Generating and presenting lateral concepts

Abstract

Systems, methods, and computer-storage media for generating lateral concepts are provided. The system includes a search engine to receive user queries, a storage to store content and its associated categories, and a lateral concept generator. The lateral concept generator is connected to both the search engine and storage. The lateral concept generator selects lateral concepts from categories associated with the content based on similarity scores for the stored content.

The technology claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer-implemented method for generating a graphical user interface, the method comprising:
 providing search results in a graphical user interface;   processing the search results to identify lateral concepts for a query corresponding to the search results; and   updating the graphical user interface with the identified lateral concepts, wherein the identified lateral concepts enable a user to traverse the search results that include unstructured, structured, and semistructured content.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the identified lateral concepts are rendered in an area of the graphical user interface separate from the search results. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the search results in the graphical user interface are updated in response to user selection of one of the identified lateral concepts included in the graphical user interface. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising: filtering content provided in the area of the graphical user interface for search results in response the selection of the identified lateral concepts. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising: rendering, in the area of the graphical user interface for identified lateral concepts, three top lateral concepts. 
     
     
         6 . One or more computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions for performing a method to provide lateral concepts in a graphical user interface, the method further comprising:
 obtaining search results in response to a user query;   checking an index having feature vectors for the content included in the search results, wherein the feature vectors include lateral concepts for the content;   when the index stores the feature vectors for the content included in the search results, extracting the lateral concepts from the feature vectors and providing the extracted lateral concepts in an area of the graphical user interface separate from the search results; and   when the index does not store the feature vectors for the content included in the search results, generating feature vectors for the content.   
     
     
         7 . The media of  claim 10 , wherein the feature vectors include a group of words, a lateral concept, and a score corresponding to the content. 
     
     
         8 . The media of  claim 7 , wherein the score represents similarity to other content in the search results matching the query. 
     
     
         9 . The media of  claim 7 , wherein the score is assigned to the content based on similarity of the feature vectors to the user query. 
     
     
         10 . The media of  claim 7 , wherein the group of words are extracted from the content included in the search results. 
     
     
         11 . The media of  claim 7 , further comprising: generating a feature vector for the query. 
     
     
         12 . The media of  claim 7 , wherein the index stores the lateral concepts that are selected for rendering in the graphical user interface along with the query. 
     
     
         13 . A server device configured to generate a graphical user interface, the server device comprising memory and at least one processor, the at least one processor is configured to perform the following in response to receiving a query from a client device:
 providing, by the processor, search results in a graphical user interface to the client device;   processing, by the processor, the search results to identify lateral concepts for a query corresponding to the search results; and   updating, by the processor, the graphical user interface with lateral concepts, wherein the lateral concepts enable a user of the client device to traverse the search results that include unstructured, structured, and semistructured content.   
     
     
         14 . The server device of  claim 13 , wherein the lateral concepts are rendered in an area of the graphical user interface separate from the search results. 
     
     
         15 . The server device of  claim 13 , wherein the search results in the graphical user interface are updated in response to user selection of a lateral concept included in the graphical user interface. 
     
     
         16 . The server device of  claim 15 , further comprising: filtering content provided in the area of the graphical user interface for search results in response to the selection of the lateral concepts. 
     
     
         17 . The server device of  claim 16 , further comprising: rendering, in the area of the graphical user interface for lateral concepts, three top lateral concepts. 
     
     
         18 . The server device of  claim 17 , wherein the lateral concepts are selected from feature vectors for the content included in the search result, and the feature vectors include a group of words, a lateral concept, and a score corresponding to the content. 
     
     
         19 . The server device of  claim 18 , further comprising: generating a feature vector for the query. 
     
     
         20 . The server device of  claim 13 , wherein an index stores the lateral concepts that are selected for rendering in the graphical user interface along with the query.