METHOD FOR OFFERING RESULT QF SEARCH AND SYSTEM FOR

EXECUTING THE METHOD

Technical Field The present invention relates to a method of providing a search result and a system for executing the method, and more particularly, to a method and system that with respect to classes of collections included in a search result provided according to a keyword, can classify classes of unclicked collections and classes of clicked collections with the same number of clicks based on the number of clicks and user feedback information and thereby can create and provide a search result consistent with the user intent.

Background Art

A search engine denotes software or a website that helps a user to readily retrieve materials from the Internet. The search engine searches a database using a keyword entered from a user, extracts a search result from the database, and provides the search result for the user. FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of performing searching through a search engine 101 according to a conventional art.

The search engine 101 extracts a search result from a database 104, creates a search result page 105, and transmits the search result page 105 to a user terminal 102. The search result includes a keyword transmitted from the user terminal 102 via a search page 103.

The search engine 101 extracts from the database 104 the search result that includes the keyword depending on a matching degree between the keyword and the search result. The search engine 101 constructs the search result page 105.

Specifically, a search result with a higher matching degree may rank in a higher place in the search result page 105.

However, when a large number of search results are retrieved in association with the keyword, a method of sequentially displaying the search results may deteriorate the visibility of the search result page 105. The user should check the search result of the search result page 105 completely in order to find the user's desired search result.

In order to solve the above problems, the conventional art includes a method of

performing searching according to a search request when the search request is received from a user, arranging a search request in a collection order, and providing the user with the search result. Examples of the collection may include cafes, blogs, documents, books, news, and images. In order to determine the collection order, there is a method of arranging collections by using a number of clicks as user feedback information.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of arranging collections using a number of clicks according to the conventional art. Referring to a table 210, columns 213 show whether users included in fields 212 click on a plurality of collections shown in a field 212. Also, a field 214 shows a number of clicks for each collection and a field 215 shows collections that are arranged according to the number of clicks. Specifically, it is possible to reflect the user intent by arranging the collections based on the number of clicks in association with a keyword.

However, as shown in bars 221 and 222 of a graph 220 based on the number of clicks for each collection in the table 210, it may be difficult to know an arrangement criterion between collections with the same number of clicks and between unclicked collections.

Specifically, when arranging collections, it is impossible to accurately reflect the user intent. Also, it is difficult to verify the arrangement order when the number of clicks is the same or when collections are not clicked.

Disclosure of Invention Technical Goals

An aspect of the present invention provides a method of providing a search result and a system for executing the method. Another aspect of the present invention also provides a method and system that can set a class of each of a plurality of collections, provided as a search result associated with a keyword, based on a number of clicks for each collection and a clicked order between the plurality of collections, and provide the search result for the keyword based on the class and thereby can provide the search result with the user intent reflected. Another aspect of the present invention also provides a method and system that can classify unclicked collections into a collection skipped by a user and a collection of which a click is reserved by the user, and set a class of the collection and thereby can

determine a display order with the user intent reflected between the unclicked collections.

Another aspect of the present invention also provides a method and system that can use grouping and the mean for determining a class and thereby reduce the negative effect that may occur when using user feedback information.

Technical solutions

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of providing a search result, including: setting a class of a collection associated with a keyword based on click information; creating a collection list to maintain the collection list in association with the keyword, wherein the collection list includes the collection that is arranged according to the class; and providing a search result for the keyword in an order of the collection in the collection list, wherein the click information includes information regarding whether the collection is clicked on and a clicked order. In an aspect of the present invention, the setting may include: providing a search result page about the collection as the search result for the keyword entered from a user terminal; and setting the class of the collection based on whether the collection included in the search result page is clicked on and the clicked order.

