Automated tool for human assisted mining and capturing of precise results

• US 20070185843A1
• Filed: 12/29/2006
• Published: 08/09/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 01/23/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ChaCha Search, Inc.
• Original Assignee: ChaCha Search, Inc.
• Inventors: Cooper, Thomas E., Jones, Scott A.
• Granted Patent: US 7,962,466 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques

Abstract

An automated tool for human assisted analysis of search results for obtaining precise results responsive to a request. A single query entry triggers a search using one or more resources and results returned from the resources are displayed in a corresponding embedded renderer. A human provider analyzes the returned results and extracts pertinent information for delivery to a requestor who submitted the query.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

passing a request to a resource; and

building a response based on a selection of a human provider from results returned from a search via the resource and delivering the response as a result of the request.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein a location of the response is delivered with the result.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the location is a URL of a web page containing the response delivered as the result.

4. The method according to claim 3, further comprising:

delivering an index page tab for directing a user to the location of the response within the web page.

5. A method of human assisted mining, comprising:

generating a renderer displaying search results of a resource via which a search is performed responsive to a request; and

formulating a response to the request based on selection of information from the search results in the renderer.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the resource is an Internet directory.

7. The method according to claim 5, wherein the resource is a search engine.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein said selection includes modifying the search results by a human provider.

9. The method according to claim 5, wherein said formulating is executed by a human provider.

10. A method, comprising:

activating a resource among available resources for a request;

displaying content of the resource generated based on a search via the resource in a built-in browser; and

obtaining information from the content displayed in the built-in browser and providing the obtained information as a response to the request.

11. A method, comprising:

allowing a user to select at least two search engines (or resources).at a time a search is needed; and

triggering searches by at least two search engines with a single query.

12. The method according to claim 11, further comprising simultaneously displaying the results of the at least two searches.

13. The method according to claim 11, wherein the search engines are selected by a human search guide.

14. The method according to claim 12, wherein the results are displayed in a single frame.

15. A display, comprising:

a query window showing a search query; and

at least two windows simultaneously showing search results for the query from at least two search engines.

16. The display according to claim 15, further comprising:

at least two selection indicators allowing selection of a corresponding search engine to receive the query.

17. An interface, comprising:

a query window; and

search engine selection controls for selecting search engines to activate with the query.

18. The interface according to claim 17, further comprising:

result windows for search results of selected engines.

19. The interface according to claim 18, wherein the interface has at least two open windows simultaneously showing search results.

20. A method of human-assisted information mining, comprising:

receiving a result of a search responsive to submission of a query to an information source;

compiling a response to the query by retrieving information from the received result; and

returning the response to the query.

21. A system, comprising:

a user device for submitting a request;

a provider system for receiving the request and enabling a human provider to compile a response to the request based on a search performed by the human provider; and

a database for storing information related to the request and the response.

22. A method, comprising:

activating resources for submitting a query, said resources including search engines and being activated based on content of the query;

displaying each of the activated resources in a corresponding renderer containing web page content from a respective resource;

indicating at least one keyword of the query inside an overlaying box of surrounding text;

extracting contents of the overlaying box in accordance with selection by a human provider, said provider being able to navigate through each web page content;

enabling said provider to communicate with a user submitting the query during said extracting; and

returning said extracted contents including context data thereof as a result for the submitted the query, where the result includes a link to said extracted contents.