Systems and methods for detecting network resource interaction and improved search result reporting

• US 8,275,766 B2
• Filed: 01/06/2010
• Issued: 09/25/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/06/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tynt Multimedia, Inc. (33Across, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Tynt Multimedia, Inc. (33Across, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ball, Derek, Foster, Dayton, MacKenzie, Allan
• Primary Examiner(s): Alam, Hosain
• Assistant Examiner(s): JOHNSON, JOHNESE T
• Application Number:
  US12/683,375
• Publication Number:
  US 20100174708A1
• Time in Patent Office: 993 Days
• Field of Search: 707/727, 707/748
• US Class Current: 707/727
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation

Abstract

Systems and methods are described for intercepting user interactions without network-provided content. The intercepted information can be used for prioritizing search results by statistical and other analyses of user interactions with a network resource and/or network content. A server connected to a network can receive captured information from an agent that is installed in a device connected to the network. The captured information can be related to an interaction of a user with a network resource. An aggregator may be provided to aggregate the captured information with other captured information related to a plurality of network resources and maintains a repository of aggregated captured information. A prioritizer can determine the relevance of network content based on characteristics of the aggregated captured information. The prioritizer determines relevance for a plurality of search results based on frequency of prior user interactions with the content of the search results.

Claims

1. A system for prioritizing network content using information captured from interactions of one or more users with a network resource, the system comprising:

one or more network-connected server configured to receive captured information from an agent that is provided in a computing device connected to the network, wherein the captured information relates to an interaction of a user with a network resource, wherein

an aggregator module provided on the one or more network-connected server and configured to aggregate the captured information with other captured information related to interactions with a plurality of network resources and wherein the aggregator module is further configured to maintain a repository of the aggregated captured information; and

a prioritizer module provided on the one or more network-connected server and configured to determine relevance of network content based on characteristics of the aggregated captured information, wherein

the interactions with the plurality of network resources include at least one of a copy and a mouse-over event, wherein

the one or more network-connected server is configured to reorder the aggregated captured information based on relevance using a statistical analysis correlating relevance with the frequency of access of the plurality of network resources, wherein

the statistical analysis includes an analysis of copy interactions, identification of most frequently copied elements of the network content provided by the one or more network resources, geographic location of one or more user, a tag cloud identifying the most frequently copied elements within a predetermined time period and frequency of generation of links, and wherein

the links are generated by appending information to copied portions of the network content.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the interactions with the plurality of network resources include interactions of a plurality of users.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the interactions with the plurality of network resources include a selection event, and wherein the agent is configured to detect copy, mouse-over and selection events by intercepting input from input devices controlled by the computing device.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the interactions with the plurality of network resources include at least one copying interaction that includes copying of a portion of content provided by one of the network resources, wherein the portion of content provides no link to other content.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the aggregated captured information for each user interaction identifies a type of the each user interaction and the network resource involved in the each user interaction.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the aggregated captured information for the each user interaction identifies a portion of content that is the subject of the each user interaction.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the type of interaction includes a selection of the identified portion of content and wherein the aggregated captured information for the each user interaction includes a copy of the identified portion of content.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the identified portion of content includes a link to other content provided by one or more network resources.

9. The system of claim 5, wherein the aggregated captured information for the each user interaction includes one or more of a copyright notice, an author attribution, and an internet address of the user and a time of the each user interaction.

10. The system of claim 3, wherein the prioritizer determines relevance for a plurality of search results based on frequency of prior user interactions with the content of the search results.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the relevance of a search result is determined based on a frequency of occurrence of prior user interactions with links and prior user interactions involving copying of content that does not include links.

12. A method of processing search results, wherein the method is implemented in a computer system comprising one or more processors configured to execute one or more computer program modules, the method comprising:

executing, on the one or more processors of the computer system, one or more computer program modules configured to maintain a history of events representative of interactions by a plurality of users with content provided by one or more network resources;

executing, on the one or more processors of the computer system, one or more computer program modules configured to determine relevance of results of a search using the history of event information, wherein the relevance is determined based on frequencies of interactions with individual results of the search; and

executing, on the one or more processors of the computer system, one or more computer program modules configured to reorder the search results based on relevance, wherein

the interactions represented in the history of events includes interactions with portions of content that do not include links, and

the interactions represented in the history of event information include copying and selection of portions of content

wherein the search results are reordered based on relevance by executing, on the one or more processors of the computer system, one or more computer program modules configured to perform a statistical analysis correlating relevance with frequency of access of network resources, and

wherein the statistical analysis includes an analysis of copy interactions, identification of most frequently copied elements of the content provided by the one or more network resources, geographic location of one or more user, a tag cloud identifying the most frequently copied elements within a predetermined time period and frequency of generation of links, wherein the links are generated by appending information to copied portions of the content.

13. A method of processing search results according to claim 12, further comprising providing an agent to one or more user device, wherein the agent includes one or more computer program modules configured to capture event information resulting from a user interaction with the content at the one or more user device.

14. A method of processing search results according to claim 13, wherein the user interactions include one or more of a content copy interaction, a mouse-over interaction and a link selection interaction.

15. A method of processing search results according to claim 14, wherein event information includes information that identifies at least one of a user, a selected element, copied content and the one or more user device.

17. A method of processing search results according to claim 13, wherein the agent is provided within a web page.

16. A method of processing search results, wherein the method is implemented in a computer system comprising one or more processors configured to execute one or more computer program modules, the method comprising:

executing, on the one or more processors of the computer system, one or more computer program modules configured to maintain a history of events representative of interactions by a plurality of users with content provided by one or more network resources;

executing, on the one or more processors of the computer system, one or more computer program modules configured to determine relevance of results of a search using the history of event information, wherein the relevance is determined based on frequencies of interactions with individual results of the search;

executing, on the one or more processors of the computer system, one or more computer program modules configured to reorder the search results based on relevance; and

providing an agent to one or more user device, wherein the agent includes one or more computer program modules configured to capture event information resulting from a user interaction with the content at the one or more user device,

wherein the interactions represented in the history of events includes interactions with portions of content that do not include links, and

wherein the interactions represented in the history of event information include copying and selection of portions of content;

wherein the user interactions include one or more of a content copy interaction, a mouse-over interaction and a link selection interaction,

wherein event information includes information that identifies at least one of a user, a selected element, copied content and the one or more user device,

wherein reordering the search results based on relevance includes the step of executing, on the one or more processors of the computer system, one or more computer program modules configured to perform a statistical analysis correlating relevance with frequency of access of network resources, and

wherein the statistical analysis includes an analysis of copy interactions, identification of most frequently copied elements of content, geographic location of one or more user, a tag cloud identifying the most frequently copied elements within a predetermined time period and frequency of generation of links, wherein the links are generated by appending information to copied portions of the content.