Method for searching a queued and ranked constructed catalog of files stored on a network
First Claim
1. A method of constructing a catalog of the files stored on a network comprised of a plurality of interconnected computers each having a plurality of files stored thereon, said method comprising the steps of:
- (a) establishing a queue containing at least one address representative of a file stored on one of said interconnected computers;
(b) ranking each address in said queue according to a heuristic;
(c) downloading the file corresponding to the address in said queue having the highest ranking;
(d) processing said downloaded file to generate certain information about said downloaded file for the catalog;
(e) adding to said queue any addresses found in said downloaded file;
(f) repeating steps (b) through (f).
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Abstract
A method of constructing a catalog of files stored on a network comprised of a plurality of interconnected computers each having a plurality of files stored thereon. The method is accomplished by establishing a queue containing at least one address representative of a file stored on one of the interconnected computers, ranking each address in the queue according to the popularity of the file presented by the address, downloading the file corresponding to the address in the queue having the highest ranking, processing the downloaded file to generate certain information about the downloaded file for the catalog, adding to the queue any addresses found in the downloaded file, and determining the popularity of file represented by the addresses in the queue according to how often a file is referenced by a computer other than the computer on which the file is stored.
433 Citations
38 Claims
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1. A method of constructing a catalog of the files stored on a network comprised of a plurality of interconnected computers each having a plurality of files stored thereon, said method comprising the steps of:
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(a) establishing a queue containing at least one address representative of a file stored on one of said interconnected computers; (b) ranking each address in said queue according to a heuristic; (c) downloading the file corresponding to the address in said queue having the highest ranking; (d) processing said downloaded file to generate certain information about said downloaded file for the catalog; (e) adding to said queue any addresses found in said downloaded file; (f) repeating steps (b) through (f). - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method of constructing a catalog of the files stored on a network comprised of a plurality of interconnected computers each having a plurality of files stored thereon, said method comprising the steps of:
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(i) providing a plurality of devices each performing the following steps; (a) establishing a queue containing a plurality of addresses, each address representative of a file stored on one of said interconnected computers; (b) selecting a portion of the queue; (c) ranking each address in said queue according to a heuristic; (d) downloading the file corresponding to the address in said selected portion of the queue having the highest ranking; (e) processing said downloaded file to generate certain information about said downloaded file for the catalog; (f) adding to said queue any addresses found in said downloaded file; (g) repeating steps (b) through (g); (ii) merging the information generated in step (i) to form a new entries data base; and (iii) merging said new entries data base with a previous instance of the catalog to create a new instance of the catalog. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. An apparatus for constructing a catalog of files stored on a network comprised of a plurality of interconnected computers, each having a plurality of files stored thereon, comprising:
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(a) means for establishing a queue containing at least one address representative of a file stored on one of the interconnected computers; (b) means for ranking each address in said queue according to a heuristic; (c) means for downloading a file corresponding to the address in said queue having the highest ranking; (d) means for processing said downloaded file to generate certain information about said downloaded file for the catalog; and (e) means for adding to said queue any addresses found in said downloaded file. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
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Specification