Google as a Recommendation System

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I’ll be presenting later today at the Search Engine Strategies at San Jose, and the session I’m talking at involves Search Algorithms and the patents and whitepapers that describe them.

My presentation will focus upon Google as a recommendation system. With some fortunate timing, Google had a new patent granted today, which describes how Google could be used as a recommendation system when it comes to ecommerce.

Interface and system for providing persistent contextual relevance for commerce activities in a networked environment

Invented by Donald R. Turnbull and Hinrich Schuetze
Assigned to Google
United States Patent 7,089,237
Granted August 8, 2006
Filed: January 26, 2001

Abstract

A search and recommendation system employs the preferences and profiles of individual users and groups within a community of users, as well as information derived from categorically organized content pointers, to augment electronic commerce related searches, re-rank search results, and provide recommendations for commerce related objects based on an initial subject-matter query and an interaction history of a user.

The search and recommendation system operates in the context of a content pointer manager, which stores individual users’ content pointers (some of which may be published or shared for group use) on a centralized content pointer database connected to a network.

The shared content pointer manager is implemented as a distributed program, portions of which operate on users’ terminals and other portions of which operate on the centralized content pointer database.

A user’s content pointers are organized in accordance with a local topical categorical hierarchy. The hierarchical organization is used to define a relevance context within which returned objects are evaluated and ordered.

The original filing was made by employees of Groupfire, which Google acquired in September of 2001.

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