Method and system for mapping and searching the internet and displaying the results in a visual form

• US 20020138487A1
• Filed: 03/22/2001
• Published: 09/26/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 03/22/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Accessify, LLC (Ascend Innovation Management, LLC)
• Original Assignee: E-Nvent Usa, Inc.
• Inventors: Weiss, Dov, Segev, Aviv
• Granted Patent: US 7,085,753 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/10
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/353 into predefined classes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9027 Trees
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99932 Access augmentation or optimizing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

Method for carrying out a search of Web sites according to a search criteria, comprising the steps of (a) pre-indexing the sites of the Web, including grouping the Web sites according to predefined group-criteria; (b) pre-classifying each Web site according to a predefined set of properties; (c) pre-visual-formulating each Web site according to its identified properties; and (d) upon searching of Web sites that sustain a search criterion, displaying the formed site results divided into said pre-indexed groups wherein each site within a group is displayed according to its visual-formulation.

Claims

1. A method for carrying out a search of Web sites according to a search criteria, comprising:

a) pre-indexing the sites of the Web, including grouping the Web sites according to predefined group-criteria;

b) pre-classifying each Web site according to a predefined set of properties;

c) pre-visual-formulating each Web site according to its identified properties; and

d) upon searching of Web sites that sustain a search criterion, displaying the formed site results divided into said pre-indexed groups wherein each site within a group is displayed according to its visual-formulation.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein said grouping is carried out by a clustering process and said group-criteria is of a function among others the number of hyperlink(s) pointing from and to each said Web sites.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein said set of properties comprises one or more parameters relating to said site'"'"'s importance, the nature of said site'"'"'s owner, the existence of an e-store within said site, the existence of a “

chat room”

within said site, the existence of a forum within said site, the existence of multimedia file(s) and/or their amount and/or size within said site, the frequent used keywords in the textual data of said site, whether said site in “

official”

, the essence of said site, and/or the amount of information in said site.

4. A method according to claim 3, wherein the importance of a Web site is a function of the hyperlinks pointing to and from a Web site.

5. A method according to claim 3, wherein the amount of information in a Web site is determined according to the number of characters, and/or the number of words, and/or the number of bytes included within said Web site.

6. A method according to claim 1, wherein said visual-formulation is a distinguishable visual presentation of said properties in a visual presentation.

7. A method according to claim 6, wherein each Web site is presented as a building, the height of the building is proportional to the importance of the Web site represented by it.

8. A method according to claim 7, wherein each Web site is presented as a building wherein the width of said building is proportional to the amount of information within said Web site.

9. A method according to claim 7, wherein a commercial Web site is presented as an office-type building.

10. A method according to claim 7, wherein a personal Web site is presented as a house.

11. A method according to claim 7, wherein each Web site is presented as a building wherein a Web site owned by an academy and/or college and/or school is presented as a campus-type building.

13. A method according to claim 7, wherein the presence of an e-store in a Web site is presented as a display-window at the building.

15. A method according to claim 14, wherein said graphical representation is presented in 2D or 3D.

16. A method according to claim 14, wherein said Web site representation is a building.

17. A method according to claim 14, wherein a group of Web sites is presented as a street and each Web site in said group is presented as a building.

19. A method according to claim 18, wherein said analyzing is carried out by detecting keywords frequently used in a determined group.

14. A method for visually presenting a set of properties of a Web site, comprising:

a) Associating to each of said properties distinguishable graphical representation within a Web site;

b) Displaying said graphical representation within a Web site representation.

18. A method for finding sub-groups having a common basis in a set of Web sites, comprising:

a) Clustering said set of Web sites by determining groups having a common basis by their being related by hyperlink(s) pointing to and from each of said Web sites; and

b) Labeling said determined groups by analyzing their content.

20. A system for searching of Web sites in the Internet, comprising:

a Spider application, for scanning the Web sites of the Internet;

a Database application, for storing the information collected by said Spider application;

an Indexing application, for grouping, and/or for labeling and/or for classifying the found Web sites; and

a Seeker application, for searching of Web sites that sustain a search criteria by querying said Database according to said search criteria.

21. A system according to claim 20, further comprising a visual formulating application, for visually formulating each of said Web sites according to said classification and displaying the same to a user.

22. A method for carrying out a search of Web sites, substantially as described and illustrated.

23. A method for visually presenting a set of properties of a Web site, substantially as described and illustrated.

24. A method for finding sub-groups having a common basis in a set of Web sites, substantially as described and illustrated.

25. A system for indexing the Web and carrying out a search of Web sites, substantially as described and illustrated.