Determining alternative textual identifiers, such as for registered domain names

• US 7,664,831 B2
• Filed: 10/02/2001
• Issued: 02/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/02/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: VeriSign, Inc.
• Original Assignee: VeriSign, Inc.
• Inventors: Frakes, Jothan, Cartmell, Brian
• Primary Examiner(s): Etienne; Ario
• Assistant Examiner(s): Todd; Gregory G
• Application Number:
  US09/970,096
• Publication Number:
  US 20020103820A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,059 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/217, 709/219, 709/223, 709/226, 709/227, 709/228, 709/229, 709/245, 707/10
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/232 Orthographic correction, e.g. spell checking or vowelisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/274 Converting codes to words; Guess-ahead of partial word inputs
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/00 Network arrangements, protocols or services for addressing or naming
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/30 Managing network names, e.g. use of aliases or nicknames name-to-address mapping H04L61/45
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/3005 Mechanisms for avoiding name conflicts
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/301 Name conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/3025 Domain name generation or assignment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4511 using domain name system [DNS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4552 Lookup mechanisms between a plurality of directories; Synchronisation of directories, e.g. metadirectories

Abstract

A method, system, and computer-readable medium is described that determines alternatives to a specified textual identifier, such as a domain name, by identifying and using words and phrases that are related to the identifier. A variety of types of related words can be used, such as synonyms and translations, and the related words can be determined in a variety of ways. One situation in which alternatives can be generated is after a user has requested to use or acquire an unavailable textual identifier, such as a request to register an already registered domain name, and the determined alternatives can then be presented to the user as possibilities for use or acquisition. When multiple alternatives are presented to the user, they can also be ranked as to relevance and ordered in a variety of ways.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for determining alternative domain names for a domain name that is already registered, the method comprising:

receiving a request from a user to register a specified domain name, the domain name including a top-level domain name portion and a second-level domain name portion, the top-level domain name portion specifying a top-level domain and the second-level domain name portion including at least one word;

determining that the specified domain name is not available to be registered;

determining alternative domain names that are related to the specified domain name by;

determining word alternatives for the words included in the second-level domain name portion, the determined word alternatives including synonyms of the included words or translations of the included words into other languages;

generating alternative domain names whose second-level domain name portions include at least one of the determined word alternatives and whose top-level domain name portions specify the specified top-level domain;

selecting generated alternative domain names that are available to be registered as the determined alternative domain names;

determining a numerical percentage relevance rating for each of the selected alternative domain names, the numerical percentage relevance rating indicating the relevance of the alternative domain name to the domain name specified by the user independent of the other alternative domain names;

sending information to the user indicating that the selected alternative domain names are available to be registered and displaying the numerical percentage relevance ratings;

reserving automatically at least one of the selected alternative domain names for a limited time without registering the at least one selected alternative domain name;

receiving a request from the user that indicates to register at least one of the determined alternative domain names; and

registering the at least one of the indicated alternative domain names for the user.

2. The method of claim 1 including determining alternative top-level domains that are distinct from the specified top-level domain, and wherein the determining of the alternative domain names includes generating and selecting alternative domain names whose top-level domain name portions specify one of the alternative top-level domains.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the generated alternative domain names includes domain names whose second-level domain name portions include at least one of the determined word alternatives and whose top-level domain name portions are one of the alternative top-level domains.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the sent information is a Web page that when displayed to the user includes selectable indications that correspond to the determined alternative domain names in such a manner that the user can request to register a determined alternative domain name by selecting one or more of the indications.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the determined alternative domain names are further selected to have determined relevance ratings above a relevance rating threshold.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the determined alternative domain names are further selected so that the number of determined alternative domain names satisfies a numeric threshold.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the determining of the alternative domain names uses preference information associated with the user.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the determining of the word alternatives includes requesting a third-party service to supply word alternatives for at least one included word and receiving the determined word alternatives from the service in response.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the determining of the word alternatives for an included word includes retrieving alternative word options for the included word from a database of related words.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the method is performed by a domain name registrar.

