Method for searching media

• US 20040122811A1
• Filed: 09/30/2003
• Published: 06/24/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 01/10/1997
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Page, Lawrence E.
• Granted Patent: US 7,437,351 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/30 of unstructured textual data document management systems G06F16/93
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation

Abstract

The present invention is directed to a computer-implemented method and apparatus for searching in response to Internet-based search queries using a search engine and an electronic database. According to one example embodiment of the present invention, data sets representing published items are input, for example, scanned-in or sent electronically, and stored in a searchable database. Each data set includes text from at least one published item. Responsive to the search query, a search engine searches for and identifies relevant web pages and data sets representing published items and, in a more specific embodiment, ranked characterizations are returned for the relevant web pages and published items. An electronic path can be provided with the published item for accessing further information about the published item. In one embodiment, the electronic path is a hyperlink from a characterization of a relevant published item to a more complete electronic representation of the relevant published item. Publishers provide authorization to display copyrighted materials through a permission protocol.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for searching in response to Internet-based search queries using a search engine and a searchable electronic database, comprising:

storing in the searchable database data sets representing printed items from publications respectively printed by a plurality of respective publishers, each data set including text from at least one of the printed items; and

using the search engine, responding to a search query by

searching for web pages that are relevant for the search query and searching the data sets in the electronic database for data sets that are relevant to the search query, thereby identifying relevant Internet web pages and relevant data sets corresponding to relevant publication items, and

returning at least one characterization of at least one of the relevant web pages and at least one characterization of at least one of the relevant publication items and, for said at least one of the relevant publication items, providing an electronic path for accessing further information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the printed items, that are represented by stored data sets in the searchable database, are copyrighted printed items.

3. The method of claim 2, further including executing a permission protocol in which the publisher provides authorization that permits the search engine to display more text from said at least one of the relevant publication items.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein storing data sets representing printed items includes storing data sets representing advertisements printed with the printed items.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein storing data sets representing the advertisements includes storing information for linking to information about a product represented in one of the advertisements.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein storing data sets representing the advertisements includes storing information for displaying information about a product represented in one of the advertisements.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein storing data sets representing the advertisements includes storing information directing the search engine to update advertisement information for one of the relevant printed items.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein storing data sets representing printed items includes storing data sets representing advertisements printed with the printed items;

and wherein returning at least one characterization of at least one of the relevant printed items includes returning information from a data set representing an advertisement for said at least one of the relevant printed items.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein returning information from a data set representing an advertisement includes returning information representing at least one of:

information for linking to information about a product represented in one of the advertisements, information for displaying information about a product represented in one of the advertisements, information directing the search engine to update advertisement information for one of the relevant printed items.

10. The method of claim 1, further including electronically scanning the printed items and generating scanned printed items, and wherein the stored data sets representing printed items in the searchable database includes data sets representing the scanned printed items.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the scanned printed items are copyrighted printed items, and further including executing a permission protocol in which the publisher provides authorization over the Internet that permits the search engine to display more text from said at least one of the relevant publication items, the authorization being in response to the search engine providing the electronic path for accessing further information for said at least one of the relevant publication items.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the scanned printed items are copyrighted printed items, and further including executing a permission protocol in which the publisher provides authorization over the Internet that permits the search engine to display more text from said at least one of the relevant publication items, the authorization being in response to a representative of the publisher submitting the search query and, in response the search engine providing the electronic path for accessing further information for said at least one of the relevant publication items.

13. The method of claim 1, further including creating an index of the data sets in the searchable database.

14. The method of claim 1, further including configuring the data set to display as a replica of the corresponding printed media.

15. The method of claim 1, further including creating an index of the data sets in the searchable database and wherein returning includes providing a hyperlink for an indexed entry with another representation of one of the printed items.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein providing an electronic path for accessing further information includes providing at least one hyperlink that, when acted upon, links said at least one of the relevant publication items to a more complete electronic representation of the relevant publication items.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein providing an electronic path for accessing further information includes providing at least one hyperlink that, when acted upon, links said at least one of the relevant publication items to an electronic representation of the relevant publication item, the electronic representation of the relevant publication item beginning as a continuation of information returned.

