Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Rajeev Prasad

Tarek Najm

Murali Vajjiravel

Kevin Paul Kornelson

Brian Burdick

Phani Vaddadi

Arungunram Chandrasekaran Surendran

Viswanath Vadlamani

Paul D Clark

Pragyana K Mishra

David Earl Heckerman

Christopher A Meek

David Maxwell Chickering

Ying Li

Li Erran Li

Raxit A Kagalwala

Abhinai Srivastava

Kancheng Cao

Munirathnam Srikanth

Avneesh Sud

Ayman Malek Abdel Hamid Kaheel

Sachin Dhawan

Sumit Amar

Siva Mohan

Thomas Hargrove

Joshua J Forman

Vladimir Schipunov

Najm Tarek

Eric Schoonover

Phani K Vaddadi

Systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media for web-scale visual search capable of using a combination of visual input modalities are provided. An edgel index is created that includes shape-descriptors, including edgel-based representations, that correspond to each of a plurality of images. Each edgel-based representation includes pixels that depicts edges or boundary contours of an image and is created, at least in part, by segmenting the image into a plurality of image segments and performing a multi-phase contour detection on each segment. Upon receiving a search query having a visual query input, the visual query input is converted into shape-descriptors, including an edgel-based representation, and the shape-descriptors, including the edgel-based representation, of each of the plurality of images is compared with the shape-descriptors, including the edgel-based representation, of the visual query input to identify at least one image of the plurality of images that matches the visual query input.

Visual search using multiple visual input modalities

Systems, methods, and computer-storage media for generating lateral concepts are provided. The system includes a search engine to receive user queries, a storage to store content and its associated categories, and a lateral concept generator. The lateral concept generator is connected to both the search engine and storage. The lateral concept generator selects lateral concepts from categories associated with the content based on similarity scores for the stored content.

Generating and presenting lateral concepts

Systems, methods, and computer-storage media for generating and providing knowledge content to users utilizing a web architecture that integrates information across data silos through a common, flexible data storage schema, such as a star or snowflake schema, are provided. Data from a content graph, a user activity graph, a social graph, and temporal data as it relates to each of the content graph, the social graph and the user activity graph, is stored in a knowledge content database utilizing the star schema. In this way, data from each of these formerly disparate sources may be accessed from a common, extensible application platform utilizing ontologies and pivot table functionality, thus providing smarter, more comprehensive knowledge in response to received user queries.

Providing knowledge content to users

Review and filtering of search results is facilitated by providing additional types of results beyond links to existing documents can be provided in addition to or in place of links to existing documents. These additional results can facilitate modifying a search request to filter out unwanted documents. The additional results, when in the form of content display objects and/or application display objects, can also provide the user with varying levels of information detail. In some preferred embodiments, an ontology based knowledge base can be leveraged in order to facilitate providing and filtering the results.

Progressive filtering of search results

Advertisements are selected for presentation on search result pages and web pages based on phrases generated from lateral concepts and topics identified for the search result pages and web pages. A search query or an indication of a web page is received for which advertisements are to be provided. Lateral concepts and topics are identified based on the search query or content of the web page. The lateral concepts and topics are used as phrases for selecting advertisements from an advertisement inventory. Selected advertisements are provided for presentation on a search results page in response to a search query or on a web page initially identified.

Semantic advertising selection from lateral concepts and topics

A method and system are provided for selecting advertisements for presentation to a user in response to a user search query. The system may include a keyword server for parsing the user search query and an index server for receiving the parsed search query. The index server may include an index of advertising phrases and pre-filtering components for comparing index entries to the parsed user search query in order to discard non-matching index entries and locate matching entries. The pre-filtering components may include either a phrase length pre-filtering component or a word hash pre-filtering component. The system may additionally include a listing server for sorting through the matching entries located by the index server and further filtering the matching entries for retrieval and presentation to the user.

System and method for indexing and prefiltering

Configurably storing data in a plurality of files based on expressions and conditions associated with the data. Logging software enables tracking of the navigation pattern of users for selected network properties under specified conditions. The logging software is configurable such that most current and future logging specifications may be fulfilled without any code changes to the logging software.

Expression-based web logger for usage and navigational behavior tracking

Systems and methods for determining the value of bids placed by content providers for placement positions on a page, e.g., a web page, rendered according to a given context, for instance, the search results listing for a particular query initiated on a search engine web site, are provided. Additionally, systems and methods are provided for determining placement of content items, e.g., advertisements and/or images, on a rendered page relative to other content items on the page based upon bid value.

Systems and methods for estimating placement positions of content items on a rendered page

Systems and methods for determining bid value for content items to be placed on a rendered page

A system that facilitates data processing includes a receiver component that receives an SQL query. A partitioning component partitions the SQL query into multiple tasks and provides the tasks to multiple cluster nodes for processing. The system enables very large amounts of data (e.g., multiple terabytes) to be quickly prepared for analytical processing, such as for use in connection with a search engine, an advertisement provision system, etc.

Data processing over very large databases

Transforming data prior to loading the data into a data warehouse. Software of the invention partitions data records received from a plurality of servers and performs sequential file management operations and identifier management operations on each of the partitions prior to loading the data records into the data warehouse. Data records transformed according to the invention are easier to load into the data warehouse and easier to manipulate after loading. The invention enables analysis and data mining of tens of terabytes of user level detail data and summary data.

Data transformation to maintain detailed user information in a data warehouse

Developing an ETL system for transforming data prior to loading the data into a data warehouse. An embodiment of the invention automatically generates configuration files from an input data flow diagram defining the ETL system. The configuration files or other metafiles control execution of the processes illustrated in the data flow diagram. The invention includes a notation for use in the data flow diagram.

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Bothell, WA, United States of America

Rajeev Prasad