Searching content on web pages

• US 20020103786A1
• Filed: 12/28/2000
• Published: 08/01/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 08/08/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: AOL LLC (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Goel, Surendra
• Granted Patent: US 7,047,229 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9532 Query formulation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99932 Access augmentation or optimizing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99934 Query formulation, input preparation, or translation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface

Abstract

Performing a search to identify web sites that relate to a search term based on text within the web sites includes receiving at least one search term that then is compared with electronic information within at least one electronic information store to determine whether matches exist. The electronic information within the at least one information store may include text and/or full text displayed by different web pages from different web sites. Results based on the matches that are determined to exist are displayed. The results include at least one website identifier. The search may be performed by a web host having members and may further include automatically scanning and storing the text of a website when the website is accessed by a member of the web host. The stored text may be compared against received search terms.

Claims

1. A method for performing a search to identify web sites that relate to a search term based on text within the web sites, the method comprising:

receiving at least one search term;

comparing the search term with electronic information within at least one electronic information store to determine whether matches exist, where the electronic information within the at least one electronic information store includes text displayed by different web pages from different web sites; and

displaying results based on the matches that are determined to exist, the results including at least one web site identifier.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein:

receiving at least one search term comprises receiving several search terms and grouping the search terms received as a single string; and

comparing the search term comprises comparing the single string of search terms with the electronic information within the electronic information store to determine whether matches exist.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the electronic information within the electronic information store further includes full text displayed by different web pages from different web sites, such that comparing the search term comprises comparing the search term with the full text displayed by different web pages from different web sites.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the electronic information within the electronic information store further includes titles, descriptions, and addresses of web sites such that comparing the search term comprises comparing the search term with the titles, the descriptions, and the addresses of web sites.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the electronic information within the electronic information store further includes text of introductory pages displayed by different web pages from different web sites such that comparing the search term comprises comparing the search term with the text of introductory pages displayed by different web pages from different web sites.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the text of an introductory page includes full text of the introductory page such that comparing the search term comprises comparing the search term with the full text of the introductory pages.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the method is performed by a web host having members and the method further comprises:

automatically scanning the text of a web site when the web site is accessed by a member of the web host; and

storing the text of the web site that was automatically scanned for comparison against search terms received.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

identifying a web site being accessed by a member of the web host;

determining whether the text of the web site was previously stored; and

automatically scanning and storing include automatically scanning and storing the text of a web site only when the text of the web site is determined not to have been previously stored.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein determining whether the text of a web site has been stored comprises using a web site address corresponding to the web site.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein determining whether the text of a web site has been stored comprises:

scanning the text of the web site being accessed; and

using the scanned text of the web site to determine whether the text of the web site was previously stored.

11. The method of claim 7 wherein the method further comprises:

identifying web sites provided by a listing service;

determining whether the text of the web sites provided by the listing service were stored previously; and

automatically scanning and storing the text of the web sites that were determined not to have been stored previously.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein identifying web sites provided by a listing service comprises doing so periodically.

13. The method of claim 7 wherein automatically scanning comprises automatically scanning the full text of a web site when the web site is accessed by a member of the web host.

14. The method of claim 7 wherein automatically scanning comprises automatically scanning the full text of at least a web site provided by a listing service that has not been accessed by a member of the web host.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the results include identifiers for several web sites, and the method further comprises ranking identifiers for the several web sites based on a number of matches that are determined to exist between the search term and the electronic information.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein displaying results includes communicating results based on the matches that are determined to exist, the results including at least one web site identifier.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein the electronic information within the electronic information store further includes titles, descriptions, and addresses of web sites such that comparing the search term comprises comparing the search term with the titles, the descriptions, and the addresses of web sites, and ranking the identifiers for the several web sites is based on whether the matches occur with at least one of the text, the titles, the descriptions, and the addresses of the web sites.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the identifier for a web site that includes matches that occur with more than one of the text, the titles, the descriptions, and the addresses of the web site is ranked higher than the identifier for a web site that includes matches that occur with only one of the text, the titles, the descriptions, and the addresses of the web site.

19. The method of claim 15 wherein the identifier for a web site that includes matches that occur with more than one of the text, the titles, the descriptions, and the addresses is ranked higher than the identifier for a web site that includes matches that occur with only one of the text, the titles, the descriptions, and the addresses.

