METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR SEARCHING, SELECTING, AND DISPLAYING CONTENT

• US 20110264644A1
• Filed: 07/15/2011
• Published: 10/27/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/20/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mediashift Acquisition, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Ad-Vantage Networks LLC
• Inventors: Grant, John W., Kuwadekar, Sanjeev, Grant, David
• Granted Patent: US 8,234,275 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/706
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9558 Details of hyperlinks; Management of linked annotations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/01 Customer relationship services
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0215 Including financial accounts
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0239 Online discounts or incentives
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0282 Rating or review of business operators or products

Abstract

Methods and systems for identifying and presenting information are described. Search results are received from a search engine. An entity associated with a networked site is selected using a selection criterion. A determination is made as to whether the listing includes a link to the networked site or includes the link to the networked site at a list position that fails to satisfy a first criterion. After determining that the link to the site associated with the entity is not included in the search result listing, or that the link to the site associated with the entity is not at a position in the search result listing that satisfies the first criterion, the search listing is modified by causing the link to the site associated with the entity to appear in a first position in the search listing. The modified search listing is displayed on a user terminal.

Claims

1. A method of processing search results for display to a user, comprising:

receiving over a network at a computer system a search result from a remote search engine provided in response to a search query,

the search result including a plurality of search result items,

the plurality of search result items including one or more network resource references;

selecting, using at least one computing device, a first network resource reference,

wherein the first network resource reference is selected based at least in part on a;

service subscribed to by an entity, and

a specification related to the selected network resource reference provided by the entity;

modifying, using at least one computing device and after the received search result has been outputted to a web browser associated with a user terminal, the received search result to thereby generate a modified search result,

wherein the modified search result includes the selected first network resource reference such that when the modified search result is outputted for display on the web browser associated with the user terminal, the first network resource reference is displayed at a first location,

wherein the first location is selected based at least in part on the service subscribed to by the entity that provided the specification related to the selected network resource reference, and

wherein if the received search result from the remote search engine were displayed on the user terminal without the modification, the first network resource reference would not be at the first location.

2. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the first network resource reference is included in the search result received from the remote search engine in response to the search location, such that if the received search result were displayed on the user terminal without the modification, the first network resource reference would be displayed at a second location, the second location different than the first location, wherein the first location is an enhanced location relative to the second location.

3. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the computer system, remote from the search engine, is:

a peer node with respect to the user terminal, or

the user terminal, or

a network appliance,

wherein the search engine generated the search results in response to the query from the user terminal.

4. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the identified location satisfies a first criterion specified by the entity, wherein the network resource reference, when activated, causes content specified by the entity to be displayed via the user terminal.

5. The method as defined in claim 1, the method further comprising:

receiving a search query term provided by the user to the remote search engine,

wherein the search results from the search engine are provided in response to the search query term; and

wherein the selection criterion includes relevancy related to the search query.

6. The method as defined in claim 1, the method further comprising:

generating a report indicating that the selected network resource reference was caused to appear at the identified location in the at least a portion of the plurality search result items; and

transmitting the report to the entity that provided the specification related to the selected network resource reference.

7. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the modification is performed without the cooperation of the search engine operator.

8. A system configured to process search results, comprising:

a processor;

tangible, non-transitory media that stores a program that when executed by the processor is configured to perform operations, comprising;

receiving over a network at a computer system a search result from a remote search engine provided in response to a search query, the search result including a plurality of search result items, the plurality of search result items including one or more network resource references;

selecting a first network resource reference after displaying the search results on a graphical user interface associated with a user terminal,

wherein the first network resource reference is selected based at least in part on a;

service subscribed to by an entity, and

a specification provided by the entity;

modifying the received search result to thereby generate a modified search result,

wherein the modified search result includes the selected first network resource reference such that when the modified search result is displayed on the graphical user interface associated with the user terminal, the first network resource reference is displayed at a first location,

wherein the first location is selected based at least in part on the service subscribed to by the entity that provided the specification, and

wherein if the received search result from the remote search engine were displayed on the user terminal without the modification, the first network resource reference would not be at the first location.

9. The system as defined in claim 8, wherein the first network resource reference is included in the search result received from the remote search engine in response to the search location, such that if the received search result were displayed on the user terminal without the modification, the first network resource reference would be displayed at a second location, the second location different than the first location, wherein the first location is an enhanced location relative to the second location.

10. The system as defined in claim 8, wherein the identified location satisfies a first criterion specified by the entity, wherein the network resource reference, when activated, causes content specified by the entity to be displayed via the user terminal.

11. The system as defined in claim 8, the operations further comprising:

receiving a search query term provided by the user to the remote search engine,

wherein the search results from the search engine are provided in response to the search query term; and

wherein the selection criterion includes relevancy related to the search query.

12. The system as defined in claim 8, the method further comprising:

generating a report indicating that the selected network resource reference was caused to appear at the identified location in the at least a portion of the plurality search result items; and

transmitting the report to the entity that provided the specification related to the selected network resource reference.