System and method for searching information stored on a network

• US 6,567,800 B1
• Filed: 10/01/1998
• Issued: 05/20/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Barrera, Joseph R., Boyajian, William Andrew, Canale, Leonard Mark, Fichter, Don, Kamm, William R.
• Primary Examiner(s): KINDRED, ALFORD W
• Application Number:
  US09/164,298
• Time in Patent Office: 1,692 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1-5, 707/513, 707/500, 707/526, 709/217, 709/201
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9532 Query formulation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99934 Query formulation, input preparation, or translation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access

Abstract

A system and method for searching websites that use category information to narrow the range of a website content search. Website content is retrieved through a network and stored. A user starts a search by selecting a category or categories in which information Pertinent to the user'"'"'s needs is likely to be found. The user then performs a keyword search on the content of websites that fall within the selected category or categories. The results of this category-content search are sent and displayed to the user.

Claims

1. A method for searching for information stored at websites, comprising the steps of:

a. retrieving website content through a network;

b. correlating a piece of retrieved website content with a category;

c. receiving a category selection;

d. receiving a content search request for content in the selected category; and

e. performing a content search on retrieved website content that is correlated with the selected category.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

f. receiving description information for a website from a registrant; and

g. correlating the website with a category based upon the description information.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of presenting a first category name to a user as a hyperlink to a second category name, the second category being a subcategory of the first category.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of performing the content search includes the steps of:

a. maintaining a dynamic index that includes a list of identifiers for websites that are associated with the selected category;

b. searching a representation of the content of each website whose identifier occurs in the dynamic index; and

c. sending the results of the search to the user.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein performing a content search includes the step of performing a keyword search.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the content search includes performing a keyword search on the contents of metatags stored in pages at the website.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of performing the content search includes the steps of:

a. maintaining a web page index that includes a list of identifiers for web pages that comprise a website;

b. receiving a website selection from a user;

c. receiving a web page content search request from the user;

d. searching the content of the web pages that comprise the selected website based upon the web page content search request from the user; and

e. sending the results of the web page content search to the user.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein a category selection is a Uniform Resource Locator.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of sending the results of the web page content search to the user includes the step of sending the Uniform Resource Locator of a web page in which information responsive to the user web page content request is stored.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of performing the content search includes the steps of:

a. maintaining a web page index that includes a list of identifiers for web pages that comprise a website;

b. receiving a website selection from a user;

c. receiving a web page Uniform Resource Locator search request from the user;

d. searching the Uniform Resource Locators of the web pages that comprise the selected website based upon the web page Uniform Resource Locator search request from the user; and

e. sending the results of the web page Uniform Resource Locator search to the user.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of sending the results of the content search to a user.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the results sent to the user are adapted to be displayed ranked in the order of their relevance such that a more relevant result is displayed before a less relevant result.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the results of the content search are sent to the user as a dynamically generated web page.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the results sent to the user include a website identifier and information pertaining to the content of the website corresponding to the identifier.

15. An apparatus for searching for information stored at websites, comprising:

a. a processor;

b. a memory that stores category-content search instructions adapted to be executed by said processor to retrieve content from websites, store the retrieved content, correlate a piece of stored content to a category, receive a category selection, receive a content search request, perform a content search of stored website content that is correlated with the selected category, and to send the results of the content search to a user, said memory coupled to said processor; and

c. a port adapted to be coupled to a network, said port coupled to said processor and said memory.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein said category-content search instructions are further adapted to be executed by said processor to receive description information for a website from a registrant, and to associate the website with a category based upon the website description information.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein said category-content search instructions are adapted to be executed by said processor to maintain a dynamic index that includes a list of identifiers for websites that are associated with the selected category, to search a representation of the content of each website whose identifier occurs in the dynamic index, and to send the results of the search to a user.

18. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein said category-content search instructions are further adapted to be executed by said processor to dynamically generate a web page that reflects the results of the category-content search and that is adapted to be displayed to a user.

19. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein said memory includes a database.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein said content-category search instructions are adapted to be executed by said processor to search, read from and write to said database.

21. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform the method steps for searching for information stored at websites, the method steps comprising:

a. retrieving website content through a network;

b. correlating a piece of stored website content with a category;

c. receiving a category selection;

d. receiving a content search request for content in the selected category; and

e. performing a content search on retrieved website content that is correlated with the selected category.