System and method of building proven search paths

• US 20050256847A1
• Filed: 05/12/2004
• Published: 11/17/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/12/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: X Corp. (f/k/a Twitter, Inc.) (X Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Karstens, Christopher Kent
• Granted Patent: US 7,668,854 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/38 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9566 URL specific, e.g. using aliases, detecting broken or misspelled links
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface

Abstract

A system and method associates a search term with a document accessible over a network. In one embodiment, the search term and an address to the document is received from a user. The system creates the association responsive to user input indicating that the association should be made, and presents the association to users responsive to a subsequent query that includes the search term. The address may be, for example, a URL or an IP address of a web page accessible over the Internet.

Claims

1. A method of creating an association between search terms and a document accessible over a network comprising:

receiving a search term from a user;

receiving an address to a document from the user, said address to be associated with said search term; and

creating an association between said search term and said address, said association to be presented responsive to a subsequent query that includes said search term.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising storing said search term in temporary memory.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising receiving an indication from said user to begin a new search.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising deleting said search term from said temporary memory.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein creating an association between said search term and said address comprises receiving user input indicating that an association between said search term and said address should be made.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising mapping said search term to said address.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising storing said mapping in a database.

8. The method of claim 5 further comprising generating statistics representative of the number of users that have associated said search term with said address.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising sending said address as a link to a subsequent user responsive to said subsequent query.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising sending an indicator of said statistics to said subsequent user responsive to said subsequent query.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein said address comprises a URL of a web page.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein said address comprises an IP address of a web page.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein a server in the network performs the steps.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein a software component on the user'"'"'s terminal performs the steps.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein said software component comprises a browser.

16. A search portal comprising:

a server operating on a network; and

a search engine communicatively connected to said server and configured to;

receive a search term from a user;

receive an address to a document from the user, to be associated with said search term; and

create an association between said search term and said address received from the user to be presented responsive to a subsequent query that includes said search term.

17. The search portal of claim 16 further comprising temporary memory communicatively connected to said search engine to store said search term.

18. The search portal of claim 16 wherein said search engine is further configured to receive user input indicating that said association should be made.

19. The search portal of claim 18 wherein said search engine is further configured create said association responsive to said user input.

20. The method of claim 18 wherein said search engine is further configured to map said search term to said address.

21. The method of claim 20 said search engine is further configured to store said mapping in a database communicatively connected to said search engine.

22. The search portal of claim 18 wherein said search engine is further configured to generate statistics representative of the number of users that have associated said search term with said address.

23. The search portal of claim 22 wherein said search engine is further configured to send said address as a link to a subsequent user responsive to said subsequent query.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein said search engine is further configured to send an indicator of said statistics to said subsequent user responsive to said subsequent query.

25. A method of creating an association between search terms and a document accessible over a network comprising:

accepting a search term from a user;

displaying a document associated with an address accessible over the network to the user; and

accepting an indication from the user to create an association between said search term and said address.

26. The method of claim 25 further comprising storing said search term in temporary memory.

27. The method of claim 26 further comprising accepting an indication from said user to begin a new search.

28. The method of claim 27 further comprising deleting said search term from said temporary memory.

29. The method of claim 25 further comprising forwarding said search term and said address to a server in the network.

30. The method of claim 25 further comprising mapping said search term to said address.

31. The method of claim 30 further comprising forwarding said mapping to a server in the network.

32. The method of claim 25 further comprising receiving said address as a link responsive to a subsequent query that includes said search term.

33. The method of claim 32 further comprising receiving statistics representative of the number of users that have already associated said search term with said address.

34. The method of claim 25 wherein said address comprises a URL of a web page.

35. The method of claim 25 wherein said address comprises an IP address of a web page.

36. The method of claim 25 further comprising sharing said association with one or more other users.

37. A computing device comprising:

a display;

memory;

a controller communicatively connected to said memory and said display; and

a software program operative to configure said controller to;

accept a search term from a user;

display a document associated with an address accessible over the network to the user; and

accept an indication from the user to create an association between said search term and said address.

38. The computing device of claim 37 wherein said memory comprises temporary memory to store said search term.

39. The computing device of claim 38 wherein said software program is further operative to configure said controller to accept an indication from said user to begin a new search.

40. The computing device of claim 39 wherein said software program is further operative to configure said controller to delete said search term from said temporary memory.

41. The computing device of claim 37 wherein said software program is further operative to configure said controller to forward said search term and said address to a server in the network.

42. The computing device of claim 37 wherein said software program is further operative to configure said controller to map said search term to said address.

43. The computing device of claim 42 wherein said software program is further operative to configure said controller to forward said map to a server in the network.

44. The computing device of claim 37 wherein said software program is further operative to configure said controller to receive said address as a link responsive to a subsequent query that includes said search term.

45. The computing device of claim 44 wherein said software program is further operative to configure said controller to receive statistics representative of the number of users that have already associated said search term with said address.

46. The computing device of claim 37 wherein said software program is further operative to configure said controller to share said association with one or more other users.