation element.

4. A system, comprising:
at least one computing device comprising at least one processor and memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one computing device to at least:
select a plurality of search results responsive to a search query obtained from a client;
generate a navigation element comprising a plurality of navigation aids as a function of the search query, individual ones of the plurality of navigation aids comprising a link corresponding to a respective subset of taxonomy elements corresponding to the search query;
generate a plurality of relevance scores, one of the relevance scores corresponding to the navigation element, and a remainder of the relevance scores corresponding to the plurality of search results;
generate, as a function of the relevance scores, a ranked list comprising the plurality of search results and the navigation element;
communicate at least a subset of the ranked list to the client.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the instructions further cause the at least one computing device to exclude the navigation element from the subset of the ranked list responsive to a placement of the navigation element in the ranked list falling below a threshold.

6. The system of claim 4 , wherein the taxonomy elements are included in a catalog of an electronic commerce system.

7. The system of claim 4 , wherein the navigation element is further generated as a function of a customer behavior associated with the electronic commerce system.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the customer behavior comprises an interaction history for a plurality of customers with respect to the electronic commerce system.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the interaction history comprises a purchase history.

10. The system of claim 4 , wherein the navigation aids are a subset of potential navigation aids, the potential navigation aids being associated with one of a plurality of confidence scores, and the wherein the instructions further cause the at least one computing device to select the subset of potential navigation aids as a function of the confidence scores.

11. The system of claim 4 , wherein the navigation element is generated based at least in part on browsing activity with respect to a previously generated navigation element.

12. The system of claim 4 , wherein the navigation element is further generated as a function of domain knowledge with respect to the client.

13. The system of claim 4 , wherein the navigation aids further comprise at least one predefined rule, and wherein respective subset of taxonomy elements is responsive to the at least one predefined rule.

14. A method, comprising:
obtaining, by a computing device, a search query from a client;
generating, by the computing device, a plurality of search results responsive to the search query, individual ones of the plurality of search results corresponding to a respective one of a plurality of relevance scores, the plurality of search results being ranked as a function of the relevance scores;
generating, by the computing device, a navigation element as a function of the search query, the navigation element comprising a plurality of navigation links, individual ones of the plurality of navigation links corresponding to a respective subset of a plurality of taxonomy elements corresponding to the search query;
ranking, by the computing device, the navigation element within the plurality of search results as a function of another relevance score for the navigation element;
communicating, by the computing device, to the client, at least a subset of the plurality of search results and the navigation element as a ranked list, the ranked list being generated as a function of the relevance scores and the other relevance score of the navigation element.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the taxonomy elements are included an a catalog of an electronic commerce system, and the plurality of search results comprise a plurality of items of the catalog.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein the navigation element is further generated as a function of a purchased placement of one of the navigation links in the navigation element.

17. The method of claim 14 , wherein the navigation element is further generated as a function of a domain knowledge associated with the client.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 17 , wherein the domain knowledge comprises at least one of a calendar season, a gender, or a family composition of a user associated with the client.

19. The method of claim 17 , wherein individual ones of the navigation links correspond to a plurality of confidence scores generated as a function of at least the domain knowledge, and the navigation element is generated as a function of the plurality of confidence scores.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the navigation links are a subset of potential navigation links, the navigation links being selected from the potential navigation links for inclusion in the navigation element according to the plurality of confidence scores.

Assignees

• Amazon Tech Inc
• Amazon Tech Llc

Inventors

• Balakrishnan Anoop
• Chien Mark
• Jordan Christopher Philip
• Paul Jerome
• Healey Iii James Michael
• Kan Chi Ming
• Beaudoin Catherine Lewis
• Colasurdo Stacy

Classifications

• G06F16/29

  Geographical information databases · CPC title

• G06F16/285

  Clustering or classification · CPC title

• G06Q30/0625 Primary

  by formulating product or service queries, e.g. using keywords or predefined options · CPC title

• G06F16/245

  Query processing · CPC title

• G06F16/24578 Primary

  using ranking · CPC title