Location based news and search engine

• US 8,442,969 B2
• Filed: 08/14/2008
• Issued: 05/14/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/14/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: John Nicholas and Kristin Gross Trust U/A/D April 13 2010
• Original Assignee: John N. Gross
• Inventors: Gross, John Nicholas
• Primary Examiner(s): Beausoliel, Jr., Robert
• Assistant Examiner(s): ALLEN, NICHOLAS E
• Application Number:
  US12/191,916
• Publication Number:
  US 20090049038A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,734 Days
• Field of Search: 707/709
• US Class Current: 707/709
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24 Querying
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/95 Retrieval from the web
• 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 16/9536 Search customisation based on social or collaborative filtering
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 20/00 Machine learning
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0243 Comparative campaigns
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements

Abstract

A search engine and/or news aggregator considers temporal qualities of electronic documents, a location of a searcher/reviewer, and a situs associated with content of the document to determine how/if they should be presented to users.

Claims

1. A method of automatically calculating temporal characteristics of:

electronic documents with a computing system comprising;

a. identifying a first event, which first event is the subject of electronic news coverage;

b. automatically identifying a geographic site associated with said first event with the computing system;

c. automatically selecting at least some local sources with the computing system to report on such event based on their proximity to such geographic site;

d. identifying a set of electronic documents containing content relating to said event with the computing system, wherein each electronic document is associated with a respective source;

e. selecting a subset of said set of electronic documents with the computing system based at least in part on their correlation to said local sources;

f. analyzing said subset of electronic documents with the computing system to identify temporal characteristics relating to a state of such event, which temporal characteristics are based on content other than but not excluding date/time data specified for said subset of electronic documents;

g. assigning a temporal value with the computing system to each of said subset of electronic documents;

h. wherein at least one of step (e) and/or (f) are controlled based on content from said local sources.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said geographic site is determined with the computing system by analyzing geographic related information in an electronic document describing said first event.

3. The method of claim 1 further including steps:

automatically identifying a first electronic document describing said first event;

automatically generating a search query for an online search based on content in said first electronic document to identify a geographic site for such event.

4. The method of claim 1 further including a step:

automatically modifying said temporal value based on a historical timeliness factor associated with said local sources.

5. The method of claim 1 further including a step:

automatically modifying said temporal value based for an electronic document based at least in part on a physical distance from a source of such document to said geographic site.

6. The method of claim 1 further including a step:

automatically compiling a set of local sources which are appropriate for events within a particular geographical area.

7. The method of claim 1 further including a step:

periodically executing a search query to one or more search engines associated with said local sources to extract new content related to said event.

8. The method of claim 7 further including steps:

determining a timeliness factor associated with each of said local sources with respect to such event with the computing system; and

storing said timeliness factor in a form suitable for later analysis of subsequent electronic news reportings on such event.

9. The method of claim 8 further including a step:

determining a timeliness factor associated with each of said local sources with respect to one or more topics with the computing system; and

storing said timeliness factor in a form suitable for later analysis of subsequent electronic news reportings on such event.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein said local sources can include at least one of:

individuals with portable electronics devices, a news agency, a website and/or a web log.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein said individuals are targeted based on at least one of:

a phone number, an IP address, and/or a respective physical address distance to said local sources.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein said steps are implemented as one or more computer software routines embodied in a tangible non-transitory media and adapted to cause one or more computing systems to perform the operations recited therein.

13. The method of claim 1 further including a step:

presenting content for said first event giving priority to said local sources.

14. The method of claim 13 further including a step:

removing duplicate content for said first event before presenting such content for said first event to a user.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein said content is presented in a temporal order for said first event.

16. The method of claim 1, futher further comprising:

where said selecting a subset of said set of electronic documents includes selecting documents from said at least one local source and documents from non-local sources within a news aggregator interface.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein said steps are implemented as one or more computer software routines embodied in a tangible media and adapted to cause one or more computing systems to perform the operations recited therein.

18. The method of claim 16 further including a step:

presenting content for said first event giving priority within said interface to said at least one local source.

19. The method of claim 16 further including a step:

removing duplicate ones of said one or more plurality of electronic documents for said first event before presenting such content within said news aggregator interface.

20. The method of claim 16 wherein said news aggregator interface can present customized content for events on a location-by-location basis.

21. The method of claim 16 further including a step:

presenting said one or more of said plurality of electronic documents in a temporal order for said first event.

22. The method of claim 16 further including a step:

soliciting confirmation of content for said first event from persons located within a geographic proximity to said geographic location of such first event.

23. The method of claim 16 wherein advertising is presented within said interface based on a state identified for said first event.

24. The method of claim 16 wherein advertising is presented within said interface based on a temporal sequence identified for an electronic document reviewed by said user for said first event.