Method and/or System for Searching Network Content

• US 20100235338A1
• Filed: 08/06/2008
• Published: 09/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/06/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: MLS Technologies Pty Ltd
• Original Assignee: MLS Technologies Pty Ltd
• Inventors: Gabriel, Robert Michael
• Granted Patent: US 8,898,132 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/706
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]

Abstract

In a preferred form, the present invention provides a method (200) for searching the Internet (14n). The method (200) comprising the steps of: in response to a user search query, identifying at least one search origin (12n) comprising an Internet resource (12n) deemed of relevance; retrieving and reviewing the contents of the search origin (12n) to identify the presence of one or more search avenues (12n) stemming from the search origin (12n), identifiable search avenues comprising: sites (12n) which are ascertained by the search origin contents (12n); submission fields presented by the search origin (12n); and/or, dynamically generated content (12n) retrieved from the search origin, and, perusing identified search avenues (12n) to identify search results to be returned in response to the user search query.

Claims

1. A method of searching network content, the method comprising the steps of:

in response to a user search query, identifying at least one search origin comprising a network resource deemed of relevance; and

retrieving and reviewing the contents of the search origin to identify the presence of one or more search avenues stemming from the search origin, identifiable search avenues comprising;

network locations which are ascertained by the search origin contents;

submission fields presented by the search origin;

or

dynamically generated content retrieved from the search origin, and, perusing identified search avenues to identify search results to be returned in response to the user search query.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the network is the Internet, and the network content is web content and/or related web information, and wherein the network resource is an Internet resource.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the user search query is submitted by way of any suitable Graphic User Interface (GUI).

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the search query is submitted by way of a software application embedded within or provided as a plug-in for a web-browser GUI.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the software application is a client-side application.

6. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the search origin is identified by the client-side application querying a database indexed search engine and utilising one or more results obtained therefrom as the search origin.

7. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the search origin is identified by accepting a user input of a search origin from which the user wishes a search to commence.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein more than one search origin is identified and pursued substantially in real-time in order to obtain or locate relevant search results.

9. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein an identified search avenue comprises a submission field presented by the search origin or an associated pursued website, the method further including the steps of actuating the submission field by entering an appropriate query and initiating a submission, and acquiring relevant content returned in response to the submission for ranking and presentation as search results in response to the user query.

10. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein search avenues are prioritised and/or disregarded based on search avenue relevance determined by look-up of relevancy information, and/or word weight tables.

11. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the steps of displaying a live state of search results as pursuing continues, and refreshing said results as continued live pursuing yields additional relevant results.

12. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the steps of acquiring and displaying a synopsis of each returned search result for review by the user, upon cessation of live pursuing.

13. The method as claimed in claim 5, further comprising the step of communicating identified search results to a centralised repository for indexing and future retrieval.

14. The method as claimed in claim 13, further comprising the step of, before searching, checking whether a particular search origin or search avenue has been previously pursued.

15. The method as claimed in claim 14, wherein said step of checking further comprises referring to search histories cached by the client-side application.

16. The method as claimed in claim 14 wherein said step of checking further comprises querying a centralised repository for indexed search information relevant to a search query input to the client-side application.

17. A Graphic User Interface (GUI) application for searching network content, the GUI application comprising.

code for identifying, in response to a user search query, at least one search origin comprising a network resource deemed of relevance;

and

code for acquiring and reviewing the contents of the search origin to identify the presence of one or more search avenues stemming from the search origin, identifiable search avenues comprising;

network locations which are ascertained by the search origin contents;

submission fields presented by the search origin;

or,

dynamically generated content retrieved from the search origin, and, code for perusing identified search avenues to identify search results to be returned in response to the user search query.

18. The GUI application as claimed in claim 17, wherein the network is the Internet, and the network content is web content and/or related web information, and wherein the network resource is an Internet resource.

19. The GUI application as claimed in claim 18, wherein the GUI application is a web-browser application, and the search query is submitted by way of a software GUI application embedded within and/or provided as a plug-in for the web-browser GUI.

20. The GUI application as claimed in claim 19, wherein the software GUI application is a client-side application.

21-23. -23. (canceled)