System and method for URL based query for retrieving data related to a context

• US 8,032,508 B2
• Filed: 11/18/2008
• Issued: 10/04/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/18/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: O'Sullivan, Joseph James, Davis, Marc Eliot, Higgins, Christopher William, Martinez, Ronald
• Primary Examiner(s): Coby; Frantz
• Application Number:
  US12/273,259
• Publication Number:
  US 20100125604A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,050 Days
• Field of Search: 707/602, 707706-708, 707755-756, 707760-761, 707/771, 707/781, 709/201, 709/203, 709217-219
• US Class Current: 707/708
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation

Abstract

A system and method for URL based query for retrieving data related to a context. A request is received over a network from a user for data related to a context, wherein the request is a URL comprising a context query comprising at least one context criteria. The context criteria are parsed and translated and disambiguated. A network data query is formulated based on the context criteria so as to search, via the network, for user profile data, social network data, spatial data, temporal data and topical data that is available via the network and relates to the context query so as to identify at least one data object that relates to context criteria. Permissions relating to the identified data objects are checked and references to the data objects are transmitted over the network to the user.

Claims

1. A method comprising the steps of:

receiving a request over a network from a user for data related to a context, wherein the request is a URL comprising a context query, wherein the context query comprises at least one context criteria;

parsing and translating, via the network, the at least one context criteria, whereby the at least one context criteria is parsed and translated to a standardized format;

disambiguating, via the network, the at least one parsed and translated context criteria, whereby the at least one parsed and translated context criteria is resolved to canonical values;

formulating a network data query based on the at least one disambiguated context criteria so as to search, via the network, for user profile data, social network data, spatial data, temporal data and topical data that is available via the network and relates to the context query so as to identify at least one data object that relates to the at least one disambiguated context criteria;

checking permissions, via the network, relating to the at least one data object to determine if the user is permitted to access the at least one data object;

if the user is permitted to access the at least one data object, transmitting, over the network, a reference to the at least one data object over the network to the user, wherein the reference to the at least one data object contains sufficient information to enable the user to access the at least one data object over the network.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one context criteria are related to one another within the context query using relational operators, wherein the relationships between the criteria are used in formulating the query.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one context criteria are formatted as a string of at least one criteria-attribute/value pairs in the format:

http;

//<

query server>

/[<

criteria-attribute>

/<

value>

/].

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one context criteria is an identifier for a second context query stored on the network.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one context criteria is a relational reference, wherein the disambiguation step resolves the relational reference to a canonical value.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one context criteria is an aliased reference, wherein the disambiguation step resolves the aliased reference to a canonical value.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the network data query is formulated to a use global index of data available to the network to search for to search, via the network, for user profile data, social network data, spatial data, temporal data and topical data that is available via the network and relates to the context.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein only references to data objects having at least a threshold number of parallel paths of associations to the at least one context criteria are transmitted to the user.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein only references to data objects having at most a threshold number of degrees of separation from the at least one context criteria are transmitted to the user.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the reference to the at least one data object is a hyperlink embedded in a webpage, wherein the webpage is transmitted to the user.

11. A system comprising:

a processor;

a storage medium for tangibly storing thereon program logic for execution by the processor, the program logic comprising;

context query receiving logic executed by the processor for receiving requests over a network users for data related to a context, wherein each request is a URL comprising a context query, wherein the context query comprises at least one context criteria;

a context query parsing logic executed by the processor for parsing and translating the at least one context criteria in each request received by the context query receiving module, whereby the at least one context criteria is parsed and translated to a standardized format;

a context criteria disambiguation logic executed by the processor for disambiguating the at least one parsed and translated context criteria in each request parsed by the context query parsing module, whereby the at least one parsed and translated context criteria are resolved to canonical values;

a network data query logic executed by the processor for formulating queries for each request disambiguated by the context criteria disambiguation module, wherein for each request, a query is formulated based on the at least one disambiguated context criteria so as to search, via the network, for user profile data, social network data, spatial data, temporal data and topical data that is available via the network and relates to the context query so as to identify at least one data object that relates to the at least one disambiguated context criteria;

a permission checking logic executed by the processor for checking permissions relating to the at least one data object identified by each query formulated by the network data query module to determine if the user that submitted the request is permitted to access the at least one data object;

a data transmission logic executed by the processor for transmitting, for each request checked by the permission checking module, a reference to the at least one data object over the network to the user, wherein the reference to the at least one data object contains sufficient information to enable the user to access the at least one data object over the network.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the at least one context criteria within at least some requests are related to one another within the context query using relational operators, wherein the relationships between the criteria are used in formulating the query.

