Preemptive downloading of web pages with terms associated with user interest keywords

• US 7,139,972 B2
• Filed: 07/26/2001
• Issued: 11/21/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 07/26/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: LinkedIn Corporation (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hamilton, Rick Allen II, Lipton, Steven Jay
• Primary Examiner(s): Bashore, William
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tran, Quoc A.
• Application Number:
  US09/915,433
• Publication Number:
  US 20030023629A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,944 Days
• Field of Search: 715/501.1, 715/513, 707/2, 707/3, 707/4, 707/5
• US Class Current: 715/234
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9574 of access to content, e.g. by caching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99932 Access augmentation or optimizing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access

Abstract

The present invention provides a method, apparatus, and computer implemented instructions for preemptive downloading and highlighting of web pages with terms indirectly associated with user interest keywords. Associative terms are identified and weighted. The weighted associative terms are used to rate Web pages. The Web pages, which have a rating higher than the specified threshold, are selected and presented to the user. Also, Web pages that contain user interest keywords or subject matter keywords from the currently displayed Web page are selected and presented to the user.

Claims

1. A method in a data processing system for selecting a Web page, the method comprising:

receiving at least one user interest term;

identifying associative terms, wherein the associative terms are associated with the at least one user interest term;

weighting the associative terms in response to an identification of the associative terms to form a set of weighted associative terms based on specified probabilities that the associative terms are relative to the at least one user interest term;

processing a plurality of Web pages using the set of weighted associative terms to generate a plurality of cumulative ratings in which each Web page within the plurality of Web pages has a cumulative rating, wherein the cumulative rating for a particular Web page within the plurality of Web pages is based on the set of weighted associative terms, wherein the cumulative rating of the particular Web page is 100 percent minus the probability that the particular Web page is irrelevant, and wherein the probability that the particular Web page is irrelevant is determined by multiplying differences between 100 percent and each of the set of weighted associative terms;

selecting the Web page as a Web page having a selected cumulative rating greater than a threshold; and

presenting the Web page.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

selecting another Web page from the plurality of Web pages if the another Web page has a cumulative rating greater than the threshold.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is implemented in a browser program.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the data structure is a database.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying additional associative terms using parsing logic, wherein the additional associative terms are associated with at least one subject matter term gathered from a displayed Web page selected by a user.

6. A method in a data processing system for processing documents, the method comprising:

assigning weights to a set of terms, wherein the set of terms is associated with at least one particular term of interest and wherein each term within the set of terms is associated with a weight to form a weighted set of terms based on specified probabilities that the set of terms is relative to the at least one particular term of interest;

selecting a document from a group of documents using the weighted set of terms; and

wherein the selecting step comprises;

generating a cumulative weight for each document within the group of documents, wherein the cumulative weight is 100 percent minus the probability that a particular document is irrelevant, and wherein the probability that a particular document is irrelevant is determined by multiplying differences between 100 percent and the weights for each term within the weighted set of terms;

comparing the cumulative weight for each document with a threshold;

selecting the document as a selected document having a weight cumulative weight greater than the threshold; and

presenting the document.

7. A data processing system comprising:

a bus system;

a communications unit connected to the bus system;

a memory connected to the bus system, wherein the memory includes a set of instructions; and

a processing unit connected to the bus system, wherein the processing unit executes the set of instructions to receive at least one user interest term;

identify associative terms, wherein the associative terms are associated with the at least one user interest term;

weigh the associative terms in response to an identification of the associative terms to form a set of weighted associative terms based on specified probabilities that the associative terms are relative to the at least one user interest term;

processing a plurality of Web pages using the set of weighted associative terms to generate a plurality of cumulative ratings in which each Web page within the plurality of Web pages has a cumulative rating, wherein the cumulative rating fort particular Web page within the plurality of Web pages is based on the set of weighted associative terms;

wherein the cumulative rating of the particular Web page is 100 percent minus the probability that the particular Web page is irrelevant, and wherein the probability that the particular Web page is irrelevant is determined by multiplying differences between 100 percent and each of the set of weighted associative terms; and

select the Web page as a Web page having a selected cumulative rating greater than a threshold.

8. A data processing system comprising:

a bus system;

a communications unit connected to the bus system;

a memory connected to the bus system, wherein the memory includes a set of instructions; and

a processing unit connected to the bus system, wherein the processing unit executes the set of instructions to assign weights to a set of terms, wherein the set of terms is associated with at least one particular term of interest and wherein each term within the set of terms is associated with a weight to form a weighted set of terms based on specified probabilities that the set of terms is relative to the at least one particular term of interest;

select a document from a group of documents using the weighted set of terms;

generate a cumulative weight for each document within the group of documents, wherein the cumulative weight is 100 percent minus the probability that a particular document is irrelevant, and wherein the probability that a particular document is irrelevant is determined by multiplying differences between 100 percent and the weights for each term within the weighted set of terms;

compare the cumulative weight for each document with a threshold; and

select the document as a selected document having a weight cumulative weight greater than the threshold.

