Method and system for optimization and personalization of search results according to preferences and mandatory constraints

A system comprising:

• one or more memories having computer-readable instructions stored therein;
• and
• one or more processors configured to execute the computer-readable instructions to:
• collect input from users or software systems, wherein the input includes unstructured input forms such as natural language or voice, or structured representations such as web/mobile interface modules or input from third-party software systems;
• transform the inputs into mandatory constraints and preferences on search criteria, wherein the search criteria is partially ordered and representable through a directed acyclic graph (DAG), wherein nodes of the DAG represent preferences;
• determine weights for the search criteria using a function, and associate the weights with nodes of the DAG to determine a partial ordering of such weights equivalent to an order of the DAG nodes, wherein any node at level “k” has a weight “w” such that a distance between the weight “w” and a combination of all or any finite subset of the weights of the nodes at levels below “k” satisfy properties, the level being defined by a topological order of the DAG;
• determine search results that satisfy the mandatory constraints on the search criteria, wherein methods, applicable in batch processing or real-time modes, include at least one of indexing or partial or full extraction of data from websites to gather partial or complete data from the search results, advertisements, queries to information retrieval systems, third-party systems, or other computing sources, as well as queries to databases or local data repositories;
• determine and associate an optimality score with the search results, based on presence of preferential elements representable, via the DAG, in the search results, wherein the optimality score with respect to preferences enables an ordering of the search results that ensures the at least two of the properties are satisfied, the at least two properties including (i) the search results with a highest score are equally optimal, and (ii) the search results with a same score are equivalent;
• and
• order and return the search results that satisfy the mandatory constraints.

One or more non-transitory computer-readable media comprising computer-readable instructions, which when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

• collect input from users or software systems, wherein the input includes unstructured input forms such as natural language or voice, or structured representations such as web/mobile interface modules or input from third-party software systems;
• transform the inputs into mandatory constraints and preferences on search criteria, wherein the search criteria is partially ordered and representable through a directed acyclic graph (DAG), wherein nodes of the DAG represent preferences;
• determine weights for the search criteria using a function, and associate the weights with nodes of the DAG to determine a partial ordering of such weights equivalent to an order of the DAG nodes, wherein any node at level “k” has a weight “w” such that a distance between the weight “w” and a combination of all or any finite subset of the weights of the nodes at levels below “k” satisfy properties, the level being defined by a topological order of the DAG;
• determine search results that satisfy the mandatory constraints on the search criteria, wherein methods, applicable in batch processing or real-time modes, include at least one of indexing or partial or full extraction of data from websites to gather partial or complete data from the search results, advertisements, queries to information retrieval systems, third-party systems, or other computing sources, as well as queries to databases or local data repositories;
• determine and associate an optimality score with the search results, based on presence of preferential elements representable, via the DAG, in the search results, wherein the optimality score with respect to preferences enables an ordering of the search results that ensures the at least two of the properties are satisfied, the at least two properties including (i) the search results with a highest score are equally optimal, and (ii) the search results with a same score are equivalent;
• and
• order and return the search results that satisfy the mandatory constraints.