11. The method of claim 1 including obtaining payment from the user for the determining of the alternative domain names.

12. A computer-implemented method for determining alternative domain names that are related to a domain name, the method comprising:

receiving an indication of at least one lower-level domain name portion of a domain name;

determining whether at least one of the indicated lower-level domain name portions includes a target word for which at least one alternative option word can be identified;

for each of at least some of the indicated lower-level domain name portions that are determined to include a target word for which at least one alternative option word can be identified, generating at least one alternative lower-level domain name portion that includes at least one of the alternative option words for that target word;

determining a numerical percentage relevance rating for each of the generated alternative lower-level domain name portions, the numerical percentage relevance rating indicating the relevance of the alternative lower-level domain name portion to the indicated portion independent of the other alternative domain names;

providing an indication of the generated alternative lower-level domain name portions that can be used in alternative domain names that are related to the domain name and the numerical percentage relevance rating for each provided portion;

sending information to the user indicating that the selected alternative domain names are available to be registered and displaying the numerical percentage relevance ratings;

reserving automatically at least one of the selected alternative domain names for a limited time without registering the at least one selected alternative domain name;

receiving a request from the user that indicates to register at least one of the determined alternative domain names; and

registering the at least one of the indicated alternative domain names for the user.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the alternative lower-level domain name portions for an indicated lower-level domain name portion are generated by replacing the target word in the indicated lower-level domain name portion with one of the alternative option words for the target word.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the alternative lower-level domain name portions for an indicated lower-level domain name portion are generated by adding at least one alternative option word to the indicated lower-level domain name portion.

15. The method of claim 12 wherein the indicated lower-level domain name portion is a second-level domain name portion of the domain name.

16. The method of claim 12 wherein the indicated lower-level domain name portions are a second-level domain name portion and a third-level domain name portion of the domain name.

17. The method of claim 12 wherein the alternative option words are synonyms of the target word.

18. The method of claim 12 wherein the alternative option words are translations of the target word into another language.

19. The method of claim 12 wherein the alternative option words are from at least one of a group of related word categories that includes antonyms of the target word, homophones of the target word, idioms of the target word, hypernyms of the target word, hyponyms of the target word, meronyms of the target word, holonyms of the target word, metonyms of the target word, morphological forms of the target word, and acronyms of multiple portions of the target word.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the group of related word categories further includes synonyms of the target word and translations of the target word into other languages, and wherein the generated alternative lower-level domain name portions include alternative option words of multiple of the related word categories.

21. The method of claim 12 wherein the alternative option words are additional initial, intermediate, or ending option words.

22. The method of claim 12 including, before the providing of the indication of the generated alternative lower-level domain name portions, generating at least one alternative domain name for the domain name by combining one or more of the generated alternative lower level domain name portions with a top-level domain name portion, and wherein the provided indication of the generated alternative lower-level domain name portions are of the generated alternative domain names that include the generated alternative lower-level domain name portions.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein indications of multiple lower-level domain name portions of the domain name are received, and wherein the generated alternative domain names each include multiple generated alternative lower-level domain name portions.

24. The method of claim 22 wherein multiple alternative domain names are generated, and wherein at least one of the multiple generated alternative domain names includes a top-level domain name portion that is distinct from a top-level domain name portion included by another of the multiple generated alternative domain names.

25. The method of claim 22 including, before the providing of the indication of the generated alternative domain names, removing generated alternative domain names that are unavailable for registering.

26. The method of claim 22 including automatically registering at least one of the generated alternative domain names for an indicated user.

27. The method of claim 22 including automatically reserving at least one of the generated alternative domain names for a limited time without registering the at least one of the generated alternative domain names.

28. The method of claim 22 wherein the provided indication is a Web page that when displayed includes indications of the generated alternative domain names.

29. The method of claim 22 including before the providing of the indication of the generated alternative domain names, removing generated alternative domain names whose determined relevance rating is below a relevance rating threshold.

30. The method of claim 22 including, before the providing of the indication of the generated alternative domain names, removing generated alternative domain names until the number of generated alternative domain names is below a maximum number threshold.

31. The method of claim 12 wherein the received indication of the lower-level domain name portions of the domain name is a request from a user to register the domain name.

32. The method of claim 31 including determining that the domain name is unavailable to be registered.

33. The method of claim 32 including placing the user on a waiting list for the domain name.

34. The method of claim 32 including assisting the user to make an offer for the domain name to an owner of the domain name.

