Abstract: A system and method of automated driver selection is disclosed. A plurality of driver profiles and a first order are received. Each of the driver profiles includes at least one driver parameter. The first order includes at least one order parameter. A driver score is calculated for each of the plurality of driver profiles for the first order. The driver score is calculated based on the at least one driver parameter and the at least one order parameter. Each driver profile is ranked based on the calculated driver score and a first delivery assignment request is transmitted to a system associated with a first-ranked driver profile. A response is received to the first delivery assignment request.

Abstract: In a technique for managing keyword bid amounts in an online advertising system (OAS), a closed-loop feedback technique that integrates data integration, keyword management, bid management, product-search results and user activities is used to optimize revenue generation from online advertisements for websites, such as e-commerce websites. In particular, bids on a group of keywords associated with products are based on an estimated profitability of the group of keywords. Then, the resulting traffic to an associated e-commerce website is monitored by determining a financial performance metric of the e-commerce website, which facilitates subsequent feed-back adaptation. For example, a layout of the e-commerce website (such as product information, which is associated with the products, and/or relative positions of the displayed product information on the e-commerce website) is adjusted based on the determined financial performance metric.

Abstract: In a technique for publishing keywords for use in an online advertising system (OAS), keywords are extracted from product information that is received from entities that provide products. Based on calculated performance metrics associated with the extracted keywords, an estimated viability of the keywords (such as an estimated profitability) when used in the OAS is determined and a subset of the keywords is selected. Then, the selected subset of the keywords is published to the OAS. For example, the selected keywords may be bid on for use in search-engine-based online-advertising campaigns. Note that the performance metrics for a given keyword may include: a performance metric that is independent of the product information, a performance metric that is based on the product information, and/or an OAS performance metric.

Abstract: A method for assigning relative quality scores to a collection of linked documents is presented. The method includes constructing a spring network according to a connectivity graph of a linked database and determining the strength of inter-nodal springs based on the link structure of the network and the displacements on end-nodes. The method may further include computing the displacements of the nodes in a spring network through an iterative process and obtaining the quality scores for documents from the converged displacements of nodes. The method may also include obtaining the relative quality scores for groups of documents. The method may further include assigning topic-specific quality scores to documents in a linked database.

Abstract: Exemplary methods for assigning relative rank values to a plurality of linked documents are provided. In one embodiment, the method comprises constructing or modeling a nodal network according to a connectivity graph of a linked database and determining conductance of inter-nodal links based on a link structure of the nodal network and rank values of end-nodes. The method may further comprise computing rank values of nodes in the nodal network through an iterative process, and obtaining quality scores for documents from the rank values of the nodes. The method may also include obtaining the quality scores for groups of documents.

Abstract: Exemplary methods for assigning relative rank values to a plurality of linked documents are provided. In one embodiment, the method comprises constructing or modeling a nodal network according to a connectivity graph of a linked database and determining conductance of inter-nodal links based on a link structure of the nodal network and rank values of end-nodes. The method may further comprise computing rank values of nodes in the nodal network through an iterative process, and obtaining quality scores for documents from the rank values of the nodes. The method may also include obtaining the quality scores for groups of documents.

Abstract: A method for assigning relative quality scores to a collection of linked documents is presented. The method includes constructing a spring network according to a connectivity graph of a linked database and determining the strength of inter-nodal springs based on the link structure of the network and the displacements on end-nodes. The method may further include computing the displacements of the nodes in a spring network through an iterative process and obtaining the quality scores for documents from the converged displacements of nodes. The method may also include obtaining the relative quality scores for groups of documents. The method may further include assigning topic-specific quality scores to documents in a linked database.

Abstract: The present invention provides systems and methods of searching web pages relevant to a specific topic based on quality of individual pages. The rank of a page for a keyword may be a combination of analytic rank and editorial rank. The analytic rank of a page may be calculated by combining intrinsic and extrinsic ranks. Intrinsic rank is a measure of relevancy of a page to a given keyword as claimed by an author of the page, while extrinsic rank is a measure of the relevancy of a page on a given keyword as indicated by other pages. The former may be obtained from an analysis of keyword matching in various parts of the page while the latter is obtained from context-sensitive connectivity analysis of the link structure of the entire Internet. Methods are described to solve the self-consistent equation satisfied by the page-weights and site-weights in a very efficient iterative way. The ranking mechanism for multi-word query is also described.