Query selection and results merging

One or more computer storage media comprising computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a computer-implemented method comprising:

• upon receiving a query, extracting features comprising language of the query, region of a user, both together called original language-region pair, and intent of the query, from the query;
• categorizing the intent of the query based on context of the query;
• receiving search results for the query for the original language-region pair;
• determining whether the query would benefit from being issued to another language-region pair based on the categorized intent and the features extracted from the query;
• and
• either:
• in response to determining that the query would benefit from being issued to another language-region pair:
• selecting another language-region pair;
• sending the query to the selected language-region pair;
• receiving search results for the selected language-region pair;
• merging the search results for the original language-region pair with search results for the selected language-region pair;
• and
• sending to end user equipment the merged search results;
• or
• in response to determining that the query would not benefit from being issued to another language-region pair, sending to end user equipment the search results for the query for the original language-region pair.

An information retrieval system, comprising:

• at least one hardware processor arranged to control:
• a query understanding component arranged to determine intent of a query;
• a region identifier arranged to determine a region of a user asking the query;
• a language classifier arranged to determine a language of the query;
• an intent classifier arranged to determine the intent of the query;
• a categorizer arranged to categorize the intent of the query based on context of the query;
• a categorizer based content profile that allows to determine whether the query would benefit from being issued to another language-region pair;
• a first ranking algorithm component arranged to rank search results according to the region of the user and language of the query;
• a second ranking algorithm component arranged to rank search results according to another language-region pair;
• and
• a merging component arranged to merge the search results according to the region of the user and the language of the query with the search results according to the other language-region pair.