Search server and method for providing search results

• US 20030182258A1
• Filed: 10/15/2002
• Published: 09/25/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/20/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Sakamoto, Takuya, Kamiwada, Toru, Fujita, Takushi
• Granted Patent: US 7,124,127 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/338 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/959 Network
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching

Abstract

A search server and method for providing search results are provided in which search results can be transmitted efficiently to a client computer that uses a browser that changes plural displays of contents using a virtual three-dimensional space. The server comprises a web page information storing portion for collecting web page information and URLs from a network so as to store them, a keyword obtaining portion for obtaining a keyword from the client computer, a keyword searching portion for searching web page information containing the obtained keyword, a reference URL obtaining portion for obtaining a URL of a web page to be a reference, and a link searching portion for searching a chain of links from the web page to be a reference to the web page obtained by the keyword searching portion. The search server transmits a list of URL trains corresponding to the chain of links to the client computer.

Claims

1. A search server comprising:

a web page information storing portion for collecting web page information and URLs from a network so as to store them;

a keyword obtaining portion for obtaining a keyword from a client computer;

a keyword searching portion for searching web page information containing the obtained keyword;

a reference URL obtaining portion for obtaining a URL of a web page to be a reference; and

a link searching portion for searching a chain of links from the web page to be a reference to the web page obtained by the keyword searching portion, wherein the search server transmits a list of URL trains corresponding to the chain of links to the client computer.

2. The search server according to claim 1, wherein the reference URL obtaining portion obtains the URL of the web page to be a reference from the client computer.

3. The search server according to claim 1, wherein the reference URL obtaining portion obtains a URL of a top page from a web server providing the web page obtained by the keyword searching portion and sets the URL as the URL of the web page to be a reference.

4. The search server according to claim 1, further comprising a reference URL storing portion for storing the URL of the web page to be a reference, wherein the reference URL obtaining portion obtains the URL of the web page to be a reference from the reference URL storing portion.

5. The search server according to claim 1, wherein the reference URL obtaining portion seeks a URL of a top page from the URL of the web page obtained by the keyword searching portion so that the URL is set to be the URL of the web page to be a reference.

6. The search server according to claim 1, wherein the reference URL obtaining portion obtains the URL of the web page to be a reference from information described in the web page obtained by the keyword searching portion.

7. The search server according to claim 1, wherein the link searching portion searches the chain of links utilizing link origin information described in a web page.

8. The search server according to claim 1, wherein if the keyword obtaining portion obtains plural keywords from the client computer, the keyword searching portion searches a web page that contains some of the plural keywords and checks whether other keywords are contained in one or more web pages constituting the chain of links detected by the link searching portion, and if the other keywords are contained in the web pages, the URL train corresponding to the chain of links thereof is included in the list of URL trains that is transmitted to the client computer.

9. The search server according to claim 1, wherein if the link searching portion obtains plural chains of links for one web page obtained by the keyword searching portion, the plural chains of links are sequenced in accordance with information of one or more web pages constituting the chain of links before being transmitted to the client computer.

10. The search server according to claim 9, wherein a chain of links containing a web page of a specific URL stored in advance is assigned to higher order.

11. The search server according to claim 1, wherein plural web pages obtained by the keyword searching portion are sequenced before being transmitted to the client computer in accordance with information of one or more web pages that constitute the chain of links obtained corresponding to each of the web pages.

12. A method for providing search results, comprising the steps of transmitting a list of URL trains as the search results from a search server to a client computer, the search server including a web page information storing portion for collecting web page information and URLs from a network so as to store them, a keyword obtaining portion for obtaining a keyword from the client computer, a keyword searching portion for searching web page information containing the obtained keyword, a reference URL obtaining portion for obtaining a URL of a web page to be a reference, and a link searching portion for searching a chain of links from the web page to be a reference to the web page obtained by the keyword searching portion, wherein the list of URL trains is transmitted so that a browser of the client computer can display web pages corresponding to the URL train sequentially.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the list of URL trains is transmitted so that a browser of the client computer can highlight a specific display object of web pages constituting the chain of links distinguishably from other display objects.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the plural web pages obtained by the keyword searching portion are sequenced before being transmitted to the client computer in accordance with information of one or more web pages constituting chain of links obtained corresponding to each of the web pages, and the list of URL trains is transmitted so that a display object of a web page that is assigned to higher order can be highlighted.

15. The method according to claim 13, wherein if the link searching portion obtains plural chains of links for one web page obtained by the keyword searching portion, the plural chains of links are sequenced in accordance with information of one or more web pages constituting the chain of links before being transmitted to the client computer, and the list of URL trains is transmitted so that the browser of the client computer can highlight a display object of a web page included in a URL train of a chain of links that is assigned to higher order.