METHOD FOR ANALYZING A PLURALITY OF SEARCH SESSIONS TO IDENTIFY INTENT-BASED CLUSTERS THEREIN AND RECORDING MEDIUM

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To respond to a search request by forming intent-based clusters and using the intent-based clusters by a search engine. SOLUTION: Each session comprises at least one received query from a user and a corresponding set of returned search results, and each set of search results includes or refers to at least one piece of content. Each cluster represents a group of similar search sessions that are perceived as representing a common purpose and that can be mapped to a common set of search results. In the method, for each search session, each received query thereof, the corresponding set of search results, and whether any particular piece of content of the search results was acceptable to the user as responsive to the corresponding search session are identified. Thereafter, search sessions are grouped into clusters. COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI