System and method for personalized snippet generation

1. A computer-implemented method of producing search results, comprising: at a computerized search engine system distinct from a client system:

receiving a search request associated with a user from the client system, the search request having one or more search terms;

obtaining a user profile corresponding to the user, wherein the user profile is generated based in part on the user's prior computing activities, comprising one or more of browsing, searching, and messaging;

obtaining search results for the search request;

generating a personalized snippet for at least one of the search results in accordance with the obtained user profile, the snippet comprising a text portion of the search result chosen based on at least one or more search terms of the search request and one or more terms of the obtained user profile; and

transmitting the search results and personalized snippet to the client system for display,

wherein the generating includes identifying content associated with one of the search results, determining a profile similarity score for a term in the content, and generating a snippet based at least in part on the term when the profile similarity score is above a threshold, and

wherein determining the profile similarity score includes identifying a respective term profile associated with the at least one term and determining a similarity between the profile information associated with the user profile and the respective term profile.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the profile similarity score comprises obtaining the profile similarity score for the at least one term from a look up table.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the profile information associated with the user profile and the respective term profile are represented as a vector of a plurality of profile categories and respective weights, and wherein determining the similarity between the profile information associated with the user profile and the respective term profile comprises computing a distance between the vector corresponding to the profile information associated with the user profile and the vector corresponding to the respective term profile.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein information associated with the user profile and information associated with the respective term profile are each represented as a plurality of profile categories and respective weights.

5. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs configured to be executed by a computerized search engine system distinct from a client system, the one or more programs comprising instructions for:

receiving a search request associated with a user from the client system, the search request having one or more search terms;

obtaining a user profile corresponding to the user, wherein the user profile is generated based in part on the user's prior computing activities, comprising one or more of browsing, searching, and messaging;

obtaining search results for the search request;

generating a personalized snippet for at least one of the search results in accordance with the obtained user profile, the snippet comprising a text portion of the search result chosen based on at least one or more search terms and one or more terms of the obtained user profile; and

transmitting the search results and personalized snippet to the client system for display,

wherein the generating includes identifying content associated with one of the search results, determining a profile similarity score for a term in the content, and generating a snippet based at least in part on the term when the profile similarity score is above a threshold, and

wherein determining the profile similarity score includes identifying a respective term profile associated with the at least one term and determining a similarity between the profile information associated with the user profile and the respective term profile.

6. The storage medium of claim 5 , wherein determining the profile similarity score comprises obtaining the profile similarity score for the at least one term from a look up table.

7. The storage medium of claim 5 , wherein each of the profile information associated with the user profile and the respective term profile are represented as a vector of a plurality of profile categories and respective weights, and wherein determining the similarity between the profile information associated with the user profile and the respective term profile comprises computing a distance between the vector corresponding to the profile information associated with the user profile and the vector corresponding to the respective term profile.

8. The storage medium of claim 5 , wherein information associated with the user profile and information associated with the respective term profile are each represented as a plurality of profile categories and respective weights.

9. A system for producing search results, comprising:

memory;

one or more processors; and

one or more programs, stored in the memory and executed by the one or more processors, the one or more programs including instructions for:

receiving a search request associated with a user from the client system, the search request having one or more search terms;

obtaining a user profile corresponding to the user, wherein the user profile is generated based in part on the user's prior computing activities, comprising one or more of browsing, searching, and messaging;

obtaining search results for the search request;

generating a personalized snippet for at least one of the search results in accordance with the obtained user profile, the snippet comprising a text portion of the search result chosen based on at least one or more search terms and one or more terms of the obtained user profile; and

transmitting the search results and personalized snippet to the client system for display,

wherein the generating includes identifying content associated with one of the search results, determining a profile similarity score for a term in the content, and generating a snippet based at least in part on the term when the profile similarity score is above a threshold, and

wherein determining the profile similarity score includes identifying a respective term profile associated with the at least one term and determining a similarity between the profile information associated with the user profile and the respective term profile.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein determining the profile similarity score comprises obtaining the profile similarity score for the at least one term from a look up table.

11. The system of claim 9 , wherein each of the profile information associated with the user profile and the respective term profile are represented as a vector of a plurality of profile categories and respective weights, and wherein determining the similarity between the profile information associated with the user profile and the respective term profile comprises computing a distance between the vector corresponding to the profile information associated with the user profile and the vector corresponding to the respective term profile.

12. The system of claim 9 , wherein the profile information associated with the user profile and information associated with the respective term profile are each represented as a plurality of profile categories and respective weights.