Patent ID: 8924380

Claim:
A method comprising: identifying, by at least one computer device, a document associated with a rank, the rank having a first value before a first time; detecting, by at least one computer device and at the first time, a change to a ranking factor associated with the document; determining, by at least one computer device and based on the change to the ranking factor, a second value for the rank; changing, by at least one computer device and during a transition period between the first time and a second time, the rank from the first value to the second value by applying a rank transition function to the rank, the rank transition function being one of a damped response transition function or an initially-inverse response transition function, and the rank transition function causing the rank to have: the second value at the second time, and one or more third values during the transition period, the one or more third values being different from the first value and the second value at one or more times during the transition period; and using, by at least one computer device, the rank in a search operation related to the document, the rank having: the first value when the search operation occurs before the first time, the second value when the search operation occurs at the second time, and a particular third value of the one or more third values when the search operation occurs during the transition period.