AGENT RANK

• US 20090287697A1
• Filed: 07/21/2009
• Published: 11/19/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/08/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Minogue, David, Tucker, Paul A.
• Granted Patent: US 8,224,826 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06398 Performance of employee with respect to a job function
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99937 Sorting

Abstract

The present invention provides methods and apparatus, including computer program products, implementing techniques for searching and ranking linked information sources. The techniques include receiving multiple content items from a corpus of content items; receiving digital signatures each made by one of multiple agents, each digital signature associating one of the agents with one or more of the content items; and assigning a score to a first agent of the multiple agents, wherein the score is based upon the content items associated with the first agent by the digital signatures.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving multiple content items from a corpus of content items;

receiving digital signatures each made by one of multiple agents, each digital signature associating one of the agents with one or more of the content items;

assigning a score to a first agent of the multiple agents, wherein the score is based upon the content items associated with the first agent by the digital signatures.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining the validity of the digital signatures.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein if no digital signature associates an agent with a specific content item, the content item is associated with an owner of a location where the specific content is found and a score is assigned to the owner based on the specific content item.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the content items associated with the first agent include a content item that contains a digital signature associating the first agent with the content item.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the content items associated with the first agent include a content item that includes a link to a digital signature associating the first agent with the content item.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the content items associated with the first agent include a content item that is a web site or a portion of the web site.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein a second agent is associated by a second digital signature with a second content item with which the first agent is associated, and the second agent makes an assertion about the content item.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first agent makes an assertion with a digital signature that the first agent is an author of the second content item.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the second agent makes an assertion with the second digital signature that the second agent is a reviewer, editor, or publisher of the second content item.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein assigning a score to the first agent further comprises assigning the score based on unsigned content items that the first agent is associated with as an owner of one or more locations where the unsigned content items are found.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein assigning a score to the first agent further comprises assigning the score based on one or more assertions made by one or more other agents about content items associated with the first agent.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein assigning a score to the first agent further comprises assigning the score based on one or more assertions made by the first agent.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

using the score in ordering results of a search of the corpus.

14. A computer program product, tangibly embodied in an information carrier, consisting of instructions operable to cause data processing apparatus to:

receive multiple content items from a corpus of content items;

receive digital signatures each made by one of multiple agents, each digital signature associating one of the agents with one or more content items;

assign a score to a first agent of the multiple agents, wherein the score is based upon the content items associated with the first agent by the digital signatures.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein if no digital signature associates an agent with a specific content item, the content item is associated with an owner of a location where the specific content is found and a score is assigned to the owner based on the specific content item.

16. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the content items associated with the first agent include a content item that contains a digital signature associating the first agent with the content item.

17. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the content items associated with the first agent include a content item that includes a link to a digital signature associating the first agent with the content item.

18. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the agent associated with the content item makes an assertion about the content item.

19. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the instructions to assign a score to the first agent further comprise instructions to assign the score based on one or more assertions made by one or more other agents about content items associated with the first agent.

20. The computer program product of claim 14, further comprising instructions to:

use the score in ordering results of a search of the corpus.