# US 7,610,282 B1 · Rank-adjusted content items

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- Number: US 7,610,282 B1
- Document ID: US7610282B1
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B1
- Application number: 11/694,268
- Filed: 2007-03-30
- Granted: 2009-10-27
- Earliest claimed: 2007-03-30
- Assignees: Google Inc.
- Inventors: Mayur Datar; Kedar Dhamdhere; Ashutosh Garg
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US7610282B1

## CPC

- G06F 16/951: Indexing; Web crawling techniques
- G06F 16/24575: {using context}
- G06F 16/953: Querying, e.g. by the use of web search engines
- Y10S 707/99934: Query formulation, input preparation, or translation
- Y10S 707/99935: Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access
- G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N)
- Y10S: TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS

## Abstract

Click logs and query logs are processed to identify statistical search patterns. A search session is compared to the statistical search patterns. Content items responsive to a query of the search session are identified, and a ranking of the content items is adjusted based on the comparison.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A computer-implemented method, comprising:
selecting, by a computer, query paths, each query path being a plurality of queries sequenced in an order in which the queries were provided for a previous search session;
identifying, by the computer, content terminuses, each content terminus defining a terminus of a query path and corresponding to a selection of a content item in response to a query in the query path;
identifying, by the computer, a context of a current search session, wherein the context is defined by a plurality of search session queries of the current search session;
determining, by the computer, that the context is related to a selected query path of the selected query paths only if two or more of the queries of the selected query path are similar to two or more of the search session queries of the current search session;
identifying, by the computer, two or more content items responsive to a query of the current search session based on the determination, the two or more content items being associated with a content terminus;
for each of the two or more content items, determining a corresponding likelihood that the content item will be selected given the content terminus and respective query path; and
adjusting a ranking of each of the two or more content items in substantially proportional relation to the corresponding likelihood.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein:
identifying content terminuses comprises:
identifying content terminuses defined by click logs identifying a selection of a content item.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein:
determining that the context is related to a selected query path comprises:
identifying a union of the two or more of the queries of the selected query path and the two or more of the search session queries of the current search session.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The method of claim 3, comprising:
determining that the context is related to the selected query path if the identified union is an exclusive union.

### Claim 5

A computer-implemented method, comprising:
analyzing, by a computer, click logs and query logs;
selecting, by the computer, statistical search patterns associated with content items based on the analysis of the click logs and query logs, wherein each statistical search pattern is defined by a plurality of queries sequenced in an order in which the queries were provided for a previous search session;
comparing, by the computer, a plurality of queries received for a current search session to the selected statistical search patterns;
determining, by the computer, that the current search session is related to a selected statistical search pattern only if two or more of the queries of the selected statistical search pattern are similar to two or more of the queries of the current search session;
identifying, by the computer, two or more content items responsive to a query of the current search session based on the determination, the two or more content items being associated with a statistical search pattern;
for each of the two or more content items, determining a corresponding likelihood that the content item will be selected based on the statistical search pattern; and
adjusting, by the computer, a ranking of each of the two or more content items in substantially proportional relation to the corresponding likelihood.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The method of claim 5, wherein:
the click logs define content items responsive to previous search session queries.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The method of claim 6, wherein:
the query logs comprise previous search session queries.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The method of claim 7, wherein selecting statistical search patterns comprises:
identifying content terminuses defined by the click logs; and
identifying query paths terminating at the content terminuses.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The method of claim 8, further comprising:
identifying a search session category for each of the query paths.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The method of claim 9, further comprising:
identifying a current search session category.

### Claim 11 (depends on 10)

The method claim 10, further comprising:
determining whether the current search session category relates to one of the identified search session categories.

### Claim 12 (depends on 10)

The method of claim 10, further comprising:
identifying a content category for each of the content terminuses; and
determining whether the current search session category relates to an identified content category.

### Claim 13 (depends on 5)

The method of claim 5, wherein the content items comprise webpages.

### Claim 14

A system, comprising:
a data processor;
a computer memory device;
mining engine stored in the computer memory device and upon execution by the data processor mines click logs and query logs and selects query paths and content terminuses associated with the query paths, each query path being a plurality of queries sequenced in an order in which the queries were provided in a previous search session, and each content terminus being a terminus of a query path and corresponding to a selection of a content item in response to a query in the query path; and
a contextual search engine stored in the computer memory device and upon execution by the data processor:
identifies a context in a current search session, the context defined by a plurality of queries of the current search session;
determines that the context is related to a content terminus only if two or more of the queries of the query path associated with the content terminus are similar to two or more of the queries of the current search session;
identifies two or more content items responsive to a query of the current search session based on the determination, the two or more content items being associated with a content terminus;
for each of the two or more content items, determine a corresponding likelihood that the content item will be selected given the content terminus and respective query path; and
adjusts a ranking of each of the two or more content items in substantially proportional relation to the corresponding likelihood.

### Claim 15

A system, comprising:
means for selecting content terminuses associated with content items, each content terminus defining a terminus of a query path, and each query path being a plurality of queries sequenced in an order in which the queries were provided in a previous search session and each content terminus corresponding to a selection of a content item in response to a query in the query path;
means for identifying a context in a current search session, wherein the context is defined by a plurality of queries of the current search session;
means for determining that the context is related to a content terminus only if two or more of the queries of the query path associated with the content terminus are similar to two or more queries of the current search session; and
means for identifying two or more content items responsive to a query of the current search session based on the determination, the two or more content items being associated with a content terminus;
means for determining for each of the two or more content items a corresponding likelihood that the content item will be selected given the content terminus and respective query path; and
means for adjusting a ranking of each of the two or more content items in substantially proportional relation to the corresponding likelihood.