David A Gerster, 541544 Cypress Ave, Burlingame, CA 94010

8170974, May 1, 2012

Jul 7, 2008

12/168758

David Gerster - Burlingame CA, US
Amr Awadallah - Palo Alto CA, US
Sajjit Thampy - Sunnyvale CA, US

Yahoo! Inc. - Sunnyvale CA

G06F 17/00
G06N 5/02

706 47

A method of determining one or more association rules includes: specifying site-sequence values for users, wherein each user is identified with one of a plurality of engagement levels, and the site-sequence values indicate a sequence from a first site to a second site for at least one user identified with a corresponding engagement level; determining cumulative site-sequence values from the site-sequence values for combinations of pairs of sites and distinct engagement levels; determining likelihood values from the cumulative site-sequence values, wherein the likelihood values characterize probabilities for sequences between sites at distinct engagement levels; determining one or more association rules for pairs of sites from one or more corresponding likelihood values at one or more engagement levels, wherein each association rule indicates a sequential association between a corresponding pair of sites; determining one or more confidence values for the one or more association rules by calculating one or more variations of the likelihood values across the engagement levels; and saving one or more values for the one or more associations rules (e. g. , likelihood values or confidence values).

2005002, Feb 3, 2005

Jan 6, 2004

10/752742

Amr Awadallah - Palo Alto CA, US
Timothy Cadogan - Santa Clara CA, US
Ali Diab - Atherton CA, US
David Gerster - San Mateo CA, US

G06F007/00

707003000

A system is provided for allocating combinations of search results, types of space, and/or other information from different sources (e.g., search engines) in which a type of space, search results, and/or other information from at least one source or type or from each source or type, for example, are optimized to obtain an optimum commercial value. Using the example of a search, a commercial metric and a user satisfaction metric are established for search terms and used in the optimization process. In calculating the commercial value and the user satisfaction value for a set of search results, the weight given to the commercial value and the user satisfaction value of a search result is different depending on its source. Optionally, keeping the user satisfaction value above a certain threshold is treated as a constraint while optimizing the commercial value. Alternatively, a tradeoff may be allowed between the minimum threshold for the user satisfaction and a better commercial value. For example, a commercial value may be associated with the commercial metric and quality metric so that the total commercial value may be calculated and optimized.

2010003, Feb 11, 2010

Aug 6, 2008

12/187236

David Gerster - Burlingame CA, US
Amr Awadallah - Palo Alto CA, US
Sajjit Thampy - Sunnyvale CA, US

YAHOO! INC. - Sunnyvale CA

G06F 7/06
G06F 17/30

707 3, 707E17108

A method of determining market-share trends includes: specifying values for switching between pairs of search tools for a user; determining values for a transition matrix between the search tools from the switching values; determining steady-state values from the transition matrix for characterizing a steady state arising from a sequential operation of the transition matrix, wherein the steady-state values characterize market-share trends for the search tools; and saving one or more values for the steady state values.