System and method for personalized information filtering and alert generation

• US 6,381,594 B1
• Filed: 07/11/2000
• Issued: 04/30/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 07/12/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Patel, Ashvinkumar P., Eichstaedt, Matthias, Rudkin, Kristine, Manber, Udi, Lu, Qi
• Primary Examiner(s): Alam, Hosain T.
• Assistant Examiner(s): ALAM, SHAHID AL
• Application Number:
  US09/613,436
• Time in Patent Office: 658 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1, 707/3, 707/5, 707/10, 707/100, 707/104.1, 707/6, 717/1, 717/7, 717/8, 717/9, 709/201, 709/203, 709/217, 709/219
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/337 Profile generation, learning or modification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

A search engine that forms a compact representation of a plurality of user queries to efficiently find desired information in an information network. The search engine comprises a profile processor having logic to receive the queries from the users and a search module. The search module is coupled to the profile processor and has logic to receive the information content, to combine the user queries into a master query, and to match the master query with the information content to determine matching content. The search engine also includes logic to analyze the matching content to determine if any of the queries has been satisfied.

Claims

1. A search engine for receiving information content over a data network and searching the information content based on a plurality of user queries associated with a plurality of users, the search engine comprising:

a profile processor having logic to receive the user queries from the users; and

a search module coupled to the profile processor and having logic to receive the information content, to combine the user queries from the plurality of users into a master query, and to match the master query with the information content to determine a master query result, said search engine also including logic to analyze the master query result to determine if any of the user queries can be satisfied from the master query result.

2. The search engine of claim 1, further comprising a notification module having logic to notify the users whether their respective user queries have been satisfied.

3. The search engine of claim 1, wherein the profile module comprises a user interface module that has logic to receive the plurality of user queries.

4. The search engine of claim 1, wherein the search module further comprises a memory for storing the master query result.

5. The search engine of claim 1 wherein the user queries include text search strings and Boolean expressions.

6. A search engine for receiving information content over a data network and searching the information content based on a plurality of queries associated with a plurality of users, the search engine comprising:

a profile processor having logic to receive the queries from the users; and

a search module coupled to the profile processor and having logic to receive the information content, to combine the user queries into a master query, and to match the master query with the information content to determine matching content, said search engine also includes logic to analyze the matching content to determine if any of the queries has been satisfied,

wherein the search module comprises logic to create hash tables from the user queries and to match the information content with information in the hash tables.

7. A method for searching information content received over a data network, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a plurality of user queries from a plurality of users;

receiving the information content over the data network;

combining the user queries from the plurality of users into a master query;

matching the master query with the information content to determine a master query result; and

analyzing the master query result to determine if any of the user queries can be satisfied from the master query result.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising a step of notifying the users whether their respective user queries have been satisfied.

9. A method for searching information content received over a data network, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a plurality of queries from a plurality of users;

receiving the information content over the data network;

combining the user queries into a master query;

matching the master query with the information content to determine matching content; and

analyzing the matching content to determine if any of the queries has been satisfied,

wherein the step of combining includes steps of;

normalizing the user queries to form normalized user queries that include a plurality of conjunctions formed from keywords; and

forming a plurality of hash tables from the conjunctions and the keywords.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of matching comprises steps of:

determining if any of the keywords are in the information content; and

updating the hash tables based on the results of the step of determining.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein at least one keyword comprises a text phrase and the step of matching comprises a step of determining if the text phrase is in the information content.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of analyzing comprises a step of updating a match parameter based on which conjunctions were found in the information content.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the step of notifying includes a step of notifying the users based on the match parameter.