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AssigneeAmazon.com, Inc.
InventorsDwayne E. Bowman, Ruben E. Ortega, Michael L. Hamrick, Joel R. Spiegel, Timothy R. Kohn
Estimating the term…
A search engine is disclosed which suggests related terms to the user to allow the user to refine a search. The related terms are generated using query term correlation data which reflects the frequencies with which specific terms have previously appeared within the same query. The correlation data is generated and stored in a look-up table using an off-line process which parses a query log file. The table is regenerated periodically from the most recent query submissions (e.g., the last two weeks of query submissions), and thus strongly reflects the current preferences of users. Each related term is presented to the user via a respective hyperlink which can be selected by the user to submit a modified query. In one embodiment, the related terms are added to and selected from the table so as to guarantee that the modified queries will not produce a NULL query result.
In a computer system that implements a search engine which is accessible to a community of users, a method of assisting users in refining search queries to enhance discovery, the method comprising the computer-implemented steps of:
In a computer system that implements a search engine in which related terms are suggested to users to facilitate interactive refinement of search queries, a system for generating related terms, comprising:
In a computer system that implements a search engine that is accessible to a community of users, a method of assisting users in refining search queries to enhance discovery, the method comprising:
In a search engine that suggests related terms to users to facilitate search refinement, a method of generating related terms so as to increase a likelihood that a modified query will not produce a NULL query result, the method comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.