Patent Document ID: 9501571
Application ID: 14658899

Base Claim:
1. A computer-implemented method for associating categories with business names for generalizing search queries, the method comprising: receiving, using one or more computing devices, an indication of a search query from a user containing one or more search terms or phrases; identifying, using the one or more computing devices, one or more businesses within a first geographic region associated with the user; determining, using the one or more computing devices, a business name and one or more categories associated with each of the one or more businesses; generating, using the one or more computing devices, one or more name components for each of the one or more businesses, each name component comprising a subset of the business name of the business; generating, using the one or more computing devices, one or more name component groups from the name components of the one or more businesses, wherein each name component group comprises one or more identical name components; determining, using the one or more computing devices, for each name component group, if the one or more name components within the name component group share one or more common categories; associating, using the one or more computing devices, the one or more common categories with the name component of the name component group, when the one or more name components within the name component group share one or more common categories; and providing, using the one or more computing devices, the one or more common categories to the user for inclusion within the query.

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Claim 6:
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the one or more name component groups comprises: determining if a name component group represented by the name component exists; generating a name component group represented by the name component if the name component group represented by the name component does not exist; and adding the name component to the name component group represented by the name component.