Also, the setting of the class of the collection based on whether the collection included in the search result page is clicked on and the clicked order may include: verifying whether the collection is clicked on, and setting a class of the clicked collection; setting a class of a reserved collection that is a collection after a finally clicked collection; and setting a class of a skipped collection that is a remaining collection after excluding the clicked collection and the reserved collection. Also, the search result page may be constructed based on a first collection list where the collection is arranged according to a number of clicks on the collection. The clicks occur in association with the keyword. The verifying and the setting of the class of the clicked collection may verify the clicked collection in an order of the first collection list to set the class of the clicked collection, and set consecutively clicked collections as the same class.

Also, the setting of the class of the reserved collection may include: verifying the reserved collection and a number of reserved collections based on the finally clicked

collection; and computing a class of the reserved collection based on the number of clicked collections and the number of reserved collections. The setting of the class of the skipped collection may include: identifying a number of skipped collections from a total of collections, wherein the skipped collection is a remaining collection after excluding the number of clicked collections and the number of reserved collections; and computing the class of the skipped collection based on the number of clicked collections, the number of reserved collections, and the number of skipped collections.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system for providing a search result, including: a class setting module configured to set a class of a collection associated with a keyword based on click information; a collection list maintaining module configured to create a collection list and maintain the collection list in association with the keyword, wherein the collection list includes the collection that is arranged according to the class; and a search result providing module configured to provide a search result for the keyword in an order of the collection in the collection list, wherein the click information includes information regarding whether the collection is clicked on and a clicked order.

Brief Description of Drawings

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of performing searching through a search engine according to a conventional art;

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of arranging collections based on a number of clicks according to the conventional art;

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of providing a search result according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method of providing a search result according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a method of setting a class of a collection according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of setting a class of a collection according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of determining a display order of a collection based on a class according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating an internal configuration of a system for providing a search result according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below in order to explain the present invention by referring to the figures.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of providing a search result according to an embodiment of the present invention.

A search result providing system 300 constructs a search result page 302 using a keyword entered from a user terminal 301, and provides the search result page 302 to the user terminal 301. The search result page 302 may be provided by arranging a search result using a plurality of collections. For example, it is possible to arrange the plurality of collections based on a number of clicks and thereby create and provide the search result page 302 for the keyword.

The search result providing system 300 may verify click information 303 about clicks from the user terminal 301 on the search result page 302. The click information 303 may include whether the plurality of collections is clicked on and a clicked order between the plurality of collections. The search result providing system 300 may have different class computing schemes with respect to a clicked collection and an unclicked collection. The search result providing system 300 may classify the plurality of collections into a reserved collection and a skipped collection based on the clicked order.

The search result providing system 300 may set a class of each of the collections based on the click information 303. The search result providing system 300 may create a collection list 304 where the collections are arranged according to the rank, and store the created collection list 304 in association with the keyword. Through this, when the search result providing system 300 receives the keyword, the search result providing system 300 may retrieve the collection list 304 associated with the keyword, construct the search result page 305 based on the retrieved collection list 304, and provide the search result page 305 to the user terminal 301 that transmitted the keyword.

Hereinafter, a method of providing a search result will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 4 through 7.

In operation S410, a search result providing system sets a class of a collection associated with a keyword based on click information. The click information may include information regarding whether the collection is clicked and a clicked order between collections. Also, as shown in FIG. 4, in order to set the class based on the click information, the search result providing system may perform operations S411 and S412 included in operation S410.

In operation S411, the search result providing system provides a search result page about the collection as the search result for the keyword entered from a user terminal. The search result page may be constructed based on a first collection list where the collection is arranged according to a number of clicks on the collection. The clicks occur in association with the keyword. Specifically, in order to obtain click information about collections associated with the keyword entered from the user terminal, the search result providing system may construct the search result page in the order of the first collection list and provide the search result page for the user terminal. In the first collection list, the collections are arranged according to the number of clicks on each collection.

