Information archival and retrieval system for internetworked computers

• US 20020010682A1
• Filed: 07/19/2001
• Published: 01/24/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 07/20/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rodney D. Johnson
• Original Assignee: Rodney D. Johnson
• Inventors: Johnson, Rodney D.
• Granted Patent: US 7,792,682 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/59
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2228 Indexing structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2455 Query execution
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/25 Integrating or interfacing systems involving database management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

A computing system can archive information from internetworked computers, such as Internet content, for later retrieval. A server system processes content providers, such as DNS registries and web sites, to extract and store content—including text, image, audio, and video content. For web sites, HTML source code is stored along with a browser-rendered display file. The content is perpetually archived to create a historical record of information for each content provider. An interface is used to retrieve the archived content in response to queries.

Claims

1. A computerized system for retrieving information from a plurality of internetworked content providers, comprising:

a user interface in communication with a data warehouse having stored information, the user interface soliciting a query from a user; and

a query result presented to the user in response to the query, the query result including obsolete information associated with a content provider.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the query solicits at least one of an Internet domain name, a Universal Resource Locator, a text string, or a multimedia target.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the data warehouse is located remote from the user interface.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the query result is not presented in real time.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the user interface is a search engine result identifying a Universal Resource Locator.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the Universal Resource Locator is responsive to the solicitation for a query.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the query result includes a history of the information.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein the history includes changes to the information over time.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the changes include changes to an Internet domain name registration.

10. The system of claim 8 wherein the changes include changes to information stored at a specified address.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein the query results are responsive to a query specifying a trademark.

12. The system of claim 1 wherein the query results are responsive to a query specifying a work of authorship.

13. A system for storing information for retrieval, comprising:

a database storing data in an organized structure, the data associated with stored content from a plurality of internetworked content providers;

a plurality of modules populating the database with data, the modules in communication with the content providers; and

a query engine for retrieving the stored content based on a query parameter.

14. The system of claim 13 further comprising an archive storing the stored content in perpetuity.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the database includes references to the stored content for retrieval from the archive.

16. The system of claim 13 wherein the content providers include content providers selected from domain name service registries and web servers.

17. The system of claim 13 wherein the modules communicate with the content providers over a public access computer network.

18. The system of claim 13 further comprising an indexer, the indexer creating a searchable index of the stored content.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the searchable index includes multimedia data.

20. A computerized system for storage and retrieval of content from a plurality of Internet content providers, the content including registration content and page content, the system comprising:

a data warehouse structured to store content for later retrieval; and

a registration retrieval mechanism in communication with a plurality of Internet registries for retrieving registration content for a plurality of content providers and storing the retrieved content in the data warehouse.

21. The system of claim 20 further comprising a page retrieval mechanism in communication with a content provider for retrieving page content from the content providers and storing the retrieved content in the data warehouse.

22. The system of claim 20 wherein the data warehouse includes a database structure for managing the stored content.

23. The system of claim 20 further comprising an indexer for indexing the stored content.

24. The system of claim 23 wherein the indexer is a multimedia indexer.

25. The system of claim 23 further comprising a query engine coupled to the indexer for retrieving stored content.

26. The system of claim 25 wherein the query engine includes a program interface operable by a remote computer.

27. A computerized system for archiving information from a plurality of internetworked web content providers, comprising:

an identifier of a web content provider stored in a data warehouse;

for the web content provider, information stored in the data warehouse including;

a copy of registration data;

a copy of source code for operating a web browser;

a copy of a browser-rendered display generated by the source code files; and

a database associating the web content provider with the stored information.

28. The system of claim 27 wherein the identifier is a unique address of the web content provider.

29. The system of claim 28 wherein the unique address is a domain name derived from a domain name registry.

30. The system of claim 27 wherein the stored information is compressed.

31. The system of claim 27 wherein the stored information includes a copy of a multimedia file.

32. The system of claim 27 further comprising an indexer operating on the stored information.

33. The system of claim 32 wherein the indexer includes a digital signature engine operating on multimedia files.

34. The system of claim 27 further comprising a user interface for querying the data warehouse.

35. The system of claim 34 wherein the user interface is operable by a remote computer.

36. The system of claim 35 wherein the remote computer includes a search engine interface.

37. The system of claim 27 further comprising web robots to retrieve information from a remote content provider.

38. The system of claim 37 wherein the remote content provider is a registry storing the registration data.

39. The system of claim 37 wherein the remote content provider is the web content provider storing the source code.

40. The system of claim 27 further comprising a processing module to monitor changes to source code at the web content provider, based on the stored source code.

41. The system of claim 40 wherein the data warehouse stores a prior version and a current version of a changed source code file.

42. The system of claim 27 further comprising a processing module to monitor changes to registration data at a registration content provider based on the stored registration data.

