Patent Application
20120173553
The present application relates generally to the technical field of data management and, in one specific example, to systems and methods for attribute-based search filtering.
Using the Internet, users are able to search for and view many pieces of information relating to keywords. In some instances, a user may view a webpage about, for example, a particular movie. The webpage may include a link displayed as, for example, an actor's name in the description of the movie. Upon selecting the link having the actor's name, the user is re-directed to another webpage that includes, for example, a biography of the actor and a list of links to movies in which the actor has performed.
Using some websites, an interface may include a list of metatags that describe attributes of, for example, items for sale. The metatags may be selected by the user to narrow a list of search results. In some instances, the metatags are grouped according to type (e.g., size, color, style, etc.) where the user is limited to choosing one metatag of some types.
Some embodiments are illustrated by way of example and not limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which:
Example methods and systems to filter results based on attributes are described. In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of example embodiments. It will be evident, however, to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details.
While browsing the Internet (or other search-based system such as a local area network (LAN), a wide-area network (WAN), or the like), a user may view a content element. A content element is a description of a person, place, or thing. For example, a content element may be, but is not limited to, a description of an actor, a movie, a song, an album, a musician, a city, an item for sale or lease, a service or service provider, a video game, a writer, a book, a blog, a newspaper, a television show, etc. Each content element identified by an attribute-based search filter is associated with one or more tags. Each tag is used to label the content element as having a particular attribute. An attribute is a characteristic of the content element and may include, but is not limited to, genre, category, contributor(s), size, color, style, gaming console, format, operating system, etc.
When a user browses to a website having the content element, the content element is displayed as part of a result. The result includes the content element and the tags associated with the content element. The tags may be organized according to type. The type of the tag is used to classify the attribute described by the tag. For example, types of tags associated with movies may include, but are not limited to, “genre,” “director,” and “stars.”
A selection received from the user indicating one or more tags is received via an interface. In response, the attribute-based search filter provides a list of results including content elements that are associated with all of the indicated tags. The user may select an additional tag in one of the results and the results are filtered to include those that are also associated with the additional tag. The user may also deselect one or more of the selected tags and the results are modified to include additional results not associated with the deselected tag.
A method and a system filter search results according to attributes of current results. A plurality of content elements is tagged so each content element is associated with a plurality of tags. Each tag describes an attribute of at least one of the plurality of content elements. A first listing of results is provided to a user. Each of the results in the first listing includes a content element and the plurality of tags associated with the content element. A first selection of a first tag in a first result of the first listing received from a user. A second selection of a second tag is received from the user. The second tag may be in the first result or in a second result of the first listing of results. A second listing of results is provided to the user where each of the results of the second listing includes at least the first tag and the second tag.
An Application Program Interface (API) server 114 and a web server 116 are coupled to, and provide programmatic and web interfaces respectively to, one or more application servers 118. The application servers 118 host one or more marketplace applications 120, payment applications 122, and a search filter 200. The application servers 118 are, in turn, shown to be coupled to one or more databases servers 124 that facilitate access to one or more databases 126.
The marketplace applications 120 may provide a number of marketplace functions and services to users that access the networked system 102. The payment applications 122 may likewise provide a number of payment services and functions to users. The payment applications 122 may allow users to accumulate value (e.g., in a commercial currency, such as the U.S. dollar, or a proprietary currency, such as “points”) in accounts, and then later to redeem the accumulated value for products (e.g., goods or services) that are made available via the marketplace applications 120. The search filter 200 may provide an attribute-based search filter. While the marketplace applications 120, the payment applications 122 and the search filter 200 are shown in
Further, while the client-server system 100 shown in
The web client 106 accesses the various one of the marketplace applications 120 and the payment applications 122 via the web interface supported by the web server 116. Similarly, the programmatic client 108 accesses the various services and functions provided by the marketplace applications 120 and the payment applications 122 via the programmatic interface provided by the API server 114. The programmatic client 108 may, for example, be a seller application (e.g., the TurboLister application developed by eBay® Inc., of San Jose, Calif.) to enable sellers to author and manage listings on the networked system 102 in an off-line manner, and to perform batch-mode communications between the programmatic client 108 and the networked system 102.
A tagging module 202 is to tag content elements so each content element is associated with a plurality of tags. Each of the tags describes an attribute of the content element. A content element associated with the one or more tags is referred to as a result. The content elements may be identified based on an existing database of content elements such as a movie database, a videogame database, a product database, or another database of content elements.
The tags associated with each content element may include tags previously associated with the content elements in the database. Additional tags may be associated with each content element based on, for example, text included in the content element, user-provided tags, and the like.
The tagging module 202 may assign, or access an assignment of, a type to the respective tags of the plurality of tags. Tags may be grouped by type and sub-type. For example, sub-types “director” and “stars” may belong to a broader type, “contributors.” The tags may be selected based on a category of the content element. For example, the above tags may be associated with the category “movies.” Tags associated with the category “clothing” may include the types “size,” “style,” “color,” and the like.
The tagging module 202 may access a database 204 to store the tags associated with each content element. The database 204 may store the content elements or the tags associated with each content element. In the database 204, the tags may each be associated with one or more tag types.