In operation S412, the search result providing system sets the class of the collection based on whether the collection included in the search result page is clicked on and a clicked order. The search result providing system may verify a clicked collection based on whether the collection is clicked on, and may also verify a reserved collection and a skipped collection based on the clicked order. A method of setting the class of the collection will be further described in detail with reference to FIG. 5. In operation S420, the search result providing system creates a collection list and maintains the collection list in association with the keyword. The collection list includes the collection that is arranged according to the class. The search result providing system may create the collection list by arranging the collection of a first collection list according to the class and store the collection list in a database in association with the keyword. As described above, the collection of the first collection list is arranged according to a number of clicks on the collection.

Specifically, when the class of the collection is set, the search result providing

system may create the collection list by arranging the collection of the first collection list according to the class and store the collection list in the database in association with the keyword. Accordingly, when providing the search result for the keyword, it is possible to retrieve the collection list associated with the keyword from the database. In operation S430, the search result providing system provides a search result for the keyword in an order of the collection in the collection list. Specifically, the search result providing system may arrange the collection in the order of the collection that is arranged according to the class, and thereby provide the search result with the user intent reflected. For this, as shown in FIG. 4, the search result providing system may perform operations S431 through S433 included in operation S430.

In operation S431 , when the keyword is entered from a user terminal, the search result providing system retrieves a collection list associated with the keyword from the database.

In operation S432, the search result providing system constructs a search result page in an order of a collection that is included in the retrieved collection list. Specifically, the search result for the keyword may arrange collections in an order of each of collections included in the collection list.

In operation S433, the search result providing system provides a search result list for the user terminal as the search result. As described above, with respect to classes of a plurality of collections provided as the search result for the keyword, instead of using only the number of clicks for each collection, the class of each collection is set based on the number of clicks and the clicked order between the plurality of collections. The search result for the keyword is provided based on the class. Accordingly, it is possible to provide the search result with the user intent reflected.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a method of setting a class of a collection according to an embodiment of the present invention. As show in FIG. 5, operations S510 through S530 may be included in operation S412 of FIG. 4 and be performed.

In operation S510, the search result providing system verifies whether the collection is clicked on, and sets a class of the clicked collection. The search result page may be constructed based on a first collection list where the collection is arranged according to a number of clicks on the collection. The clicks occur in association with

the keyword. In operation S510, the search result providing system may verify the clicked collection in an order of the first collection list to set the class of the clicked collection, and set consecutively clicked collections as the same class.

For example, among clicked collections, a highest order collection in the first collection list, that is, a first collection may be set to class " 1 " and a subsequently higher order collection, that is, a second collection may be set to class "2". However, when the first collection and the second collection are consecutively clicked, the second collection may be set to class "1", the same as the first collection.

In operation S520, the search result providing system sets a class of a reserved collection that is a collection after a finally clicked collection. Specifically, the reserved collection may be set to a second lowest class among the clicked collections. For this, operation S520 may include operations S521 and S522.

In operation S521, the search result providing system verifies the reserved collection and a number of reserved collections based on the finally clicked collection. For example, when the first collection list includes a total of seven collections and a fifth collection is finally clicked, the number of reserved collections may be two and thus have a value of "2".

In operation S522, the search result providing system computes a class of the reserved collection based on the number of clicked collections and the number of reserved collections. In operation S522, the search result providing system may compute the class of the reserved collection according to,

[Equation 1] class of reserved collection = (2k + n - 1 )/2 where k denotes (the number of clicked collections + 1), n denotes the number of reserved collections, and Equation 5 denotes the mean of an arithmetic sequence when the number of reserved collections is the arithmetic sequence with a common difference of 1.

In operation S530, the search result providing system sets a class of a skipped collection that is a remaining collection after excluding the clicked collection and the reserved collection. The skipped collection may be a collection that is verified but not clicked by the user. Specifically, the skipped collection may be a collection that is skipped by the user.

In operation S531, the search result providing system identifies a number of skipped collections from a total of collections. The skipped collection is a remaining collection after excluding the number of clicked collections and the number of reserved collections. For example, when the first collection list includes a total of seven collections, three out of them are clicked, and a fifth collection is finally clicked, the number of skipped collections may be two and have a value of "2".

