Ranking search results

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9767159-B2
Application number	US-201414304083-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 13, 2014
Priority date	Jun 13, 2014
Publication date	Sep 19, 2017
Grant date	Sep 19, 2017

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for providing ranked search results responsive to a query. In one aspect, a method includes receiving, from a user device, a query specifying an entity, determining two or more resources each of which provide media content related to the entity, for each of the resources, determining an effectiveness measure that is a measure of the effectiveness of the resource to present, to a user of the user device, the media content related to the entity, ranking the resources using, at least in part, the respective effectiveness measure, and providing, to the user device, a presentation of search results for the ranked resources.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
receiving, from a user device, a query specifying an entity;
determining two or more resources each of which provide media content related to the entity and require receipt of user input to enable the user device to present the media content;
for each of the resources, determining an effectiveness measure that is a measure of the effectiveness of the resource to present, to a user of the user device, the media content related to the entity by determining, for each of the two or more resources, a quantity of steps that a user of the user device is required to perform to cause the respective resource to present the media content for the respective resource on the user device, the quantity of steps being required in response to accessing the respective resource after receipt of a selection of a corresponding search result for the respective resource, wherein at least one of the search results does not provide a direct link to the respective media content and has a quantity of steps that is greater than one;
ranking each of the resources using, at least in part, the respective effectiveness measure including the respective quantity of steps that a user of the user device is required to perform to cause the respective resource to present the media content for the respective resource on the user device, the quantity of steps being required in response to accessing the respective resource after the receipt of the selection of a corresponding search result for the respective resource; and
providing, to the user device, a presentation of search results for the ranked resources.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the entity comprises a musical artist or a music album.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein:
determining the quantity of steps that a user of the user device is required to perform to cause the respective resource to present the media content for the respective resource on the user device, the quantity of steps being required in response to accessing the respective resource comprises:
determining that a first quantity of steps that a user of the user device is required to perform to cause a first resource to present the media content for the first resource on the user device is greater than a second quantity of steps that a user of the user device is required to perform to cause a second resource to present the media content for the second resource on the user device; and
assigning a first effectiveness measure to the first resource that is a lower effectiveness measure than a second effectiveness measure assigned to the second resource; and

ranking each of the resources using, at least in part, the respective effectiveness measure comprises assigning, using the first effectiveness measure and the second effectiveness measure, a first raking to the first resource that is a lower ranking than a second ranking assigned to the second resource.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the effectiveness measure comprises:
determining an affinity measure that indicates an affinity of the user for a corresponding publisher of the respective resource; and
determining, for each of the resources, the effectiveness measure that is a measure of the effectiveness of the resource to present the media content related to the entity using the affinity measure for the corresponding publisher of the respective resource.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein determining the affinity measure that indicates an affinity of the user for the corresponding publisher of the respective resource comprises:
determining that the user device includes a first application for a first publisher and does not include any second applications for a second publisher;
determining a first affinity measure that indicates an affinity of the user for the first publisher using the determination that the user device includes the first application for the first publisher and does not include any second applications for the second publisher; and
assigning a first resource for the first publisher a higher affinity measure than a second resource for the second publisher using first affinity measure that indicates an affinity of the user for the first publisher.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein determining the affinity measure that indicates an affinity of the user for the corresponding publisher of the respective resource comprises:
determining that the user device includes a first application for a first publisher that the user uses more frequently than a second application for a second publisher;
determining a first affinity measure that indicates an affinity of the user for the first publisher using the determination that the user device includes the first application for the first publisher that the user uses more frequently than the second application for the second publisher; and
assigning a first resource for the first publisher that is different from the first application with a higher affinity measure than a second resource for the second publisher that is different from the second application using first affinity measure that indicates an affinity of the user for the first publisher.

7. The method of claim 4 wherein determining the affinity measure that indicates an affinity of the user for the corresponding publisher of the respective resource comprises:
determining a first quantity of first user devices operated by the user that include a first application for a first publisher and a second quantity of second user devices operated by the user that include a second application for a second publisher;
determining that the first quantity is greater than the second quantity;
determining a first affinity measure that indicates an affinity of the user for the first publisher and a second affinity measure that indicates an affinity of the user for the second publisher using the determination that the first quantity is greater than the second quantity, wherein the first affinity measure is greater than the second affinity measure; and
assigning a first resource for the first publisher a higher affinity measure than a second resource for the second publisher using first affinity measure that indicates an affinity of the user for the first publisher and the second affinity measure that indicates an affinity of the user for the second publisher.

8. The method of claim 4 wherein determining the affinity measure that indicates an affinity of the user for the corresponding publisher of the respective resource comprises:
determining that the user has explicitly requested search results from a first publisher and not from a second publisher;
determining a first affinity measure that indicates an affinity of the user for the first publisher using the determination that the user has explicitly requested search results from the first publisher and not from the second publisher; and
assigning a first resource for the first publisher a higher affinity measure than a second resource for the second publisher using first affinity measure that indicates an affinity of the user for the first publisher.

9. The method of claim 4 wherein determining the affinity measure that indicates an affinity of the user for the corresponding publisher of the respective resource comprises:
determining that the user subscribes to media content from a first publisher and not from a second publisher;
determining a first affinity measure that indicates an affinity of the user for the first publisher using the determination that the user subscribes to media content from the first publisher and not from the second publisher; and
assigning a first resource for the first publisher a higher affinity measure than a second resource for

Assignees

• Google Inc

Inventors

• Chen Steve
• Su Sara
• Safyan Michael Aaron
• Douglas Jason B
• Goto Samuel Shoji Fukujima

Classifications

• G06F17/30554

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F17/3053 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F17/30749

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F16/24578 Primary

  using ranking · CPC title

• G06F16/248

  Presentation of query results · CPC title