System and method for customization of search results

A system and method are provided for customizing search result descriptions for results returned by a search engine. The search result descriptions may be obtained through a search over a computer network. The system includes a search result description request component for enabling selection of particular data for retrieval by the search engine. The system additionally includes a search result description generator for retrieving and returning the requested data. The system also includes a search result description renderer for displaying search result descriptions in a selected manner.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments of the present invention relate to customization of search result descriptions. In particular, embodiments relate to user or developer control of displayed information upon execution of a computerized search over a network.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Through the Internet and other networks, users have gained access to large amounts of information distributed over a large number of computers. Various techniques are available for facilitating user access to desired information. Known techniques typically include user implementation of a search engine in order to locate desired information.

Currently, when implementing a search engine, a user enters one or more keywords and receives a set of results. Each result includes a description that has a predetermined set of components. Typically, the description includes a portion of a document title, a portion of a document body, and a relevant universal resource locator (URL) for each web page result returned. In a few specific instances, such as a web shopping search, a hard coded set of fields is returned. Such fields may include price or model number fields.

Search techniques are used for many different activities by end users and increasingly by developers. However, the results that are returned are wholly under the control of the search engine as predetermined by hard coded rules and cannot be controlled by the user or developer. While the uses of a search engine vary, the interface is locked.

No search system currently exists for allowing a user to control aspects of returned search results, including which portion of the body the description is pulled from, the length of the description, or what other attributes of the document or structured data within the document may be returned as a portion of the result. Furthermore, no currently known search system enables users or developers to specify elements of the user interface that display the description. Furthermore, after receiving search results, developers are unable to programmatically render search results in a desired format.

Accordingly, a system and method are needed for allowing customization of web search result descriptions by consumers including users and developers. A solution can be created by leveraging existing technologies such as XML, HTML, metatags, and indexing. By creating such a solution, a search platform can be created that is capable of expansion and modification. Such a system would improve the search experience for consumers of search results including users and developers.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention are directed to a method for customizing search result descriptions returned by a search engine. The search result descriptions are obtained through a search over a computer network. The method includes implementing a search result description request component to select at least one component of each search result description for return by a search engine. The method additionally includes sending a search result description request to the search engine encoded in a search query and processing the search query by implementing a search result description generator and returning the requested search result descriptions.

In an additional aspect, a system is provided for customizing search result descriptions for results returned by a search engine. The search result descriptions are obtained through a search over a computer network. The system includes a search result description request component for enabling selection of particular data for retrieval by the search engine. The system additionally includes a search result description generator for retrieving and returning the requested data and a search result description renderer for displaying search result descriptions in a selected manner.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

I. System Overview

Embodiments of the invention include a method and system for customizing search result descriptions. The disclosed system and method provide the capability for controlling which portions of document are returned to a user or developer. Similarly to a database system, the disclosed system enables a developer or user to specify which “columns” should be returned. Information discernable by a search engine that requests such information as a title, a URL, a document size, a predetermined document portion, a domain where the document is hosted, or a date of the document may be encoded in a query forwarded to the search engine. Accordingly, a user or developer is able to control display of attributes of the document. In further embodiments, a user may control display of structured data stored within the document, such as Meta-Tags, XML, resource description framework (RDF), fonts, colors, styles, or the order of the fields of the description. Furthermore, the system and method provide the capability for programmatic handling of search results, for instance through an API, rather than through the user interface.

FIG. 1illustrates a system overview including a user computer10having a user browser12accessible through a user interface (UI)14. The user computer10may be connected over a network50with a partner server20and a search engine server30. The partner server20may include a customizable search application program interface (API)22for customizing search results. The search engine server30may include a search engine32, a searchable index34, and a search result description generator40. Other components that are not shown may also be included.

In operation, a developer may customize search result descriptions by implementing the customizable search API22of the partner server20. A search engine32may traverse a searchable index34and implement a search result description generator40to generate results in accordance with the settings implemented by the customizable search API22. In operation, the user submits a query through the user browser12. Based on the parameters required by the customizable search API22, the search engine server30processes the query and returns results. Details of the customizable search API22and search result description generator40will be further described below with reference toFIGS. 2 and 3.

II. Exemplary Operating Environment

With reference toFIG. 5, the exemplary system100for implementing the invention includes a general purpose-computing device in the form of a computer110including a processing unit120, a system memory130, and a system bus121that couples various system components including the system memory to the processing unit120.

The computer110in the present invention will operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more remote computers, such as a remote computer180. The remote computer180may be a personal computer, and typically includes many or all of the elements described above relative to the computer110, although only a memory storage device181has been illustrated inFIG. 5. The logical connections depicted inFIG. 5include a local area network (LAN)171and a wide area network (WAN)173, but may also include other networks.

Although many other internal components of the computer110are not shown, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that such components and the interconnection are well known. Accordingly, additional details concerning the internal construction of the computer110need not be disclosed in connection with the present invention.

III. System and Method of the Invention

As set forth above,FIG. 2illustrates a customizable search API22in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. The customizable search API22may include a search result description renderer24, a search result description API26, and a search result description request component28.

The search result description renderer24may display the search results to end users of the search site operated by the partner server20. Although the search result description renderer24is shown as a portion of the customizable search API22on the partner server20, the search result description renderer24could also be disposed in alternative locations. The search result description renderer24can be instructed to display descriptions with different fonts, colors, or styles, to order the fields of the description in various ways for display on the UI14. For example, the search result description renderer24may change spacing or alignment of descriptions and otherwise modify the results as instructed by the developer.

