Patents by Inventor Robert J. Ragno

Robert J. Ragno has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 10346854
    Abstract: An approach is provided for associating structured information as feature-value pairs with advertisements at an advertisement system that provides advertisements for presentation with primary content. Feature-value pairs corresponding with advertisements describe features of the products or services associated with the advertisements. The feature-value pairs may be used by the advertisement system in a number of different manners, including, among other things: using the feature-value pairs during selection of advertisements for presentation with primary content: allowing users to sort and/or filter advertisements during presentation with primary content based on the associated feature-value pairs; exposing additional information with the advertisements; facilitating fraud detection for the advertisement system; and enabling a hybrid pricing model.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 9, 2019
    Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Ewa Dominowska, Robert J. Ragno
  • Patent number: 9256683
    Abstract: A system for guiding a search for information is presented. The system comprises a user interface that accepts a phrase and receives at least one suggestion based at least in part on the phrase. The system also includes a phrase suggestion engine that matches the phrase with the at least one suggestion. Methods of using the system are also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 3, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 9, 2016
    Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Matthew R. Richardson, Robert J. Ragno
  • Publication number: 20140006371
    Abstract: A system for guiding a search for information is presented. The system comprises a user interface that accepts a phrase and receives at least one suggestion based at least in part on the phrase. The system also includes a phrase suggestion engine that matches the phrase with the at least one suggestion. Methods of using the system are also provided.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 3, 2013
    Publication date: January 2, 2014
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Matthew R. Richardson, Robert J. Ragno
  • Patent number: 8554755
    Abstract: A system for guiding a search for information is presented. The system comprises a user interface that accepts a phrase and receives at least one suggestion based at least in part on the phrase. The system also includes a phrase suggestion engine that matches the phrase with the at least one suggestion. Methods of using the system are also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 1, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2013
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Matthew R. Richardson, Robert J. Ragno
  • Patent number: 8370343
    Abstract: Methods and systems in search marketing which permit advertisers to provide advertisements to a search engine, as well as bids associated with the advertisements themselves, are provided. Advertisements are selected for presentation when they are determined to be relevant and payment for presentation is due only upon the conditions of the bid being met. If desired, advertisers may be permitted to provide, in addition to an advertisement, one or more destination pages associated with selection of the advertisement. In this case, relevance can be determined not only on the basis of the content of the advertisement itself, but also on the content of the destination page(s).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 5, 2013
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Jody D. Biggs, Li Li, Robert J. Ragno
  • Patent number: 8001215
    Abstract: A unique system and method that facilitates storing virtually all web content that has been viewed or visited by a user on the user's local cache for access anytime by the user. The system and method involve monitoring the user's web activity. Pages that have been viewed or visited can be saved at timed intervals to a local cache. If pages have been updated, those changes can be saved. Thus, multiple versions of a web page can be accessed and the user can select which version to view. The updated page can be visually modified to distinguish between older and newer content. If offline, the user can still view desired pages by accessing them from the local cache. By saving the user's web activity, the user can resume a previous browsing session. A user can also choose to receive periodic notifications when changes to previously viewed pages occur.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2005
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2011
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Ewa Dominowska, Robert J. Ragno
  • Patent number: 7810035
    Abstract: A predictive travel log system using one or more ranking schemes to predict the location that a user would seek to navigate to through back and forward navigation in a web browser is provided. The navigation functionality can be exposed through traditional back and forward buttons with drop down travel log menus found in a browser user interface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 2004
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2010
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Ewa Dominowska, Robert J. Ragno
  • Patent number: 7783632
    Abstract: A unique ranking system and method that facilitates improving the ranking and ordering of objects to further enhance the quality, accuracy, and delivery of search results in response to a search query. The system and method involve monitoring and tracking an object in terms of the number of times it's been accessed and optionally by whom, when, for how long, and an access rate. The user's interaction with the object can be tracked as well. By tracking the objects, a popularity measure can be determined. Popularity based rankings can be computed based on the popularity measure or some function thereof. The popularity measure can be affected by the access time, who accessed it, access duration or the user's interaction with the object upon access. The popularity based rankings can be utilized by a search component to improve the quality and retrieval of search results.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 3, 2005