43. The system of claim 42 wherein the data warehouse stores a prior version and a current version of changed registration data.

44. The system of claim 27 wherein the data warehouse includes an offline storage medium.

45. The system of claim 27 wherein the web content provider supports a protocol to facilitate the archival of information.

46. A computerized system for archiving data from a plurality of distinct content providers, each associated with at least one publicly accessible file representing content, the system comprising:

an identification for each content provider of a plurality of content providers; and

a mechanism that stores, for each identified content provider, the content of at least one publicly accessible file in a data archive for later retrieval.

47. The system of claim 46 wherein the content providers are registered in a shared registry system.

48. The system of claim 47 wherein the at least one publicly accessible file includes registration data associated with the registry.

49. The system of claim 47 wherein the content provider is identified by a unique address.

50. The system of claim 46 wherein the mechanism includes a data compression algorithm to reduce the size of the at least one file before storing the content in the data archive.

51. The system of claim 46 further comprising a database structure associating each content provider with its stored content.

52. The system of claim 51 wherein the database structure tracks changes to the stored content over time.

53. The system of claim 46 wherein the stored content is maintainable in perpetuity.

54. The system of claim 46 further comprising an indexer for maintaining a searchable index of the stored content.

55. The system of claim 54 wherein the stored content is multimedia content.

56. The system of claim 54 further comprising a query engine coupled to the indexer for processing queries against the stored content.

57. The system of claim 56 wherein the query engine includes a program interface operable by a remote computer.

58. A user interface for monitoring intellectual property rights across a plurality of intemetworked content providers, comprising:

a querying interface to solicit information related to an intellectual property right; and

a report responsive to the query information, the report including archived information associated at least one content provider.

59. The user interface of claim 58 wherein the solicited information is at least one of a trademark, a work of authorship, or an invention.

60. The user interface of claim 58 wherein the solicited information is entered as a file location.

61. The user interface of claim 60 wherein the file is at least one of a text file, an audio file, an image file, or a video file.

62. The user interface of claim 58 wherein the report includes archived information associated with a plurality of network registrars.

63. The user interface of claim 58 wherein the report includes archived information from a plurality of web content providers.

64. The user interface of claim 58 wherein the archived information includes obsolete information.

65. A computerized method for retrieving information from a plurality of intemetworked content providers, comprising:

soliciting a query from a user through a user interface in communication with a data warehouse having stored information; and

presenting a query result to the user in response to the query, the query result including obsolete information associated with a content provider.

66. The method of claim 65 wherein soliciting comprises a query including at least one of an Internet domain name, a Universal Resource Locator, a text string, or a multimedia target.

67. The method of claim 65 wherein the data warehouse is located remote from the user interface.

68. The method of claim 65 wherein presenting the query result is not performed in real time with the query.

69. The method of claim 65 wherein soliciting comprises identifying a Universal Resource Locator through a search engine result.

70. The method of claim 69 wherein the Universal Resource Locator is responsive to the solicitation for a query.

71. The method of claim 65 wherein the query result includes a history of the information.

72. The method of claim 71 wherein the history includes changes to the information over time.

73. The method of claim 72 wherein the changes include changes to an Internet domain name registration.

74. The method of claim 72 wherein the changes include changes to information stored at a specified address.

75. The method of claim 65 wherein the query results are responsive to a query specifying a trademark.

76. The method of claim 65 wherein the query results are responsive to a query specifying a work of authorship.

77. A method for storing information for retrieval, comprising:

storing data in an organized structure in a database, the data associated with stored content from a plurality of internetworked content providers;

from a plurality of modules, populating the database with data, the modules in communication with the content providers; and

retrieving the stored content based on a query parameter.

78. The method of claim 77 further comprising storing the stored content in an archive in perpetuity.

79. The method of claim 77 wherein the content providers include content providers selected from domain name service registries and web servers.

80. The method of claim 77 wherein the modules communicate with the content providers over a public access computer network.

81. The method of claim 77 further comprising an indexer, the indexer creating a searchable index of the stored content.

82. A computerized method for storage and retrieval of content from a plurality of Internet content providers, the content including registration content and page content, the method comprising:

storing content for later retrieval in a data warehouse; and

retrieving registration content for a plurality of web content from a plurality of Internet registries providers and storing the retrieved registration content in the data warehouse.

83. The method of claim 82 further comprising retrieving page content from the web content providers and storing the retrieved page content in the data warehouse.

84. The method of claim 82 further comprising indexing the stored content.

85. A computerized method for archiving information from a plurality of internetworked web content providers, comprising:

storing an identifier of a web content provider in a data warehouse;

for the web content provider, storing information in the data warehouse including;

a copy of registration data;

a copy of source code for operating a web browser;

a copy of a browser-rendered display generated by the source code files; and

associating the web content provider with the stored information in a database.