The search result description API26is a subset of the overall search API that allows a developer to programmatically retrieve and inspect search results. The result description API26allows the developer to view the structured data and attributes as distinct programmatic attributes of each search result.

The search result description request component28enables the user or developer to specify what data should be retrieved in building the search result display for each retrieved document. The search result description request component28may cause information to be encoded within the user query string. The search result description request component28can also be exposed via user interface elements (e.g. advanced search) or programmatically within a search API.

The above-described components operate in conjunction with the search engine server30to request and generate search results. As shown inFIG. 3, the search result description generator40on the search engine server30may include an attribute retrieval component42, excerpt retrieval component44, a structured data retrieval component46, and an anchor text retrieval component48.

In currently known systems, a component analogous to the presently disclosed search result description generator40generates the description of a page, including its URL, title, and a snippet of its text. The presently disclosed search result description generator40expands upon this concept by allowing retrieval of selected alternative or additional information. These components of the search result description generator40may be configured to operate in response to requests made through the customized search API22described above.

The attribute retrieval component42enables retrieval of a programmable set of data pulled from attributes of the document, such as its size, date created, date changed, domain that it is hosted on or other trackable attributes.

The structured data retrieval component46allows retrieval of structured data stored within the document. The structured data may include metatags, XML, RDF, or other types of structured data. The structured data retrieval component46may also search for other types of data in html that are not normally visible. For example, an informational web site such as a news site may store various types of documents. The documents may include reference documents, coding examples, general overviews, tips and tricks, and other types of documents. The type of document is generally stored as a metatag. For instance, a “metatype” may be set equal to “example” or “reference”. Metatags may also be used to indicate product and version. Thus a user request can be formulated to filter out the return of various products.

The excerpt retrieval component44facilitates retrieval of programmable excerpts from the body of the text, such as different lengths, different locations within the body, different numbers of distinct snippets, or snippets centered around specific words. The excerpt retrieval component44may also control links or number of different locations in the body of text that a word or set of words is centered on.

Finally, the anchor text retrieval component48retrieves anchor text of the document, or the text of links pointing to the document, with the same programming options as for the body of text within the document. The anchor text retrieval component48treats the anchor of link pointing to document as part of document and provides the ability pull information from an anchor tag data display.

The partner server20may be operated for any number of purposes. For example, the partner server20may be operated by a newspaper publisher. The newspaper publisher may provide access to a number of articles over the network. A web developer of the newspaper web site may want to have a query UI on the newspaper web site to allow users to issue a query. The user could request a search through UI14by entering keywords. A developer could set the results to return information such as an author or date or other information. The customizable search API22may send a URL to the search engine server20that requests the specified results and further instructs the search engine server30to display the results in a specific format, such as in consecutive columns.

In additional embodiments of the invention, a website may receive pre-determined data from the search engine server20as requested and may be responsible for rendering the received data using the customizable search API22. The website may receive the data and select the data to render through the customizable search API22and in what format to render it, for example in structured columns provided by the customizable search API22.

FIG. 4illustrates an alternative embodiment of the invention. InFIG. 4, a user computer100may include a user browser112having a UI114. The user computer100may also include a customizable search API120. The user computer100may be connected over a network150with a search engine server300. The search engine server300may include a search engine320, a searchable index340, and a search result description generator400.

In the embodiment ofFIG. 4, the user computer100implements the customizable search API120to selectively configure search result descriptions. The user may additionally selectively configure search result descriptions using the UI114. The user computer100then communicates over the network150with the search engine server300in response to a user query entered through the UI114. The search engine server300may then implement the search engine320to traverse the searchable index34and may generate results using the search result description generator400. The search result description generator400may generate results in accordance with the user-selected preferences entered through the customizable search API120. This embodiment eliminates the middle-tier shown inFIG. 1and enables a user to select and render results directly from the search engine server300. In this embodiment, the UI114may include components for simplifying a user's request for specific content and the rendering of that content.

FIG. 6illustrates a method for implementing the system ofFIGS. 1-3in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. The method begins in step600and the partner server300receives a user search request in step602. In step604, the partner server300, through the efforts of a developer, encodes the query string in accordance with customized parameters selected through the customizable search result API22. In step606, the partner server20sends the request to the search engine server30.

In step608, the search engine32receives the request and processes the request by traversing the searchable index34and implementing the search result description generator40to generate results. The processing of the request in step608includes implementing the search engine32and the search result description generator40. The search engine32may, for example, discern from a received query that a metatag has been requested. When the search result description generator40generates a description, it may open a cached copy of each relevant document and search for the metatag within each document identified in order to generate the description. Such a step would be performed by the structured data retrieval component46. The other components of the search result description generator40will operate as needed in accordance with the descriptions provided above.

In step610, the partner server20receives the generated results. In step612, the partner server20implements the search result description renderer24to render search results for the user computer10. The partner server20may also implement the search result description API26in order to further define rendering of retrieved results.

While particular embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described in detail herein, it should be understood that various changes and modifications might be made to the invention without departing from the scope and intent of the invention. The embodiments described herein are intended in all respects to be illustrative rather than restrictive. Alternate embodiments will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains without departing from its scope.