Systems and methods for search query processing using trend analysis Patent Application # 20050102259 (2005)

Systems and methods for processing search requests include analyzing received queries in order to provide a more sophisticated understanding of the information being sought. In one embodiment, queries are parsed into units, which may comprise one or more words or tokens of the query, and the units are related in concept networks. Trend analysis is performed by sorting the queries into subsets along a dimension of interest and comparing concept networks for different subsets. Trend information is usable to enhance a response of an automated search agent to a subsequently received query

Systems and methods for search processing using superunits Patent Application # 20050080795 (2005)

In a search processing system, a concept network is generated from a set of queries by parsing the queries into units and defining various relationships between the units based in part on patterns of units that appear together in queries. Units in the concept network that have some similar characteristic(s) are grouped into superunits. For each superunit, there is a corresponding signature that defines the similar characteristic of the group. A query is processed by identifying constituent units, determining the superunit membership of some or all of the constituent units, and using that information to formulate a response to the query.

System and method of placing a search listing in at least one search result list Patent Application # 20050004835 (2005)

A system and method is provided for qualifying search listings for placement in at least one search result list and ordering the search listings according to an algorithm. Specifically, a searching device is adapted to received items of information, such as search listings (e.g., www.yahoo.com, etc.), search terms (e.g., "cars," "beauty supplies," etc.) and monetary amounts (e.g., $1.00, etc.), from a plurality of promoting devices, receive a search inquiry (i.e., a search term) from a reception device, and provide (in response thereto) at least one search result list including search listings (i) associated with the search inquiry and (ii) qualified for placement in the search result list. In other words, if the search term linked to the search listing is the same as (or substantially similar to) the search inquiry, then the first prong is met. Furthermore, if a predetermined number of monetary amounts (i.e., as linked to a predetermined number of search listings associated with the search inquiry) are not higher than the monetary amount linked to the search listing, then the second prong is met and the search listing is qualified for placement. Thus, only a predetermined number of search listings (e.g., three, five, etc.) that are both (i) associated with the search inquiry and (ii) linked to the highest monetary amounts are qualified for placement in the search result list. Once the search listings are qualified for placement in the search result list, the searching device is adapted to arrange the qualified search listings according to an algorithm (e.g., randomly, according to relevance, according to monetary amounts, etc.).

Universal search interface systems and methods Patent Application (2004)

Systems and methods for enhancing information retrieval and communication functionality through the use of a universal interface that is configurable to interface with multiple applications resident on a user computer, and which provides a persistent two-way communication channel for communicating with search intelligence on a remote system. Sharable, actionable labels and codebooks of labels may be defined by a user. Each label may be defined in a natural language format and may include a mapping to a specific application or set of applications executable on a user system. Transfer of labels and codebooks between user systems allows for enhanced information exchange and retrieval among users as well as information exchange tracking and analysis by a server system.

Systems and methods for generating concept units from search queries Patent Application # 20040199498 (2004)

Systems and method for enhancing search functionality provided to a user. In certain aspects, a query processing engine automatically decomposes queries into constituent units that are related to concepts in which a user may be interested. The query processing engine decomposes queries into one or more constituent units per query using statistical methods. In certain aspects, no real world knowledge is used in determining units. In other aspects, aspects of world and content knowledge are introduced to enhance and optimize performance, for example, manually using a team of one or more information engineers.

Canonicalization of terms in a keyword-based presentation system Patent Application # 20040199496 (2004)

A presentation system accepts presentations or references to presentations from prospective presenters. Some or all of the presentations or references are stored in a database and referenced by keywords such that presentations to be presented in response to particular searches can be identified. A presentation manager handles accepting bids and settling terms between prospective presenters. The results of such processes might be stored in a presentation details database. A presentation server handles retrieving presentations from the presentation details database for presentation to users along with requests such as search results. Both the presentation manager and the presentation server can operate on a keywords-basis, wherein presentation terms specify keywords to be associated with particular presentations and the presentation server serves particular presentations based on keywords in a search query for which the presentations are to be returned. The association of keywords can be done using canonicalization so that, under certain conditions, different keywords are treated as the same keyword. Canonicalizations might include plural/singular forms, gender forms, stem word forms, suffix forms, prefix forms, typographical error forms, word order, pattern ignoring, acronyms, stop word elimination, etc. Conditions might include aspects of the search query state, such as the user's demographics, the page from which the search query was initiated, etc.

