AUTOMATED SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CREATING A WEB SITE BASED ON A SUBJECT USING INFORMATION AVAILABLE ON THE INTERNET

• US 20090327923A1
• Filed: 06/30/2008
• Published: 12/31/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Excalibur IP, LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Egan, Conor John, Bedard, Scott, Walker, Hubert M., Caplis, Timothy, Lara, Ankarino S., Morrison, Noel C.
• Application Number:
  US12/165,537
• Publication Number:
  US 20090327923A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/760
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/95 Retrieval from the web

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide automatic systems and methods for creating a web site based on a particular subject using information available on the Internet. Creating and maintaining a web site with updated content can be very time and resource consuming. Therefore, it is desirable to create and maintain such a site with an automatic system and method using information available on the Internet. To create such a site, the subject of the web site is determined first. Afterwards, search terms related to the subject of the web site are entered to conduct searches on the Internet for information relevant to the web site. The search results are used to populate databases for this web site. User contribution of additional content to a web site keeps the web site updated and interesting to all users of the site. In addition, users of the web site can engage in basic administration of the site, which reduces the need of intervention by paid administrators. Thus, by obtaining content from Internet sites, coupled with contributions made by users, it is possible to automatically create and maintain new custom created sites with minimal intervention by paid administrators.

Claims

1. A method for automatically creating a web site based on a subject, comprising:

receiving selection of the subject for the web site;

receiving a plurality of search terms related to the subject to search for content available on the Internet;

receiving a plurality of web sites addresses, wherein the plurality of web sites have content relevant to the subject for the web site;

initiating a search for content for the web site via a search engine based on the plurality of search terms on the plurality of web sites; and

automatically creating the web site based on the subject, wherein at least a portion of the content of the web site is obtained from search results of the search initiated, wherein the web site is made accessible to users.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving additional content for the web site contributed by the users of the web site, wherein the additional content is entered or uploaded by the users of the web site, and wherein the additional content entered or uploaded by the users maintain the content of the web site current.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the content of the web site includes one or more of photos, music, videos, user comments, discussion boards and blogs.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a plurality of updated search terms and a plurality of updated web sites addresses to search after the web site is automatically created.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving selection of a layout for the web site, wherein the layout of the web site determines a look of the web site.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the content of the web site that is more popular with the users of the web site is displayed in a more prominent location of the web site.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein at least one user of the web site administers a portion of the content of the web site.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the web site is automatically run with minimal assistance of external administrators due to content of the web site being from the search results, being entered or uploaded by the users of the web site, and being administered by the least one user of the web site.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein non-text-based content of the web site are tagged to enable searching within the web site.

10. The method of claim 9, where the tags of the non-text-based content of the web site from the search results are inherited from sources of the non-text-based content.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein each piece of non-text-based content of the web site that is obtained from the search results has a unique identification made of an identification given by the source of the piece of the non-text-based content and an identification describing the source of the piece of the non-text-based content.

12. A method for automatically creating a web site based on a subject, comprising:

receiving selection of the subject for the web site;

receiving a plurality of search terms related to the subject to search for content available on the Internet;

receiving a plurality of web sites addresses, wherein the plurality of web sites have content relevant to the subject for the web site;

initiating a search for content for the web site via a search engine based on the plurality of search terms on the plurality of web sites; and

automatically creating the web site based on the subject, wherein at least a portion of the content of the web site is obtained from search results of the search initiated, wherein each piece of non-text-based content of the web site that is obtained from the search results has a unique identification made of an identification given by the source of the piece of the non-text-based content and an identification describing the source of the piece of the non-text-based content, and wherein the web site is made accessible to users.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

receiving additional content for the web site contributed by the users of the web site, wherein the additional content is entered or uploaded by the users of the web site, and wherein the additional content entered or uploaded by the users maintain the content of the web site current.

14. A system for automatically creating a web site based on a subject, comprising:

a photo storage for saving photo files related to the subject of the web site;

a video storage for saving video files related to the subject of the web site;

an information storage for saving text-based information related to the subject of the web site;

a search engine configured to search a plurality of web sites for content related to a plurality of search terms related to the subject of the web site, and wherein search results of the search engine populate the photo storage, the video storage, and the information storage to automatically create the web site; and

a content server configured to prepare web pages of the web site in responses to requests from users of the web site, wherein the photo storage, the video storage, and the information storage provide content for the web site.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the system is configured to allow the users of the web site to contribute additional content to the web site.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the engine of the web site also index the content of the web site to allow the content of the web site to be searchable, and wherein the photo files and the video files of the web site are tagged to enable searching.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the system is coupled to a user profile server to identify users of the web site.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the system is coupled to an advertisement server to include advertisements of the advertisement server in the web pages of the web site.

19. The system of claim 14, further comprising:

a music storage for saving music pieces related the subject of the web site, wherein the music storage provides content for the web site.

20. The system of claim 14, wherein text-based information in the information storage includes users'"'"' comments, discussion boards, blogs, and information of key characters related to the subject of the web sites.