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Google patents search method that uses AI to rethink your questions

Patent drawing
Patent drawing from the official filing.

This filing describes a system that takes a user's search query and feeds it to a large language model along with a specific instruction to explain its reasoning. The AI then generates a broader or more detailed version of the original question, which is sent to the search engine to find more relevant results.

Why it mattersIt suggests a way to make search engines better at understanding complex or vague questions by having the AI 'think through' the user's intent before looking for answers.

In the filing’s own words

The present disclosure provides systems and methods for query expansion that utilize the generative abilities of machine-learned language models, such as, for example, so-called Large Language Models (LLMs).

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. A computer-implemented method for information retrieval, the method comprising: obtaining, by a computing system comprising one or more computing devices, a query; generating, by the computing system, a model input comprising a combination of the query and a model prompt, wherein the model prompt comprises a chain of thought prompt that instructs a machine-learned language model to provide a rationale for its output; processing, by the computing system, the model input with the machine-learned language model to generate, as an output of the machine-learned language model, a model output; generating, by the computing system, an expanded query based on the query and the model output; and providing, by the computing system, the expanded query as an input to an information retrieval system to receive a set of results as an output of the information retrieval system.

Facts

Company
Google (Google LLC)
Official title
Query Expansion by Prompting Large Language Models
Publication number
US20260320084A1
Application number
19481072
Filed
May 3, 2024
Published
Oct 15, 2026
Inventors
5
Claims
20

Classified under

G06F 16/3326 Physics & computing
Read the full filing (official PDF) ↗ Open in the Patent Tracker

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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.