Sharing and organizing world wide web references using distinctive characters
First Claim
1. A method in a computer system for organizing references to web pages for a plurality of users using a plurality of lists of web pages, the web pages in each list reflecting common subject matter, each list having a threshold similarity value indicating the degree of similarity that a visited page must bear to web pages in the list in order to be included in the list, the method comprising the steps of:
- determining that any of the plurality of users is visiting a web page;
in response to the determining step;
for each list of web pages;
comparing the contents of the visited web page to the contents of the web pages included in the list of web pages to assess the level of similarity between the contents of the visited web page and the contents of the web pages included in the list of web pages;
if the level of similarity between the contents of the visited web page and the contents of the web pages included in the list of web pages exceeds the threshold value for the list, including the visited web page in the list of web pages;
receiving from any of the users for an identified list a recommendation of an identified page;
in response to the receiving step;
comparing the contents of the identified web page to the contents of the web pages included in the identified list of web pages to assess the level of similarity between the contents of the identified web page and the contents of the web pages included in the identified list of web pages;
deriving from the assessed level of similarity a modified level of similarity reflecting the received recommendation; and
if the modified level of similarity between the contents of the identified web page and the contents of the web pages included in the identified list of web pages exceeds the threshold value for the identified list, including the identified web page in the identified list of web pages.
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0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention is directed to sharing and organizing world wide web pages using a number of distinctive characters, each having an interest. In a preferred embodiment, each distinctive character is initialized by associating with it one or more web pages that collectively characterize the interest of the character. After initialization, each web page viewed by the user is assessed for each of the distinctive characters. The assessment process involves, for a single distinctive character, determining whether the web page viewed by the user exhibits at least a threshold level of similarity to web pages already associated with the distinctive character. The assessment process further involves associating the viewed web page with the distinctive character if the viewed web page exhibits at least a threshold level of similarity to the web pages already associated with the distinctive character. As a result, after the user has viewed a number of web pages, the viewed web pages that characterize each distinctive character'"'"'s interest are associated with that distinctive character.
265 Citations
17 Claims
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1. A method in a computer system for organizing references to web pages for a plurality of users using a plurality of lists of web pages, the web pages in each list reflecting common subject matter, each list having a threshold similarity value indicating the degree of similarity that a visited page must bear to web pages in the list in order to be included in the list, the method comprising the steps of:
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determining that any of the plurality of users is visiting a web page; in response to the determining step; for each list of web pages; comparing the contents of the visited web page to the contents of the web pages included in the list of web pages to assess the level of similarity between the contents of the visited web page and the contents of the web pages included in the list of web pages; if the level of similarity between the contents of the visited web page and the contents of the web pages included in the list of web pages exceeds the threshold value for the list, including the visited web page in the list of web pages; receiving from any of the users for an identified list a recommendation of an identified page; in response to the receiving step; comparing the contents of the identified web page to the contents of the web pages included in the identified list of web pages to assess the level of similarity between the contents of the identified web page and the contents of the web pages included in the identified list of web pages; deriving from the assessed level of similarity a modified level of similarity reflecting the received recommendation; and if the modified level of similarity between the contents of the identified web page and the contents of the web pages included in the identified list of web pages exceeds the threshold value for the identified list, including the identified web page in the identified list of web pages. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method in a computer system for organizing web pages viewed by a user in accordance with a plurality of distinctive characters each having an interest, the method comprising the steps of:
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initializing each character by associating with each character one or more web pages that collectively characterize the interest of the character, such that a predetermined threshold level of similarity associated with the character exists based on the one or more web pages associated therewith; and for each web page visited by the user, for each character in the plurality of characters, determining whether the visited web page exhibits at least the threshold level of similarity to web pages already associated with the character, and if the viewed web page exhibits at least the threshold level of similarity to the web pages already associated with the character, associating the visited web page with the character, such that, after the user has viewed a number of web pages, the visited web pages that characterize each character'"'"'s interest are associated with that character. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13)
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14. A method in a computer system for identifying linked web pages approved for inclusion in a group of web pages, the method comprising the steps of:
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receiving input from a user selecting a web page; retrieving the contents of the selected web page, including one or more links to additional web pages; retrieving, without selection by the user, the contents of each additional web page; for each additional web page, if the retrieved contents of the additional web page bear at least a threshold similarity to web pages among the group of web pages, adding the additional web page to the group of web pages; after the adding step, for each additional web page, determining whether the additional web page is among the group of web pages; and displaying an indication in conjunction with the displayed contents of the selected web page that at least one additional web page is among the group of web pages. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16)
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17. A computer-readable medium whose contents cause a computer system to identify linked documents approved for inclusion in a group of documents by performing the steps of:
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receiving input from a user selecting a document; retrieving the contents of the selected document, including one or more links to additional documents; retrieving, without selection by the user, the contents of each additional document; for each additional document if the retrieved contents of the additional document bear at least a threshold similarity to documents among the group of documents, adding the additional document to the group of documents; after the adding step, for each additional document, determining whether the additional document is among the group of documents; and displaying an indication in conjunction with the retrieved contents of the selected document that at least one additional document is among the group of documents.
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Specification