Oath Inc.

Yahoo! Inc.

Excalibur Ip, LLC

Yahoo Holdings, Inc.

Zhongqiang Chen

Shenhong Zhu

Farzin Maghoul

Hang Su

Huming Wu

Hui Wu

Kazuhiro Nakao

Xiaobing Han

Chun Ming Sze

Yuan Zhang

Xiangli Kong

Methods, systems and programming for providing query suggestions. In one example, a search query is received from a user. At least one rewritten search query is generated by replacing at least some text in the search query with a synonym of the at least some text. The synonym of the at least some text is obtained based on a plurality of previously submitted search queries. A plurality of query suggestions is obtained based on the search query and the at least one rewritten search query. At least a portion of the plurality of query suggestions is provided to the user.

Method and system for providing query suggestions

Techniques are provided for automatically determining when to trigger instant search. In one technique, while a user is entering text to formulate a search query, and prior to receiving an indication that the user has completed formulation of the search query, a search assistant system determines the most popular queries that include the text the user has already entered. The search assistant system then determines whether to proactively provide, to the user, search results for the top-candidate of those completed queries. That determination may take into account factors such as whether the top-candidate qualifies as a dominant completed query, a richness metric determined for the search results for the particular completed query, and/or a satisfaction metric determined for the search results for the particular completed query. If the search assistant system determines to proactively provide search results for the particular completed query, the search results for the particular completed query are presented to the user prior to receiving any indication that the user has completed formulation of the search query.

Triggering method for instant search

The present teaching relates to providing query suggestions. A query is received from a user. A plurality of suggestions with respect to the query are obtained. One or more garbled suggestions are identified from the plurality of suggestions. One or more identified garbled suggestions are removed from the plurality of suggestions. The plurality of suggestions with removed one or more garbled suggestions are provided to the user in response to the query.

Methods, systems, and programming for refreshing web page URL snapshots are disclosed. A plurality of URLs is received. URLs from the plurality of URLs are selected to schedule for refreshment of snapshots corresponding to web pages associated with the URLs. A plurality of snapshots is generated, each snapshot associated with a corresponding URL of the selected URLs scheduled for refreshment. The plurality of snapshots is provided for display, wherein each snapshot is a viewable and actionable link to the corresponding URL the snapshot is associated with.

Snapshot refreshment for search results page preview

Methods, systems, and programming for providing web page snapshots are disclosed. A URL is received. A snapshot of the web page associated with the URL is generated. A plurality of features is extracted from the snapshot. A determination is made regarding whether the snapshot is high quality based on the plurality of extracted features of the snapshot. The generated snapshot is provided as a viewable and actionable link to the URL.

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

Zhongqiang Chen