Abstract: An information retrieval system uses phrases to index, retrieve, organize and describe documents, analyzing documents and storing the results of the analysis as phrase data. Phrases are identified that predict the presence of other phrases in documents. Documents are the indexed according to their included phrases. Related phrases and phrase extensions are also identified. Changes to existing phrase data about a document collection submitted by a user is captured and analyzed, and the existing phrase data is updated to reflect the additional knowledge gained through the analysis.

Abstract: Techniques are disclosed that locate implicitly defined semantic structures in a document, such as, for example, implicitly defined lists in an HTML document. The semantic structures can be used in the calculation of distance values between terms in the documents. The distance values may be used, for example, in the generation of ranking scores that indicate a relevance level of the document to a search query.

Abstract: Same document group creation means (11) acquires a ratio of common words and characters between documents in order to obtain a predetermined similarity greater than a predetermined threshold value between the documents. According to the ratio, words or characters are selected with a common priority in all the documents to be matched. The documents are correlated to the same document candidate group identified by the selected words or characters and stored in a same group candidate group storage unit (22).

Abstract: A request to access a web page may be received from a user device. The web page includes a dynamic information portion and a static information portion. A filename is assigned to a static file that is associated with the static information portion of the web page. The filename may be formed at least in part from a timestamp associated with the static file. In response to the request, a dynamic file that is associated with the dynamic information portion of the web page may be sent to the user device. The dynamic file references the static file using the filename, and the timestamp included in the filename enables the user device to determine whether the static information portion of the web page is accessible at the user device.

Abstract: Embodiments may include a system configured to receive search session data that indicates, for each of multiple search sessions performed by a respective user, multiple search queries submitted by that user during the search session. The system may also receive search selection data that indicates, for each of multiple search queries resulting in a set of search results, a particular item selected from that set of search results by a respective user. The system may be configured to perform a co-occurrence analysis on the search data in order to generate one or more search indices that specify, for a given search query, one or more search queries determined to be related to the given search query according to the co-occurrence analysis. The system may be configured to process a client request for related queries that are related to a query of interest submitted by the user within that request.

Abstract: A method for automatically determining an Internet home page corresponding to a named entity identified by a specified descriptor including building a trained machine-learning model, generating candidate matches from the specified descriptor, wherein each candidate match includes an Internet address, extracting content-based features from websites associated with the Internet addresses of the candidate matches, determining a model score for each candidate match based on the content-based features using the trained machine-learning model, and determining a match from among the candidate matches according to the scores, wherein the match is returned as the Internet home page corresponding to the named entity.

Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention provide a method and system for generating an online listing, such as a yellow pages listing, that includes information about an object, such as a business, and also includes at least one image of the structure containing the object. For example, the image may be a digital image of the store front of a business taken at a street view. Additionally, a user may select an image from a plurality of images that the user perceives as being an appropriate representative image for the business. Based on votes received a default representative image may be identified that is provided in response to a request for information about the business.

Abstract: Concepts and technologies are described herein for mining location contexts within document text. Through an implementation of the concepts and technologies presented herein, functionality can be provided for location context mining within articles, websites, travelogues, or other such documents. A location context is a concept associated with a specific location. For example, the contexts “beach” and “hula” are associated with Hawaii. Similarly, “glacier” and “polar bear” are contexts associated with Alaska. Location context mining can automatically discover locations and location contexts by mining information from a set of documents. User interfaces to support queries of the mined information are also presented herein.

Abstract: Some embodiments, among others, include a search for sensitive information. Once a result of the search has been obtained, a score is assigned to the obtained result in accordance with a predefined criterion.

Abstract: Some implementations provide techniques and arrangements to perform image retrieval. For example, some implementations identify an object of interest and a visual context in a first image. In some implementations, a second image that includes a second object of interest and a second visual context may be compared to the object of interest and the visual content, respectively, to determine whether the second image matches the first image.

Abstract: The present invention is directed towards systems, methods and computer program products for providing query-based advertising content. According to one embodiment, a method for providing query-based advertising content comprises receiving a web query and generating an ad query associated with the web query, wherein the ad query is generated on the basis of one of a query to advertisement relationship, a query to feature vector relationship, or a rewritten query vector. An advertisement is selected on the basis of the generated ad query.

