Abstract:
A method and system is provided for measuring a user preference by obtaining information representing a length of time that a user hovers a user-controlled pointer over a display region corresponding to a first search result without selecting the first search result. A second search result is provided in accordance with the user preference. In some instances additional information is provided concerning the first search result over which the user-controlled pointer is hovering. In some embodiments the first search result comprises a portion that is a snippet and the obtaining information representing the length of time that a user hovers a user-controlled pointer over a display region comprises determining an amount of time that a user hovers a user-controlled pointer over the snippet.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/752,017, filed Mar. 31, 2010, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/059,794, filed Feb. 16, 2005, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/026,921, filed Dec. 30, 2004, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. 
     
    
     FIELD 
       [0002]    The present invention relates generally to the field of search engines, and in particular, to a system and method of modulating a search result relevancy with user feedback. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0003]    A typical use of a search engine involves a user, a search query and a client device. The user submits the search query through the client device to the search engine. Upon receipt of the search query, the search engine identifies in its database one or more items relevant to the search query according to a set of predefined criteria, and returns the identified items to the client device as a search result (e.g., documents, advertisements and/or units of information such as dictionary definitions). The items are ordered based upon their respective relevancy or ranking values according to a predefined empirical standard (e.g., PageRank, as described in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 6,285,999, hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety). An item with a higher ranking value usually appears before those of lower ones. 
         [0004]    The click through rate of an informational item may be defined as the ratio of the number of times the item has been selected by a user (sometimes called the number of click throughs) to the number of times the item was displayed (sometimes called the number of impressions), and thereby made available for selection. In at least one widely used system, advertisements corresponding to displayed content are ordered in accordance with an ordering function, one parameter of which is the click through rates of the items (advertisements) being ordered. 
         [0005]    In at least some situations, when displaying a set of informational items, informational items having high click through rates should be ranked higher, and displayed more prominently than informational items with lower click through rates, because the items with high click through rates are more likely to be of interest to the user(s). 
         [0006]    However, if the information being sought, e.g., the meaning of a word, is already available from an informational item as presented in the search results (i.e., not requiring the user to click though to receive additional information), the search engine may not receive user feedback about the relevancy of the informational item to the search. The user has little motivation to provide feedback such as a click through because the user now has the information sought, or there may be no outbound link associated with the information item. Therefore, there is a need for collecting user feedback with respect to informational items presented in response to a search query and adjusting the relevancy values of the items in accordance with the user feedback, even if there is no click through information about one or more of the informational items. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0007]    According to some embodiments, one or more informational items are displayed in response to a search query. Each item occupies a respective region on a display and has a relevancy value associated with the search query. The user&#39;s browsing (e.g., pointer placement and/or movement) activities are monitored with respect to the displayed informational items. At least one informational item&#39;s relevancy value is adjusted in accordance with the user&#39;s browsing activities with respect to the item&#39;s respective region. 
         [0008]    One aspect of the present disclosure provides a method comprising, at a computing device having one or more processors and memory storing one or more programs for execution by the one or more processors, measuring a user preference by obtaining information representing a length of time that a user hovers a user-controlled pointer over a display region corresponding to a first search result without selecting the first search result. A second search result is then provided in accordance with the user preference. In some embodiments, the method further includes providing additional information concerning the first search result over which the user-controlled pointer is hovering. In some embodiments, the first search result comprises a portion that is a snippet and the obtaining information representing the length of time that a user hovers a user-controlled pointer over a display region comprises determining an amount of time that a user hovers a user-controlled pointer over the snippet. In some embodiments, the obtaining information representing a length of time that a user hovers a user-controlled pointer over a display region corresponding to the first search result further comprises determining a pointer movement pattern. For instance, in some embodiments, the first search result includes a snippet line and the pointer movement pattern is one of (i) movement of the user-controlled pointer at a normal reading speed over the snippet line, (ii) a static position over the snippet line, or (iii) random movement over the snippet line. In some embodiments, the measuring the user preference further comprises a determination as to whether the length of time exceeds a threshold value and whether there is an associated mouse-down action. In some embodiments, the measuring the user preference further comprises a determination as to whether there is an associated click-through action during a period of time in which the user hovers a user-controlled pointer over the display region. In some embodiments, the display region is a snippet in the first search result. In some embodiments, the first search result is responsive to a first search query by the user and the second search result is responsive to a second search query by the user. In some embodiments, the first search result comprises a first portion and a second portion and the user preference is calculated differently when a user hovers a user-controlled pointer over the first portion rather than the second portion. 
