Systems and methods for analyzing boilerplate

• US 8,041,713 B2
• Filed: 03/31/2004
• Issued: 10/18/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Lawrence, Stephen R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Yen; Syling
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ahluwalia; Navneet K
• Application Number:
  US10/815,150
• Publication Number:
  US 20080040316A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,757 Days
• Field of Search: 707 1- 10, 707100-1041, 707200-205, 707/736, 707/726, 707/756
• US Class Current: 707/726
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/26 Visual data mining; Browsing structured data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/335 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles filtering in web context G06F16/9535, G06F16/9536

Abstract

Systems and methods for analyzing boilerplate are described. In one described system, an indexer identifies a common element in a plurality of related articles. The indexer then classifies the common element as boilerplate. For example, the indexer may identify a copyright notice appearing in a plurality of related articles. The copyright notice in these articles is considered boilerplate.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

identifying a common element in a plurality of articles;

analyzing a spatial location of the common element in an article of the plurality of articles;

determining whether the common element is a boilerplate element of the article based at least in part on the spatial location;

responsive to the common element being the boilerplate element, removing the boilerplate element from the article; and

indexing the article.

2. A method comprising:

identifying a common element in a plurality of articles;

analyzing a link associated with the common element in an article of the plurality of articles, wherein analyzing the link associated with the common element comprises analyzing an address to which the link refers; and

determining whether the common element is a boilerplate element of the article based at least in part on the link associated with the common element.

3. A tangible computer-readable medium on which is encoded program code, the encoded program code comprising:

program code for identifying a common element in a plurality of articles;

program code for analyzing a link associated with the common element in an article of the plurality of articles, wherein analyzing the link associated with the common element comprises analyzing an address to which the link refers; and

program code for determining whether the common element is a boilerplate element of the article based at least in part on the link associated with the common element.

4. A tangible computer-readable medium on which is encoded program code, the encoded program code comprising:

program code for identifying a common element in a plurality of articles;

program code for analyzing a spatial location of the common element in an article of the plurality of articles;

program code for determining whether the common element is a boilerplate element of the article based at least in part on the spatial location;

program code for, responsive to the common element being the boilerplate element, removing the boilerplate element from the article; and

program code for indexing the article.