Methods and apparatus for providing search results in response to an ambiguous search query

Abstract

Methods and apparatus consistent with the invention allow a user to submit an ambiguous search query and to receive relevant search results. In one embodiment, a sequence of numbers received from a user of a standard telephone keypad is translated into a set of potentially corresponding alphanumeric sequences. These potentially corresponding alphanumeric sequences are provided as an input to a conventional search engine, using a boolean “OR” expression, and the search results are presented to the user. The search engine effectively limits search results to those in which the user was likely interested.

1 . A computer-implemented method of providing search results in response to an ambiguous search query, the ambiguous search query including a sequence of ambiguous information components, the computer-implemented method comprising: 
 receiving a sequence of ambiguous information components from a user;    obtaining mapping information that maps the ambiguous information components to less ambiguous information components;    using the mapping information to convert the sequence of ambiguous information components into at least two corresponding sequences of less ambiguous information components;    providing the at least two sequences of less ambiguous information, each of the sequences effectively being joined by a logical “OR” operation request, as an input to a search engine;    obtaining search results from the search engine; and    presenting the search results to the user.    
   
   
       2 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the mapping information is based on the configuration of a standard telephone keypad.  
   
   
       3 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the ambiguous information components comprise numbers and the less ambiguous information components comprise letters.  
   
   
       4 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein each of the ambiguous information components comprise a single press of a key and the less ambiguous information comprises letters that correspond to the key.  
   
   
       5 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the ambiguous information components comprise phonemes.  
   
   
       6 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 5 , wherein the less ambiguous information components comprise alphanumeric information.  
   
   
       7 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the ambiguous information components comprise visual information.  
   
   
       8 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the act of using comprises using the mapping information in combination with a lexicon to convert the sequence of ambiguous information components into one or more corresponding sequences of less ambiguous information components.  
   
   
       9 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 8 , wherein the lexicon is a dictionary.  
   
   
       10 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 8 , wherein the lexicon is a list of sequences of less ambiguous information components that previously have been processed by the search engine as search queries.  
   
   
       11 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the act of providing comprises: 
 determining a subset of the converted sequences of less ambiguous information components; and    providing the subset of converted sequences of less ambiguous information components as an input to a search engine.    
   
   
       12 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 11 , wherein the act of determining comprises comparing the converted sequences of less ambiguous information components against a lexicon.  
   
   
       13 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 11 , wherein the act of determining comprises using statistical information about the co-occurrence of the less ambiguous information components within the sequence.  
   
   
       14 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1  wherein the act of using the mapping information to convert the sequence of ambiguous information components into one or more corresponding sequences of less ambiguous information components uses the mapping information to directly convert the sequence of ambiguous information components into one or more corresponding sequences of less ambiguous information components.  
   
   
       15 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1  wherein the ambiguous information components are more ambiguous than the less ambiguous information components due to a limited capability of a user input device.  
   
   
       16 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1  further comprising looking up search results using an index including entries, at least one entry including a sequence of less ambiguous information components mapped to a set of one or more items.  
   
   
       17 . A computer-implemented method of providing search results in response to an ambiguous search query, the ambiguous search query including a sequence of ambiguous information components, the computer-implemented method comprising: 
 receiving a sequence of ambiguous information components from a user;    obtaining mapping information that maps the ambiguous information components to less ambiguous information components;    using the mapping information to convert the sequence of ambiguous information components into a plurality of corresponding sequences of less ambiguous information components;    determining a subset of the plurality of sequences of less ambiguous information components by comparing the plurality of sequences of less ambiguous information components with terms used in past search queries stored in a search query log;    providing the subset of sequences of less ambiguous information components as an input to a search engine;    obtaining search results from the search engine; and    presenting the search results to the user.    
   
   
       18 . A computer-implemented method of providing search results in response to an ambiguous search query, comprising: 
 receiving a sequence of information components from a user, each information component corresponding to a key press;    obtaining mapping information that maps each of the key press information components to a plurality of other information components, each corresponding to the same key press;    using the mapping information to determine, from the sequence of key press information components, other sequences of information components by converting each key press information component to each of the other information components that correspond to the key press component;    providing one or more of the received sequence and the other sequences as a search query input to a search engine;    obtaining search results from the search engine; and    presenting the search results to the user,    wherein the search results include references to Web page documents.    
   
   
       19 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 18 , wherein the mapping information is based on the configuration of a standard telephone keypad.  
   
   
       20 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 19 , wherein the received information components comprise numbers and the other information components comprise letters.  
   
   
       21 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 19 , wherein both the received and other information components comprise letters.  
   
   
       22 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 18 , wherein the act of providing comprises providing at least two sequences to the search engine using a logical “OR” operations.  
   
   
       23 . A computer-implemented method of providing search results to a user in response to an ambiguous search query, comprising: 
 receiving at least two number words constituting a number phrase;    converting each number word into one or more letter words, based on mapping information, to generate a plurality of letter phrases, each of the letter phrases corresponding to the number phrase;    forming a search query to a search engine wherein the search query includes at least one of the letter phrases;    obtaining search results from the search engine in response to the search query; and    providing the search results to a user,    wherein the search results include references to Web page documents.    
   
   
       24 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 23 , wherein the providing step comprises providing at least two of the letter phrases, each of the letter phrases being effectively joined by a logical “OR” operation request, as a search query to a search engine  
   
   
       25 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 23 , wherein the mapping information is based on a standard telephone keypad.  
   
   
       26 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 23  wherein the search results provided to the user have been ranked such that search results corresponding to documents that include an exact match of at least one of the letter phrases are provided higher than search results corresponding to documents that do not include an exact match of any of the letter phrases.  
   
   
       27 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 23  wherein the search results exclude search results corresponding to documents that do not include an exact match of any of the letter phrases.  
   
   
       28 . An apparatus for providing search results in response to an ambiguous search query, the ambiguous search query including a sequence of ambiguous information components, comprising: 
 at least one memory having program instructions; and    at least one processor configured to execute the program instructions to perform the operations of: 
 receiving a sequence of ambiguous information components from a user;  
 obtaining mapping information that maps the ambiguous information components to less ambiguous information components;  
   using the mapping information to convert the sequence of ambiguous information components into at least two corresponding sequences of less ambiguous information components;    providing the at least two sequences of less ambiguous information, each of the sequences effectively being joined by a logical “OR” operation request, as an input to a search engine; 
 obtaining search results from the search engine; and  
 presenting the search results to the user.  
   
   
   
       29 . A computer-implemented method of providing search results in response to an ambiguous search query, the ambiguous search query including a sequence of ambiguous information components, the computer-implemented method comprising: 
 receiving a sequence of ambiguous information components from a user associated with a language;    obtaining mapping information that maps the ambiguous information components to less ambiguous information components;    using the mapping information to convert the sequence of ambiguous information components into one or more corresponding sequences of less ambiguous information components;    providing one or more of the sequences of less ambiguous information as an input to a search engine;    obtaining search results from the search engine;    reordering the obtained search results using the language of the user; and    presenting the reordered search results to the user,    wherein the search results include references to Web page documents.