Method and apparatus for providing geographically authenticated electronic documents
First Claim
1. A computerized method of searching for electronic documents, the method comprising:
- receiving a search query including a keyword and a geographic term;
responding to the search query by processing a parallel search including;
searching a searchable index of spidered website content; and
searching a database, independent of the searchable index search, for verified URL addresses associated with the geographic term, the database storing information about a plurality of online websites, including a URL address of a website and a verified geographic location associated with the website, the geographic location being verified using a mechanism other than the content of the website;
comparing the searchable index search results with the geographically verified search results;
determining, based on the comparison, which URL addresses in the searchable index search results match the geographically verified search results; and
providing the URL addresses in the searchable index query results that match URL addresses in the geographically verified search results.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for providing geographically authenticated electronic documents is disclosed. Authentication for attributes for an electronic document stored on a computer network are defined, the attributes comprise at least one attribute describing a geographic location associated with the electronic document. Authenticated attributes (e.g., geographic location) of electronic documents (e.g., Web pages) allow for more accurate geographic searching and filtering. An authenticated digital certificate is created and associated with an electronic document. The authenticated digital certificate can be stored within the electronic document, such as can be done with HTML tags on a Web page. The digital certificate can also be stored as a separate file associated with the electronic document, as a separate signed digital certificate and as a database record.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. A computerized method of searching for electronic documents, the method comprising:
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receiving a search query including a keyword and a geographic term; responding to the search query by processing a parallel search including; searching a searchable index of spidered website content; and searching a database, independent of the searchable index search, for verified URL addresses associated with the geographic term, the database storing information about a plurality of online websites, including a URL address of a website and a verified geographic location associated with the website, the geographic location being verified using a mechanism other than the content of the website; comparing the searchable index search results with the geographically verified search results; determining, based on the comparison, which URL addresses in the searchable index search results match the geographically verified search results; and providing the URL addresses in the searchable index query results that match URL addresses in the geographically verified search results. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A computerized method of searching for electronic documents, the method comprising:
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using a web browser plug-in detecting a search query having a keyword and a geographic term; determining whether the search query relates to a geographic search by searching, using the keyword and geographic term, a database storing geographic terms used for non-geographic purposes; if a match is not found in the non-geographic terms database, determining that the search query is a geographically related search; responding to the geographically related search by processing a parallel search including; searching a searchable index of spidered website content; and searching a database, independent of the searchable index search, for verified URL addresses associated with the geographic term, the database storing information about a plurality of online websites, including a URL address of a website and a verified geographic location associated with the website, the geographic location being verified using a mechanism other than the content of the website; comparing the searchable index search results with the geographically verified search results; determining, based on the comparison, which URL addresses in the searchable index search results match the geographically verified search results; and providing the URL addresses in the searchable index query results that match URL addresses in the geographically verified search results.
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Specification