Patent Document ID: 9535995
Application ID: 13323845
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A method, comprising: at a ranker component, outputting search results for queries in training data, the ranker component outputs the search results based upon a value of a parameter of the ranker component; determining performance scores for the ranker component with respect to the queries and the search results output based upon the queries, the performance scores are indicative of performance of the ranker component when outputting the search results based upon the queries, the performance scores include a performance score for each query in the queries; and optimizing the ranker component with respect to a risk-oriented objective, the risk-oriented objective being a function of consistency in performance of the ranker component with respect to the queries, wherein optimizing the ranker component with respect to the risk-oriented objective causes the ranker component to perform consistently across queries provided to the ranker component, and further wherein optimizing the ranker component comprises: identifying a second value of the parameter of the ranker component such that, when the ranker component outputs second search results for the queries based upon the second value of the parameter, consistency in second performance scores is increased compared to consistency in the first performance scores, the second performance scores being for the ranker component with respect to the queries and the second search results output based upon the queries, the second performance scores are indicative of performance of the ranker component when outputting the second search results for the queries; and assigning the second value of the parameter to the ranker component, wherein the ranker component, when assigned the second value of the parameter, fails to be optimized with respect to an average of performance scores for the queries achievable by way of the ranker component, wherein optimizing the ranker component is performed by a computer processor.