In operation S532, the search result providing system computes the class of the skipped collection based on the number of clicked collections, the number of reserved collections, and the number of skipped collections. In operation S532, the search result providing system may compute the class of the skipped collection according to,

[Equation 2] class of skipped collection = (2k + n - 1)/2 where k denotes (the number of clicked collections + the number of reserved collections + 1), n denotes the number of skipped collections, and Equation 2 denotes the mean of an arithmetic sequence when the number of skipped collections is the arithmetic sequence with a common difference of 1.

Specifically, it is possible to set classes of all the collections associated with the keyword by setting the class of the clicked collection, the class of the reserved collection, and the class of the skipped collection. Hereinafter, a method of setting a class of a collection will be further described in detail with reference to FIG. 6.

FIG. 6 is an example of explaining a method of setting a class of a collection according to an embodiment of the present invention. As described above, the class of the collection may be set by computing the class of the clicked collection, the class of the reserved collection, and the class of the skipped collection. The clicked collection may denote a collection that is clicked from a user terminal in a click field 601. The reserved collection may denote a collection after a finally clicked collection L5 603 as shown in a cell 602. The skipped collection may denote a remaining collection after excluding the clicked collection and the reserved collection. Specifically, the skipped collection may be a collection that is verified but not clicked by a user of the user terminal, i.e. a collection that is skipped by the user. The reserved collection may be a collection that can be verified only through scrolling in the search result page, or may be a collection that is not verified by the user after the

user obtains a desired result associated with the keyword.

The class of the clicked collection may be set according to an existing display order with respect to collections clicked by the user terminal. Referring to FIG. 6, when collections Ll, *L2, *L3, L4, *L5, L6, and L7 exist and the symbol "*" denotes that a corresponding collection is clicked, classes 604 of the clicked collections *L2 and *L3 may be set to 1.

Specifically, the class may be set according to the existing display order and consecutively clicked collections may be set to the same class. The class 605 of the collection L5 clicked after L3 may be set to 2.

The set classes of the clicked collections may be expressed as,

[Table 1]

As described above, when the class setting about the clicked collections is completed, it is possible to compute the class of the reserved collection of which a click is reserved by the user. The class of the reserved collection may be computed according to Equation 1 above. Equation 1 may denote the mean of an arithmetic sequence when the number of reserved collections is the arithmetic sequence with the common difference of 1.

Specifically, when there are m clicked collections with respect to the class with the common difference of 1, the reserved class may be set to a class from m + 1. When it is impossible to make an individual evaluation on the reserved collection, it is possible to compute the class of the reserved collection using the mean of the arithmetic sequence.

According to Equation 1 above, in the above example, k = 4 and n = 2. Accordingly, classes 606 of L6 and L7 corresponding to the reserved collection are "(2 * 4 + 2 - l)/2 = 4.5". In association with Table 1, the classes of the collections including the class of the reserved collections may be expressed as,

[Table 2]

Classes of Ll and L4 corresponding to the skipped collection may be computed according to Equation 2 above. When the number of skipped collections is the arithmetic sequence with the common difference of 1 , the class may be computed as the same value using the mean of the arithmetic sequence, regardless of an order of the skipped collection.

Specifically, according to Equation 2, in the above example, k = 6 and n = 2. Accordingly, the classes 607 of the skipped collections are "(2 * 6 + 2 - l)/2 = 6.5". In association with Table 2, the classes of all the collections including the classes of the skipped collections may be expressed as,

[Table 3]

FIG. 7 is an example of determining a display order of a collection based on a class according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In order to determine a display order of each of collections used in the example of FIG. 2, a table 710 determines a class of each user, shown in fields 711, based on click information, instead of using the number of clicks. The click information includes information about whether the collections are clicked and a clicked order between the collections. Also, the table 710 shows an order that is arranged according to the average class and a change amount in the order. The average class is shown in a field 712, the order is shown in a field 713, and the change amount is shown in a field 714.