20. The method of claim 17 wherein the identifier for a web site that includes matches that occur with the titles is ranked higher than the identifier for a web site that includes matches that occur with the descriptions, the addresses, and the text of the web sites.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the identifier for a web site that includes matches that occur with the descriptions is ranked higher than the identifier for a web site that includes matches that occur with the addresses and the text of the web site.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein the identifier for a web site that includes matches that occur with the addresses is ranked higher than the identifier for a web site that includes matches that occur with the text of the web site.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein the text includes a symbol other than an alphanumeric symbol.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein the electronic information within the electronic information store includes full text displayed by different web pages from different web sites.

27. The computer program of claim 26 wherein the computer readable medium comprises a propagated signal.

28. The computer program of claim 27 wherein the propagated signal comprises a carrier wave.

29. The computer program of claim 26 wherein the electronic information within the electronic information store further includes full text displayed by different web pages from different web sites, and the instructions for comparing the search term comprise instructions for comparing the search term with the full text displayed by different web pages from different web sites.

30. The computer program of claim 26 wherein the electronic information within the electronic information store further includes text of introductory pages displayed by different web pages from different web sites, and the instructions for comparing the search term comprise instructions for comparing the search term with the text of the introductory pages displayed by different web pages from different web sites.

31. The computer program of claim 30 wherein the text of an introductory page includes full text of the introductory page and the instructions for comparing comprise instructions for comparing the search item with the full text of the introductory page.

24. A method for performing a search to identify web sites that r elate to a search term, the method comprising:

receiving at least one search term;

comparing the search term with a list of recommended web sites to determine whether matches exist;

comparing the search term with previously performed searches to determine whether matches exist;

comparing the search term with electronic information within at least one electronic information store to determine whether matches exist, wherein the electronic information within the at least one electronic information store includes text displayed by different web pages from different web sites; and

displaying results based on the matches that are determined to exist.

26. A computer program, stored on a computer readable medium for performing a search to identify web sites that relate to a search term based on text within the web sites, comprising instructions for:

receiving at least one search term;

comparing the search term with electronic information within at least one electronic information store to determine whether matches exist, wherein the electronic information within the at least one electronic information store includes text displayed by different web pages from different web sites; and

displaying results based on the matches that are determined to exist, the results including at least one web site identifier.

32. A method for populating at least one memory store, wherein the method is performed by a web host having members, the method comprising:

automatically scanning text of a web site when the web site is accessed by a member of the web host; and

storing the text of the web site that was automatically scanned for comparison against search terms that are received.

33. The method of claim 32 further comprising:

identifying the web site being accessed by a member of the web host; and

determining whether the text of the web site was previously stored;

wherein the automatically scanning and storing include automatically scanning and storing the text of a web site only when the text of the web site is determined not to have been previously stored.

34. The method of claim 33 wherein determining whether the text of a web site has been stored comprises using a web site address corresponding to the web site.

35. The method of claim 33 wherein determining whether the text of a web site has been stored comprises:

scanning the text of the web site being accessed; and

determining based on the text of the web site whether the text of the web site was previously stored.

36. The method of claim 33 wherein the text of the web site previously stored are related to the text of the web sites previously accessed by members of the web host.

37. The method of claim 32 comprising:

identifying web sites provided by a listing service;

determining whether the text of the web sites provided by the listing service were stored previously; and

automatically scanning and storing the text of the web sites that were determined not to have been stored previously.

38. The method of claim 37 wherein identifying web sites provided by a listing service comprises doing so periodically.

39. The method of claim 32 wherein automatically scanning text comprises automatically scanning the full text of a web site when the web site is accessed by a member of the web host.

40. The method of claim 32 wherein automatically scanning text comprises automatically scanning the full text of at least a web site provided by a listing service that has not been accessed by a member of the web host.

41. A computer program, stored on a computer readable medium for populating at least one memory store, comprising instructions for:

automatically scanning text of a web site when the web site is accessed by a member of a web host; and

storing text of the web site that was automatically scanned for comparison against search terms that are received.

42. The computer program of claim 41 wherein the computer readable medium comprises a propagated signal.

43. The computer program of claim 42 wherein the propagated signal comprises a carrier wave.

44. A system for storing searchable content, the system comprising:

a first electronic region that includes text displayed by different web pages from different web sites is populated by automatically scanning and storing the text of a web site when the web site is accessed a threshold number of times by members of a web host; and

a second electronic region that includes text displayed by different web pages from different web sites and is populated by automatically scanning and storing the text of a web site provided by a listing service that was not accessed the threshold number of times by members of the web host.

45. The system of claim 44 wherein the first electronic region and the second electronic region further include full text displayed by different web pages from different web sites.

46. The system of claim 44 wherein the first electronic region and the second electronic region further include titles, descriptions, and addresses displayed by different web pages from different web sites.

47. The system of claim 44 wherein the text includes a symbol other than an alphanumeric symbol.