Internet search system for retrieving selected results from a previous search

• US 6,321,228 B1
• Filed: 08/31/1999
• Issued: 11/20/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Powercast Media Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Powercast Media Incorporated
• Inventors: Bosarge, Jason Wayne, Hernandez, Louis, Crandall, Aaron Clyde
• Primary Examiner(s): Alam, Hosain T.
• Application Number:
  US09/386,352
• Time in Patent Office: 812 Days
• Field of Search: 707/2-6, 707/10, 707/1-3, 707/104, 707/501, 707/513, 709/200-203, 709/217-219
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99932 Access augmentation or optimizing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99936 Pattern matching access

Abstract

A system and method that enable Internet users to access selected records retrieved from result sets that are derived from earlier search queries. The invention tracks and ranks selected records that users deemed valuable to a search query. When an Internet user submits a search query, the system creates three distinct but related queries for searching all accessible web sites, a collection database. and a rank database. The collection database includes a list of collections, i.e., records that other users deem relevant to a search topic and that are selected from result sets derived with earlier search queries; the collection is organized in a folder/file based hierarchical format. The rank database includes Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) for identifying, web sites that are bookmarked by other users. Each record in the collection and rank databases has an associated score that is used to organize records retrieved from those databases. Thus, when the user submits a search query to the system, it returns selected records from the collection and rank databases, in addition to other related web sites from the Internet.

Claims

1. A search system connected to an expanded network, the system comprising:

a user interface for entering a search query that is submitted to a search engine;

conversion means in the search engine for converting the search query into a first query, a second query and a third query;

searching means in the search engine for searching the expanded network, a first database and a second database with the first, second and third queries to retrieve web sites and previously selected records that are related to a specific topic, and for retrieving a Uniform Resource Locators (URL) associated with a respective bookmarked web sites;

combining means in the search engine for combining records retrieved from said search in a result set, and for sorting the result set;

wherein the first database comprises collections that are pre-selected from the result set derived from an earlier search, the collection being organized in a predetermined format;

wherein the second database comprises searchable URL records that are associated with bookmarked web sites;

wherein the first query is used for locating records in the expanded network and the first and second databases comprising a phrase containing all terms in the search query, but excluding a first special character or Boolean term;

wherein the second query is used for locating records in the expanded network and the first and second databases comprising all terms in the search query;

wherein the third query is used for locating records in the expanded network and the first and second databases comprising any search term or variation of the search term in the search query;

means for determining if the first, second, and third queries will produce identical results and then using only one of the first, second, and third queries; and

means for eliminating duplicate records retrieved through the first, second, and third queries.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein means in the search engine for combining comprises means for assigning a first score, a second score and a third score to the first, second and third queries, respectively, to sort records in the result set that were retrieved through the first, second and third queries.

3. The system of claim 2, further comprising means for adjusting the first, second and third scores.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein means for combining further comprises:

means for assigning a fourth score to each record in the sorted result set to further determine the relevancy of each record in the result set to the search query; and

means for increasing the fourth score associated with each record based on a number of times a search term occurs in the record and based on a location of the search term in the record.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein means for combining also comprises means for sorting the result set based on user sorting choice.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the means for sorting based on the user sorting choice further comprises:

means for sorting based on the fourth score associated with each record;

means for sorting based on a creation date of each record;

means for sorting based on activity level of each record;

means for sorting based on a rating assigned to each record by other users;

means for sorting based on the date each record was last updated; and

means for sorting based on a number of URLs links associated with each record.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the system further comprises means for enabling a user to bookmark a web page, with contents related to a specific topic, in the result set.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein a URL record associated with the bookmarked web page is organized into a hierarchical tree structure that comprises collections and/or folders.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the collection may be designated a public collection.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the collection may be designated as a private collection.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the public collection is searchable by the search engine and viewable by other users.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the private collection is viewable only by the collection'"'"'s creator.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising a software component for tracking and ranking a URL record, associated with the bookmark web page, based on bookmarking activity on the associated web site.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the software component further comprises means for updating statistical information about each collection.

15. The system of claim 14, further comprising means for designating the public collection as a first type or second type;

means for storing the first type public collection in the second database and providing a URL that is associated with the first type public collection;

means for submitting the second type public collection for approval;

means for evaluating the second type public collection and upon approval prompting the user for information associated with the second type public information; and

means for storing the second type public collection in the first and second databases.

16. A method for searching an expanded network for information related to a specific topic, the method comprising the steps of:

entering a search query in a user interface for submission to an associated search engine;

converting the search query into a first query, a second query and a third query;

searching the expanded network, a first database and second databases with the first, second and third queries to retrieve previously selected records or previously selected URL associated with a bookmarked web site;

combining results retrieved from the step of searching in a result set, and sorting the result set;

storing collections in the first database;

storing records corresponding to bookmarked web sites in the second database;

locating through the first query, records comprising a phrase containing all terms in the search query, but excluding a first special character or Boolean term;

locating through the second query, records comprising all terms in the search query;

locating through the third query, records comprising any search term or variation of the search terms in the search query;

determining if the first, second and third queries will produce identical results and then using only one of the first, second and third queries; and

eliminating duplicate records retrieved through the first, second and third queries.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the step of searching further comprising the steps of assigning a first score, a second score and a third score to the first, second and third queries respectively in order to sort records in the result set that were retrieved through the first, second an third queries;

and

maintaining the first, second and third scores.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the step of combining further comprising the step of assigning a fourth score to each record in the sorted result set in order to further determine a relevancy of each record to the search query.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the step of combining further comprising the step of increasing the fourth score associated with each record based on the number of times a search term occurs in the record and based a the location of the search term in the record.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the step of searching further comprising a step of sorting the result set based on user sorting choice.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the step of sorting comprising steps of:

sorting based on the fourth score associated with each record;

sorting based on a creation date of each record;

sorting based on activity level of each record;

sorting based on a rating assigned to each record by other users;

sorting based on the date each record was last updated; and

sorting based on a number of URLs links associated with each record.

22. The method of claim 21, comprising the step of bookmarking a web page having contents related to a specific topic in the result set and associating a record with the bookmarked web page.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising the step of organizing the record associated with the bookmarked web page into a hierarchical tree structure that comprises collections and/or folders.

24. The system of claim 23, further comprising the step of designating the collection as a public or private collection.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the step of designating further comprising the step of:

identifying the public collection as a first type or second type;

storing the first type public collection in the second database and providing a URL that is associated with the first type public collection;

submitting the second type public collection for approval;

evaluating the second type public collection and upon approval prompting the user for information associated with the second type public information; and

storing the second type public information in the first and second databases.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising the step of searching and viewing the public collection by other users.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising the step of viewing and searching the private collection only by the collection'"'"'s creator.

28. The system of claim 27, further comprising the step of tracking and ranking records associated with bookmarked web pages based on activity on the associated web pages.