METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR RETRIEVING AND DISPLAYING CONSUMER INTEREST DATA FROM THE INTERNET
First Claim
1. A method for electronically gathering consumer interest data from the Internet and displaying the data on a output device to reveal consumer interest trends, said method comprising the steps of:
- receiving a search term from a user input device identifying an interest item;
sending a first query including the search term and a second query including the search term over the Internet to a search engine, wherein the search engine is associated with a database containing web page identifiers; and
, electronically displaying data indicative of an interest level associated with each of the first and second queries on an output device.
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Abstract
The system and method of the present invention retrieves data on a date delimited and/or periodic basis from an Internet search engine and displays predefined interest trends associated with the data. The Internet search engine preferably includes a database containing a plurality of search terms associated with a plurality of web page addresses, and/or a database containing a plurality of previously issued search queries. Preferably, the database is queried with a specific search term at different points in time or a series of queries is delimited by date. Subsequently, the number of web pages associated with the search term, the total number of hits the web pages received, and/or the number of times Internet users submitted queries containing the search term, is displayed.
61 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for electronically gathering consumer interest data from the Internet and displaying the data on a output device to reveal consumer interest trends, said method comprising the steps of:
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receiving a search term from a user input device identifying an interest item;
sending a first query including the search term and a second query including the search term over the Internet to a search engine, wherein the search engine is associated with a database containing web page identifiers; and
,electronically displaying data indicative of an interest level associated with each of the first and second queries on an output device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method for electronically gathering consumer interest data from the Internet and displaying the data on a output device to reveal consumer interest trends, said method comprising the steps of:
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receiving a term identifying an interest item;
retrieving a first plurality of search queries over the Internet from a search engine, wherein the search engine is associated with a database containing queries compiled from a plurality of Internet users;
counting the instances of the term in the first plurality of search queries;
waiting a predetermined period of time;
retrieving a second plurality of search queries over the Internet from the search engine;
counting the instances of the term in the second plurality of search queries; and
,electronically displaying data indicative of the first and second counts on an output device. - View Dependent Claims (11, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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12. An apparatus for electronically displaying consumer interest data gathered from the Internet comprising:
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a user input device for receiving a search term identifying an interest item, an overall date range identifying a time period over which to limit the display of interest data, and a time step value indicative of a predetermined period of time;
a controller operationally coupled to the user input device, the controller determining a first date range and a second date range from the overall date range and the time step value, the controller generating a first date delimited query based on the query expression and the first date range and a second date delimited query based on the query expression and second date range, the controller determining the number of addresses contained in the database associated with each of the first and second date delimited queries;
a transmitter operatively coupled to the controller, the controller causing the transmitter to send the first and second date delimited queries over the Internet to a search engine associated with a database containing web page addresses; and
,a display device operatively coupled to the controller, the controller causing the display device to display the number of addresses contained in the database associated with each of the first and second date delimited queries.
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16. An apparatus for electronically displaying consumer product interest data gathered from the Internet comprising:
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a user input device for receiving a search term identifying an interest item and a time step value indicative of a predetermined period of time between consumer interest data points;
a controller operatively coupled to the user input device for sending the search term over the Internet to a search engine, wherein the search engine is associated with a precompiled database containing web page addresses, in order to determine a first and second number of web pages in the database associated with the search term, the controller being programmed to wait the predetermined period of time after sending the search term to determine a first number of web pages and before sending the search term to determine a second number of web pages; and
,a display device operatively coupled to the controller for electronically displaying interest data indicative of the first and second number of web pages.
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Specification