Patent ID: 8639703

Claim:
A method of scoring a document with respect to a distinguished node, the method comprising: determining, using a computer system comprising a processor, one or more metrics in a forward direction for the document with respect to the distinguished node and a graph including the document and the distinguished node, the one or more metrics in the forward direction indicating relevance of the document to the distinguished node and being based on a proportion of random walks of the graph including the distinguished node preceding the document with in-links and out-links of the graph in an original direction; determining, using the computer system comprising a processor, one or more backward metrics for the document with respect to the distinguished node and the graph, the one or more backward metrics indicating relevance of the document to the distinguished node and being based on a proportion of random walks of the graph including the document preceding the distinguished node with in-links and out-links of the graph being reversed in direction; and scoring, using the computer system comprising a processor, the document based at least in part on a combination of the metrics.