Yahoo Search Patents first half of 2010

Over the course of three posts I am going to round-up the various patent awards (of interest) from the first half of 2010. This is a habit I've had since 2008 and it is a nice way for me to track things for future reference. While it's not exactly entertaining, I hope you bookmark and make use of them in the future.

Ranking methods

• Adapting a ranking function of a search engine for use with a specific domain
• Pre-fetching data for document ranking
• Conjoint Analysis with Bilinear Regression Models for Segmented Predictive Content Ranking

Query Analysis

• Using activation paths to cluster proximity query results
• Predictions of a degree of relevance between query re-writes and a search query
• Identifying related searches in a database search system
• Query categorizer
• Speculative search result based on a not-yet-submitted search query
• System and method for query expansion
• Techniques for navigational query identification
• Query log mining for detecting spam hosts
• Query Aware Processing
• Query difficulty estimation
• Method and apparatus for reconstructing a search query

Semantic and NLP

• Background contextual conversational search
• Method and apparatus using a classifier to determine semantically relevant terms
• Cross-lingual query classification
• Phonetic self-improving search engine
• Searching document collections using semantic roles of keywords
• System for classifying words

Links

• Link optimization
• Determining related terms based on link annotations of documents belonging to search result sets
• Method And System For Generating A Hyperlink-Click Graph

Behavioural data

• System and method for indexing web content using click-through features
• User Sensitive PageRank
• Classifying documents using implicit feedback and query patterns
• Building a research document based on implicit/explicit actions
• Prediction of click through rates using hybrid kalman filter-tree structured markov model classifiers
• Personalized search results to multiple users
• Search Results for a topic that include a list of messaging users that have previously searched that topic.

Social

• Federated community search
• System and method for ranking search results using social information

Geo Local

• Search results for local versus traveller
• System and method for associating a geographic location with an internet protocol address

Mobile

• Suggesting keywords based on mobile specific attributes
• Enabling clustered search processing via text messaging

Recommendation engine

• Assisting search requests with vertical suggestions
• Suggesting an alternative to the spelling of a search query
• System and method for identifying related queries for languages with multiple writing systems
• System and method for generating substitutable queries on the basis of one or more features

Page Segmentation

• Techniques for clustering structurally similar web pages based on page features
• Techniques for clustering structurally similar web pages
• Method for improving quality of search results by avoiding indexing sections of pages

Universal

• Universal search interface systems and methods
• Blending Search Results

Duplicate content

• Techniques for detecting duplicate web pages

Semantic mark-up

• Use of extensible markup language in a system and method for influencing a position on a search result list generated by a computer network search engine

Web spam

• Detection of undesirable web pages

Temporal

• Identifying and expanding implicitly temporally qualified queries

Systemic Elements

• System and method for navigating and indexing content
• Interactive system for internet information retrieval and exploration
• Information retrieval system and method employing spatially selective features
• URL based query for retrieving data related to a context
• Method and system for quantifying the quality of search results based on cohesion
• Information retrieval engine
• Navigation assistance for search engines
• Predictive indexing for fast search

And there we have it... next will be the Microsoft awards and then Google...

Past Yahoo Patent round ups;

• Yahoo Search patents 2008
• Yahoo Search Patents 2009

The entire first half of 2010 series;

• Yahoo Search Patents first half of 2010
• Microsoft Search Patents first half 2010
• Google Search Patents first half 2010