         [0009]    Another aspect provides a system comprising a memory, one or more processors, and one or more program stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the one or more processors. The one or more programs comprise instructions for measuring a user preference by obtaining information representing a length of time that a user hovers a user-controlled pointer over a display region corresponding to a first search result without selecting the first search result and providing a second search result in accordance with the user preference. In some embodiments, the one or more programs further comprise instructions for providing additional information concerning the first search result over which the user-controlled pointer is hovering. In some embodiments, the first search result comprises a portion that is a snippet and the obtaining information representing the length of time that a user hovers a user-controlled pointer over a display region corresponding to the first search result without selecting the first search result comprises determining an amount of time that a user hovers a user-controlled pointer over the snippet. In some embodiments, the obtaining information representing a length of time that a user hovers a user-controlled pointer over a display region corresponding to the first search result further comprises determining a pointer movement pattern. For example, in some embodiments, the first search result includes a snippet line and the pointer movement pattern is one of (i) movement of the user-controlled pointer at a normal reading speed over the snippet line, (ii) a static position over the snippet line, or (iii) random movement over the snippet line. In some embodiments, the measuring the user preference further comprises a determination as to whether the length of time exceeds a threshold value and whether there is an associated mouse-down action. In some embodiments, the measuring the user preference further comprises a determination as to whether there is an associated click-through action during a period of time in which the user hovers a user-controlled pointer over the display region. In some embodiments, the first search result is responsive to a first search query by the user and the second search result is responsive to a second search query by the user. 
         [0010]    Another aspect provides a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs for execution by a computer. The one or more programs comprise instructions for measuring a user preference by obtaining information representing a length of time that a user hovers a user-controlled pointer over a display region corresponding to a first search result without selecting the first search result. Further, a second search result is provided in accordance with the user preference. In some embodiments, the first search result is responsive to a first search query by the user and the second search result is responsive to a second search query by the user. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0011]    The aforementioned aspects of the invention as well as additional aspects will be more clearly understood as a result of the following detailed description of the various embodiments of the invention when taken in conjunction with the drawings. Like reference numerals refer to corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawings. 
           [0012]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating a client-server network system according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
           [0013]      FIG. 2A  is a schematic flowchart illustrating an exemplary thick-client embodiment of a client assistant. 
           [0014]      FIG. 2B  is a schematic flowchart illustrating an exemplary thin-client embodiment of a client assistant. 
           [0015]      FIG. 3  is a flowchart illustrating how adjustments are made to informational items&#39; relevancy values according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
           [0016]      FIG. 4  depicts a data structure for storing information associated with different informational items according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
           [0017]      FIGS. 5A-5C  are flowcharts of three specific embodiments illustrating how the server generates different types of search results in response to a search query according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
           [0018]      FIG. 6  is a block diagram illustrating a client computer in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention. 
           [0019]      FIG. 7  is a block diagram illustrating a server computer in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS 
     Overview 
       [0020]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating a client-server network system  100 . The system  100  includes a plurality of clients  102  that are connected to a server  130  and to a plurality of web hosts  140  through a network  120 . The network  120  may include the Internet, other wide area networks, local area networks, metropolitan area networks, wireless networks, etc. In one embodiment, the server  130  is a search engine that includes information about millions or even billions of documents stored at various web hosts  140 . When the search engine receives a search query from one of the clients  102 , it identifies a set of informational items, including, in most instances, a link to a document that is relevant to the search query, and returns them to the requesting client as a search result. The search engine may also return other types of information items such as advertisements, dictionary definitions, images, audio files, or other units of information which may or may not includes links to more information associated with the returned information item. In some instances the informational item contains enough information such that a link may not be desirable or necessary. For example, if a definition for a word was returned as an informational unit it is may satisfy a user&#39;s interest without the need for additional information. 
