Method and apparatus for finding information on the internet

• US 6,801,906 B1
• Filed: 01/11/2000
• Issued: 10/05/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 01/11/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Day, Paul Reuben, Bates, Cary Lee, Santosuosso, John Matthew
• Primary Examiner(s): Corrielus, Jean M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): To, Baoquoc N
• Application Number:
  US09/480,413
• Time in Patent Office: 1,729 Days
• Field of Search: 707/2, 707/3, 707/5, 707/10, 707/4
• US Class Current: 707/707
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/959 Network
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99932 Access augmentation or optimizing
• 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

When a search is made for information on the Internet, certain search parameters are saved in the user'"'"'s system. If a subsequent related search is made, these search parameters are transferred to the internet search engine and used to reorder or otherwise modify the search results. Preferably, every time a search request is made, an entry is added to a cookie, containing the search terms and date of search. The search engine re-orders search results by dividing the results into multiple groups, including (in order of priority: (a) those URLs which are new since the last search; (b) those URLs which have been previously visited by have changed, the magnitude of change determining the ordering within this group; (c) those URLs which existed before the previous search, but have not been visited by the user; and (d) those URL'"'"'s which the user has previously visited and have not changed. In the preferred embodiment, the user may optionally manually specify certain URLs to be included or excluded. The ordering of search results in accordance with the present invention provides the user with greater control and more meaningful information than current search technology.

Claims

1. A method of searching for information on the web, comprising the steps of:

transmitting a first search request from a first client to a search engine server, said search request being transmitted over the Internet, said search engine server responding to multiple search requests received from multiple respective clients over the Internet;

transmitting results of said first search from said search engine server to said first client over the Internet;

transmitting a second search request from said first client to said search engine server, said second request being transmitted over the Internet, said second search request including a plurality of second search query parameters defining a set of responsive items, said second search request further including information relating to said results of said first search, said information relating to said results of said first search being in addition to said second search query parameters;

generating results responsive to said second search request from said set of responsive items, said results being generated by said search engine server and being customized to said first client by said search engine server using said information relating to said results of said first search, wherein said step of generating results responsive to said second search request comprises re-ordering a respective priority of a plurality of URLs satisfying parameters of said second search request by (a) estimating an amount of change of a plurality of URLs using said information relating to said first search, and (b) prioritizing said plurality of URLs using the estimated amount of change; and

transmitting said results responsive to said second search request to said first client over the Internet.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of re-ordering priority of a plurality of URLs comprises increasing the priority of new URLs.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of transmitting a second search request from said first client to said search engine server comprises transmitting a cookie containing information relating to said first search.

4. A computer program product for providing web searches in a server computer coupled to the Internet, said computer program product comprising:

a plurality of processor executable instructions recorded on signal-bearing media, wherein said instructions, when executed by said processor, cause said server computer to perform the steps of;

determining a respective set of URLs meeting the parameters of each of a plurality of search requests, each said search request being received from a respective client over the Internet;

prioritizing the URLs in each said respective set of URLs according to a prioritization algorithm; and

for a first set of URLs meeting the parameters of a first search request received from a first client, modifying the relative priority of URLs within said first set produced by said prioritizing step, without modifying said prioritization algorithm for use by other clients of said server computer, using information about results of a previous search performed by said search engine server, said information about results of a previous search performed by said search engine server being in addition to said parameters of said first search request, said information about results of a previous search being transmitted by said first client to said search engine server over the Internet.

5. The computer program product of claim 4, wherein said information about a previous search is transmitted by said first client to said search engine in a cookie.

6. The computer program product of claim 4, wherein said information about a previous search comprises a search string from said previous search.

7. The computer program product of claim 4, wherein said information about a previous search comprises web sites previously visited by said first client.

8. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein said step of:

modifying the relative priority of URLs comprises comparing URLs in said first set of URLs meeting the parameters of the first search request with URLs of web sites previously visited by said first client.

9. A web server computer system for providing web searches responsive to requests received from clients, comprising:

a database of web information, said database containing a plurality of URLs;

a search engine for searching said database of web information responsive to a plurality of search requests received from clients to produce a respective set of URLs meeting the parameters of each said search request received from a client;

a prioritizer for prioritizing each said respective set of URLs produced by said search engine according to an internal prioritization algorithm, wherein said prioritizer uses prioritization information transmitted with a first search request by a first client to said web server computer system to modify the relative priorities, according to said internal prioritization algorithm, of the set of URLs produced by said search engine responsive to said first search request, without modifying said internal prioritization algorithm for use by other clients of said web server computer system, said prioritization information being information in addition to said parameters of said search request.

10. The web server computer system of claim 9, wherein said prioritization information is transmitted by said first client to said search engine in a cookie.

11. The web server computer system of claim 9, wherein said prioritization information comprises a search string from a previous search.

12. The web server computer system of claim 9, wherein said prioritization information comprises URLs of web sites previously visited by said first client.

13. The web server computer system of claim 12, wherein said prioritizer prioritizes said set of URLs meeting the parameters of the first search request by comparing URLs in said set of URLs meeting the parameters of the first search request with URLs of web sites previously visited by said first client.

14. The web server computer system of claim 9, wherein said prioritization information is information relating to the results of a previous search performed by said search engine responsive to a request from said first client.