Method, system, and software for correcting uniform resource locators

• US 7,966,310 B2
• Filed: 11/24/2004
• Issued: 06/21/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/24/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Knowledge Ventures, L.P. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kortum, Philip T., Sullivan, Marc
• Primary Examiner(s): Alam; Shahid A
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ly; Anh
• Application Number:
  US10/996,726
• Publication Number:
  US 20060112094A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,400 Days
• Field of Search: 707 1- 5, 707/10, 707/709, 707/710, 707/716, 715/533, 715/513, 715/532, 709217-218, 709/203, 709/226, 709/245, 709/220, 709/223, 709/214
• US Class Current: 707/709
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9566 URL specific, e.g. using aliases, detecting broken or misspelled links

Abstract

A uniform resource locator (URL) entered into a browser may be altered to correct misspellings or other errors in the URL. The prefix, the domain name and the domain extension may all be spell checked, compared with lists of homophones, compared with commonly misspelled URLs, and compared with similar URLs that have been previously successfully resolved. The erroneous URL, or portions thereof, may be automatically corrected so that the correction is transparent to the user, or a list of possible substitutions may be presented to the user.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

responsive to an entered uniform resource locator (URL) not resolving, the entered URL comprising an entered domain extension representing a top level domain, an entered domain name first portion representing a second level domain, and an entered domain prefix representing a sub-domain of the second level domain, modifying the URL including;

responsive to determining that the entered URL is similar to a previously resolved URL, using the previously resolved URL as the modified URL;

responsive to determining that the entered URL is not similar to a previously resolved URL, performing the following operations in the following sequence until the operations are exhausted or a modified URL resolves;

responsive to determining an error in the entered domain prefix, modifying the entered URL by substituting a corrected domain prefix for the entered domain prefix and attempting to resolve the modified URL;

responsive to determining an error in the entered domain extension, modifying the URL by substituting a proper domain extension for the entered domain extension of the entered domain name and attempting to resolve the modified URU; and

responsive to determining a homophone for the domain name first portion, modifying the URL by substituting the homophone of the entered domain name first portion for the entered domain name first portion and attempting to resolve the modified URL; and

responsive to the modified URL resolving, retrieving a web page associated with the modified URL;

generating a request for permission to correct the URL prior to correcting an erroneous portion of the URL;

correcting a prefix of the URL independent of a response to the request; and

correcting the first portion of the domain name consistent with a response to the request.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein:

the entered URL is entered by a user of a local information handling system; and

the local information handling system performs one or more of the modifying operations.

3. An information handling system comprising:

a processor;

memory operably associated with said processor; and

a program of instructions storable in said memory and executable by said processor, said program of instructions comprising instructions to perform the following operations sequentially;

identify an input uniform resource locator (URL) as erroneous wherein the input URL includes a top level domain, a second level domain, and a prefix comprising a sub-domain of the second level domain;

determine a first corrected URL by correcting the prefix when the prefix is incorrect;

attempt to resolve the first corrected URL;

responsive to the first corrected URL not resolving, determine a second corrected URL by correcting the top level domain when the top level domain is incorrect;

attempt to resolve the second corrected URL;

responsive to the second corrected URL not resolving, determine a third corrected URL by correcting the sub-domain of the input URL when the sub-domain is incorrect;

attempt to resolve the third corrected URL; and

generate a request for permission to correct the URL prior to determining a corrected URL.

4. The information handling system of claim 3, wherein said program of instructions further comprises at least one instruction to correct the second level domain name based on previously resolved URLs.

5. The information handling system of claim 3, wherein said program of instructions further comprises at least one instruction to correct the second level domain name based on homophones.

6. A memory tangibly embodying a program of executable instructions, said program of instructions comprising instructions to:

identify a uniform resource locator (URL) as erroneous, wherein the input URL includes a top level domain, a second level domain, and a prefix comprising a sub-domain of the second level domain, and, in response, perform the following operations in sequence;

generate a request for permission to correct the input URL prior to determining a corrected URL;

generate a first corrected URL by selectively altering the prefix responsive to determining the prefix is an erroneous prefix independent of a response to the request;

responsive to the first corrected URL not resolving, generate, consistent with the response to the request, a second corrected URL by selectively altering the top level domain responsive to determining the top level domain is an erroneous top level domain;

responsive to the second corrected URL not resolving, generate, consistent with the response to the request, a third corrected URL by selectively altering the second level domain responsive to determining the second level domain is an erroneous second level domain.

7. The memory of claim 6, further comprising at least one instruction to correct the second level domain based on a comparison of the second level domain with entries included in a list comprising misspelled words.

8. The memory of claim 6, further comprising at least one instruction to correct the second level domain based on previously resolved URLs.

9. The memory of claim 6, further comprising at least one instruction to correct the second level domain based on homophones of the body portion.

10. The memory of claim 6, wherein said program of instructions includes at least one instruction to determine if the erroneous URL differs from a previously resolved URL by less than a specified number of characters.

11. The memory of claim 6, wherein said program of instructions includes at least one instruction to determine if the erroneous URL differs from a previously resolved URL by less than a specified percentage of characters.