TECHNIQUE FOR PROVIDING SUPPLEMENTAL INTERNET SEARCH CRITERIA

• US 20110066629A1
• Filed: 09/11/2009
• Published: 03/17/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/11/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LexisNexis Risk Solutions, Inc. (RELX PLC)
• Original Assignee: LexisNexis Risk & Information Analytics Group, Inc. (RELX PLC)
• Inventors: Lamb, Michael, Escalante, Armando J., Bayliss, David Alan
• Granted Patent: US 9,454,606 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/765
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9532 Query formulation

Abstract

Disclosed is a system for, and method of, supplementing an interne search. The disclosed techniques may be used to receive an initial internet search criteria entered by a user at an interface (such as a web site) to the internet search engine, identify an entity representation in a database that corresponds to the internet search criteria, and produce an enhanced internet search criteria that may incorporate both the initial internet search criteria and field values from the identified entity representation. The enhanced internet search criteria may be passed to the internet search engine in a manner that is transparent to a user.

Claims

1. A method of supplementing an internet search, the internet search based on initial search criteria, with additional search criteria derived from a database, the database comprising a plurality of entity representations, each entity representation comprising a plurality of linked records, each record comprising a plurality of fields, each field capable of containing a field value, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of initial search criteria field values entered at an electronic interface to an internet search engine, each of the initial search criteria field values associated with a field;

determining a target entity representation in the database that corresponds to the initial search criteria field values;

extracting a plurality of supplemental search criteria field values from the target entity representation;

combining the initial search criteria field values with the supplemental search criteria field values to produce an enhanced search criteria; and

forwarding the enhanced search criteria to the internet search engine;

whereby the search engine processes the enhanced search criteria in response to a user entering the initial search criteria at the interface.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the interface is a web page.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the internet search engine does not display the enhanced search criteria to a user of the internet search engine.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the supplemental search criteria comprise at least two different field values corresponding to a same field.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein each field value is associated with a field value weight and wherein the determining a target entity representation comprises:

determining a highest ranked entity representation in the database according to summed field value weights for field values matching the initial search criteria field values;

calculating a confidence level reflecting a likelihood that the highest ranked entity representation corresponds to the plurality of initial search criteria field values; and

determining that the confidence level exceeds a predetermined threshold.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising the internet search engine identifying search results that correspond to the enhanced search criteria.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising displaying the search results to a user via the electronic interface to the internet search engine.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the interface is a web page.

8. A system for supplementing an internet search, the internet search based on initial search criteria, with additional search criteria derived from a database, the database comprising a plurality of entity representations, each entity representation comprising a plurality of linked records, each record comprising a plurality of fields, each field capable of containing a field value, the system comprising:

an electronic database, the database comprising a stored plurality of entity representations, each entity representation comprising a plurality of linked records, each record comprising a plurality of fields, each field capable of containing a field value;

a computer configured to receive a plurality of initial search criteria field values entered at an electronic interface to an internet search engine, each of the initial search criteria field values associated with a field;

a computer programmed to determine a target entity representation in the database that corresponds to the initial search criteria field values;

a computer programmed to extract a plurality of supplemental search criteria field values from the target entity representation;

a computer programmed to combine the initial search criteria field values with the supplemental search criteria field values to produce an enhanced search criteria; and

a computer configured to forward the enhanced search criteria to the internet search engine;

whereby the search engine processes the enhanced search criteria in response to a user entering the initial search criteria at the interface.

10. The system of claim 8 wherein the internet search engine is configured to not display the enhanced search criteria to a user of the internet search engine.

11. The system of claim 8 wherein the supplemental search criteria comprise at least two different field values corresponding to a same field.

12. The system of claim 8 wherein each field value is associated with a field value weight in the database and wherein the computer programmed to determine a target entity representation is further programmed to:

determine a highest ranked entity representation in the database according to summed field value weights for field values matching the initial search criteria field values;

calculate a confidence level reflecting a likelihood that the highest ranked entity representation corresponds to the plurality of initial search criteria field values; and

determine that the confidence level exceeds a predetermined threshold.

14. The system of claim 8 wherein the electronic interface is configured to display the search results to a user.

13. The system of claim 13 wherein the internet search engine is configured to identify search results that correspond to the enhanced search criteria.