Google Inc.

Leland Stanford Junior University

Glen M Jeh

Taher H Haveliwala

Sepandar D Kamvar

Beverly Yang

Kevin Gibbs

Bilgehan Uygar Oztekin

Philip Andrew McDonnell

Yair Kurzion

Tessa Macduff

Mehran Sahami

Sugato Basu

Beverly Yang Wong

Sepandar D Karnvar

Gene Golub

Adam J Klein

A third party website provides a search interface to a general search engine. A site profile of the third party website describes various topics, keywords, or domains that are potentially relevant or of interest to users who access the third party website. The topics are associated with a topical directory, with domains associated with each topic; the domains in a given topic are given various weightings. When a search is submitted to the general search engine from the third party website via the search interface, the general search engine uses the site profile to customize the search results. The search results are customized by weighting the ranking of documents from websites associated with the topics in the site profile. The site profile can be manually or automatically constructed.

Customization of search results for search queries received from third party sites

A method, system, and graphical user interface for alerting a computer user to new results for a prior search are disclosed. One aspect of the invention involves a graphical user interface on a computer that includes a plurality of links recommended by a search engine for a computer user. The plurality of links are determined by the search engine by: producing search results by rerunning a plurality of search queries that have been performed previously for the computer user; and evaluating the produced search results to select search results that meet predefined search result selection criteria. At least one of the criteria is based on Internet usage data for the user.

Method, system, and graphical user interface for alerting a computer user to new results for a prior search

A system and method for presenting search results is provided. The method includes submitting a query to a server and receiving from the server, in response to the query: a comprehensive list of search results that satisfy the query, and multiple position vectors, each position vector identifying a respective ordered subset of the search results in the comprehensive list. The method further includes storing the comprehensive list and the multiple position vectors, receiving a user-made selection identifying a subset of the multiple position vectors, and displaying a subset of the search results in the comprehensive list in accordance with the user-made selection.

System and method for presenting multiple sets of search results for a single query

A method, system, and graphical user interface for providing personalized recommendations of popular search queries are disclosed. One aspect of the invention involves a graphical user interface on a computer that includes a plurality of queries recommended by a search engine for a computer user. The plurality of queries are determined by the search engine based on Internet usage data for the computer user and submission popularity data for search queries submitted by a plurality of users.

Method, system, and graphical user interface for providing personalized recommendations of popular search queries

A computer-implemented method for processing query information includes receiving prior queries followed by a current query, the prior and current queries being received within an activity period an originating with a search requester. The method also includes receiving a plurality of search results based on the current query. Each search result identifying a search result document, each respective search result document being associated with a query specific score indicating a relevance of the document to the current query. The method also includes determining a first category based, at least in part, on the prior queries. The method also includes identifying a plurality of prior activity periods of other search requesters, each prior activity period containing a prior activity query where the prior activity query matches the current query, and where the prior activity period indicates the same first category.

Recent interest based relevance scoring

A method, system, and graphical user interface for alerting a computer user to new results for a prior search are disclosed. One aspect of the invention involves a graphical user interface on a computer that includes a plurality of links recommended by a search engine for a computer user. The plurality of links are determined by the search engine by: producing search results by rerunning a plurality of search queries that have been performed previously for the computer user, and evaluating the produced search results to select search results that meet predefined search result selection criteria. At least one of the criteria is based on Internet usage data for the user.

A search system monitors the input of a search query by a user. Before the user finishes entering the search query, the search system identifies and sends a portion of the query as a partial query to the search engine. Based on the partial query, the search engine creates a set of predicted queries. This process may take into account prior queries submitted by a community of users, and may take into account a user profile. The predicted queries are to be sent back to the user for possible selection. The search system may also cache search results corresponding to one or more of the predicted queries in anticipation of the user selecting one of the predicted queries. The search engine may also return at least a portion of the search results corresponding to one or more of the predicted queries.

Predicted query generation from partial search query input

Systems and methods for generating predicted queries and corresponding search results

A set of ordered predicted completion strings are presented to a user as the user enters text in a text entry box (e.g., a browser or a toolbar). The predicted completion strings can be in the form of URLs or query strings. The ordering may be based on any number of factors (e.g., a query's frequency of submission from a community of users). URLs can be ranked based on an importance value of the URL. Privacy is taken into account in a number of ways, such as using a previously submitted query only when more than a certain number of unique requesters have made the query. The sets of ordered predicted completion strings is obtained by matching a fingerprint value of the user's entry string to a fingerprint to table map which contains the set of ordered predicted completion strings.

Method and system for autocompletion using ranked results

A search engine provides personalized rankings of search results. A user interest profile identifies topics of interest to a user. Each topic is associated with one or more sites, and a boost value, which can be used to augment an information retrieval score of any document from the site. Search results from any search are provided to the user, with a variable control of the ranking of the results. The results can be ranked by their unboosted information retrieval score, thus reflecting no personalization, or by their fully or partially boosted information retrieval scores. This allows the user to selectively control how their interests affect the ranking of the documents.

Variable personalization of search results in a search engine

A computer-implemented method for processing query information includes receiving prior queries followed by a current query, the prior and current queries being received within an activity period an originating with a search requester. The method also includes receiving a plurality of search results based on the current query. Each search result identifying a search result document, each respective search result document being associated with a query specific score indicating a relevance of the document to the current query. The method also includes determining a first category based, at least in part, on the prior queries. The method also includes identifying a plurality of prior activity periods of other search requesters, each prior activity period containing a prior activity query where the prior activity query matches the current query, and where the prior activity period indicates the same first category. The method also includes obtaining category based selection statistics of the other requesters search results based on the last queries of the other activity periods. The method also includes obtaining general selection statistics of a more general population of requesters based on the current query. The method also includes generating adjusted scores for the search result documents by adjusting the respective scores based on the query specific score and the category specific score. The method also includes ranking the search result documents according to the respective adjusted scores.

In a method of generating a search boost vector, a first set of content location identifiers for first content are provided. A second set of content location identifiers for second content are identified. The second content is related to the first content in accordance with one or more predefined criteria. A search boost vector is generated by determining weights corresponding to content location identifiers in the second set of content location identifiers. The search boost vector may also be generated by determining weights corresponding to content location identifiers in the first set of content location identifiers. The predefined criteria may include one or more additional content location identifiers that are co-visited with one or more content location identifiers for the first set of content location identifiers. Co-visits are by a community of users during an interval of time.

Growing community of inventors

San Francisco, CA, United States of America

Glen M Jeh