Network query and matching system and method

• US 6,963,863 B1
• Filed: 09/28/1999
• Issued: 11/08/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Stripe, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Object Services and Consulting, Inc.
• Inventors: Bannon, Thomas
• Primary Examiner(s): Corrielus, Jean M.
• Application Number:
  US09/407,555
• Time in Patent Office: 2,233 Days
• Field of Search: 705/27, 705/37, 705/35, 705/8, 707/3, 707/10, 707/4, 707/5, 707/6, 709/225, 709/229, 715/513, 715/514
• 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
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99936 Pattern matching access

Abstract

A method for finding a trading ad on a network includes steps of receiving a query, devising a query string from the query, sending the query string to a search engine of the network, searching via the search engine to find the trading ad, returning a search result by the search engine, sifting and extracting the trading ad from the search result, and matching and ranking the trading ad with respect to the query. A trader performs the steps of receiving, devising, sending, sifting and extracting, and matching and ranking. The trader is scalable such that the network can be the Internet, and the trader can be a computer software program.

Claims

1. A system for finding a trading ad, on a network, comprising:

a query-sending remote resource;

a query-receiving trader, connected over the network to the remote resource;

a query string devised by the trader;

a search engine, connected to the network, for receiving the query string from the trader, over the network; and

a trading ad, accessible over the network, and findable by the search engine, based on the query string;

wherein the trading ad is a typed XML document contained within a World Wide Web page of the Internet that is selected from the group consisting of an HTML document, an SML document, an RDF document, and a plaintext document; and

wherein the trading ad is an object having appropriately and desiredly attributed services or functions and the object is selected from the group consisting of;

atomic operation, sequence of operations, set of operations, and non-operational.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the trading ad is contained in a resource other than a World Wide Web page.

3. A system for finding a trading ad, on a network, comprising:

a query-sending remote resource;

a query-receiving trader, connected over the network to the remote resource;

a query string devised by the trader;

a search engine, connected to the network, for receiving the query string from the trader, over the network; and

a trading ad, accessible over the network, and findable by the search engine, based on the query string;

wherein the trading ad is contained in a resource other than a World Wide Web page; and

wherein the resource is selected from the group consisting of an MPEG bitstream, a Microsoft Word document, a JPEG image, a software program, and a data object; and

wherein the trading ad is an object having appropriately and desiredly attributed services or functions and the object is selected from the group consisting of;

atomic operation, sequence of operations, set of operations, and non-operational.