Computerized System And Method For Tracking The Geographic Relevance Of Website Listings And Providing Graphics And Data Regarding The Same

• US 20110010336A1
• Filed: 07/10/2009
• Published: 01/13/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/10/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Birch Hill LLC
• Original Assignee: Geodex LLC
• Inventors: Holmes, Chris, Pool, Gregory A., Tisdale, Edward, Johnson, Jeremiah L., McArthur, Brian
• Granted Patent: US 9,201,973 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/609
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/00 Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/134 Hyperlinking

Abstract

The present invention generally relates to a computerized system and method for tracking and displaying data identifying the geographic relevance of website listings on Internet search engines, parked web pages, ISP redirect web pages, and other similar web listing services without requiring extra input from Internet users. Each time an Internet user clicks on a website link provided on one of these web services, the software of the present invention tracks that person'"'"'s decision in selecting the link, along with his or her geographic location. The software automatically collects and stores this information in a database in a format that can be quickly accessed and used in the future when other Internet users perform the same keyword search or visit the parked/redirect page again. Based on this stored information, the software automatically sends signals to the Internet user'"'"'s computer that causes his or her web browser to display data and graphics that indicate whether the websites listed on the web page has been frequently visited and found to be popular by other Internet users in various geographic areas. As a result, the software of the present invention enables search engines, parked/redirect web pages, and other similar web services to be automatically organized by popularity within a geographic region. Moreover, each time data is collected by this software (e.g., when a user selects a link), the search engine and parked page will grow naturally and intelligently, thereby becoming more and more useful to the Internet user.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for generating information regarding the geographic relevance of one or more website hyperlinks to be provided on a website, comprising the steps of:

(a) storing, on one or more computer readable media that operatively communicates with one or more processors, information in a database that relates to visits by a plurality of individuals to one or more websites;

(b) receiving, via the one or more processors, one or more signals that indicate a request from a remote user to display one or more website hyperlinks on a web page;

(c) retrieving, via the one or more processors, at least a subset of said information stored in the database, wherein

said retrieved information pertains to the one or more website hyperlinks to be displayed in response to the request;

(d) determining from the retrieved information, via the one or more processors, geographic information pertaining to one or more of the plurality of individuals that have visited said requested website hyperlinks; and

(e) generating, via the one or more processors, one or more data sets based on said determined geographic information, wherein

the one or more data sets comprises information that indicates the relevancy of the requested website hyperlinks to one or more geographic areas.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the one or more geographic areas of step (e) comprises one or more of the following parameters:

geographic locations that are local to the remote user'"'"'s geographic location;

geographic locations that are within the remote user'"'"'s state;

geographic locations that are within the remote user'"'"'s region;

geographic locations that are within the remote user'"'"'s nation;

geographic locations that are within the remote user'"'"'s city;

geographic locations that are within a specified distance from the remote user'"'"'s geographic location; and

geographic locations that are near the remote user'"'"'s geographic location.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein said information that indicates the relevancy of the requested website hyperlinks comprises images, wherein said images comprise one or more of the following:

text;

graphics;

boxes containing a number that represents an amount of other individuals of other individuals who have previously visited the one or more requested hyperlinks;

graphics containing a number that represents an amount of other individuals who have previously visited the one or more requested hyperlinks;

graphics containing text relating to an amount of other individuals of other individuals who have previously visited the one or more requested hyperlinks;

the geographic area of other individuals who have previously visited the one or more requested hyperlinks;

a bar that indicates the relevance of each of said one or more requested hyperlinks to the geographic area where the remote user is located;

a bar that indicates, by the use of one or more colors, the relevance of each of said one or more requested hyperlinks to the geographic area where the remote user is located;

a bar that indicates, by the use of text, the relevance of each of said one or more requested hyperlinks to the geographic area where the remote user is located;

a map that indicates the geographic location of other individuals who have previously visited said one or more requested hyperlinks; and

