Patent ID: 8095419

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for the generation and presentation of a search score for a given user on the basis of searches that the given user performs over a corpus of documents, the method comprising: storing in a profile of the given user one or more query attributes, the query attributes comprising a query, information regarding the query, and information regarding the given user's use of a result set associated with the query; assigning one or more weights to the one or more query attributes on a random basis; selecting a time period over which to calculate the search score for the given user, the time period having a plurality of query sessions, each of the query sessions comprising a plurality of queries each associated with at least one of the one or more query attributes; applying a score function to each of the plurality of queries in each of the plurality of query sessions associated with the given user over the time period, wherein applying a score function comprises determining a product of a score value for the at least one of the one or more query attributes and the one or more weights associated with the one or more query attributes; calculating, using a processing device, a session score for each of the plurality of sessions, the session score comprising a sum of the product of the score value for the at least one of the one or more query attributes and the one or more weights for the one or more query attribute for each of the at least one of the one or more query attributes in a given session; calculating, using a processing device, a search score for the given user, the search score comprising an average of the session scores for the plurality of query sessions; assigning, using the processing device, the search score to the given user; displaying the search score to the given user; and rewarding the given user for an achievement of a particular search score.