Abstract: Various aspects can be implemented for providing parallel resources in search results. In general, one aspect can be a method that includes receiving a search query in a first language. The method also includes generating a search result based on the search query, the search result including a location reference to an identified resource in the first language. The method further includes identifying a parallel resource in a second language, the parallel resource including one or both of a high-quality translation of the identified resource, and an original resource originating in the second language on a similar topic as the identified resource. Other implementations of this aspect include corresponding systems, apparatus, and computer program products.

Abstract: A multi-stage query processing system and method enables multi-stage query scoring, including “snippet” generation, through incremental document reconstruction facilitated by a multi-tiered mapping scheme. At one or more stages of a multi-stage query processing system a set of relevancy scores are used to select a subset of documents for presentation as an ordered list to a user. The set of relevancy scores can be derived in part from one or more sets of relevancy scores determined in prior stages of the multi-stage query processing system. In some embodiments, the multi-stage query processing system is capable of executing one or more passes on a user query, and using information from each pass to expand the user query for use in a subsequent pass to improve the relevancy of documents in the ordered list.

Abstract: A system determines whether text of a document includes a document identifier and uses the document identifier to locate metadata in a database when the text of the document includes the document identifier. The system compares the metadata to the text of the document and associates the metadata with the text of the document when at least some of the metadata matches the text of the document.

Abstract: The present disclosure provides a method for searching related terms using an electronic device. The method adds time stamps to one or more electronic documents, and obtains related terms by calculating a relevance score between every two terms of the electronic documents within a specified time range. The method further calculates a time gap between each related term and a preset query term, obtains updated related terms that have a time relationship with the preset query term by removing specified related terms whose time gap is greater than a preset value, and obtains search results from a data source by performing a search operation according to the updated related terms.

Abstract: Some embodiments, among others, include a search for sensitive information. Once a result of the search has been obtained, a score is assigned to the obtained result in accordance with a predefined criterion.

Abstract: A system and method linking one or more disparate datasets with one or more spatial layers to create linked datasets. One or more data attributes common to the dataset and the spatial layer are identified, and the linkage is defined between the dataset and the spatial layer. The spatial layer and the linked data set then may be queried using a single input query. Features from the spatial layer and features from the linked dataset that match the query are generated for display.

Abstract: In one embodiment, on a first date, a computer system receives a watch list term that is specified by a user. The computer system receives an electronic version of a paper on a second date after the first date, and the computer system searches the electronic version for the watch list term, without the user specifying the watch list term after the first date, and without the user initiating the searching after the first date. The computer system outputs a result of the searching for display on a display device.

Abstract: A self-learning method for keyword based human machine interaction is disclosed. At least one of a plurality of keywords predetermined in a database is selected and a priority score of the selected keyword is updated and a weighted factor is generated for the selected keyword. A weighted score and the weighted factor of the selected keyword are transmitted to the keywords related to the selected keyword. The selected keyword is pushed to a keyword buffer and linkage strengths between the keywords in the keyword buffer are strengthened. When a keyword has been stored in the keyword buffer for over a predetermined reset time period, a reset operation is performed to remove the keyword from the keyword buffer.

Abstract: The invention allows a user to enter a search criteria in a search form once and search multiple web services, search engines and web pages without the need for repeatedly re-creating the search criteria for each web service or search engine because of different and varying supported formats. Once the user has defined their search query, the search query is passed to a query manager in the browser application for formatting the search criteria into a generic query format. The generic query format provides a unified and generic interface to all other query mechanisms supported by different web services, search engines and web pages.

Abstract: Merger and duplicate resolution for contact information across platforms is managed employing contact objects and aggregating the contact objects into contact models. Contact data from internal and/or external data stores may be retrieved and contact objects created for each contact from each contact store. A contact model for each contact entity may be created by aggregating contact data from contact objects across the contact stores. The aggregation may include duplicate resolution through weighting of communication system types, ranking of contact information type, and similar approaches. The contact models may be dynamically updated based on changes to the contact objects.