86. The method of claim 85 wherein the identifier is a unique address of the web content provider.

87. The method of claim 86 wherein the unique address is a domain name derived from a domain name registry.

88. The method of claim 85 wherein the stored information is compressed.

89. The method of claim 85 wherein the stored information includes a copy of a multimedia file.

90. The method of claim 85 further comprising operating on the stored information using an indexer.

91. The method of claim 90 wherein the indexer includes a digital signature engine operating on multimedia files.

92. The method of claim 85 further comprising for querying the data warehouse through a user interface.

93. The method of claim 92 wherein the user interface is operable by a remote computer.

94. The method of claim 93 wherein the remote computer includes a search engine interface.

95. The method of claim 85 further comprising operating web robots to retrieve information from a remote content provider.

96. The method of claim 95 wherein the remote content provider is a registry storing the registration data.

97. The method of claim 85 further comprising monitoring changes to source code at the web content provider, based on the stored source code.

98. The method of claim 85 further comprising monitoring changes to registration data at a registration content provider based on the stored registration data.

99. The method of claim 85 wherein the data warehouse includes an offline storage medium.

100. A computerized method for archiving data from a plurality of distinct content providers, each associated with at least one publicly accessible file representing content, the method comprising:

storing an identification for each content provider of a plurality of content providers; and

storing, for each identified content provider, the content of at least one publicly accessible file in a data archive for later retrieval.

101. The method of claim 100 wherein the at least one publicly accessible file includes registration data associated with a shared registry.

102. The method of claim 100 wherein storing the content comprises using a data compression algorithm to reduce the size of the at least one file before storing the content in the data archive.

103. The method of claim 100 further comprising tracking changes to the stored content over time.

104. The method of claim 100 wherein the stored content is maintainable in perpetuity.

105. The method of claim 100 further comprising maintaining a searchable index of the stored content.

106. A method for monitoring intellectual property rights across a plurality of internetworked content providers, comprising:

soliciting information related to an intellectual property right; and

presenting a report responsive to the query information, the report including archived information associated at least one content provider.

107. The method of claim 106 wherein the solicited information is at least one of a trademark, a work of authorship, or an invention.

108. The method of claim 106 wherein soliciting information comprises entering a file location.

109. The method of claim 108 wherein the file is at least one of a text file, an audio file, an image file, or a video file.

110. The method of claim 106 wherein the report includes archived information associated with a plurality of network registrars.

111. The method of claim 106 wherein the report includes archived information from a plurality of web content providers.

112. The method of claim 106 wherein the archived information includes obsolete information.

113. An article of manufacture, comprising:

a computer-usable medium; and

a set of computer instructions on the medium, the instructions including a method for retrieving information from a plurality of internetworked content providers, comprising instructions for;

soliciting a query from a user through a user interface in communication with a data warehouse having stored information; and

presenting a query result to the user in response to the query, the query result including obsolete information associated with a content provider.

114. An article of manufacture, comprising:

a computer-usable medium; and

a set of computer instructions on the medium, the instructions including a method for storing information for retrieval, comprising instructions for;

storing data in an organized structure in a database, the data associated with stored content from a plurality of internetworked content providers;

from a plurality of modules, populating the database with data, the modules in communication with the content providers; and

retrieving the stored content based on a query parameter.

115. An article of manufacture, comprising:

a computer-usable medium; and

a set of computer instructions on the medium, the instructions including a computerized method for storage and retrieval of content from a plurality of Internet content providers, the content including registration content and page content, the method comprising instructions for;

storing content for later retrieval in a data warehouse; and

retrieving registration content for a plurality of web content from a plurality of Internet registries providers and storing the retrieved registration content in the data warehouse.

116. An article of manufacture, comprising:

a computer-usable medium; and

a set of computer instructions on the medium, the instructions including a computerized method for archiving information from a plurality of internetworked web content providers, comprising instructions for;

storing an identifier of a web content provider in a data warehouse;

for the web content provider, storing information in the data warehouse including;

a copy of registration data;

a copy of source code for operating a web browser;

a copy of a browser-rendered display generated by the source code files; and

associating the web content provider with the stored information in a database.

117. An article of manufacture, comprising:

a computer-usable medium; and

a set of computer instructions on the medium, the instructions including a method for archiving data from a plurality of distinct content providers, each associated with at least one publicly accessible file representing content, the method comprising instructions for;

storing an identification for each content provider of a plurality of content providers; and

storing, for each identified content provider, the content of at least one publicly accessible file in a data archive for later retrieval.

118. An article of manufacture, comprising:

a computer-usable medium; and

a set of computer instructions on the medium, the instructions including a method for monitoring intellectual property rights across a plurality of internetworked content providers, comprising instructions for;

soliciting information related to an intellectual property right; and

presenting a report responsive to the query information, the report including archived information associated at least one content provider.