A graph 720 shows click points for each collection. The click points may use a value that is obtained by excluding the class of the collection from (a total number of collections + 1). For example, when the total of collections is "6" and the class is "1 ", the click points of the collection may be "6 + 1 - 1 = 6". Click points of a collection with class "5" may be "6 + 1 - 5 = 2".

Specifically, in the graph 720, the click points is computed based on the class of the table 710 and the average of the click points is shown for each collection.

Referring to bars 721 and 722 shown in the graph 720, there is a difference between collections with the same number of clicks and also between unclicked collections. Specifically, it is possible to determine a display order with the user intent reflected with respect to collections with the same number of clicks and unclicked collections. As described above, a search result providing method according to the present invention may set a class of each of a plurality of collections, provided as a search result for a keyword, based on a number of clicks for each collection and a clicked order between the plurality of collections, and provide the search result for the keyword based on the class and thereby can provide the search result with the user intent reflected. Also, it is possible to classify unclicked collections into a collection skipped by a user and a collection of which a click is reserved by the user, and set a class of the collection and thereby determine a display order with the user intent reflected between the unclicked collections. Also, it is possible to use grouping and the mean for determining a class and thereby reduce the negative effect that may occur when using user feedback information.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating an internal configuration of a system 800 for providing a search result according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 8, the search result providing system 800 includes a class setting module 810, a collection list maintaining module 820, and a search result providing module 830. The class setting module 810 sets a class of a collection associated with a keyword based on click information. The click information may include information regarding whether the collection is clicked on and a clicked order between collections. The class may be set for a clicked collection, a reserved collection, and a skipped collection. The class of the clicked collection may be set based on whether the collection is clicked. The class of the reserved collection and the class of the skipped collection may be set based on the clicked order.

For this, as shown in FIG. 8, the class setting module 810 may include a search result page providing module 811, a clicked collection class setting module 812, a reserved collection class setting module 813, and a skipped collection class setting module 814.

The search result page providing module 811 provides a search result page about the collection as the search result for the keyword entered from a user terminal.

The search result page may be constructed based on a first collection list where the collection is arranged according to a number of clicks on the collection. The clicks occur in association with the keyword. Specifically, in order to obtain click information about collections associated with the keyword entered from the user terminal, the search result page providing module 811 may construct the search result page in the order of the first collection list and provide the search result page for the user terminal. In the first collection list, the collections are arranged according to the number of clicks on each collection.

The clicked collection class setting module 812 sets the class of the collection based on whether the collection included in the search result page is clicked on. For this, the clicked collection class setting module 812 may verify the clicked collection in an order of the first collection list to set the class of the clicked collection, and set consecutively clicked collections as the same class. For example, among clicked collections, a highest order collection in the first collection list, that is, a first collection may be set to class "1 " and a next highest order collection, that is, a second collection may be set to class "2". However, when the first collection and the second collection are consecutively clicked, the second collection may be set to class " 1 " the same as the first collection.

The reserved collection class setting module 813 sets a class of a reserved collection that is a collection after a finally clicked collection. The reserved collection class setting module 813 may include a reserved collection number verifying module (not shown) configured to verify the reserved collection and a number of reserved collections based on the finally clicked collection, and a reserved collection class computing module (not shown) configured to compute a class of the reserved collection based on the number of clicked collections and the number of reserved collections.

In order to compute the class of the reserved collection, the reserved collection class computing module may compute the class of the reserved collection according to, [Equation 3] class of reserved collection = (2k + n - l)/2 where k denotes (the number of clicked collections + 1), n denotes the number of reserved collections, and Equation 3 denotes the mean of an arithmetic sequence when the number of reserved collections is the arithmetic sequence with a common

difference of 1. Specifically, when there are m clicked collections with respect to the class with the common difference of 1 , the reserved class may be set to a class from m + 1. When it is impossible to make an individual evaluation on the reserved collection, it is possible to compute the class of the reserved collection using the mean of the arithmetic sequence.