Abstract: In general, the subject matter described in this specification can be embodied in methods, systems, and programs for providing location-based information. A geographical location of a mobile computing device is received at a server system. A request for content is received at the server system and from the mobile computing device. A search area that corresponds to the geographical location is selected by the sever system. The search area is selected from among a collection of search areas that correspond to the geographical location. At least one of the search areas in the collection is geographically nested within at least one other of the search areas. A search result that is most-relevantly ranked for the selected search area is determined by the server system. Content that represents the determined search result is provided by the server system and for receipt by the mobile computing device.

Abstract: Conceptually related term identification technique embodiments are presented that involve identifying in the results of a search query, terms that are conceptually related to the search query terms. In one general embodiment, this is accomplished by first inputting the terms employed in a search query and the results of the search. Word tokens found in the search query terms are then identified, as are potential phrases that can be made from the identified word tokens. Conceptually related words and phrases are then identified in the search query results. These words and phrases correspond to the previously identified word tokens and potential phrases. The search query results are presented to a user on a display device in such a manner as to visually distinguish the conceptually related words and phrases from other words and phrases in the search query results.

Abstract: The present invention discloses a method for query based on layout information, including: setting up a query condition containing layout information; and querying an electronic document based on the query condition containing the layout information. The present invention also discloses a device corresponding to the method.

Abstract: In general, the subject matter described in this specification can be embodied in methods, systems, and programs for providing location-based information. A geographical location of a mobile computing device is received at a server system. A request for content is received at the server system and from the mobile computing device. A search area that corresponds to the geographical location is selected by the sever system. The search area is selected from among a collection of search areas that correspond to the geographical location. At least one of the search areas in the collection is geographically nested within at least one other of the search areas. A search result that is most-relevantly ranked for the selected search area is determined by the server system. Content that represents the determined search result is provided by the server system and for receipt by the mobile computing device.

Abstract: Provides is an apparatus for question answering based on answer trustworthiness including: an answer indexer that indexes documents of which document trustworthiness satisfying a threshold value among documents included in a document collection and stores it in a knowledge Bases; an answer candidate extractor that extracts answer candidate documents for a user's question from the knowledge Bases; an answer source trustworthiness measurement unit; an answer extraction strategy trustworthiness measurement unit; and a trustworthiness integrator that generates an answer candidate trustworthiness list by ranking the answer candidate documents on the basis of the document trustworthiness, the source trustworthiness, and the extraction strategy trustworthiness of the answer candidate documents.

Abstract: A method of extracting objects from a video includes the identification of regions to be tracked, tracking the regions across several frames, calculating motions of the regions, and identifying new regions to be tracked. Regions of a selected frame of the video that are appropriate for tracking are selected. Tracking of the identified regions is then performed across frames subsequent to the selected frame of the video. Motions of the identified regions are calculated, and new regions for tracking are identified.

Abstract: An information processing apparatus is provided. The apparatus comprises an association unit configured to divide input image data into regions and to associate each region with one or more types of objects; an addition unit configured to add metadata to each object based on the type of each object; and a determination unit configured to determine whether or not a specific object that associates a first one of the regions with a second one of the regions different from the first one is present among the objects. In the case where the determination unit has determined that the specific object is present, the addition unit is configured to further add, to a first object that is present in the first one of the regions, metadata for associating the second one of the regions with the first one of the regions.

Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, for ranking news articles. A plurality of news articles referenced in one or more hub pages are identified, where each of the hub pages include respective references to one or more of the news articles. A score component is derived for a news article from a measure of a prominence of the news article in the hub pages that includes a reference to the news article.

Abstract: Query utilization in which a rate of a plurality of queries to a data source may be determined for a plurality of time periods. A cost may be associated with a query state transition. A query state may be assigned to a particular query on a particular time period of the plurality of time periods based on the rate of queries for the particular time period and the cost of the query state transition. A query burst may be identified during the plurality of time periods based on assignment of a query state to the plurality of queries. The query may exhibit a normal query state, a normal-to-deviated query state transition, and a deviated query state. A query burst identification module may identify a query burst during the plurality of time periods, a burst conversion module may convert the query burst to a wavelet using a wavelet transform, a clustering module may apply a clustering technique to the wavelet, and a query classification module may classify the query burst based on applying the clustering technique.