Method and apparatus for search ranking using human input and automated ranking Patent Application # 20040024752 (2004)

A search system provides search results to searchers in response to search queries and the search results are ranked. The ranking is determined by an automated ranking process in combination with human editorial input. A search system might comprise a query server for receiving a current query, a corpus of documents to which the current query is applied, ranking data storage for storing information from an editorial session involving a human editor and a reviewed query at least similar to the current query, and a rank adjuster for generating a ranking of documents returned from the corpus responsive to the current query taking into account at least the information from the editorial session.

Search engine using sales and revenue to weight search results Patent # 6,631,372 (2003)

A search engine selects one or more search hits from among a plurality of hits, wherein a hit is a reference to a page or a site, based on a user interest, comprising an input module for accepting a query from a user, the query representing an interest of the user; a tracking module for tracking the user's navigation through the plurality of pages, including at least a destination purchase page, the destination purchase page being a page from which the user makes a purchase; a sales module which records associations between purchases and queries where the associations are provided, at least in part by an output of the tracking module; and a search module, which takes as its inputs at least a query and sales associations of that query provided by the sales module, and which outputs one or more search hits based on at least the query and the sales associations of that query. In some systems, instead of using sales data to alter the weights of the search results, merchant bidding is used to alter the weights of the search results, or a combination of the two is used.

Information retrieval from hierarchical compound documents Patent # 6,553,364 (2003)

A search query is applied to documents in a document repository wherein the documents are organized into a hierarchy. A search engine searches the hierarchy to return documents which match a query term either directly or indirectly. A specific embodiment of the search engine organizes the query term into individual subterms and matches the subterms against documents, returning only those documents which indirectly match the entire search query term and directly match at least one of the query subterms.

Web address converter for dynamic web pages Patent Application 20050081140 (2005)

Herein is described an implementation of a Web address converter, which helps dynamic Web sites get the attention of spiders of Internet search engines.

Search system using user behavior data Patent Application 20050125382 (2005)

Context-based user feedback is gathered regarding searches performed on a search mechanism. The search mechanism is monitored for user behavior data regarding an interaction of a user with the search mechanism. The response data provided by the search mechanism is also monitored. Context data (describing the search) and user feedback data (the user's feedback on the search--either explicit or implicit) are determined. This can be used, for example, to evaluate a search mechanism or to check a relevance model.

System and method for checking a content site for efficacy Patent Application 20050114319 (2005)

The present invention provides a system and method for automatically suggesting optimizations that can be made to content pages to increase the chances that the network site containing the content page will be indexed and returned high in the rank ordered list of results form a search engine. In one embodiment, the present invention also includes a keyword generation tool for use in generating effective keywords for which a content page can be optimized.

Expanded search keywords Patent Application 20050102278 (2005)

A method for providing additional terms to a searching process based on a string is provided. The method includes receiving a string that incorporates a plurality of characters separated by at least one space or hyphen. In one aspect, the plurality of characters is concatenated to form at least one additional term. In another aspect, a space is replaced with a hyphen. In yet another aspect, a hyphen is replaced with a space. The at least one additional term is provided to the search process.

System and process for presenting search results in a tree format Patent Application 20050080770 (2005)

A system and process for graphically displaying the results of a standard electronic search to a user on a display device via an interactive search results window in which the user views and refines search results items using a tree format. In general, the tree has a first level that indicates how the search results may be refined. The second level of the tree shows what subsets (what) are available for a particular refining method. The third level shows how the already refined (by the second level) results may be refined further. This is repeatedly applied with odd-numbered levels of the tree indicating how the results may be refined, and even-numbered levels indicating what subsets are available. In addition to the tree, the search results window also includes a listing of the search results items associated with a user-selected portion of the tree.

Systems and methods for ranking documents based upon structurally interrelated information Patent Application 20050060297 (2005)

Systems and methods for ranking Web pages based on hyperlink information in a manner that is resistant to nepotistic links are provided. In one embodiment, a Web search service is provided for returning quality query results. The vulnerability of existing ranking algorithms, such as PageRank, to Web pages that are artificially generated for the sole purpose of inflating the score of target page(s) is addressed. Intuitively, it is recognized that it is less likely to reach a particular page on a Web server having many pages via a random jump than it is to reach a particular page on a Web server having few pages, which implies that the influence of such a page upon another page by linking to, or endorsing, the other page is diminished. Thus, in various non-limiting embodiments, each Web server, not each Web page, is assigned a guaranteed minimum score. This minimum score assigned to a server can then be divided among all the pages on that Web server.