ENHANCED SEARCH SYSTEM AND METHOD BASED ON ENTITY RANKING

• US 20120089617A1
• Filed: 12/14/2011
• Published: 04/12/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Patrick Frey
• Original Assignee: Patrick Frey
• Inventors: FREY, Patrick
• Granted Patent: US 9,378,287 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/748
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/95 Retrieval from the web
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9536 Search customisation based on social or collaborative filtering
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results

Abstract

Enhanced search system and method based on entity ranking that accepts votes for online and offline users and calculates rankings for user attributes that are used to provide highly valued search results. An input is received from a user indicating an opinion of another user or plurality of other users. In one embodiment, reputation scores are weighted by the reputation scores of voters. In another embodiment, weights are derived from voter reputation scores in the domain in which the voting took place. In another embodiment, reputation scores are adjusted according to a plurality of factors, including, but not limited to, user demographics or user behavior.

Claims

1. An enhanced search method using a computer system comprising:

obtaining a plurality of opinions from a plurality of humans on a plurality of other humans;

calculating a first consideration of scores obtained from said plurality of opinions of said plurality of humans on said plurality of other humans;

assigning said first consideration of scores to said plurality of other humans;

obtaining a plurality of opinions from said plurality of other humans on said plurality of humans;

calculating a second consideration of scores obtained from said plurality of opinions of said plurality of other humans on said plurality of humans;

assigning said second consideration of scores to said plurality of humans;

accepting a search input from an entity, wherein said entity is selected from the group that includes human entities and non-human entities;

processing said first consideration of scores and said second consideration of scores with said computer system;

returning to said entity a search result associated with said search input, wherein said search result depends on said first consideration of scores and said second consideration of scores.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least some of said humans and said other humans are connected by at least one social network.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein at least some of said humans and said other humans are selected from the group that includes online users and offline users.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said obtaining said opinions from said plurality of humans and said plurality of other humans comprises presenting at least one query regarding at least one opinion, wherein said query is selected from the group that includes online queries and offline queries.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said obtaining said opinions from said plurality of humans and said plurality of other humans comprises presenting at least one query regarding at least one opinion, wherein said query comprises an electronic query or audio query or visual query.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a first weighting factor for said first consideration of scores, said first weighting factor being dependent on said second consideration of scores;

adjusting said first consideration of scores based on said first weighting factor;

identifying a second weighting factor for said second consideration of scores, said second weighting factor being dependent on said first consideration of scores;

adjusting said second consideration of scores based on said second weighting factor.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising ranking said first consideration of scores.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising ranking said second consideration of scores.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

utilizing an adjustment factor for said first consideration of scores and said second consideration of scores, wherein said utilizing an adjustment factor comprises collecting data about said plurality of humans and said plurality of other humans;

adjusting said first consideration of scores and said second consideration of scores using said data about said plurality of humans and said plurality of other humans.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising categorizing said plurality of humans and said plurality of other humans according to categories selected from the group that includes social relationship, similarity, agreement, and co-orientation.

12. The method of claim 2, further comprising ranking said first consideration of scores.

13. The method of claim 2, further comprising ranking said second consideration of scores.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein at least some of said humans and said other humans are connected by at least one social network.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein at least some of said humans and said other humans are selected from the group that includes online users and offline users.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein said obtaining said opinions from said plurality of humans and said plurality of other humans comprises presenting at least one query regarding at least one opinion, wherein said query is selected from the group that includes online queries and offline queries.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein said obtaining said opinions from said plurality of humans and said plurality of other humans comprises presenting at least one query regarding at least one opinion, wherein said query comprises an electronic query or audio query or visual query.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein at least some of said humans and said other humans are connected by at least one social network.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein at least some of said humans and said other humans are selected from the group that includes online users and offline users.

11. An enhanced search method using a computer system comprising:

obtaining a plurality of opinions from a plurality of humans on a plurality of other humans;

calculating a first consideration of scores obtained from said plurality of opinions of said plurality of humans on said plurality of other humans;

assigning said first consideration of scores to said plurality of other humans;

obtaining a plurality of opinions from said plurality of other humans on said plurality of humans;

calculating a second consideration of scores obtained from said plurality of opinions of said plurality of other humans on said plurality of humans;

assigning said second consideration of scores to said plurality of humans;

identifying a first weighting factor for said first consideration of scores, said first weighting factor being dependent on said second consideration of scores;

adjusting said first consideration of scores based on said first weighting factor;

identifying a second weighting factor for said second consideration of scores, said second weighting factor being dependent on said first consideration of scores;

adjusting said second consideration of scores based on said second weighting factor;

accepting a search input from an entity, wherein said entity is selected from the group that includes human entities and non-human entities;

processing said first consideration of scores and said second consideration of scores with said computer system;

returning to said entity a search result associated with said search input, wherein said search result depends on said first consideration of scores and said second consideration of scores.

18. An enhanced search method comprising:

obtaining a plurality of opinions from a plurality of humans on a plurality of other humans;

calculating a first consideration of scores obtained from said plurality of opinions of said plurality of humans on said plurality of other humans;

assigning said first consideration of scores to said plurality of other humans;

obtaining a plurality of opinions from said plurality of other humans on said plurality of humans;

calculating a second consideration of scores obtained from said plurality of opinions of said plurality of other humans on said plurality of humans;

assigning said second consideration of scores to said plurality of humans;

identifying a first weighting factor for said first consideration of scores, said first weighting factor being dependent on said second consideration of scores;

adjusting said first consideration of scores based on said first weighting factor;

identifying a second weighting factor for said second consideration of scores, said second weighting factor being dependent on said first consideration of scores;

adjusting said second consideration of scores based on said second weighting factor;

ranking said first consideration of scores;

ranking said second consideration of scores;

accepting a search input from an entity, wherein said entity is selected from the group that includes human entities and non-human entities;

processing said first consideration of scores and said second consideration of scores with said computer system;

returning to said entity a search result associated with said search input, wherein said search result depends on said first consideration of scores and said second consideration of scores.