System and method to automate the management of hypertext link information in a Web site

• US 20040205076A1
• Filed: 02/25/2004
• Published: 10/14/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/2001
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Sundaresan, Neelakantan, Huang, Anita Wai-Ling
• Application Number:
  US10/785,184
• Publication Number:
  US 20040205076A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9566 URL specific, e.g. using aliases, detecting broken or misspelled links

Abstract

A Web site management system uses a Web-crawler to traverse (i.e., crawl) Web sites on the Internet. The Web-crawler identifies the Web pages accessible from each Web site and uses the hypertext link information embedded in those Web pages to discern relationships between the various Web pages. A change-detection and notification system analyzes the results from the Web-crawler to determine whether a specific hypertext link is erroneous. The change-detection and notification system creates an electronic mail message that includes a description of the actions that may correct the erroneous hypertext link, a recommended action, and an attachment to the electronic mail message that comprises a copy of the Web page after applying the recommended action. If a subscriber registered the author of the Web page that contains the erroneous link with the present invention, the change-detection and notification system sends the electronic mail message to the author. If the author of the Web page is unknown, the change-detection and notification system applies heuristic algorithms and performs a probabilistic analysis to deduce an electronic mail address that will likely contact either the author or a person responsible for managing the Web site that hosts the Web page.

Claims

1. A system for managing digital resources on a network, the network connects to at least one network site having at least one network server to access a first digital resource and a second digital resource, the first digital resource having a link to the second digital resource, the system comprising:

a change-detection system connected to the network, wherein the change-detection system examines the first digital resource and the second digital resource to detect an error in the link to the second digital resource; and

a notification system that communicates a message describing the error to an author of the first digital resource.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

a registration system connected to the network, the registration system having an interface for a subscriber to create an association in a database between the author and the first digital resource.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the notification system further comprises:

a first notification subsystem that submits a query to the database to retrieve the author of the first digital resource; and

a second notification subsystem that determines the author of the first digital resource if the query by the first notification subsystem fails to retrieve the author of the first digital resource.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the second notification subsystem determines the author of the first digital resource by applying heuristic algorithms and performing a probabilistic analysis.

5. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

an administrative system having an interface for an operator to maintain the system.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the change-detection system further comprises:

a collection system connected to the network, wherein the collection system retrieves data from said at least one network site and stores the data in a database; and

a detection system that examines the first digital resource and the second digital resource to detect an error in the link to the second digital resource.

Web-crawler that retrieves data from said at least one network site.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the collection system includes a Web-crawler that retrieves data from said at least one network site.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the notification system includes a resolution system that generates the message describing the error in the link to the second digital resource.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the message includes at least one resolution for the error.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the message further includes a recommended resolution for the error.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the message further includes a modified first digital resource comprising a copy of the first digital resource altered by application of the recommended resolution for the error.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the notification system further communicates a request to said at least one network server to replace the first digital resource with the modified digital resource.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the message includes an indication that the notification system replaced the first digital resource with the modified first digital resource.

14. A method for managing digital resources on a network, the network connects to at least one network site having at least one network server to access a first digital resource and a second digital resource, the first digital resource having a link to the second digital resource, the method comprising the steps of:

creating an association in a database between an author and the first digital resource;

retrieving data from said at least one network site;

storing the data in the database;

examining the first digital resource and the second digital resource to detect an error in the link to the second digital resource;

generating a message describing the error; and

communicating the message to the author of the first digital resource.

15. The method of claim 14, the message including at least one resolution for the disparate content.

16. The method of claim 15, the message further including a recommended resolution for the disparate content.

17. The method of claim 16, the message further including a modified first digital resource comprising a copy of the first digital resource altered by application of the recommended resolution.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the communicating step further comprises:

transmitting a request to said at least one network server to replace the first digital resource with the modified first digital resource.

19. The method of claim 18, the message further including an indication that said at least one network server replaced the first digital resource with the modified first digital resource.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein the generating step further comprises:

querying the database for the author of the first digital resource.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein if the querying step fails to retrieve the author of the first digital resource, the generating step further comprises:

applying heuristic algorithms; and

performing a probabilistic analysis.

22. Computer executable software code stored on a computer readable medium, the code for managing digital resources on a network, the network connects to at least one network site having at least one network server to access a first digital resource and a second digital resource, the first digital resource having a link to the second digital resource, the code comprising:

code to create an association in a database between an author and the first digital resource;

code to detect a change in the first digital resource; and

code to notify the author of the change in the first digital resource.

23. The computer executable software code of claim 22, wherein the code to detect a change further comprises:

code to retrieve data from said at least one network site and store the data in the database; and

code to examine the first digital resource and the second digital resource to detect an error in the link to the second digital resource.

24. The computer executable software code of claim 23, wherein the code to notify the author further comprises:

code to generate a message describing a resolution for the error; and

code to communicate the message to the author of the first digital resource.

25. The computer executable software code of claim 24, wherein the code to communicate the message further comprises:

code to query the database for the author of the first digital resource; and

code to determine the author of the first digital resource by applying heuristic algorithms and performing a probabilistic analysis if the code to query the database does not retrieve the author of the first digital resource.

26. The computer executable software code of claim 22 further comprising:

code to maintain the database and software processes.