US 8,429,145 B2Granted

Syndicating humor

AssigneeYahoo! Inc.

InventorsBenjamin C. Reed, Philip Bohannon, Utkarsh H. Srivastava

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Abstract

A method and apparatus for altering a page presenting search results is provided. The query dispatcher receives one or more query terms. Based on the query terms, the search engine generates a set of search results and advertisements. A parallel search dispatched by entertainment rating and selection engine generates a set of content items based on the one or more query terms and an additional one or more constraint terms. The entertainment item rating and selection engine selects a content item from the set of content items. The selection may be random, based on past user responses, or responses of users belonging to particular clusters. The entertainment item injector then replaces one of the search results or advertisements with the content item. The content item is presented to the user on a search results page. The content item contains a feedback mechanism to collect user responses. The entertainment item rating and selection engine then derives the quality of the entertainment item from the collected user responses.

Claims24

Dependent claims

A method for generating a search results page, the method comprising:

receiving a first set of query terms from a particular user;
and
in response to receiving the first set of query terms, performing the steps of:
based on the first set of query terms, searching a repository for search result items;
identifying an entertainment item by performing a search with a second set of query terms;
wherein the second set of query terms includes:
one or more query terms that are based on the first set of query terms;
and
at least one term, frequently associated with entertainment items, that is selected for inclusion within the second set without regard to the terms of the first set;
wherein said at least one term was not used to search the repository for the search result items;
generating a search results page that includes:
said entertainment item, wherein said entertainment item was identified for inclusion in the search results page using said at least one term, and
said search result items, wherein said search result items were identified for inclusion in the search results page without using said at least one term;
wherein the entertainment item includes a characteristic that distinguishes the entertainment item from the search result items or any advertisement items in the search results page;
and
sending the search results page to the particular user for presentation of the search results page to the particular user,
wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.

14 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.