         [0021]    In some embodiments, a client (also sometimes called a client device)  102  hosts a client application  104  and a client assistant  106 . The client  102  may be a personal digital assistant (PDA), a personal computer (PC) or a workstation that can display the informational items within a search result, and the client application  104  can be a web browser or a standalone program that sends requests to and receives information from a database or a search engine. The client application  104  is used for displaying search results received from the search engine and the client assistant  106  is responsible for monitoring user browsing activities in connection with the search results and providing such information back to the search engine. In the context of this document, the term “monitoring user browsing activities” means monitoring a user&#39;s pointer activities (e.g., pointer placement and movement). 
         [0022]    In some embodiments, the client application  104  is a browser (e.g., Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer or others). In some embodiments, the server  130  includes a user response analysis unit  132  for receiving and analyzing user browsing activities (i.e., pointer activity, such as placement and movement) and a relevancy value update unit  134  for updating an informational item&#39;s relevancy value associated with a search query based on information received from the user response analysis unit  132 . As a result, subsequent responses by the search engine to the same query or a similar search query from any client, may identify a new set of informational items and/or provide them in a different order in accordance with their updated relevancy values. While the explanations provided here use the term “relevancy value,” other terms such as “ranking value” or “query dependent ranking value” may also be used. The relevancy value of an informational item may be used for ordering or ranking results responsive to a search query or other query that produces a plurality of results. 
         [0023]    Because an informational item&#39;s relevancy value associated with a search query is generally an aggregation of feedback regarding the item received from a community of users, it can serve to characterize the community&#39;s opinion about the relevancy between the informational item and the search query, or an underlying document associated with the informational item. An item found to be more relevant to a search query (or perhaps more accurately, found to be of more interest to the users who submit the search query), should be placed in a position to match its popularity among the community (e.g., being moved to a more prominent position in the display presented to the user). In some embodiments, the community is a set of users sharing at least one similar characteristic such as belonging to the same workgroup, using the same language, using the same type of client device, having an internet address associated with the same country or geographic region, or the like. Different communities would tend to produce different user feedback. Over time, an item receiving positive user feedback will tend to move to more prominent positions in the results and, conversely in some embodiments, an item receiving no feedback or negative feedback should move to lesser positions (e.g., downward) in the search result. In some embodiments, the relevancy value of an informational item is query-dependent and the same item may have different relevancy values associated with different search queries. In some embodiments, the relevancy value of an informational item will be a dynamic parameter since the community&#39;s opinion about the relevance between the informational item and a search query may vary with time. For example, as the popularity, frame or notoriety of a movie star, musician or politician rises and falls, the relevancy values of informational items about that person will similarly rise and fall. 
       Process and Example 
       [0024]    There are many types of user browsing activities that may indicate a user&#39;s interest in an informational item responsive to a search query. For example, if after reviewing a snippet of a document associated with the informational item, the user determines that the underlying document may contains relevant information, the user may click through an embedded link to visit a complete version of the document. 
         [0025]    A typical user&#39;s behavior is to move the mouse pointer (or any other pointing indicator) over or near a target informational item, keep the mouse pointer there for a period of time while the user reads the item&#39;s information (e.g., title and snippet), and then click through the underlying link or move to another item. Sometimes, a user may review multiple informational items responsive to a search query, moving a pointer over or near each of the informational items that the user reviews. These various pointer activities can provide another way to evaluate the user&#39;s feedback with respect to a particular informational item. A longer pointer hover period may suggest a more positive opinion from the user about the relevance between the informational item and the user&#39;s interest. Sometimes, a particular pointer movement pattern may provide additional information about a user&#39;s interest. For example, a user moving the pointer across the snippet line by line at a normal reading speed suggests a higher level of attention that the user paid to the informational item than if the pointer had been kept in a static position or moved randomly. An informational item that is associated with a click-through may be more relevant to a search query than another item that receives user attention, such as pointer hover time greater than a threshold value, but no mouse-down action. 