18. The method of claim 1, further including blocking portions of the relevant publication items that are not authorized for distribution.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein returning includes embedding advertisements with said at least one characterization of at least one of the relevant publication items.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein using the search engine includes returning ranked characterizations of the relevant web pages and of the relevant publication items, and wherein the ranked characterizations include hyperlinks to respective electronic images of the relevant printed items.

21. A computer-implemented arrangement including a search engine and a searchable electronic database, the computer-implemented arrangement adapted to respond to Internet-based search queries, comprising:

means for storing in the searchable database data sets representing printed items from publications respectively printed by a plurality of respective publishers, each data set including text from at least one of the printed items; and

means, including the search engine, for responding to a search query and including

means for searching for web pages that are relevant for the search query and searching the data sets in the electronic database for data sets that are relevant to the search query, thereby identifying relevant Internet web pages and relevant data sets corresponding to relevant publication items, and

means for returning at least one characterization of at least one of the relevant web pages and at least one characterization of at least one of the relevant publication items and, for said at least one of the relevant publication items, providing an electronic path for accessing further information.

22. A computer-implemented arrangement including a search engine and a searchable electronic database, the computer-implemented arrangement adapted to respond to Internet-based search queries, comprising:

a memory bank and a first programmable computer node, the memory bank and the programmable computer node being adapted to store the searchable database as data sets representing printed items from publications respectively printed by a plurality of respective publishers, each data set including text from at least one of the printed items; and

a second programmable computer node including the search engine, the second programmable computer node adapted to respond to a search query and to

search for web pages that are relevant for the search query and search the data sets in the electronic database for data sets that are relevant to the search query, thereby identifying relevant Internet web pages and relevant data sets corresponding to relevant publication items, and

return at least one characterization of at least one of the relevant web pages and at least one characterization of at least one of the relevant publication items and, for said at least one of the relevant publication items, provide an electronic path for accessing further information.

23. The arrangement of claim 22, wherein the printed items, that are represented by stored data sets in the searchable database, are copyrighted printed items.

24. The arrangement of claim 23, further including a third node adapted to execute a permission protocol in which the publisher provides authorization that permits the search engine to display more text from said at least one of the relevant publication items.

25. The arrangement of claim 22, wherein the data sets representing printed items respectively include advertisements printed with the printed items.

26. The arrangement of claim 25, wherein the stored data sets include information for linking to information about a product represented in one of the advertisements.

27. The arrangement of claim 25, wherein the stored data sets include information for displaying information about a product represented in one of the advertisements.

28. The arrangement of claim 25, wherein the stored data sets include information directing the search engine to update advertisement information for one of the relevant printed items.

29. The arrangement of claim 25, wherein the stored data sets include data sets representing advertisements printed with the printed items;

and wherein said at least one characterization of at least one of the relevant printed items includes information from a data set representing an advertisement for said at least one of the relevant printed items.

30. The arrangement of claim 29, wherein the stored data sets include information representing at least one of:

information for linking to information about a product represented in one of the advertisements, information for displaying information about a product represented in one of the advertisements, information directing the search engine to update advertisement information for one of the relevant printed items.

31. The arrangement of claim 22, further including means for scanning the printed items and generating scanned printed items, and wherein the stored data sets representing printed items in the searchable database includes data sets representing the scanned printed items.

32. The arrangement of claim 31, wherein the scanned printed items are copyrighted printed items, and further including means for executing a permission protocol in which the publisher provides authorization over the Internet that permits the search engine to display more text from said at least one of the relevant publication items, the authorization being in response to the search engine providing the electronic path for accessing further information for said at least one of the relevant publication items.

33. The arrangement of claim 31, wherein the scanned printed items are copyrighted printed items, and further including means for executing a permission protocol in which the publisher provides authorization over the Internet that permits the search engine to display more text from said at least one of the relevant publication items, the authorization being in response to a representative of the publisher submitting the search query and, in response the search engine providing the electronic path for accessing further information for said at least one of the relevant publication items.

34. The arrangement of claim 22, further including means for creating an index of the data sets in the searchable database.

35. The arrangement of claim 22, further including means for configuring the data set for display as a replica of the corresponding printed media.

36. The arrangement of claim 22, further including means for creating an index of the data sets in the searchable database and wherein a hyperlink is returned for an indexed entry for linking to another representation of one of the printed items.

