Network interactive tree search method and system

• US 6,397,210 B1
• Filed: 08/04/1999
• Issued: 05/28/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Stern, Edith H., Willner, Barry E., Dunn, James M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Breene, John
• Assistant Examiner(s): RAYYAN, SUSAN F
• Application Number:
  US09/368,110
• Publication Number:
  US 20020023073A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,028 Days
• Field of Search: 707/3,16,10,513
• 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 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching

Abstract

A method for searching for data in a data network comprising hyperlinked pages comprising the steps of (1) receiving an initial set of network addresses for pages in the data network; (2) receiving a non-negative integer, N, specifying a chain length; (3) receiving a set of at least one search argument comprising search criteria; and (4) performing a search wherein all pages linked to said initial set of addresses by a chain of distance less than or equal to N are examined for compliance with the search criteria, and all pages meeting such criteria are returned as successful objects of the search. According to optional embodiments, the foregoing method can be implemented as a computer readable medium with instructions for performing the above steps, as an application program, or a browser resident at an end user'"'"'s computer system. It is also possible to implement as a special purpose information handling system.

Claims

1. A method for searching for data in a data network comprising hyperlinked pages, the method comprising:

receiving zero or more sets of network addresses for pages in a data network;

receiving from an end user a non-negative integer, N, specifying a chain length;

receiving from an end user a set of at least one search argument comprising search criteria;

forming one or more parameters using the set of at least one search argument to perform a search specific to at least one selected search engine;

returning any result pages to form a base list of addresses from the selected search engine;

discarding from the base list of addresses any address which is outside the zero or more sets of network addresses;

forming a tree list of addresses, which includes the base list of addresses, by iteratively examining each page referenced in the tree list of addresses and adding any new address referenced in each page provided that any new page added is only a chain length distance less than or equal to N from an address in the base list of addresses; and

removing from the tree list of address any pages which do not match the set of at least one search argument.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the pages representing successful objects of the search are further edited by the end user.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the pages representing successful objects of the search are sorted (client categorization) to facilitate the user editing of network addresses.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the pages representing successful objects of the search are presented to the end user in the hierarchical structure of the links to facilitate editing.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

removing from the tree list of address any pages which have previously been added to the tree list so as to delete any duplicate entries.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

providing the user with a choice of a verbose or terse list of tree search results.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising:

displaying all links produced by the tree search when the display of the verbose list has been selected.

8. The method of claim 6 further comprising:

displaying only the most senior links when the display of a terse list has been selected.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the network comprises the Internet and the addresses comprise Uniform Resource Locator references (URLs).

10. A computer readable medium comprising program instructions for:

receiving zero or more sets of network addresses for pages in a data network;

receiving from an end user a non-negative integer, N, specifying a chain length;

receiving from an end user a set of at least one search argument comprising search criteria;

forming one or more parameters using the set of at least one search argument to perform a search specific to at least one selected search engine;

returning any result pages to form a base list of addresses from the selected search engine;

discarding from the base list of addresses any address which is outside the zero or more sets of network addresses;

forming a tree list of addresses, which includes the base list of addresses, by iteratively retrieving and examining each page referenced in the tree list of addresses and adding any new address referenced in each page provided that any new page added is only a chain length distance less than or equal to N from an address in the base list of addresses; and

removing from the tree list of addresses any pages which do not match the set of at least one search argument.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 10 wherein the pages representing successful objects of the search are further edited by the end user.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 11 wherein the pages representing successful objects of the search are sorted (client categorization) to facilitate the user editing of network addresses.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 11 wherein the pages representing successful objects of the search are presented to the end user in the hierarchical structure of the links to facilitate editing.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 10 further comprising:

removing from the tree list of addresses any pages which have previously been added to the tree list so as to delete any duplicate entries.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 10 further comprising:

providing the user with a choice of a verbose or terse list of tree search results.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 15 further comprising instructions for displaying all links when the display of the verbose list has been selected.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 15 further comprising instructions for displaying only most senior links when the display of a terse list has been selected.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 10 wherein the network comprises the Internet and the addresses comprise Uniform Resource Locator references (URLs).

19. An information handling system comprising:

means for receiving zero or more sets of network addresses for pages in a data network;

means for receiving from an end user a non-negative integer, N, specifying a chain length;

means receiving from an end user a set of at least one search argument comprising search criteria;

means for forming one or more parameters using the set of at least one search argument to perform a search specific to at least one selected search engine;

means for returning any result pages to form a base list of addresses from the selected search engine;

means for discarding from the base list of addresses any address which is outside the zero or more sets of network addresses;

means for forming a tree list of addresses, which includes the base list of addresses, by iteratively retrieving and examining each page referenced in the tree list of addresses and adding any new address referenced in each page provided that any new page added is only a chain length distance less than or equal to N from an address in the base list of addresses; and

means for removing from the tree list of addresses any pages which do not match the set of at least one search argument.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein the pages representing successful objects of the search are further edited by the end user.

21. The system of claim 20 wherein the pages representing successful objects of the search are sorted (client categorization) to facilitate the user editing of network addresses.

22. The system of claim 20 wherein the pages representing successful objects of the search are presented to the end user in the hierarchical structure of the links to facilitate editing.

23. The system of claim 19 further comprising:

removing from the tree list of addresses any pages which have previously been added to the tree list so as to delete any duplicate entries.

24. The system of claim 19 further comprising:

means for providing the user with a choice of a verbose or terse list of tree search results.

25. The system of claim 24 further comprising:

means for displaying all links produced by the tree search when the display of the verbose list has been selected.

26. The system of claim 24 further comprising:

means for displaying only the most senior links when the display of a terse list has been selected.

27. The system of claim 19 wherein the network comprises the Internet and the addresses comprise Uniform Resource Locator references (URLs).