         [0026]    In some embodiments, the client assistant  106  shown in  FIG. 1  is primarily responsible for gathering information about various user browsing activities and the server  130  is primarily responsible for analyzing the information collected by the client assistant  106  and updating relevancy values of informational items accordingly. In other embodiments, the distinction is less clear and the client assistant  106  and the server  130  may have varying degrees of responsibility. In embodiments where the client assistant  106  assumes a substantial amount of workload (e.g., conducting preliminary relevancy analysis and selecting one type of user browsing activity over another one), the client assistant  106  is referred to as a thick-client. In embodiments where the client assistant  106  does little analysis and passes substantially all information about a user&#39;s browsing activities to the server, the client assistant  106  is referred to as a thin-client. Any flavor of the client assistant  106 , (i.e., thick-client, thin-client or something in between), may be implemented using executable code such as JavaScript which may be included in the page of search results, as a plug-in application program attached to the client application  104  (e.g., a toolbar), or a stand-alone application. 
         [0027]      FIG. 2A  is a schematic flowchart illustrating a thick-client embodiment of a client assistant  106 . This embodiment, and its thin-client counterpart described with reference to  FIG. 2B  below, may be used for monitoring the user&#39;s pointing activities, e.g., the location where buttons are pressed, the movement pattern of the pointer and the speed of the pointer, etc. In response to a search query, one or more informational items are presented in a display by the client application  104  to a requesting user ( 210 -A). These informational items may be part of a search result or a keyword-triggered advertising item. 
         [0028]    In some embodiments, the client assistant  106  monitors a predefined region of the display that is associated with the informational item, and the user&#39;s pointer placement activities with respect to that predefined region ( 230 -A). For example, the client assistant  106  identifies when the user moves the pointer into the predefined region and when the user moves the pointer out of the predefined region. Based on these two identifications, the client assistant determines a continuous hover period or client attention period. In some embodiments, the client assistant  106  then determines whether this client attention period is greater than a threshold value ( 240 -A). 
         [0029]    If the client attention period is greater than the threshold value ( 240 -A, yes), the client assistant  106  sends the information associated with the user&#39;s pointer placement activity including the client attention period to a server ( 250 -A) for further processing. Otherwise ( 240 -A, no), the client assistant  106  does not send the information it has gathered and returns to monitoring pointer movements. Since a search result often includes many informational items and the pointer often temporarily passes through many regions associated with different items on its way to the target item, these brief hovers are usually too short to reflect any genuine user interest in the underlying informational items. Skipping these items by appropriately setting the threshold value also reduces the server-side workload, since less information about the user&#39;s mouse activities is sent over to the server side for further processing. 
         [0030]      FIG. 2B  is a schematic flowchart illustrating a thin-client embodiment of the client assistant. This embodiment is “thinner” than the previous embodiment because the client assistant in this embodiment does not calculate the client attention period. As mentioned earlier, in some embodiments, however, the division of the workload between the client and server is allocated differently. In some of these embodiments, the client assistant  106  displays one or more informational items in a display ( 210 -B), monitors a user&#39;s pointer placement activities ( 230 -B) and transfers information about the user&#39;s pointer placement activities to a server for further analysis ( 240 -B), letting the server determine whether or not a particular activity, e.g., a pointer indicator movement, may reflect the user&#39;s interest in the displayed informational item. 
         [0031]    In some embodiments, the information about a user&#39;s pointer placement activities that is transferred back to a server may be used to modify the information currently being presented to the user. For instance, when a user hovers a pointer over a definition in a onebox, and information about the pointer hover is conveyed to the server, the server may send a more complete definition to the client for immediate display. In one exemplary implementation, the additional information is displayed in a pop-up window. In yet other embodiments, the additional information is conveyed to the client by the server with the initial web page or search results, or is otherwise conveyed before the user pointer hover over the item has been determined, and in these embodiments the additional information is displayed by the client system (without further assistance from the server) when the user&#39;s pointer hover activity meets predefined criteria, such as hovering more than a threshold period of time. 