    Date of Patent: August 24, 2010
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Matthew R. Richardson, Eric D. Brill, Robert J. Ragno, Robert L. Rounthwaite
  • Patent number: 7739270
    Abstract: The present invention leverages relevance data to provide enhanced search query results based on relevancy to a specific entity via an entity-specific tunable search. This allows an entity to retrieve information that is of more value to that entity, in a faster and more efficient manner. The entity itself can be an individual user, a grouping of users, and/or an enterprise and the like. In one instance of the present invention, entity-specific relevance information is determined via employment of similarity of the entity to another entity or group of entities. Interest levels and/or satisfaction levels of similar entities can also be utilized along with similarity information to facilitate in deriving the relevance information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2004
    Date of Patent: June 15, 2010
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Eric D. Brill, Noah A. Smith, Robert J. Ragno
  • Publication number: 20090319555
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention relate to methods and computer storage media for optimizing the content of an online publisher. The content of the publisher is received. A category for each page of the publisher's content is determined. Desired content information and desired keyword information are received. A content deficiency of the publisher's content is determined based on at least one of the desired content or the desired keyword information. An optimization plan is created to improve the content deficiency of the publisher's content. The optimization plan is presented. In additional embodiments of the present invention, the layout of the publisher's content is analyzed and optimized. In an additional exemplary embodiment of the present invention, content modules are manipulated to optimize the publisher's content.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 24, 2008
    Publication date: December 24, 2009
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: ROBERT J. RAGNO, EWA DOMINOWSKA, MICK GUPTA, HRISHIKESH M. BAL
  • Patent number: 7617164
    Abstract: The subject disclosure pertains to systems and methods for facilitating training of machine learning systems utilizing pairwise training. The number of computations required during pairwise training is reduced by grouping the computations. First, a score is generated for each retrieved data item. During processing of the data item pairs, the scores of the data items in the pair are retrieved and used to generate a gradient for each data item. Once all of the pairs have been processed, the gradients for each data item are aggregated and the aggregated gradients are used to update the machine learning system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 2006
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2009
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Christopher J. Burges, Robert J. Ragno
  • Patent number: 7565362
    Abstract: Systems and methods are described that allow programmatic access to search engine results and query logs in a structured form. The search results can be retrieved from the search engine in an intermediary form that contains the information that is in the HTML pages provided to web browsers (potentially with additional information). This intermediary form can then be broken down on the client machine, using local resources, to assemble the structured objects. The library also provides for caching of the search results. This can be provided both on the local machine and on a remote database. When the results for a query exist in the caches, they can be retrieved from such location instead of querying the search engine. Documents and/or web pages can also be cached. The library can also be directed to operate only from the cache, effectively exposing a local data set instead of the remote search engine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 1, 2005
    Date of Patent: July 21, 2009
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Eric D. Brill, Robert J. Ragno
  • Patent number: 7565627
    Abstract: The present invention leverages query-related information based on a query and/or a search intention to provide a systematic means to facilitate a user in locating desired information despite lacking exact search parameters. This allows users to find information without first formulating an optimum search query. The query graph provides a navigable, graphical notion of the query-related information via nodes representative of the query-related information and edges representative of the associations between the information. In one instance of the present invention, the query graph is derived from an information source such as a query log, a query list, and/or a search engine and the like. Additional instances of the present invention utilize visual and/or audible indicators employed with the query graph to facilitate in relaying the query-related information to the user, including, but not limited to, overlays, icons, colors, and dimensional variances and the like.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2004
    Date of Patent: July 21, 2009
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Eric D. Brill, Hugo Zaragoza, Robert J. Ragno, Silviu-Petru Cucerzan
  • Publication number: 20090144141
