US 11,775,493 B2
Information retrieval system
Matteo Venanzi, London (GB); Katja Hofmann, Cambridge (GB); Filip Andrzej Radlinski, London (GB); and Brian Brost, Copenhagen (DK)
Assigned to Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC, Redmond, WA (US)
Filed by Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC, Redmond, WA (US)
Filed on Mar. 4, 2017, as Appl. No. 15/449,957.
Claims priority of application No. 1620714 (GB), filed on Dec. 6, 2016.
Prior Publication US 2018/0157691 A1, Jun. 7, 2018
Int. Cl. G06F 16/22 (2019.01); G06F 16/24 (2019.01); G06F 16/31 (2019.01); G06F 16/2452 (2019.01)
CPC G06F 16/2228 (2019.01) [G06F 16/24522 (2019.01); G06F 16/31 (2019.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An information retrieval system comprising:
a memory storing:
an index of items, each item having at least one feature of a plurality of possible features, wherein the index includes, for each item, an indication of the at least one feature of that item, and wherein the index is configured at least according to the at least one feature;
a plurality of questions about the at least one feature of the plurality of items; and
information about probabilities associated with the plurality of questions, the probabilities representing likelihood that a question can be answered;
a question selector configured to:
execute a multi-armed bandit algorithm to select at least one of the questions on a basis of an expected reward,
wherein the selected at least one of the questions is based on the expected reward being greater than other of the plurality of questions,
wherein the expected reward is equal to an expected information gain for the user of the selected at least one of the questions with respect to the items times an estimate of a probability that the user can answer the selected at least one of the questions,
wherein the probability is a value determined by associating a profile of a user with the selected at least one of the questions, and
wherein the gain is a measure of how capable the selected at least one of the questions is at dividing the items; and
update the information about the probabilities based at least one the expected reward;
a search component configured to:
search the index using at least one answer received from the user to the selected at least one of the questions; and
provide the user with a search result based on searching the index using the at least one answer.