Annotating links in a document based on the ranks of documents pointed to by the links

• US 7,908,277 B1
• Filed: 02/05/2007
• Issued: 03/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/10/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University (Stanford Management Co.)
• Original Assignee: Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University (Stanford Management Co.)
• Inventors: Page, Lawrence
• Primary Examiner(s): Le; Uyen T.
• Application Number:
  US11/671,363
• Time in Patent Office: 1,499 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/748
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/382 using citations hypermedia G06F16/94
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99937 Sorting

Abstract

A method may identify a document that includes a link that points to a linked document, determine a score for the link in the identified document based on a score of the linked document, modify the identified document based on the determined score, and provide the modified document.

Claims

1. A method performed by a computer, the method comprising:

identifying, by the computer, a document that is stored on a server in a network and that includes a link that points to a linked document;

determining, by the computer, a rank of the linked document;

annotating, by the computer, the link within the identified document based on the determined rank, to form a modified document; and

providing, by the computer, the modified document to a user.

2. The method of claim 1, where the identified document is a web document.

3. The method of claim 1, where determining the rank includes:

determining ranks for one or more linking documents that include links that point to the linked document, and

determining a rank for the linked document based on the ranks of the one or more linking documents.

4. The method of claim 1, where determining the rank includes:

determining a measure of importance associated with one or more linking documents that include a link that points to the linked document, and

determining a rank for the linked document based on the determined measure of importance associated with the one or more linking documents.

5. The method of claim 4, where determining the measure of importance includes:

determining a probability of a random surfer accessing the one or more linking documents after following a number of links, and

using the determined probability as the measure of importance for the one or more linking documents.

6. The method of claim 1, where annotating the link includes:

associating an indicator of the determined rank with the link within the identified document.

7. The method of claim 1, where annotating the link includes:

associating text indicative of the determined rank with the link within the identified document.

8. The method of claim 1, where annotating the link includes:

associating an icon indicative of the determined rank with the link within the identified document.

9. A method performed by a computer, the method comprising:

identifying, in a database, a document that includes a plurality of links, each of the plurality of links pointing to a corresponding document of a plurality of documents;

determining, by the computer, a rank of the corresponding document pointed to by each of one or more links of the plurality of links;

annotating, by the computer, the one or more links in the identified document based on the determined one or more ranks; and

providing, by the computer, the identified document with the annotated one or more links to a user.

10. The method of claim 9, where the identified document is a web document.

11. The method of claim 9, where determining the rank includes:

determining, for each of the corresponding documents, ranks for one or more linking documents that include links that point to the corresponding document, and

determining a rank for each of the corresponding documents based on the ranks of the one or more linking documents.

12. The method of claim 9, where determining the rank includes:

determining, for each of the corresponding documents, a measure of importance associated with one or more linking documents that include a link that points to the corresponding document, and

determining a score for each of the corresponding documents based on the determined measure of importance associated with the one or more linking documents.

13. The method of claim 12, where determining the measure of importance includes:

determining a probability of a random surfer accessing the one or more linking documents after following a number of links, and

using the determined probability as the measure of importance for the one or more linking documents.

14. The method of claim 9, where annotating the one or more links includes:

associating an icon or text indicative of the determined one or more ranks with the one or more links within the identified document.

15. A method performed by a computer, the method comprising:

identifying, by the computer, a plurality of first documents that include links that point to a plurality of second documents, one of the first documents including one or more links to one or more of the second documents;

determining, by the computer, ranks for the one or more second documents based on scores of the first documents that include links that point to the one or more second documents;

associating, by the computer, indicators of the determined ranks with the one or more links within the one of the first documents; and

providing, by the computer, the one of the first documents, with the indicators, to a user.

16. The method of claim 15, where associating indicators of the determined ranks includes:

associating text indicative of one of the determined ranks with one of the one or more links within the one of the first documents.

17. The method of claim 15, where associating indicators of the determined ranks includes:

associating an icon indicative of one of the determined ranks with one of the one or more links within the one of the first documents.

18. A method performed by a computer, the method comprising:

identifying, by the computer, a document in a database, where the document includes a plurality of links, each of the plurality of links pointing to a corresponding document of a plurality of documents;

determining, by the computer, a rank for each of one or more of the corresponding documents pointed to by one or more links of the plurality of links in the document;

annotating, by the computer, the one or more links based on the one or more determined ranks; and

providing, by the computer, the document with the annotated one or more links to a user.

19. The method of claim 18, where the document is a web document.

20. The method of claim 18, where the database is a linked database.

21. The method of claim 18, where determining the rank includes:

determining ranks for one or more linking documents that contain links that point to the corresponding document, and

determining a rank for the corresponding document based on the ranks of the one or more linking documents.

22. The method of claim 18, where determining the rank includes:

determining a measure of importance associated with one or more linking documents that contain a link that points to the corresponding document, and

determining a rank for the corresponding document based on the determined measure of importance associated with the one or more linking documents.

23. The method of claim 22, where determining the measure of importance includes:

determining a probability of a random surfer accessing the one or more linking documents after following a number of links, and

using the determined probability as the measure of importance for the one or more linking documents.

24. The method of claim 18, where annotating the one or more links includes:

associating an icon or text indicative of the one or more determined ranks with the one or more links.

26. The method of claim 23, where annotating the link includes:

associating an indicator of the determined rank with the link within the one of the linking documents.

25. A method performed by a computer, the method comprising:

determining, by the computer, a rank for each of a plurality of documents in a database, the documents including linking documents and linked documents, one of the linking documents including a link to one of the linked documents;

annotating, by the computer, the link in the one of the linking documents, based on the determined rank of the one of the linked documents, to form a modified document; and

providing, by the computer, the modified document to a user.

27. The method of claim 25, where determining the rank includes:

calculating a rank for a particular linking document, of the linking documents, that includes a link to the one of the linked documents, and

calculating a rank for the one of the linked documents based on the rank of the particular linking document.

28. The method of claim 25, where determining the rank includes:

calculating a measure of importance associated with a particular linking document, of the linking documents, that includes a link that points to the one of the linked documents, and

calculating a rank for the one of the linked documents based on the measure of importance associated with the particular linking document.

29. The method of claim 28, where calculating the measure of importance includes:

calculating a probability of a random surfer accessing the particular linking document after following a number of links, and

using the probability as the measure of importance for the particular linking document.