The skipped collection class setting module 814 sets a class of a skipped collection that is a remaining collection after excluding the clicked collection and the reserved collection. For this, the skipped collection class setting module 814 may include a skipped collection number identifying module (not shown) configured to identify a number of skipped collections from a total of collections, wherein the skipped collection is a remaining collection after excluding the number of clicked collections and the number of reserved collections; and a skipped collection class computing module (not shown) configured to compute the class of the skipped collection based on the number of clicked collections, the number of reserved collections, and the number of skipped collections.

In order to compute the class of the skipped collection, the skipped collection class computing module may compute the class of the skipped collection according to,

[Equation 4] class of skipped collection = (2k + n -l)/2 where k denotes (the number of clicked collections + the number of reserved collections + 1), n denotes the number of skipped collections, and Equation 4 denotes the mean of an arithmetic sequence when the number of skipped collections is the arithmetic sequence with a common difference of 1.

The collection list maintaining module 820 creates a collection list and maintains the collection list in association with the keyword. The collection list includes the collection that is arranged according to the class. The collection list maintaining module 820 may create the collection list by arranging the collection of a first collection list according to the class and store the collection list in a database in association with the keyword. The collection of the first collection list may be arranged according to a number of clicks on the collection.

The search result providing module 830 provides a search result for the keyword in an order of the collection in the collection list. For this, the search result

providing module 830 may retrieve a collection list associated with the keyword from the database when the keyword is entered from a user terminal, construct a search result page in an order of a collection that is included in the retrieved collection list, and provide the search result list for the user terminal as the search result. As described above, a search result providing system according to the present invention may set a class of each of a plurality of collections, provided as a search result for a keyword, based on a number of clicks for each collection and a clicked order between the plurality of collections, and provide the search result for the keyword based on the class and thereby can provide the search result with the user intent reflected. Also, it is possible to classify unclicked collections into a collection skipped by a user and a collection of which a click is reserved by the user, and set a class of the collection and thereby determine a display order with the user intent reflected between the unclicked collections. Also, it is possible to use grouping and the mean for determining a class and thereby reduce the negative effect that may occur when using user feedback information.

The exemplary embodiments of the present invention include computer-readable media including program instructions to implement various operations embodied by a computer. The media may also include, alone or in combination with the program instructions, data files, data structures, tables, and the like. The media and program instructions may be those specially designed and constructed for the purposes of the present invention, or they may be of the kind well known and available to those having skill in the computer software arts. Examples of computer-readable media include magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tape; optical media such as CD ROM disks; magneto-optical media such as floptical disks; and hardware devices that are specially configured to store and perform program instructions, such as readonly memory devices (ROM) and random access memory (RAM). Examples of program instructions include both machine code, such as produced by a compiler, and files containing higher level code that may be executed by the computer using an interpreter. According to the present invention, there may be provided a method and system that can set a class of each of a plurality of collections, provided as a search result associated with a keyword, based on a number of clicks for each collection and a

clicked order between the plurality of collections, and provide the search result for the keyword based on the class and thereby can provide the search result with the user intent reflected.

Also, according to the present invention, there may be provided a method and system that can classify unclicked collections into a collection skipped by a user and a collection of which a click is reserved by the user, and set a class of the collection and thereby can determine a display order with the user intent reflected between the unclicked collections.

Also, according to the present invention, there may be provided a method and system that can use grouping and the mean for determining a class and thereby reduce the negative effect that may occur when using user feedback information.

As described above, the present invention has been described with reference to a few embodiments and accompanying drawings, which are only provided to help the easy description of the invention and thus the present invention is not limited thereto. Accordingly, it will be apparent to those of skills in the art that various modifications and changes may be made from the description. Specifically, even when using the click points instead of the above-described class, the same effect may be obtained and a class setting scheme may be variously modified. For example, it is possible to set the class of the reserved collection using (a subsequent class of the class of the finally clicked collection + α), instead of using the mean of the arithmetic sequence of the class of the reserved collection.

Although a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, the present invention is not limited to the described embodiments. Instead, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made to these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined by the claims and their equivalents.