35. The method of claim 12 including ranking the generated alternative lower-level domain name portions by relevance rating before the providing of the indication.

36. The method of claim 12 wherein the generating of the alternative lower-level domain name portions is based at least in part on preference information associated with a requester from whom the indication was received.

37. The method of claim 36 wherein the requester is a user, and including obtaining the preference information by querying the user for the preference information.

38. The method of claim 12 including obtaining payment for the providing of the indication from an indicated requester.

39. The method of claim 12 wherein indications of multiple lower-level domain name portions of the domain name are received, and wherein at least one of the generated alternative lower-level domain name portions is an alternative for all of the multiple lower-level domain name portions.

40. The method of claim 12 wherein the domain name has a single lower-level domain name portion, and wherein multiple alternative lower-level domain name portions are generated such that the multiple alternative lower-level domain name portions in combination are an alternative for the single lower-level domain name portion.

41. The method of claim 12 including determining the alternative option words for at least one of the target words and storing the determined alternative option words for future use.

42. The method of claim 12 wherein the received indication is received from a user, wherein the domain name is unavailable for registration by the user, wherein the provided indication is provided to the user, and including:

receiving an indication of a second domain name selected by the user as an alternative to the domain name, the second domain name having at least one lower-level domain name portion;

for at least one of the lower-level domain name portions of the second domain name, determining a word that is included in the lower-level domain name portion that corresponds to a target word in one of the indicated lower-level domain name portions of the domain name, the determined word distinct from the target word; and

when the determined word was not one of the alternative option words for the target word, adding the determined word as an alternative option word for the target word.

43. The method of claim 12 wherein the alternative option words for a target word that are included in the generated alternative lower-level domain name portions are selected based on the relevance ratings determined for the alternative option words.

44. A computer-implemented method for determining alternative domain names that are related to a domain name, the method comprising:

receiving an indication from a user of a domain name that is unavailable to be registered;

determining that the domain name includes at least one target word for which related alternative words can be determined;

generating alternative domain names that each include at least one of the related alternative words;

determining a numerical percentage relevance rating for each of the alternative domain names, the numerical percentage relevance rating indicating the relevance of the alternative domain name independent of the other alternative domain names;

reserving automatically at least one of the selected alternative domain names for a limited time without registering the at least one alternative domain name;

displaying the alternative domain names to the user including the determined numerical percentage relevance ratings;

receiving a request from the user that indicates to register at least one of the alternative domain names; and

registering the at least one of the indicated alternative domain names for the user.

45. The method of claim 44 wherein the display of the alternative domain names includes at indication of at least one user-selectable control whose selection indicates a request by the user to register at least one of the alternative domain names.

46. The method of claim 44 wherein the alternative words for a target word are synonyms of the target word.

47. The method of claim 44 wherein the alternative words for a target word are translations of the target word into another language.

48. The method of claim 44 wherein at least some of the alternative domain names include a top-level domain name portion that is distinct from a top-level domain name portion of the domain name.

49. A computer-implemented method for determining alternative domain names for a domain name that is already registered, the method comprising:

receiving a request from a user to register a specified domain name, the domain name including a top-level domain name portion and a second-level domain name portion, the top-level domain name portion specifying a top-level domain and the second-level domain name portion including at least one word;

determining that the specified domain name is not available to be registered;

determining alternative domain names that are related to the specified domain name by, determining word alternatives for the words included in the second-level domain name portion, the determined word alternatives including synonyms of the included words or translations of the included words into other languages;

generating alternative domain names whose second-level domain name portions include at least one of the determined word alternatives and whose top-level domain name portions specify the specified top-level domain;

selecting generated alternative domain names that are available to be registered as the determined alternative domain names;

determining a numerical percentage relevance rating for each of the selected alternative domain names, the numerical percentage relevance rating indicating the relevance of the alternative domain name to the domain name specified by the user independent of the other alternative domain names;

sending information to the user indicating that the selected alternative domain names are available to be registered and displaying the numerical percentage relevance ratings;

automatically reserving at least one of the selected alternative domain names for a limited time without registering the at least one of the selected alternative domain names;

receiving a request from the user that indicates to register at least one of the determined alternative domain names; and

registering the at least one of the indicated alternative domain names for the user.