Abstract: Architecture that enables a user to connect, search, and review information under a mobile context by interacting through a micro-browser. The current “Find” experience can now be made part of the document search functionality thereby allowing the user to enter one or more keywords to quickly search and obtain the information desired. The “Find” feature can be part of the micro-browser viewer and solves the current inability of the user to view and read documents on the small display of the mobile device. Additionally, users can choose to search from the current page or from the beginning of the document. Results are listed with the keyword(s) emphasized (e.g., highlighted) in a portion of the content in which the keyword(s) was found. The page number can also be presented. Each result can be presented is an active link that automatically navigates the user directly to the associated keyword of the page.

Abstract: Apparatus and associated systems, methods, and computer program products relate to displaying the most relevant information in a document at or near the top of a page of displayed information. The most relevant information may be determined to be relevant with respect to a set of search query terms, such as those that may be entered into a search engine, for example. In some embodiments, a selected document of interest may be formatted (i.e., transcoded) for display on a small display area, and the transcoding may be arranged to produce a first displayed page or sub-page (if the document is divided among more than one sub-page) that begins with the most relevant information in the document. By formatting transcoded pages in this manner, the most relevant information may be displayed first for immediate viewing by the user.

Abstract: A method analyzes the visual content of media such as videos for collecting together visually-similar appearances in their constituent images (e.g. same scenes, same objects, faces of the same people.) As a result, the most relevant and salient (of clearest and largest presence) visual appearances depicted in the videos are presented to the user, both for the sake of summarizing the video content for the users to “see before they watch” (that is, judge by the depicted video content in a filmstrip-like summary whether they want to mouse-click on the video and actually spend time watching it), as well as for allowing to users to further refine their video search result set according to the most relevant and salient video content returned (e.g. largest screen-time faces).

Abstract: A system and method is disclosed for determining a prediction measurement, or measure, using geo-spatial information which can be used to determine whether or not to include type of information in search results. The prediction measurement comprises a measure of the likelihood that an item of the type of information for which the prediction measure is determined will be selected, or clicked on, by a user, if the item of the type of information is included in the search result. Without limitation, one such information type is news.

Abstract: A method is presented for merging document metadata at a client computer. A document obtained from a server computer is opened by a user at the client computer. If the document does not include paragraph identifiers, a paragraph identifier is assigned to each paragraph in the document. When the document is opened by a second user at a second client computer, metadata for the document is received from the server computer. A determination is made whether to merge the metadata received from the server computer with current metadata for the document. When it is determined that the current metadata and the metadata received from the server computer should be merged, paragraph identifiers are adjusted in the document based on the metadata received from the server computer.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method and system for extending content based on the semantic meaning of content. It divides content into multiple content regions and finds words and/or phrases that are semantically relevant to the current content region and appends these words and/or phrases to the current content region as extended content. The extended content matches semantically with the original content in such a seamless way that users may think it is a part of the content.

Abstract: A document retrieving apparatus includes a document retrieving unit adapted to retrieve document data which include images that match an input retrieval condition, a retrieval result list display unit adapted to display, on a display unit, a list display of document data that match the retrieval condition based on the retrieval results of the document retrieving unit, and a thumbnail display unit adapted to display, in the list display by the retrieval result list display unit, a first thumbnail image associated with a page or an image element which matches the retrieval condition, and a second thumbnail image associated with another page or another image element which forms the document data that includes the page or the image element which match the retrieval condition.

Abstract: Generally, a method and apparatus provides for rating user generated content (UGC) with respect to search engine results. The method and apparatus includes recognizing a UGC data field collected from a web document located at a web location. The method and apparatus calculates: a document goodness factor for the web document; an author rank for an author of the UGC data field; and a location rank for web location. The method and apparatus thereby generates a rating factor for the UGC field based on the document goodness factor, the author rank and the location rank. The method and apparatus also outputs a search result that includes the UGC data field positioned in the search results based on the rating factor.

