Database access system

• US 7,181,438 B1
• Filed: 05/30/2000
• Issued: 02/20/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/21/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Relativity Display, LLC (IPValuation Partners, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Alberti Anemometer LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Szabo, Andrew
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong; Leslie
• Application Number:
  US09/583,048
• Time in Patent Office: 2,457 Days
• Field of Search: 707/2, 707/3, 705/14
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2457 with adaptation to user needs
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3323 using document space presentation or visualization, e.g. category, hierarchy or range presentation and selection
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0212 Chance discounts or incentives
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0226 Incentive systems for frequent usage, e.g. frequent flyer miles programs or point systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0242 Determining effectiveness of advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0247 Calculate past, present or future revenues
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0275 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99932 Access augmentation or optimizing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching

Abstract

An improved human user computer interface system, wherein a user characteristic or set of characteristics, such as demographic profile or societal “role”, is employed to define a scope or domain of operation. The operation itself may be a database search, to interactively define a taxonomic context for the operation, a business negotiation, or other activity. After retrieval of results, a scoring or ranking may be applied according to user define criteria, which are, for example, commensurate with the relevance to the context, but may be, for example, by date, source, or other secondary criteria. A user profile is preferably stored in a computer accessible form, and may be used to provide a history of use, persistent customization, collaborative filtering and demographic information for the user. Advantageously, user privacy and anonymity is maintained by physical and algorithmic controls over access to the personal profiles, and releasing only aggregate data without personally identifying information or of small groups.

Claims

1. A method of providing a human-computer user interface, comprising the steps of:

(a) providing a user with a user interface for defining and retrieving objects based on a resource locator thereof;

(b) providing access to an object search engine for selecting objects from a set of objects, according to a user-defined information content criteria, and returning at least respective resource locators of selected objects;

(c) presenting to the user at least three of the selected objects according to a hierarchal organizational structure having at least three hierarchal levels, a respectively lower level falling within a respectively higher level having a generic characteristic, wherein a selected object is automatically placed within the hierarchal organizational structure based on a respective information content of the at least two selected objects, to thereby group objects having an information content relation and classify characteristics of objects within classes;

(d) inserting objects extrinsic to the selected objects responsive to the user-defined information content criteria, into classes within the hierarchal organizational structure, said extrinsic objects having a contextual relevance to respective information content of a hierarchal level in which they are inserted, wherein at least one of an insertion and a selection by the user of an extrinsic object is selectively associated with a sponsor payment; and

(e) accounting in a database for said sponsor payments.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the extrinsic objects comprise commercial messages.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the extrinsic objects comprise objects identified through a collaborative filter process.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the extrinsic objects are contextually related to the user-defined information content criteria.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the hierarchal organizational structure comprises a tree structure displaying at least three hierarchal levels within a graphic user interface.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the hierarchal organizational structure comprises a hyperbolic tree structure.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the hierarchal organizational structure comprises a display generated by a hyperbolic tree applet.

8. The method according to claim 2, further comprising the step of charging a commercial message sponsor for delivery of commercial messages based on a semantic context of message delivery.

9. The method according to claim 2, further comprising the step of charging a commercial message sponsor for delivery of commercial messages based on a value of a subsequent commercial transaction with the user.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the hierarchal organizational structure comprises a state independent information object.

11. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of ranking members of the set of objects within a single hierarchal class based on a correspondence to the user-defined information content criteria.

12. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of receiving a ranking preference from the user for a ranking method for ranking members of the set of objects within a single hierarchal class.

13. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of graphically representing a history of access to the set of objects.

14. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of manipulating an object within the hierarchal organizational structure through a graphic user interface, and requesting information content corresponding to the manipulated object.

15. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least two distinct predetermined hierarchical organizations of information are provided, each having at least three hierarchal levels for a universe of objects, further comprising the steps of:

(a) selecting a relevant hierarchy from among the at least two distinct predetermined hierarchical organizations of information;

(d) displaying links to the selected objects according to the relevant hierarchy; and

(e) storing at least a subset of the displayed links within the relevant hierarchy as a state independent object.

16. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of defining a user profile, for modifying at least one of the selection by the object search engine, and a hierarchy.

17. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of presenting the hierarchal organizational structure with an applet, wherein the returned respective resource locators of selected objects are transmitted to the applet, which formats the set of objects in the graphic format hierarchal organizational structure, based on a relationship of a content corresponding to each object.

18. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of providing an adaptive user profile applet, comprising a collaborative filter for initial classification, which is subsequently modified based on user observation, wherein the user-defined information content criteria is based on an explicit user input and a function of the adaptive user profile applet.

19. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of defining the hierarchal organizational structure as a user taxonomic hierarchy of interests, correlating the user taxonomic hierarchy with a set of reference taxonomic hierarchies, and modifying the user taxonomic hierarchy based on sets of rules associated with a reference taxonomic hierarchies having high correlations.

20. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least one object has an associated digital rights rule, further comprising the step of applying digital rights rules to accesses of objects by the user.

21. The method according to claim 20, wherein at least one digital rights rule provides a positive incentive to the user.

22. A computer readable medium having stored thereon a software program for executing the method according to claim 1.

23. A system for providing a human-computer user interface, comprising:

(a) a set of navigational tools for defining and retrieving objects based on a resource locator thereof;

(b) an interface for an object search engine for selecting a set of objects according to a user-defined information content criteria and returning respective resource locators of selected objects; and

(c) an output, presenting;

(i) selected objects automatically located within a hierarchal organizational structure based on an information content of respective objects, a respectively lower hierarchal level falling within a respectively higher hierarchal level having a generic characteristic, wherein objects having related information content are grouped together and each group represents an information classification; and

(ii) objects extrinsic to the set of objects responsive to the user-defined information content criteria, inserted into classes within the hierarchal organizational structure of selected objects, said extrinsic objects having a contextual relevance to respective class in which they are inserted, wherein at least one of an insertion and a selection by the user of an extrinsic object is selectively associated with a sponsor payment; and

(d) a database for storing accounting information relating to said sponsor payments.

24. The system according to claim 23, wherein the extrinsic objects comprise commercial messages.

25. The method according to claim 23, wherein the extrinsic objects comprise objects identified through a collaborative filter process.

26. The system according to claim 23, wherein the extrinsic objects are contextually related to the user-defined information content criteria.

27. A method of outputting representations of selected objects organized in a taxonomic hierarchy, comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving a user input for selecting objects from a set of objects having varying relevance to the user input;

(b) selecting objects from the set of objects according to a correspondence between the user input and an information content associated with respective objects;

(c) automatically organizing the selected objects within classes of a taxonomic hierarchy according to a respective information content, the taxonomic hierarchy having at least three levels, a class at a respective level meeting a classification generic for a respective class at inferior level classification below it, and objects at a same inferior level within different classes not being generic for each other; and

(d) outputting perceptual representations of the selected objects organized within the taxonomic hierarchy;

(e) inserting objects extrinsic to the set of objects responsive to the user-defined information content criteria, into classes within the hierarchal organizational structure of selected objects, said extrinsic objects having a contextual relevance to respective class in which they are inserted, wherein at least one of an insertion and a selection by the user of an extrinsic object is selectively associated with a sponsor Payment; and

(f) accounting in a database for said sponsor payments.

28. The method according to claim 27, wherein said extrinsic objects comprise at least one hyperlink.

29. The method according to claim 27, further comprising the step of ranking objects within a class based on a sponsor payment consideration.

30. The method according to claim 27, further comprising the step of defining a user profile, for modifying at least one of a selection of objects responsive to the user-defined information content criteria, and a selection of extrinsic objects.

31. A system for providing a human-computer user interface, comprising a processor executing software for defining:

(a) a set of navigational tools for defining and retrieving objects based on a resource locator thereof;

(b) an interface for an object search engine for selecting a set of objects according to a user-defined information content criteria and returning respective resource locators of selected objects; and

(c) an output, presenting;

(i) selected objects automatically located within a hierarchal organizational structure based on an information content of respective objects, a respectively lower hierarchal level falling within a respectively higher hierarchal level having a generic characteristic, wherein objects having related information content are grouped together and each group represents an information classification; and

(ii) objects extrinsic to the set of objects responsive to the user-defined information content criteria, into classes within the hierarchal organizational structure of selected objects, said extrinsic objects having a contextual relevance to respective class in which they are inserted, wherein at least one of an insertion and a selection by the user of an extrinsic object is selectively associated with a sponsor payment.

32. The system according to claim 31, further comprising a sponsor payment database, wherein the sponsor payment is accounted for in the sponsor payment database.

33. The method according to claim 31, wherein the extrinsic objects comprise commercial messages.

34. The method according to claim 31, wherein the extrinsic objects comprise objects identified through a collaborative filter process.

35. The system according to claim 31, wherein the extrinsic objects are contextually related to the user-defined information content criteria.