A content element may be displayed along with its tags as a result. The display may or may not be provided by an interface module 208. In some instances, the content element may be displayed in an interface not generated by the interface module 208, for example, the result may be included in a list of search results, a list of recommendations made to a user, a list of popular results, a product detail page, or some other display of results that is not generated by the interface module 208. A selection module 206 is arranged to receive a selection of a first tag included in a first result displayed in an interface displayed to a user. The first interface includes a first listing of results. The first listing includes one or more results. Each respective result includes a content element and the tags associated with the content element to describe the content element. The tag may be displayed as a link. See, e.g.,
The selection module 206 is further arranged to receive one or more additional selections of additional tags. The selected additional tags may be included in the same result as the first selected tag or included in one or more additional results that describe other content elements. Upon receiving the selections, the selection module 206 determines which content elements in the database 204 are associated with the selected tags.
The interface module 208 is arranged to provide an interface to the user upon receiving the selection. The interface includes a second listing of results, where each of the results includes at least the selected tags. The interface provided by the interface module 208 may include an indication of the first tag and the second tag.
In operation, the selection module 206 may receive a further selection of further tags via the interface provided by the interface module. In this instance, the interface module 208 provides a further interface to the user, where the further interface includes further results that include at least previously selected tags and the further tags. This process may be repeated one or more times if the user selects further tags in subsequent interfaces.
In another instance, the selection module 206 may receive a selection or de-selection of a previously-selected tag via an interface provided by the interface module 208. Consequently, the interface module 208 may provide another interface that includes another listing of results that includes content elements associated with previously selected tags but not necessarily including the de-selected tag.
In an operation 302, the content elements are tagged by, for example, the tagging module 202. The content elements are tagged so that each content element is associated with a plurality of tags, and each of the tags is used to describe an attribute of the content element.
In an operation 304, a first interface is provided to a user. The first interface may be generated by the interface module 208 or by a marketplace application 120 (see
In an operation 306, a selection of a first tag in a first result is received. The first tag may be associated with a first type. In some instances, an interface is provided to the user upon receiving the selection of the first tag. The interface includes a listing of results that each includes the first tag.
In an operation 308, a selection of a second tag in the first result or in another result is received by, for example, the selection module 206. The second tag may be associated with the first type or may be assigned a second type.
In an operation 310, a second interface is provided to the user by, for example, the interface module 208. The second interface includes a second listing of results that each includes at least the first tag and the second tag. The second interface may further include an indication of the first tag and the second tag.
Operations 308 and 310 may be repeated one or more times as additional selections of further tags are received. The resulting interfaces include results that are associated with each of the selected tags. Further, if a selected tag is selected again or is de-selected, the resulting interface may include results that include at least the remaining tags.
A tag table 404 contains a record of each tag that can be associated with one or more content elements. The tag table 404 may include a record of the content elements associated with each tag. The tag table 404 may additionally include a tag type associated with each tag for one or more categories. A type table 406 contains a record of each type of tag and, optionally, one or more categories associated with each type.
Referring to
The listing of results 500 comprises a plurality of results. The results each include a content element comprising a description 508. The description 508 includes, for example, an image, a title, and a rating. Each result further includes one or more additional tags 510, optionally organized by type. Selected tags 512 are displayed italicized to indicate that they are already selected.
The example computer system 800 includes one or more processors 802 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU) a graphics processing unit (GPU) or both), a main memory 804 and a static memory 806, which communicate with each other via a bus 808. The computer system 800 may further include a video display unit 810 (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a cathode ray tube (CRT)). The computer system 800 also includes an alphanumeric input device 812 (e.g., a keyboard), a cursor control device 814 (e.g., a mouse), a disk drive unit 816, a signal generation device 818 (e.g., a speaker) and a network interface device 820. The computer system 800 may further include a touchscreen (not depicted).
The disk drive unit 816 includes a non-transitory machine-readable medium 822 on which is stored one or more sets of instructions 824 (e.g., software) embodying any one or more of the methodologies or functions described herein. The software 824 may also reside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 804 and/or within the one or more processors 802 during execution thereof by the computer system 800, the main memory 804 and the one or more processors 802 also constituting machine-readable media.
The software 824 may further be transmitted or received over a network 826 via the network interface device 820.
While the non-transitory machine-readable medium 822 is shown in an example embodiment to be a single medium, the term “non-transitory machine-readable medium” should be taken to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers) that store the one or more sets of instructions. The term “non-transitory machine-readable medium” shall also be taken to include any medium that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying a set of instructions for execution by the machine and that cause the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologies of the present invention. The term “non-transitory machine-readable medium” shall accordingly be taken to include, but not be limited to, solid-state memories, and optical and magnetic media.
Thus, a method and system for attribute-based search filtering have been described. Some embodiments discussed herein may provide technical solutions based on providing a more efficient searching experience, resulting in fewer database look-ups or reduced consumption query processing resources. Although the present invention has been described with reference to specific example embodiments, it will be evident that various modifications and changes may be made to these embodiments without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.
In addition, in the foregoing Detailed Description, it can be seen that various features are grouped together in a single embodiment for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments require more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive subject matter may lie in less than all features of a single disclosed embodiment. Thus the following claims are hereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment.