a map that indicates, via colored markers, the geographic location of other individuals who have previously visited said one or more requested hyperlinks, wherein said colored markers indicate unit of distance between the geographic location of the other individuals and the geographic location of the remote user.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein said information that indicates the relevancy of the requested website hyperlinks comprises information that indicates the proximity, relative to the geographic location of the remote user, of other individuals who have previously visited the one or more requested hyperlinks.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, wherein said information indicating the proximity of other individuals comprises images that include text and graphics that represent a number of other individuals in each of the one or more geographic areas that have visited each of the one or more requested hyperlinks.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising the step of determining, prior to step (e), the geographic area in which the remote user is located.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein said information that indicates the relevancy of the requested website hyperlinks comprises information that indicates a number of other individuals in each of the one or more geographic areas that have visited each of the one or more requested hyperlinks.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein said information indicating the number of other individuals comprises are provided as images containing one or more of the following:

wherein said images comprise one or more of the following;

text;

graphics;

boxes containing a number that represents an amount of other individuals of other individuals who have previously visited the one or more requested hyperlinks;

graphics containing a number that represents an amount of other individuals who have previously visited the one or more requested hyperlinks;

graphics containing text relating to an amount of other individuals of other individuals who have previously visited the one or more requested hyperlinks;

the geographic area of other individuals who have previously visited the one or more requested hyperlinks;

a bar that indicates the relevance of each of said one or more requested hyperlinks to the geographic area where the remote user is located;

a bar that indicates, by the use of one or more colors, the relevance of each of said one or more requested hyperlinks to the geographic area where the remote user is located;

a bar that indicates, by the use of text, the relevance of each of said one or more requested hyperlinks to the geographic area where the remote user is located;

a map that indicates the geographic location of other individuals who have previously visited said one or more requested hyperlinks; and

a map that indicates, via colored markers, the geographic location of other individuals who have previously visited said one or more requested hyperlinks, wherein said colored markers indicate unit of distance between the geographic location of the other individuals and the geographic location of the remote user.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, further comprising the step of determining, prior to step (e), the geographic area in which the remote user is located.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

updating the database to include information that relates to visits by a second plurality of individuals to one or more websites;

receiving, via the one or more processors, a second set of one or more signals that indicate a request from a second remote user to display one or more website hyperlinks on a web page; and

utilizing at least a subset of the information in the updated database to generate one or more data sets that comprise information that indicates the relevancy of the website hyperlinks that are requested by the second remote user to one or more geographic areas.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the one or more signals indicate that the remote user has taken one or more of the following actions:

entered a search on a search engine;

visited a parked web page;

visited an ISP redirect page; and

visited an website listing web page.

12. A computer-implemented method for capturing and organizing information regarding the geographic relevance of one or more hyperlinks provided on a website comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving, on one or more computer readable media that operatively communicates with one or more processors, a first set of information that relates to a visit to a website by a first individual;

(b) storing, via the one or more processors, the first set of information in a database;

(c) receiving, via the one or more processors, a second set of information that relates to a visit to the website by a second individual;

(d) storing, via the one or more processors, the second set of information in a database;

(e) determining, via the one or more processors, first geographic information pertaining to the first individual based on the first set of information;

(f) determining, via the one or more processors, second geographic information pertaining to the second individual based on the second set of information; and

(g) generating, via the one or more processors, one or more data sets based upon at least the first geographic information and the second geographic information, wherein

said one or more data set comprises information that indicates the relevance of the website to one or more geographic areas.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein said one or more data sets that indicate the relevancy of the requested website hyperlinks comprises images, wherein said images comprise one or more of the following:

text;

graphics;

boxes containing a number that represents an amount of other individuals of other individuals who have previously visited the one or more requested hyperlinks;

graphics containing a number that represents an amount of other individuals who have previously visited the one or more requested hyperlinks;

graphics containing text relating to an amount of other individuals of other individuals who have previously visited the one or more requested hyperlinks;

the geographic area of other individuals who have previously visited the one or more requested hyperlinks;

a bar that indicates the relevance of each of said one or more requested hyperlinks to the geographic area where the remote user is located;

a bar that indicates, by the use of one or more colors, the relevance of each of said one or more requested hyperlinks to the geographic area where the remote user is located;