13. The system of claim 11 wherein the at least one context criteria within at least some requests are formatted as a string of at least one criteria-attribute/value pairs in the format:

http;

//<

query server>

/[<

criteria-attribute>

/<

value>

/].

14. The system of claim 11 wherein the at least one context criteria within at least some requests are identifiers for a second context query stored on the network.

15. The system of claim 11 wherein the at least one context criteria within at least some requests is a relational reference, wherein the context criteria disambiguation module resolves the relational references to canonical values.

16. The system of claim 11 wherein the at least one context criteria within at least some requests is a relational reference, wherein the context criteria disambiguation module resolves the aliased references to a canonical value.

17. The system of claim 11 wherein the network data query logic formulates at least some queries to a use global index of data available to the network to search for to search, via the network, for user profile data, social network data, spatial data, temporal data and topical data that is available via the network and relates to the context.

18. The system of claim 11 wherein only references to data objects having at least a threshold number of parallel paths of associations to the at least one context criteria transmitted to users by the data transmission module.

19. The system of claim 11 wherein only references to data objects having at most a threshold number of degrees of separation from the at least one context criteria are transmitted to users by the data transmission module.

20. The system of claim 11 wherein for at least some requests, the references to the at least one data object is a hyperlink embedded in a webpage, wherein the webpage is transmitted to the users by the data transmission module.

21. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium for tangibly storing thereon computer-executable instructions for a method comprising:

receiving a request over a network from a user for data related to a context, wherein the request is a URL comprising a context query, wherein the context query comprises at least one context criteria;

parsing and translating, via the network, the at least one context criteria, whereby the at least one context criteria is parsed and translated to a standardized format;

disambiguating, via the network, the at least one parsed and translated context criteria, whereby the at least one parsed and translated context criteria is resolved to canonical values;

formulating a network data query based on the at least one disambiguated context criteria so as to search, via the network, for user profile data, social network data, spatial data, temporal data and topical data that is available via the network and relates to the context query so as to identify at least one data object that relates to the at least one disambiguated context criteria;

checking permissions, via the network, relating to the at least one data object to determine if the user is permitted to access the at least one data object;

if the user is permitted to access the at least one data object, transmitting, over the network, a reference to the at least one data object over the network to the user, wherein the reference to the at least one data object contains sufficient information to enable the user to access the at least one data object over the network.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 21 wherein the at least one context criteria are related to one another within the context query using relational operators, wherein the relationships between the criteria are used in formulating the query.

24. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 21 wherein the at least one context criteria is an identifier for a second context query stored on the network.

25. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 21 wherein the at least one context criteria is a relational reference, wherein the disambiguation step resolves the relational reference to a canonical value.

26. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 21 wherein the at least one context criteria is an aliased reference, wherein the disambiguation step resolves the aliased reference to a canonical value.

27. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 21 wherein the network data query is formulated to a use global index of data available to the network to search for to search, via the network, for user profile data, social network data, spatial data, temporal data and topical data that is available via the network and relates to the context.

28. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 21 wherein only references to data objects having at least a threshold number of parallel paths of associations to the at least one context criteria are transmitted to the user.

29. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 21 wherein only references to data objects having at most a threshold number of degrees of separation from the at least one context criteria are transmitted to the user.

30. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 21 wherein the reference to the at least one data object is a hyperlink embedded in a webpage, wherein the webpage is transmitted to the user.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium wherein the at least one context criteria are formatted as a string of at least one criteria-attribute/value pairs in the format:

http;

//<

query server>

/[<

criteria-attribute>

/<

value>

/].