COLLECTIONS OF LINKED DATABASES

• US 20080228746A1
• Filed: 03/15/2007
• Published: 09/18/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: 3degrees LLC
• Original Assignee: 3degrees LLC
• Inventors: Smith, Brian N., Markus, Michael J., McGuire, Heather A., Kionga-Kamau, Peter M.
• Granted Patent: US 10,395,326 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9536 Search customisation based on social or collaborative filtering
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 80/00 ICT specially adapted for facilitating communication between medical practitioners or patients, e.g. for collaborative diagnosis, therapy or health monitoring

Abstract

In accordance with the teachings described herein, systems and methods are provided for conducting a search of a network for information related to a topic specified by a search initiator. A query may be generated that includes search information and a first-degree contact. The first-degree contact may be an electronic record that represents a member of the social network, and the search information may identify the topic. One or more electronic records that each represent a social-network member may be searched using the query to identify one or more social-network members that are identified in connection with the topic and who are directly or indirectly associated with the first-degree contact.

Claims

1. A method of conducting a search of a network of physicians for information related to a medical topic specified by a search initiator, the method comprising the steps of:

generating a query that includes search information and a first-degree contact,

the first-degree contact being an electronic record in a database that represents a physician, and the search information identifying the medical topic; and

;

searching one or more databases using the query to identify one or more physicians who are identified in connection with the medical topic and who are directly or indirectly associated with the first-degree contact;

wherein information is provided relating to the one or more physicians identified by the database search.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the search initiator is a human.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the search initiator is a computer program.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the scope of the search is limited to those databases that are directly, indirectly, or both directly and indirectly linked to the first-degree contact.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising providing a link to one or more databases that include information relating to the one or more identified physicians.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of utilizing historical search data to ascertain whether the one or more identified physicians are likely to possess information about the medical topic.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the historical search data comprises at least one of a number of times that a database related to the one or more identified physicians has been specified as an anchor database, and a topic.

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising transmitting database information over a wireless communication channel to be received by a portable display device.

9. A system for conducting a search of a social network of physicians for information related to a medical topic specified by a search initiator, the system comprising:

a network that includes a server in communication with a remotely-located terminal over a communication link,

wherein at least one of the server and the terminal comprises;

means for defining a scope of the search for information by establishing a search string and a first-degree contact defined by the search initiator, wherein

the first-degree contact is at least one of a database who is believed by the user to possess the information and a database believed by the user to be linked to another database that includes the information;

means for searching for databases within the social network of physicians for one or more physicians who are likely to possess information about the medical topic; and

means for displaying a database to the search initiator, wherein the database is likely to possess information about the medical topic and is directly, indirectly, or both directly and indirectly linked to the first-degree database.

10. The system according to claim 9, wherein at least one of the server and the computer terminal further comprises means for limiting the scope of the search to only those databases that are directly, indirectly, or both directly and indirectly linked to the first-degree contact.

11. The system according to claim 9, wherein at least one of the server and the computer terminal further comprises means for displaying an intervening database indirectly linking the database to the search initiator.

12. The system according to claim 9, wherein at least one of the server and the computer terminal further comprises means for utilizing historical search data to ascertain whether the database displayed to the search initiator is likely to possess information about the medical topic.

13. The system according to claim 12, wherein the historical search data comprises at least one of a number of times that the database has been specified as an anchor database, and a topic.

14. The system according to claim 9, wherein the remotely-located terminal is a portable communication device.

15. A method of conducting a search of a social network for information related to a topic specified by a search initiator, the method comprising the steps of:

generating a query that includes a search string related to the topic and a first-degree contact of the search initiator, wherein

the first-degree contact is a database in the search initiator'"'"'s personal communication network that is directly linked to the search initiator and is represented by an electronic record;

defining a portion of the search initiator'"'"'s personal communication network as including one or more databases that are eligible to be returned as a search result; and

searching an electronic profile representing one or more databases using the query to identify a database in connection with the topic that is directly, indirectly, or both directly and indirectly associated with the first-degree contact.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the step of searching one or more databases includes the step of limiting a scope of the search to the portion of the search initiator'"'"'s personal communication network that is eligible to be returned as a search result.

17. The method according to claim 15, wherein the step of searching one or more databases includes the steps of:

searching the social network for one or more databases using the query to identify a database in connection with the topic; and

excluding from the results those databases in connection with the topic that are not directly, indirectly, or both directly and indirectly associated with the first-degree contact.

18. The method according to claim 15 further comprising the step of identifying a relationship between the search initiator and an identified database in connection with the topic that is directly or indirectly associated with the first-degree contact.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein the relationship includes one or more intervening databases linking the search initiator to the database in connection with the topic that is directly or indirectly associated with the first-degree contact.

20. The method according to claim 15 further comprising the step of utilizing historical search data to identify an identified database as being likely to possess information about the topic.

21. The method according to claim 20, wherein the historical search data includes a previously-selected first-degree contact and a topic represented by a search string.

22. The method according to claim 20, wherein the historical search data includes a number of times that a first-degree contact has been included in a query with a search string related to the topic.

23. The method according to claim 15 further comprising the step of excluding a first-degree contact that is not included in the query from the portion of the search initiator'"'"'s personal communication network that includes databases that are eligible to be returned as a search result.

24. The method according to claim 23, wherein the first-degree contact that is not included in the query is eligible to be an intervening database between the search initiator and a search result.

25. The method according to claim 15 further comprising the step of transmitting one or more identified databases in connection with the topic over a wireless communication channel to be received by a portable display device.