Web object retrieval based on a language model

Abstract

A method and system is provided for determining relevance of an object to a term based on a language model. The relevance system provides records extracted from web pages that relate to the object. To determine the relevance of the object to a term, the relevance system first determines, for each record of the object, a probability of generating that term using a language model of the record of that object. The relevance system then calculates the relevance of the object to the term by combining the probabilities. The relevance system may also weight the probabilities based on the accuracy or reliability of the extracted information for each data source.

1 - 20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . A computer-readable storage medium containing instructions for controlling a computer system with a processor and a memory to determine relevance of an object to a target term, by a method comprising:
 generating a collection of a plurality of records, each record being provided by a data source and having a plurality of terms relating to the object, each data source having an accuracy indicating the accuracy of information provided by the data source;   for each record, calculating a likelihood that the object is relevant to the target term by generating a language model probability for the record; and   calculating the relevance of the object to the target term by combining the likelihoods of the records based on the accuracies of the records.   
     
     
         22 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 21  wherein the accuracy represents accuracy of records of the data source. 
     
     
         23 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 21  wherein the accuracy represents accuracy of attributes of the records of the data source. 
     
     
         24 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 21  wherein each record is represented as a separate document comprising terms of the record. 
     
     
         25 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 21  wherein the language model probability is generated from attributes of each record. 
     
     
         26 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 25  wherein each attribute of a record is represented as separate document comprising terms of the attribute. 
     
     
         27 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 25  wherein the generated language model probability is based on accuracy of records and accuracy of attributes of a data source. 
     
     
         28 . A computing system for determining relevance of an object to a target term, comprising:
 a memory storing computer-executable instructions of:
 a component that retrieves from data sources descriptions of the object, each description including terms used to describe the object; 
 a component that generates a collection of records of terms relating to the object, the collection including a record generated from each of the plurality of retrieved descriptions, each record including a plurality of terms, each record of the collection being generated by extracting from a retrieved description terms used to describe the object; 
 a component that, for each record of the collection of records of terms relating to the object, determines a language model probability for that record generating the target term, the language model probability for that record generating the target term being based on a number of occurrences of the target term in that record relative to a number of occurrences of the target term in the collection of record; and 
 a component that calculates the relevance of the object to the target term based on the language model probability of each of the plurality of the records; and 
   a processor that executes the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory.   
     
     
         29 . The computing system of  claim 28  wherein each record is from a data source having an accuracy and wherein the relevance factors in the accuracy of the data sources of the record. 
     
     
         30 . The computing system of  claim 29  wherein the accuracy represents accuracy of records of the data source. 
     
     
         31 . The computing system of  claim 29  wherein the accuracy represents accuracy of attributes of the records of the data source. 
     
     
         32 . The computing system of  claim 28  wherein the component that determines a language model probability factors in probability from attributes of each record. 
     
     
         33 . The computing system of  claim 32  wherein each attribute of a record is represented as a separate document comprising terms of the attribute. 
     
     
         34 . The computing system of  claim 32  wherein the determined language model probability is based on accuracy of records and accuracy of attributes of a data source. 
     
     
         35 . The computing system of  claim 32  wherein the determined language model probability is based on importance of each attribute. 
     
     
         36 . The computing system of  claim 32  wherein a contribution of each attribute to the determined language model probability for a record factors in importance of each attribute based on the accuracy of the attributes. 
     
     
         37 . A computer-readable storage medium storing computer-executable instructions for controlling a computing device to determine relevance of an object to a target term, by a method comprising:
 retrieving from data sources descriptions of the object, each description including terms used to describe the object;   generating a collection of records of terms relating to the object, the collection including a record generated from each of the plurality of retrieved descriptions, each record including a plurality of terms, each record of the collection being generated by extracting from a retrieved description terms used to describe the object;   for each record of the collection of records of terms relating to the object, determining a language model probability for that record generating the target term; and   calculating the relevance of the object to the target term based on the language model probability of each of the plurality of the records.   
     
     
         38 . The computer-readable storage device of  claim 37  wherein the calculating of the relevance includes summing the language model probability of each of the plurality of records. 
     
     
         39 . The computer-readable storage device of  claim 38  wherein the summing weights each language model probability by an accuracy of the data source from which a description is retrieved. 
     
     
         40 . The computer-readable storage device of  claim 37  wherein the relevance factors in an accuracy of the data source from which a description is retrieved.