9. A data processing system for selecting a Web page, the data processing system comprising:

receiving means receiving at least one user interest term;

identifying means identifying associative terms, wherein the associative terms are associated with the at least one user interest term;

weighting means weighting the associative terms in response to an identification of the associative terms to form a set of weighted associative terms based on specified probabilities that the associative terms are relative to the at least one user interest term;

processing means processing a plurality of Web pages using the set of weighted associative terms to generate a plurality of cumulative ratings in which each Web page within the plurality of Web pages has a cumulative rating, wherein the cumulative rating for a particular Web page within the plurality of Web pages is based on the set of weighted associative terms, wherein the cumulative rating of the particular Web page is 100 percent minus the probability that the particular Web page is irrelevant, and wherein the probability that the particular Web page is irrelevant is determined by multiplying differences between 100 percent and each of the set of weighted associative terms;

selecting means selecting the Web page as a Web page having a selected cumulative rating greater than a threshold; and

presenting means for presenting the Web page.

10. The data processing system of claim 9, wherein the selecting means is a first selecting means and further comprising:

second selecting means for selecting another Web page from the plurality of Web pages if the another Web page has a cumulative rating greater than the threshold.

11. The data processing system of claim 9, wherein the identifying means, weighting means, processing means, and selecting means are located in a browser program.

12. The data processing system of claim 9, wherein the data structure is a database.

13. The data processing system of claim 9 further comprising:

wherein the identifying means identifies additional associative terms using parsing logic, wherein the additional associative terms are associated with at least one subject matter term gathered from a displayed Web page selected by a user.

14. A data processing system for processing documents, the data processing system comprising:

assigning means assigning weights to a set of terms, wherein the set of terms is associated with at least one particular term of interest end wherein each term within the set of terms is associated with a weight to form a weighted set of terms based on specified probabilities that the set of terms is relative to the at least one particular term of interest;

selecting means selecting a document from a group of documents using the weighted set of terms; and

wherein the selecting means comprises;

generating means for generating a cumulative weight for each document within the group of documents, wherein the cumulative weight is 100 percent minus the probability that a particular document is irrelevant, and wherein the probability that a particular document is irrelevant is determined by multiplying differences between 100 percent and the weights for each term within the weighted set of terms;

comparing means for comparing the cumulative weight for each document with a threshold;

means for selecting the document as a selected document having a weight cumulative weight greater than the threshold; and

presenting means for presenting the document.

15. A computer program product in a computer readable medium for selecting a Web page, the computer program product comprising:

first instructions for receiving at least one user interest term;

second instructions for identifying associative terms, wherein the associative terms are associated with the at least one user interest term;

third instructions for weighting the associative terms in response to an identification of the associative terms to form a set of weighted associative terms based on specified probabilities that the associative terms are relative to at least one user interest term;

fourth instructions for processing a plurality of Web pages using the set of weighted associative terms to generate a plurality of cumulative ratings in which each Web page within the plurality of Web pages has a cumulative rating, wherein the cumulative rating for a particular Web page within the plurality of Web pages is based on the set of weighted associative terms, wherein the cumulative rating of the particular Web page is 100 percent minus the probability that the particular Web page is irrelevant, and wherein, the probability that the particular Web page is irrelevant is determined by multiplying differences between 100 percent and each of the set of weighted associative terms;

fifth instructions for selecting the Web page as a Web page having a selected cumulative rating greater than a threshold; and

sixth instruction for presenting the Web page.

16. A computer program product in a computer readable medium for processing documents, the computer program product comprising:

first instructions for assigning weights to a set of terms, wherein the set of terms is associated with at least one particular term of interest and wherein each term within the set of terms is associated with a weight to form a weighted set of terms based on specified probabilities that the set of terms is relative to the at least one particular term of interest;

second instructions for selecting a document from a group of documents using the weighted set of terms; and

wherein the second instructions for selecting comprises;

third instructions for generating a cumulative weight for each document within the group of documents, wherein the cumulative weight is 100 percent minus the probability that a particular document is irrelevant, and wherein the probability that a particular document is irrelevant is determined by multiplying differences between 100 percent and the weights for each term within the weighted set of terms;

fourth instructions for comparing the cumulative weight for each document with a threshold;

fifth instructions for selecting the document as a selected document having a weight cumulative weight greater than the threshold; and

sixth instructions for presenting the document.