         [0032]    As mentioned above, a user&#39;s feedback with respect to an informational item may appear in many forms of user pointer placements or actions, sometimes called user browsing activities. It will be understood by one skilled in the art that the client assistant can track other types of mouse or pointer actions, e.g., when and where the mouse button is pressed down, how long the mouse pointer is over the title of the informational item or how long it is within the snippet of the informational item. In some embodiments, mouse or pointer hovering over different sections of an informational item carry different weights in determining its relevancy value. For example, hover time over a first portion (e.g., a snippet portion) of an informational item may be assigned a first weight W 1 , while hover time over a second portion (e.g., a descriptor, such as a title portion) of the informational item may be assigned a distinct, second weight W 2 . In the present disclosure, such information including the pointer hover period is commonly referred to as “client attention data” that is used by the server when determining the relevancy value of the informational item associated with the search query. Further, the techniques described herein are not limited to the use of a mouse pointing device. Rather, the techniques and embodiments disclosed herein apply equally well to any type of device which tends to indicate a user&#39;s pointing to regions of the display (e.g., tablets, touch-screens, eye movement detectors, light pens and so on). 
         [0033]    The relevancy value of an informational item associated with user pointer activities can be a statistical parameter that becomes increasingly more reliable as the server accumulates increasing amounts of client attention data. In some embodiments, the server is responsible for updating an informational item&#39;s relevancy value according to a predetermined schedule, e.g., every day or every week, using its associated client attention data and impression data, as well as query-independent information such as PageRank. In other embodiments, an informational item&#39;s relevancy value is updated or recomputed at query time, while computing the rankings or orderings of the information items included in the results for a search query. 
         [0034]      FIG. 3  is a flowchart illustrating how adjustments are made to the relevancy values for informational items according to some embodiments of the present invention. These adjustments may be executed at regular time intervals on the server-side (e.g., including, but not limited to, every day), or triggered whenever the server has accumulated a predefined amount of client attention data). The server may first retrieve impression data associated with the informational items that are provided to client devices in response to search queries ( 310 ). In some embodiments, the impression data includes data indicating how many times and in what orders the informational items are provided to the client devices in response to the search queries. 
         [0035]    Next, the server aggregates client attention data that is received from the client devices over a predefined time period ( 320 ) and generates a client attention coefficient for each of a plurality of informational items by analyzing the impression data and client attention data ( 340 ). For each informational item for which sufficient client attention data has been collected to generate a new or revised relevancy value, the server combines the client attention coefficients associated with the informational item with their respective query-independent metrics, e.g., PageRank, indicating the informational item&#39;s importance or popularity ( 350 ) and generates a new relevancy value or updates an existing one for each informational item ( 360 ). In other words, in some embodiments, the relevancy value of an informational item includes both query-dependent components, e.g., client attention data, and query-independent ones, e.g., PageRank. In some embodiments, the client attention data and query-independent data are stored in different fields and in some embodiments they are combined in a single field. As noted above, the generation of an updated relevancy value may be performed at query time, while ordering the results for a search query, where the results include an informational item for which client attention information is available. The query time updating of the relevancy value may include operation  360 , or operations  340 ,  350  and  360 . 
         [0036]    The new relevancy values as well as other forms of client attention data can be stored in a data structure, each one associated with an informational item. In some embodiments, the information is associated with a particular search query. Data structure  400  of  FIG. 4  depicts such a data structure for storing information associated with different informational items according to some embodiments of the present invention. The informational items may be a document, an advertising item, or a piece of information associated with a particular search query, e.g., a dictionary definition of an English word. 