37. The arrangement of claim 22, wherein the electronic path for accessing further information includes at least one hyperlink that, when acted upon, links said at least one of the relevant publication items to a more complete electronic representation of the relevant publication items.

38. The arrangement of claim 22, wherein the electronic path for accessing further information includes at least one hyperlink that, when acted upon, links said at least one of the relevant publication items to an electronic representation of the relevant publication item, the electronic representation of the relevant publication item beginning as a continuation of information returned.

39. The arrangement of claim 22, further including means for blocking a display of portions of the relevant publication items that are not authorized for distribution.

40. The arrangement of claim 22, wherein an embedded advertisements is returned with said at least one characterization of at least one of the relevant publication items.

41. The arrangement of claim 22, wherein ranked characterizations of the relevant web pages and of the relevant publication items are also returned, and wherein the ranked characterizations include hyperlinks to respective electronic images of the relevant printed items.

42. The arrangement of claim 22, further including an item-input arrangement including both a document scanner and a download path arranged to download another electronic version of at least one of the printed items, the item-input arrangement adapted to generate electronic versions of the printed items.

43. An arrangement for maintaining an electronic database that is searchable via a search engine in response to Internet-based search queries, the arrangement comprising:

means for storing in the searchable database data sets representing printed items from publications respectively printed by a plurality of respective publishers, each data set including text from at least one of the printed items; and

with each stored data set representing printed items from publications, means for recording whether the respective publisher has authorized display of the printed item.

45. A method for maintaining an electronic database that is searchable via a search engine in response to Internet-based search queries, the method comprising:

storing in the searchable database data sets representing printed items from publications respectively printed by a plurality of respective publishers, each data set including text from at least one of the printed items; and

with each stored data set representing printed items from publications, recording whether the respective publisher has authorized display of the printed item.

44. The arrangement of claim 45, further comprising:

means, responsive to a search query and including the search engine, for

searching for web pages that are relevant for the search query and searching the data sets in the electronic database for data sets that are relevant to the search query, thereby identifying relevant Internet web pages and relevant data sets corresponding to relevant publication items, and

returning at least one characterization of at least one of the relevant web pages and at least one characterization of at least one of the relevant publication items and, for said at least one of the relevant publication items for which the respective publisher has authorized display, providing an electronic path for accessing a copyrighted version thereof.

46. The method of claim 45, further comprising:

in response to a search query, using the search engine to

search for web pages that are relevant for the search query and search the data sets in the electronic database for data sets that are relevant to the search query, thereby identifying relevant Internet web pages and relevant data sets corresponding to relevant publication items, and

return at least one characterization of at least one of the relevant web pages and at least one characterization of at least one of the relevant publication items and, for said at least one of the relevant publication items for which the respective publisher has authorized display, providing an electronic path for accessing a copyrighted version thereof.

47. A machine-implemented method for searching one or more searchable electronic databases, comprising:

storing data sets representing publication items respectively produced by a plurality of respective publishers;

responsive to a search query, electronically searching for web-accessible documents that are relevant to the search query and searching the data sets in the electronic database for data sets that are relevant to the search query, thereby identifying web-accessible documents and relevant data sets corresponding to relevant publication items; and

returning as search results

at least one characterization of at least one of the relevant web-accessible documents, and

at least one characterization of at least one of the relevant publication items and, for said at least one of the relevant publication items, an electronic path for accessing further information.

48. The machine-implemented method of claim 47, wherein the electronic path includes a path for accessing data made available according to a permission protocol.

49. The machine-implemented method of claim 47, wherein the electronic path provides access to further information made available by a publisher of the further information.

50. A machine-implemented method for searching one or more searchable electronic databases, comprising:

storing data sets representing printed items from publications respectively printed by a plurality of respective publishers, each data set including text representing at least one of the printed items;

responsive to a search query, electronically searching for web-accessible documents that are relevant to the search query and searching the data sets in the electronic database for data sets that are relevant to the search query, thereby identifying web-accessible documents and relevant data sets corresponding to relevant publication items; and

returning as search results

at least one characterization of at least one of the relevant web-accessible documents, and

at least one characterization of at least one of the relevant publication items and, for said at least one of the relevant publication items, an electronic path for accessing further information.