Sharing tagged data on the internet

• US 7,953,775 B2
• Filed: 11/07/2006
• Issued: 05/31/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/07/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Dasdan, Ali
• Primary Examiner(s): Alam; Hosain T
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ng; Amy
• Application Number:
  US11/594,520
• Publication Number:
  US 20080109881A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,666 Days
• Field of Search: 707/3, 707/4, 707/5, 707/9, 707/821, 707/822, 707/825, 707/828, 707/830, 715/206
• US Class Current: 707/830
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/955 using information identifiers, e.g. uniform resource locators [URL]

Abstract

People are enabled to share tagged data via the Internet. In one embodiment, an Internet site receives, via the Internet, from various different users, content items of many different content types. The site also receives a tag for each content item and maps that tag to that content item. When other users supply search query terms, the site selects tags that match the search query terms. The site presents content items that are mapped to the selected tags. Using this technique, users are able to share with each other content items of all different content types using a single Internet site, without needing to store content items of different types on different Internet sites. In order to share a particular content item with other users, the user who wants to share the content item needs only to disclose the particular content item'"'"'s tag to the other users.

Claims

1. A method comprising steps of:

receiving a first content item at a server over the Internet from a user'"'"'s computer;

storing the first content item at the server, wherein the first content item has a first content type;

receiving, at the server, over the Internet, from the user'"'"'s computer, a particular content item identifier that differs from a file name of the first content item;

storing, at the server, first associative data that maps the first content item to the particular content item identifier;

receiving a second content item at the server over the Internet from the user'"'"'s computer;

storing the second content item at the server, wherein the second content item has a second content type that differs from the first content type; and

storing, at the server, second associative data that maps the second content item to the particular content item identifier;

wherein the particular content identifier differs from a file name of the second content item;

receiving one or more search query terms that match the particular content item identifier;

receiving data that specifies one or more specified content types;

in response to receiving the one or more search query terms, selecting, from a group of content item identifiers, one or more selected content item identifiers that match the one or more search query terms;

selecting, from a group of content items, one or more selected content items that are (a) mapped to the particular content item identifier and (b) have content types that are included in the one or more specified content types; and

presenting a list of one or more content items, wherein the list (1) does not refer to any content item that is not mapped to any of the one or more selected content item identifiers; and

(2) does not refer to any content item that does not have a content type that is included in the one or more specified content types; and

wherein the steps are performed by one or more computing devices.

4. A volatile or non-volatile machine-readable medium that stores instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method of claim 1.

2. A method comprising particular steps of:

storing a particular content item;

receiving, over the Internet, from a user'"'"'s computer, a proposed content item identifier that differs from a file name of the particular content item;

receiving, over the Internet, from the user'"'"'s computer, an indication of whether the proposed content item identifier is intended to be unique;

if the indication indicates that the proposed content item identifier is intended to be unique, then performing first steps, wherein the first steps comprise;

determining whether the proposed content item identifier is currently mapped to any content item in a group of one or more content items;

if the proposed content item identifier is currently mapped to at least one content item in the group of one or more content items, then informing a user that the proposed content item identifier is not available; and

if the proposed content item identifier is not currently mapped to any content item in the group of one or more content items, then storing associative data that maps the particular content item to the proposed content item identifier; and

if the proposed content item identifier is not currently mapped to any content item in the group of one or more content items, then adding the proposed content item identifier to the set of unique content item identifiers;

but

if the indication indicates that the proposed content item identifier is not intended to be unique, then performing second steps, wherein the second steps comprise;

determining whether the proposed content item identifier is the same as any unique content item identifier in a set of unique content item identifiers;

if the proposed content item identifier is the same as at least one unique content item identifier in the set of unique content item identifiers, then informing a user that the proposed content item identifier is not available; and

if the proposed content identifier is not the same as any unique content identifier in the set of unique content identifiers, then storing associative data that maps the particular content item to the proposed content item identifier;

wherein the particular steps are performed by one or more computing devices.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

in response to receiving one or more search query terms, selecting, from a group of content item identifiers, one or more selected content item identifiers that match the one or more search query terms, wherein the one or more selected content item identifiers include a particular content item identifier that is mapped to the particular content item; and

presenting a list of content items that (1) refers to at least the particular content item and (2) does not refer to any content item that is not mapped to any of the one or more selected content item identifiers.

5. A volatile or non-volatile machine-readable medium that stores instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method of claim 2.

6. A volatile or non-volatile machine-readable medium that stores instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method of claim 3.