         [0037]    Data structure  400  includes one or more records  402  associated with a particular informational item. In some embodiments, each informational item (e.g., identified by a corresponding reference  410  to the information item) for which there is a record  402  has an associated PageRank  420 , and other query-independent parameters  430 . For example, the PageRank  420  is dependant upon the hyperlink structure associated with the informational item and it is not related to any search query. In some embodiments, an associated PageRank value is not included in record  402  when the informational item is not a type of informational item which includes a PageRank (e.g., an advertisement or dictionary definition). Additionally, the record  402  may include query-dependent attributes for one or more queries  440  that relevant to the informational item, if there is relevant impression data  450  and client attention data  460  available. In some embodiments, the query-dependent attributes include impression data  450 , a set of client attention data  460  (which may include such parameters as a click-through rate, a pointer hover period and so on), a client attention coefficient  470  that is derived from the client attention data  460  and a query-dependant relevancy value  480  using, e.g., the algorithm mentioned above in connection with  FIG. 3 , and other parameters  490  reflecting the user&#39;s feedback or various other factors, respectively. Likewise, another query relevant to the informational item may be associated with another set of attributes that are related to user feedback with respect to that query. In some embodiments, the user feedback is not associated with a particular query, but instead is used to modify a query independent interest value associated with the informational item. In some embodiments, each record  402  may include a subset and/or a superset of the fields discussed above. 
         [0038]    Upon receiving a new search query from a client device, the server identifies in its database one or more informational items relevant to the query and then retrieves the relevancy values of the identified informational items associated with the search query from the data structure. The identified informational items are ordered in accordance with their relevancy values and returned to the requesting client device. 
         [0039]      FIGS. 5A-5C  are flowcharts according to some of the various embodiments illustrating how the server generates different types of information items in response to a search query. According to embodiments using the process shown in  FIG. 5A , the server receives a search query from a client device ( 510 -A), identifies one or more informational items whose associated client attention data satisfies a predefined pattern ( 520 -A) and returns them to the requesting client device ( 530 -A). Unlike a typical search result comprising a list of documents (with, for example, titles, snippets, link and various other information), the identified informational item is for the most part, associated with a particular source of specialized information and is considered to be closely related to the search query. These informational items may be placed at the top of a listing of search results produced by one or more other servers. In some embodiments, the information items identified at  520 -A are termed “onebox results”. In some embodiments, the type of informational items in the onebox results include dictionary definitions, news, stock quotes, weather and local web sites related to the search query. In the case of a returned dictionary definition for a word, for example, if the user&#39;s interest is indeed the definition, the user will probably move the pointer into the box and keep it there for a moment while reading the definition. A frequent repeat of such a pattern of pointer movement from a community of users is an indicator to the search engine that presenting that word&#39;s definition as the one-box result for that query is desirable. 
         [0040]    For example, when a user submits a search query “agrestic”, the user probably desires to know the word&#39;s definition since it is not a common word. Accordingly, the definition of the word “agrestic” is chosen to be placed in the one-box result responsive to the search query. There may be other results in the onebox area. Similarly, if a user submits a search query “goog”, his intent is probably to get the instant price quote for Google&#39;s stock since “GOOG” happens to be the stock symbol for Google Incorporated. Accordingly, it is desirable for the onebox results to provide the stock quote, e.g., the current price of the stock and perhaps even a graph showing the stock&#39;s price trend. As with the dictionary definition example, if the onebox result matched the user&#39;s interest, the user would probably move the pointer into a region defined by the result and keep the pointer there while reading the information. In other words, the user&#39;s interest is demonstrated by a pointer hover period associated with the onebox result. On the other hand, when the user does not move the pointer to the box or moves the pointer away from the result this can be interpreted in at least two ways: 1) the onebox result was not of interest to the user; or 2) the user was interested, but did not move the pointer toward the onebox result. In some embodiments, this produces negative feedback regarding client attention (e.g., when the user moves the pointer away from the informational item). In some embodiments, this information is simply not utilized. In some embodiments, the onebox result includes links whose click-throughs can be identified. A click-though indicates a positive reaction from the client which would tend to raise a relevancy value of the information item associated with the link. After receiving sufficient negative feedback or lack of positive feedback, the search engine may replace the current onebox result(s) with different informational items based on the client attention data or simply stop producing the onebox result(s). In some embodiments, the informational items presented in the onebox results are ordered in accordance with the client attention data and/or relevancy values. 
