System and method for integrating off-line ratings of businesses with search engines
First Claim
1. A self-correcting system for use with a search engine to rank search results based upon a ranking of businesses that are selected from an unrestricted pool of merchants, comprising:
- an off-line ranking system for receiving any of users'"'"' off-line surveys or feedback about businesses;
the off-line ranking system generating rating data from the any of the users'"'"' off-line surveys or feedback;
wherein the rating data correlates higher quality search matches to higher business satisfaction ratings;
wherein the off-line ranking system indexes the rating data;
a ranking repository for storing the rating data indexed by the off-line ranking system;
a result sorter for sorting query results generated by the search engine, based on the rating data from the ranking repository, and for generating ranked matches;
a profile manager for creating a user profile history from a user'"'"'s address;
wherein the user profile history enables the user to update a rating that was previously provided by the user, and disables the user from revising ratings provided by other users; and
wherein updated cumulative business satisfaction ratings from the users'"'"' on-line surveys or feedback automatically cause the on-line ranking system to re-index the rating data, and further cause the result sorter to generate ranked matches based on the re-indexed rating data.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A computer program product is provided as a business rating system to rank business that are relevant to a given Internet search topic. Business ratings are stored in a ranking repository that can be optionally searched by the user along with a user-defined search engine query. The business ratings are compiled from off-line surveys provided for example by independent agencies and/or other off-line surveys obtained through web based rating services. The business ratings can optionally be compiled from on-line questionnaires attached to the search engine results. The business ratings assess the quality of the businesses in terms of “interactive” criteria such as customer satisfaction, professionalism, and cost and ease of use of the businesses'"'"' products or services. The business rating system is comprised of an indexing engine, a query transformer, a search results transformer, a ranking based result sorter, an off-line ranking system, a metadata repository, and a ranking repository. The business rating system integrates the ratings with the search results, and ranks the search results based on such business ratings. In this manner, the user of a search engine receives feedback from other users about businesses of interest. Eventually, businesses with higher ratings will be ranked at the top of the search list, while business with lower ratings will be ranked lower.
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Citations
32 Claims
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1. A self-correcting system for use with a search engine to rank search results based upon a ranking of businesses that are selected from an unrestricted pool of merchants, comprising:
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an off-line ranking system for receiving any of users'"'"' off-line surveys or feedback about businesses; the off-line ranking system generating rating data from the any of the users'"'"' off-line surveys or feedback; wherein the rating data correlates higher quality search matches to higher business satisfaction ratings; wherein the off-line ranking system indexes the rating data; a ranking repository for storing the rating data indexed by the off-line ranking system; a result sorter for sorting query results generated by the search engine, based on the rating data from the ranking repository, and for generating ranked matches; a profile manager for creating a user profile history from a user'"'"'s address; wherein the user profile history enables the user to update a rating that was previously provided by the user, and disables the user from revising ratings provided by other users; and wherein updated cumulative business satisfaction ratings from the users'"'"' on-line surveys or feedback automatically cause the on-line ranking system to re-index the rating data, and further cause the result sorter to generate ranked matches based on the re-indexed rating data. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A self-correcting computer program product for use with a search engine to rank search results based upon a ranking of businesses that are selected from an unrestricted pool of merchants, comprising:
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an off-line ranking system for receiving any of users'"'"' off-line surveys or feedback about businesses; the off-line ranking system generating rating data from the any of the users'"'"' off-line surveys or feedback; wherein the rating data correlates higher quality search matches to higher business satisfaction ratings; wherein the off-line ranking system indexes the rating data; a ranking repository for storing the rating data indexed by the off-line ranking system; a result sorter for sorting query results generated by the search engine, based on the rating data from the ranking repository, and for generating ranked matches; a profile manager for creating a user profile history from a user'"'"'s address; wherein the user profile history enables the user to update a rating that was previously provided by the user, and disables the user from revising ratings provided by other users; and wherein updated cumulative business satisfaction ratings from the users'"'"' on-line surveys or feedback automatically cause the on-line ranking system to re-index the rating data, and further cause the result sorter to generate ranked matches based on the re-indexed rating data. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method for use with a search engine to self-correctively rank search results based upon a ranking of businesses that are selected from an unrestricted pool of merchants, comprising:
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receiving any of users'"'"' off-line surveys or feedback about businesses; the off-line ranking system generating rating data from the any of the users'"'"' off-line surveys or feedback; the rating data correlating higher quality search matches to higher business satisfaction ratings; indexing the rating data by means of an off-line ranking system; storing the rating data indexed by the off-line ranking system, in a ranking repository; sorting query results generated by the search engine, based on the rating data from the ranking repository, and for generating ranked matches; creating a user profile history from a user'"'"'s address; wherein the user profile history enables the user to update a rating that was previously provided by the user, and disables the user from revising ratings provided by other users; and wherein updated cumulative business satisfaction ratings from the users'"'"' on-line surveys or feedback automatically cause the on-line ranking system to re-index the rating data, and further cause the result sorter to generate ranked matches based on the re-indexed rating data. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A search result service for use with a search engine to self-correctively rank search results based upon a ranking of businesses that are selected from an unrestricted pool of merchants, comprising:
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receiving any of users'"'"' off-line surveys or feedback about businesses; generating rating data from the any of the users'"'"' off-line surveys or feedback; wherein the rating data correlates higher quality search matches to higher business satisfaction ratings; indexing the rating data by means of an off-line ranking system; storing the rating data indexed by the off-line ranking system, in an off-line ranking repository; sorting query results generated by the search engine, based on the rating data from the off-line ranking repository, and for generating ranked matches; creating a user profile history from a user'"'"'s address; wherein the user profile history enables the user to update a rating that was previously provided by the user, and disables the user from revising ratings provided by other users; and wherein updated cumulative business satisfaction ratings from the users on-line surveys or feedback automatically cause the on-line ranking system to re-index the rating data, and further cause the result sorter to generate ranked matches based on the re-indexed rating data. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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Specification