Patent ID: 7359898

Claim:
A method for selecting a scoring mechanism from a plurality scoring mechanisms for processing queries, comprising the steps of: for each scoring mechanism of said plurality of scoring mechanisms, determining, based on a query, multiple parameter values for the scoring mechanism, wherein each parameter value of said multiple parameter values indicates a different characteristic associated with using said scoring mechanism for processing said query; for each scoring mechanism of said plurality of scoring mechanisms, generating a score based on the multiple parameter values determined for the scoring mechanism; and selecting which scoring mechanism to use to process said query based on the score generated for each scoring system; wherein said query is a query received by a search mechanism and one of said multiple parameter values is a density of sponsored product items parameter value and the density of sponsored product items parameter value is determined based on a percentage of sponsored product items in a result set that would be generated for said query for each scoring mechanism of said plurality of scoring mechanisms, wherein a sponsored product item is a particular product item for which a party associated with the particular product item will or has been charged a fee for each inclusion of a reference to said particular product item in results provided by said search mechanism, and wherein a product item is selected from the group consisting of a merchant, a product offering, and a product abstraction.