         [0041]    Similarly, relevancy values of informational items relevant to a search query can be used to order them in a search result as shown in  FIG. 5B . After receiving a search query ( 510 -B), the search engine identifies search results comprising one or more informational items, if any, that are relevant to the search query ( 520 -B), each informational item may include a title, a snippet and a link to another document (e.g., a web page). A snippet is generally a selected portion of text from the informational item, and preferably comprises text that includes at least one of the search terms in the search query. If an identified informational item in the search results does not have an associated URL (uniform resource locator), the informational item does not include a link. Next, the search engine orders the informational items ( 530 -B) in accordance with their respective relevancy values associated with the search query. When an informational item in the search results has a corresponding record  402  (see  FIG. 4 ) that includes a relevant query-dependent relevancy value  480 , the query-dependent relevancy value  480  in that record  402  is used for ordering that information item with respect to the other informational items in the search results. As shown in  FIG. 4 , in some embodiments, the relevancy value of each informational item is based on both query-dependent client attention data and query-independent ranking information. Finally, the server returns the ordered informational items as a set of search results to the requesting client device ( 540 -B). Subsequently, the user&#39;s new pointer activities over the search results, e.g., the pointer placements and/or movements, are monitored for next update of the items&#39; relevancy values. In some embodiments, the user feedback regarding a particular informational item is reflected in a modification of the query independent ranking information. 
         [0042]      FIG. 5C  is a flowchart illustrating how the search engine identifies and orders a set of advertising items that are keyword-triggered by a search query according to some embodiments. Upon receiving a search query ( 510 -C), the search engine determines whether any of the query terms are associated with advertising items hosted by the search engine. After identifying the advertising items triggered by the search query ( 520 -C), the search engine retrieves various information which serves to help identify how to order advertisements, which can, in some instances also determine which advertisements to present to the user. For example, advertisements may be ordered by a ranking value based on a combination of click-though rate and a bid amount. In some embodiments of the invention the ranking value is also based on client feedback information as a result of pointer activity not associated with a click-through. For example, some advertisements are primarily for brand identification and a measure of interest or success of such advertisements might be indicated by a user&#39;s pointing activities associated with the advertisement. When a user is interested in an advertisement, the user may move the pointer into an area associated with the advertisement, yet not click-through. Some embodiments of the invention permit such feedback to be learned through the client attention data as described above. Finally, the search engine returns a search result as well as the advertising items that are ordered according to their ranking values ( 530 -C) back to the requesting client device ( 540 -C). In some embodiment, a limited number of top-ranked advertisements are returned (e.g., 3 to 5). 
       System Architecture 
       [0043]      FIG. 6  is a block diagram illustrating a client computer  600  in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention. The client computer  600  typically includes one or more processing units (CPU&#39;s)  602 , one or more network or other communications interfaces  610 , memory  612 , and one or more communication buses  614  for interconnecting these components. The client computer  600  optionally includes a user interface  604  that comprises a display device  606 , keyboard  608  and pointer device  609  (e.g., a mouse, trackball, touch sensitive pad or display screen, or the like). The memory  612  may include high speed random access memory and may also include non-volatile memory, such as one or more magnetic disk storage devices. The memory  612  may optionally include one or more storage devices remotely located from the CPU(s)  602 . In some embodiments, the memory  612  stores the following elements, modules and data structures, or a subset or superset thereof:
       an operating system  616  that includes procedures for handling various basic system services and for performing hardware dependent tasks;   a network communication module (or instructions)  618  that is used for connecting the client computer  600  to other computers via the one or more network communications interfaces  610  (via wired or wireless connection), using the Internet, other wide area networks, local area networks, metropolitan area networks, and so on;   a client application module  104  that is used for receiving search queries and displaying search results responsive to the search queries, e.g., a web browser; and   a client assistant module  106  that is used for recording the pointer activities (including pointer placement and/or movement activities) of users and transferring such information to a server computer.       
