Search system, search method, and program

A search apparatus comprising:

• hardware, including at least a processor;
• a search engine, implemented at least by the hardware, that implements a search in accordance with a search condition that is contained in a search request;
• a plurality of scoring engines, implemented at least by the hardware, that perform computation of scores of a plurality of items of information that results from a search;
• a search request processor, implemented at least by the hardware, that receives a search request from a user and causes said search engine to execute a search;
• a scoring engine weight value database, implemented at least by the hardware, that stores weight value information of each scoring engine that corresponds to a plurality of users or a plurality of search conditions;
• a search result response unit, implemented at least by the hardware, that causes weight value information stored in said scoring engine weight value database to be reflected in search results that are realized by a search by said search engine and that reflect scores computed by said scoring engines to create search results that are presented to a user;
• a search result behavior acquisition unit, implemented at least by the hardware, that, when a user performs selection behavior with respect to search results that are presented, updates weight value information that is stored in said scoring engine weight value database in accordance with information based on said selection behavior;
• a search request unit that submits a request for a search to a search engine in accordance with a search request from a user;
• a scoring request unit that, when said search engine supplies search results, submits requests for scoring to a plurality of scoring engines;
• a scoring engine weight percentage calculation unit that, based on each item of scoring engine weight value information that corresponds to each user or each search condition that is stored in said scoring engine weight value database, calculates the weight percentage of each scoring engine;
• a score tabulator that tabulates scores computed by each scoring engine in accordance with the weight percentage of each scoring engine realized by said scoring engine weight percentage calculation unit;
• and
• a search result/score information output unit that rearranges search results according to scores tabulated by said score tabulator and supplies the search results.

A search method of a search apparatus having a plurality of scoring engines comprising steps of:

• upon a processor of hardware of the search apparatus receiving a search request from a user, causing a search engine to execute a search in accordance with a search condition that is contained in the search request;
• causing, by the processor of the hardware, the plurality of scoring engines to compute scores of a plurality of items of information that result from a search;
• providing, by the processor of the hardware, a scoring engine weight value database that stores weight value information of each scoring engine that corresponds to a plurality of users or a plurality of search conditions;
• causing, by the processor of the hardware, weight value information that is stored in said scoring engine weight value database to be reflected in search results that are realized by a search by said search engine and that reflect scores computed by said scoring engines to create search results that are presented to users;
• acquiring, by the processor of the hardware, a user's selection behavior information with respect to search results that are presented;
• and causing the acquired selection behavior information to be reflected in said scoring engine weight value database;
• and
• when a user performs selection behavior with respect to search results that are presented, attenuating weight value based on the elapsed time from the time of updating entries in the scoring weight value database in accordance with immediately preceding selection behavior of the user until the current time.

A program product for causing a computer to execute processes of:

• implementing a search by search engines in accordance with a search condition that is contained in a search request;
• computing scores of a plurality of items of information that result from a search by a plurality of scoring engines;
• generating a scoring engine weight value database that stores weight value information of each scoring engine corresponding to a plurality of users or a plurality of search conditions;
• causing weight value information that is stored in said scoring engine weight value database to be reflected in search results that are searched by said search engines and that reflect scores computed by said scoring engines to create search results that are presented to a user;
• acquiring a user's selection behavior information with respect to search results that are presented and causing the acquired selection behavior information to be reflected in said scoring engine weight value database;
• and
• when a user performs selection behavior with respect to search results that are presented, attenuating weight value based on the elapsed time from the time of updating entries in the scoring weight value database according to immediately preceding selection behavior of the user until the current time.