Enhancing product search engine results using user click history

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9569545-B2
Application number	US-201213601665-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 31, 2012
Priority date	Aug 31, 2012
Publication date	Feb 14, 2017
Grant date	Feb 14, 2017

Abstract

In an example embodiment, previous search queries and clicked-on results are retrieved. This results in one or more pairs, each pair containing a query from the search term database and a first set of search engine results from the click database. Then a score is calculated for each feature within the one or more pairs, and a second set of search queries is boosted using the scores for the features.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for enhancing search engine results, comprising:
retrieving user history data including one or more pairs, each pair containing a query searched for by a user in a search engine and a first set of search engine results for the query, the first set of search engine results including only results that the user has clicked on;
grouping the pairs into groupings, each grouping having pairs sharing a single identical query;
for each grouping:
tokenizing one or more fields of each search result in the first set of search engine results into a first set of features, wherein each feature is a characteristic of a product that is a subject of a result in the first set of search engine results;
simulating a search using the single identical query contained in the grouping against a raw search engine, the raw search engine not boosting the single identical query and producing a second set of search engine results different than the first set of search engine results by virtue of at least one of the second set of search engine results being new and unseen by other users;
gathering features from the second set of search engine results into a second set of features;
for each feature in the first or second set of features:
computing a first probability of a search result in the first set of search engine results having the feature;
computing a second probability of a search result in a result set comprising the first set of search engine results and the second set of search engine results having the feature;
computing a score for the feature based on the first probability and the second probability, by computing

log
2

⁢

p
⁡

(

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p
⁡

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 where p(t|x) is the first probability and p(t) is the second probability; and

causing search terms in future queries to be boosted by adding one or more of the features based upon the computed scores for the features.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein each search engine result corresponds to a product.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
sorting each feature in the first or second set of features by score; and
wherein the causing search terms in future queries to be boosted includes adding a predetermined number of highest scoring features to a future query by a user.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the computing the score includes computing normalized pointwise mutual information for the feature.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the computing normalized pointwise mutual information for the feature includes: computing a binary logarithm of a quotient of the first probability divided by the second probability, and normalizing the binary logarithm.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the normalizing includes dividing the binary logarithm by a binary logarithm of the second probability.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the scoring further comprises multiplying the normalized pointwise mutual information by a constant.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein when the user history data is received from an external source, adding the first set of search engine results to the second set of search engine results.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising storing the scores in a database and wherein the causing search terms in future queries to be boosted includes retrieving scores from the database.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the causing search terms in future queries to be boosted includes, for a future query received from a user, determining if the database contains scores related to terms in the query.

11. An apparatus comprising:
a processor;
a memory, coupled to the processor, containing instructions for:
retrieving user history data including one or more pairs, each pair containing a query searched for by a user in a search engine and a first set of search engine results for the query, the first set of search engine results including only results that the user has clicked on;
grouping the pairs into groupings, each grouping having pairs sharing a single identical query;
for each grouping:
tokenizing one or more fields of each search result in the first set of search engine results into a first set of features, wherein each feature is a characteristic of a product that is a subiect of a result in the first set of search engine results;
simulating a search using the single identical query contained in the grouping against a raw search engine, the raw search engine not boosting the single identical query and producing a second set of search engine results different than the first set of search engine results by virtue of at least one of the second set of search engine results being new and unseen by other users;
gathering features from the second set of search engine results into a second set of features;
for each feature in the first or second set of features:
computing a first probability of a search result in the first set of search engine results having the feature;
computing a second probability of a search result in a result set comprising the first set of search engine results and the second set of search engine results having the feature;
computing a score for the feature based on the first probability and the second probability, by computing

log
2

⁢

p
⁡

(

t
|
x

)

p
⁡

(
t
)

,

 where p(t|x) is the first probability and p(t) is the second probability; and

causing search terms in future queries to be boosted by adding one or more of the features based upon the computed scores for the features.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the apparatus is a search engine server.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the apparatus is coupled to a search engine database.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the instructions further comprise storing the scores in the search engine database.

15. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the instructions further comprise storing the scores in a database other than the search engine database.

Assignees

• Newey Neville Rhys
• Van Winkle Justin
• Ebay Inc

Inventors

• Newey Neville Rhys
• Van Winkle Justin

Classifications

• G06F17/30867 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F16/9535 Primary

  Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation · CPC title