 
         [0048]    Each of the above identified modules and applications corresponds to a set of instructions for performing one or more functions described above. These modules (i.e., sets of instructions) need not be implemented as separate software programs, procedures or modules, and thus various subsets of these modules may be combined or otherwise re-arranged in various embodiments. In some embodiments, memory  612  may store a subset of the modules and applications identified above. Furthermore, memory  206  may store additional modules, applications and data structures not described above. 
         [0049]      FIG. 7  is a block diagram illustrating a server computer  700  in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention. The server computer  700  typically includes one or more processing units (CPU&#39;s)  702 , one or more network or other communications interfaces  710 , memory  712 , and one or more communication buses  714  for interconnecting these components. The server computer  700  may optionally include a user interface  704 . Memory  712  may include high speed random access memory and may also include non-volatile memory, such as one or more magnetic disk storage devices. The memory  712  may optionally include one or more storage devices remotely located from the CPU(s)  702 . Memory  712 , or alternatively the non-volatile memory device(s) within memory  712 , comprises a computer readable storage medium. In some embodiments, memory  712  or the computer readable storage medium of memory  712  includes the following programs, modules and data structures, or a subset or a superset thereof:
       an operating system  716  that includes procedures for handling various basic system services and for performing hardware dependent tasks;   a network communication module (or instructions)  718  that is used for connecting the server computer  700  to other computers via the one or more network communications interfaces  710  (via wired or wireless connection), using the Internet, other wide area networks, local area networks, metropolitan area networks, and so on;   a server module (or instructions)  720  that is used for interpreting search queries, identifying informational items that are relevant to each search query and returning search results to requesting client computers  600 ;   user response analysis module (or instructions)  132 , as described above;   a relevancy value update module (or instructions)  134  that is used for adjusting an informational item&#39;s relevancy or ranking value associated with a search query based upon user feedback and/or other query-independent and/or query-dependent factors;   user response information  732  that includes information associated with informational items and may include a subset of or superset of the information in data structure  400  including, for example, impression data  732 - 1 , client attention data  732 - 2 , client attention periods  732 - 3 , a threshold value  732 - 4 , client attention coefficients  732 - 5  or other information  732 - 6 , such as various other query-dependent and/or query independent information;   a relevancy value data structure  722  storing the relevancy values generated by the relevancy value update module  134 ; and   informational items  724  as described above.       
 
         [0058]    Each of the above identified modules and applications corresponds to a set of instructions for performing one or more functions described above. These modules (i.e., sets of instructions) need not be implemented as separate software programs, procedures or modules, and thus various subsets of these modules may be combined or otherwise re-arranged in various embodiments. In some embodiments, memory  612  may store a subset of the modules, applications and data structures identified above. Furthermore, memory  712  may store additional modules, applications and data structures not described above. 
         [0059]    Although  FIG. 7  shows server  700  as a number of discrete items,  FIG. 7  is intended more as a functional description of the various features which may be present in server  700  rather than as a structural schematic of the embodiments described herein. In practice, and as recognized by those of ordinary skill in the art, items shown separately could be combined and some items could be separated. For example, some items shown separately in  FIG. 7  could be implemented on single servers and single items could be implemented by one or more servers. The actual number of servers in server  700  and how features are allocated among them will vary from one implementation to another, and may depend in part on the amount of data traffic that the system must handle during peak usage periods as well as during average usage periods. 
         [0060]    Although certain elements are depicted as being in the client computer  600  or the server computer  700 , certain elements may be located in whole or in part in the other, or distributed among a plurality of computers. For example, the user response information  732  could be partially located in the client computer  600 . As another example, the information items  724  could reside on a plurality of computers. 
         [0061]    Although some of various drawings illustrate a number of logical stages in a particular order, stages which are not order dependent may be reordered and other stages may be combined or broken out. While some reordering or other groupings are specifically mentioned, others will be obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art and so do not present an exhaustive list of alternatives. Moreover, it should be recognized that the stages could be implemented in hardware, firmware, software or any combination thereof. 
         [0062]    The foregoing description, for purpose of explanation, has been described with reference to specific embodiments. However, the illustrative discussions above are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in view of the above teachings.