US Patent 11138285 Intent encoder trained using search logs

A computer-implemented technique receives an input expression that a user submits with an intent to accomplish some objective. The technique then uses a machine-trained intent encoder component to map the input expression into an input expression intent vector (IEIV). The IEIV corresponds to a distributed representation of the intent associated with the input expression, within a vector intent vector space. The technique then leverages the intent vector to facilitate some downstream application task, such as the retrieval of information. Some application tasks also use a neighbor search component to find expressions that express an intent similar to that of the input expression. A training system trains the intent encoder component based on the nexus between queries and user clicks, as recorded in a search engine's search log.