a bar that indicates, by the use of text, the relevance of each of said one or more requested hyperlinks to the geographic area where the remote user is located;

a map that indicates the geographic location of other individuals who have previously visited said one or more requested hyperlinks; and

a map that indicates, via colored markers, the geographic location of other individuals who have previously visited said one or more requested hyperlinks, wherein said colored markers indicate unit of distance between the geographic location of the other individuals and the geographic location of the remote user.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, further comprising the steps of:

parsing the first set of information into a first set of data;

storing said first set of data in a log file;

parsing the second set of information into a second set of data; and

storing said second set of data in a log file.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein

said first geographic information comprises the geographic location of the first individual, and said geographic location of the first individual is determined based on at least a subset of the first set of data;

and

said second geographic information comprises the geographic location of the second individual, and said geographic location of the second individual is determined based on at least a subset of the second set of data.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein each of the first set of data and the second set of data comprises one or more of the following:

the remote user'"'"'s Internet protocol address;

Four TINYINTs representing the remote user'"'"'s Internet protocol address;

the address of the website visited by the user;

subpages within the a website visited by the remote user;

and a date that the remote user visited the website; and

a time that the remote user visited the website.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, further comprising the steps of storing, in a relational database, information relating to an entity that utilizes the computer-implemented method on its website, wherein said relational database includes one or more tables for storing one or more of the following:

an identification number associated with that entity;

a name of the entity;

a custom image;

the entity'"'"'s logo;

units of measurements for specifying the geographic locations of users who have clicked a link to the entity'"'"'s website;

a website address of the entity;

a domain name of the entity'"'"'s website;

a location of the custom image;

an identification number for the custom image;

a description of the custom image;

units of distance between Internet users who have visited the entity'"'"'s website; and

a name assigned to the custom image.

18. A computer-implemented method for generating a graphical user interface for displaying information regarding the geographic relevance of one or more website hyperlinks, comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving, on one or more computer readable media that operatively communicates with one or more processors, one or more signals that indicate a request from a remote user to display a web page;

(b) determining, via the one or more processors, a geographic area where the remote user is located;

(b) transmitting, via the one or more processors, one or more signals that indicate information to be displayed on the web page, wherein said information to be displayed on the web page comprises;

one or more hyperlinks to other websites, and

information that indicates the relevancy of the one or more hyperlinks to the remote user'"'"'s geographic area, wherein

said relevancy information is based on geographic data pertaining to one or more other individuals that have visited said one or more hyperlinks.

19. The computer implemented method of claim 18, wherein the information to be displayed on the web page comprises images containing one or more of the following:

text;

graphics;

boxes containing a number that represents an amount of other individuals of other individuals who have previously visited the one or more requested hyperlinks;

graphics containing a number that represents an amount of other individuals who have previously visited the one or more requested hyperlinks;

graphics containing text relating to an amount of other individuals of other individuals who have previously visited the one or more requested hyperlinks;

the geographic area of other individuals who have previously visited the one or more requested hyperlinks;

a bar that indicates the relevance of each of said one or more requested hyperlinks to the geographic area where the remote user is located;

a bar that indicates, by the use of one or more colors, the relevance of each of said one or more requested hyperlinks to the geographic area where the remote user is located;

a bar that indicates, by the use of text, the relevance of each of said one or more requested hyperlinks to the geographic area where the remote user is located;

a map that indicates the geographic location of other individuals who have previously visited said one or more requested hyperlinks; and

a map that indicates, via colored markers, the geographic location of other individuals who have previously visited said one or more requested hyperlinks, wherein said colored markers indicate unit of distance between the geographic location of the other individuals and the geographic location of the remote user.

20. A computer-implemented method for receiving visits to a website, comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving, on one or more computer readable media that operatively communicates with one or more processors, one or more signals that indicate a request from a remote computer to visit a first website, wherein said request has been received through a second website that provides information indicating the relevancy of the first website to one or more geographic areas; and

(b) transmitting, via the one or more processors, one or more signals to the remote computer that represent content on the first website to be displayed to the remote computer in response to the request.