Abstract: A method for content insertion is provided. In this method, a first media data is received from a server and a placement request is transmitted to a content provider service. As a result, a placement response is received from the content provider service. The placement response includes data identifying a second media data associated with the first media data. The second media data is retrieved and merged with the first media data. After the merge, the first and second media data are transmitted to the server.

Abstract: A method of determining a likely geographical location for which a user of a computer desires further information based on submitted criteria comprising the steps of: the user submitting criteria including a locality name; identifying from the criteria the locality name; returning, in dependence on the locality name, a probability that the locality name is associated with a geographical location.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for generating search results including searching by subdomain and providing sponsored results by subdomain is provided. A search system according to embodiments of the present invention analyzes search queries to determine if they are to be routed to subdomains and presents results include sponsored hits sponsored on a subdomain by subdomain basis.

Abstract: Techniques to perform relative ranking for search results are described. An apparatus may include an enhanced search component operative to receive a search query and provide ranked search results responsive to the search query. The enhanced search component may comprise a resource search module operative to search for resources using multiple search terms from the search query, and output a set of resources having some or all of the search terms. The enhanced search component may also comprise a proximity generation module communicatively coupled to the resource search module, the proximity generation module operative to receive the set of resources, retrieve search term position information for each resource, and generate a proximity feature value based on the search term position information.

Abstract: Provided is a multimedia data recording method including: receiving one or more search object items for searching for scenes including the same kind of information from media data; selecting one or more scenes that contain each of the search object items during the input of the media data; generating metadata including one or more pieces of scene information from among an index or reproduction time of the selected scenes; and recording the metadata onto a header region and recording the media data onto a payload region.

Abstract: A parts catalog system is provided. The system may include a processor and a computer-readable medium operatively coupled to the processor and including a memory in which is stored a database configured to catalog collections of data associated with and identifying hardware items. The system may also include a graphical user interface (GUI) configured to display at least some of the data associated with and identifying a hardware item including. The displayed data may include a graphical representation of the hardware item. The displayed data may also include a data field integrated with the graphical representation illustrating the physical significance of the data within the data field with regard to the hardware item illustrated by the graphical representation. The data field may also be configured to accept input to designate a desired value for the data within the data field.

Abstract: A blog search engine may receive a search query. The blog search engine may determine scores for a group of blog documents in response to the search query, where the scores are based on a relevance of the group of blog documents to the search query and a quality of the group of blog documents. The blog search engine may also provide information regarding the group of blog documents based on the determined scores.

Abstract: Subject matter disclosed herein may relate to clustering electronic documents, such as, for example, web pages, and may also relate to template identification for electronic documents.

Abstract: A system and related techniques accept user-inputted search terms, for example to perform a search for files or other data or objects. According to embodiments, an extension of a search to different levels or points in the file system hierarchy may be automatically generated and presented to the user as a selectable search box. That box may be highlighted to the user for easy selection. When the user selects the selectable search box, the user's search for files of type or extension “.doc” or “.memo”, may be seamlessly extended to other files, folders, trees or other points or levels in the file system hierarchy. Search results may be continuously or dynamically updated as the user enters more characters or other data.

Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed for extracting characteristics from a corpus of linked documents by deriving a content link model that explicitly captures direct and indirect relations represented by the links, and extracting document topics and the topic distributions for all the documents in the corpus using the content-link model.

Abstract: Some embodiments, among others, include a search for sensitive information of an individual. Once a result of the search has been obtained, a score is assigned to the obtained result in accordance with a predefined criterion. One embodiment is configured to perform searches for different combinations of items having sensitive information. Upon assigning a score to the obtained result, a report of the score is generated which indicates the individual's vulnerability to one or more various security concerns. Accordingly, scores may be assigned to a combination of items in the result which indicates a heightened security risk.

Abstract: An electronic document and associated system, methods and apparatus is described. The electronic document is loaded in a user device configured to communicate with an external device that generates instructions for augmenting content contained in the electronic document with links to contextually relevant information. The content can be augmented with one or more user interface elements, and the augmented content can be displayed with one or more attributes which can be selected by a document author. The document author can mark or otherwise designate one or more portions of the electronic document to be excluded from the augmenting process.