    Abstract: An approach is provided for associating structured information as feature-value pairs with advertisements at an advertisement system that provides advertisements for presentation with primary content. Feature-value pairs corresponding with advertisements describe features of the products or services associated with the advertisements. The feature-value pairs may be used by the advertisement system in a number of different manners, including, among other things: using the feature-value pairs during selection of advertisements for presentation with primary content: allowing users to sort and/or filter advertisements during presentation with primary content based on the associated feature-value pairs; exposing additional information with the advertisements; facilitating fraud detection for the advertisement system; and enabling a hybrid pricing model.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 30, 2007
    Publication date: June 4, 2009
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: EWA DOMINOWSKA, ROBERT J. RAGNO
  • Publication number: 20090144271
    Abstract: A system for guiding a search for information is presented. The system comprises a user interface that accepts a phrase and receives at least one suggestion based at least in part on the phrase. The system also includes a phrase suggestion engine that matches the phrase with the at least one suggestion. Methods of using the system are also provided.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 1, 2008
    Publication date: June 4, 2009
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: MATTHEW R. RICHARDSON, Robert J. Ragno
  • Publication number: 20090144207
    Abstract: Systems, methods, and computer-readable media for calculating charges for advertisements are provided. The historical performance (such as CTR) of an online advertisement is utilized to calculate accurate performance prediction, in turn used to calculate the current cost per selection (click-through) of the advertisement. The current cost per selection may be multiplied by the total number of times the advertisement has been presented to user(s) to determine the adjusted revenue total for the advertisement. In embodiments, the charge due for the advertisement is the adjusted revenue total for the advertisement less the amount of revenue previously received for the advertisement.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 3, 2007
    Publication date: June 4, 2009
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: EWA DOMINOWSKA, ROBERT J. RAGNO
  • Patent number: 7461059
    Abstract: A system for guiding a search for information is presented. The system comprises a user interface that accepts a phrase and receives at least one suggestion based at least in part on the phrase. The system also includes a phrase suggestion engine that matches the phrase with the at least one suggestion. Methods of using the system are also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2005
    Date of Patent: December 2, 2008
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Matthew R. Richardson, Robert J. Ragno
  • Publication number: 20080275863
    Abstract: Computerized methods and systems for selecting advertisements for presentation based, at least in part, upon search-result items are provided. Upon receiving a search query, search-result items (e.g., uniform resource locators (URLs)) satisfying the search query are determined. The determined search-result items are then compared with search-result criteria associated with advertisements to determine if the search-result criteria are satisfied. The determination whether or not the search-result criteria associated with an advertisement is satisfied is then utilized to determine whether the advertisement is selected for presentation in association with the search-result items. Advertisements selected for presentation may be ranked relative to one another based upon a bid amount associated therewith, with only a pre-determined number of advertisements ultimately being displayed in association with the search-result items.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 4, 2007
    Publication date: November 6, 2008
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: EWA DOMINOWSKA, ROBERT J. RAGNO
  • Publication number: 20080249832
    Abstract: Systems, methods, and computer-readable media for estimating expected advertisement performance of advertisements are provided. An advertisement performance prediction model is developed using features extracted from a sample set. Once developed, advertisements that are not a part of the sample set are identified and features are extracted there from. The features are then input into the advertisement performance prediction model and expected performance of the corresponding advertisement is estimated. In embodiments, the estimated expected advertisement performance may be used to appropriately rank the advertisement relative to a plurality of other advertisements such that the advertisement will be displayed according to the advertisement ranking.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 4, 2007
    Publication date: October 9, 2008
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Matthew R. Richardson, Robert J. Ragno, Ewa Dominowska
  • Publication number: 20080243610
    Abstract: An advertising package can contain multiple levels of advertisements ranging from small, unobtrusive ads at initial levels, to larger, more complex and more informative ads at subsequent levels. Viewers of a web page, or users of an ad-sponsored program, can initially be presented with a first level advertisement. User triggering actions can cause the display of a subsequent level advertisements that can provide further information without leaving the context of the web page or ad-sponsored program. The levels of advertisements displayed to a user can offer a more precise measure of user interest, and can be the basis by which future ad packages are tuned, and can be the basis of more tiered financial agreements between the advertiser and the publisher.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 28, 2007
    Publication date: October 2, 2008
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Robert J. Ragno, Rishi Bal