Method and apparatus for collecting and disseminating information over a computer network

• US 8,572,173 B2
• Filed: 12/30/2011
• Issued: 10/29/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/07/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: mBlast, Inc.
• Original Assignee: mBlast, Inc.
• Inventors: Briere, Daniel Dean, Pritchard, Paul William
• Primary Examiner(s): Zele, Krista
• Assistant Examiner(s): Eskandarnia, Arvin
• Application Number:
  US13/341,121
• Publication Number:
  US 20120173628A1
• Time in Patent Office: 669 Days
• Field of Search: 709/204
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2379 Updates performed during online database operations; commit processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• 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 16/955 using information identifiers, e.g. uniform resource locators [URL]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/972 Access to data in other repository systems, e.g. legacy data or dynamic Web page generation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/986 Document structures and storage, e.g. HTML extensions
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6236 between heterogeneous systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2129 Authenticate client device independently of the user
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0631 Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0204 Market segmentation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/102 Entity profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1059 End-user terminal functionalities specially adapted for real-time communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 : Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 : based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 : in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 : for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/30 : Profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 : User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 : Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 : specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 : Push-based network services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 : Routing a service request depending on the request content or context

Abstract

The apparatus comprises at least one database for storing digital information associated with at least a first user and a second user, at least one links module for the first user and for the second user, at least one manipulations module and at least one display device for respectively displaying at least said linked digital information wherein said linked digital information associated with said first user is automatically updated on at least said display device of said second user when that information is manipulated, and wherein said linked digital information associated with said second user is automatically updated on at least said display device of said first user when that information is manipulated.

Claims

1. An apparatus for measuring one or more first parties'"'"' overall influence within a computer network, the apparatus comprising:

at least one central database, wherein digital information associated with the one or more first parties is stored;

at least one gateway server having a processor configured to execute at least one presentation layer, at least one retrievers module, and at least one market presence module,

said at least one presentation layer being configured to receive one or more keywords from a user for use by the retrievers module in identifying content, the one or more keywords being related to content the one or more first parties published on the computer network;

said at least one retrievers module being configured to access the computer network and identify content published by one or more second parties, the content published by said one or more second parties being related to the content published by the one or more first parties; and

said at least one market presence module being configured to;

find content published by the one or more second parties, based on keywords in the content; and

determine an amount of reaction to the content published by the one or more first parties, wherein the amount of reaction provides a measure of the one or more first parties'"'"' overall influence within the computer network.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the content published by the one or more first parties is a press release; and

the one or more second parties are reporters.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor of the at least one gateway server is further configured to execute the at least one market presence module to display the one or more first parties'"'"' overall influence within the computer network at a graphical user interface in a hierarchical list.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one retrievers module includes at least one of:

an import/export engine configured to import/export data from/to one or more network databases maintained by the one or more first parties and/or the one or more second parties; and

a spider engine configured to spider the computer network for data;

wherein the data is related to the keywords.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the computer network comprises at least one of a local network and the world wide web.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the user is one of the one or more first parties or the one or more second parties; and

the content published by the one or more first parties and the content published by the one or more second parties includes web-based media.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein:

said web-based media includes articles, books, and/or other content published by the one or more first parties and/or the one or more second parties; and

said at least one market presence module is configured to analyze information from the articles, books, and/or other content to determine what topics are actually discussed in those articles, books, and/or other content.

8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein:

said web-based media includes articles, books, and/or other content published by the one or more first parties and/or the one or more second parties; and

said at least one market presence module is further configured to analyze and extract information from the articles, books, and/or other content published by the one or more first parties and/or the one or more second parties and to determine at least one of the one or more first parties'"'"' and/or one or more second parties'"'"' attitude toward a topic or entity defined by the one or more keywords.

9. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein:

said web-based media includes articles, books, and/or other content published by the one or more first parties and/or the one or more second parties; and

said at least one market presence module is configured to analyze and extract information from the articles, books, and/or other content published by the one or more first parties and/or the one or more second parties and to assign a relevancy score to the articles, books, and/or other content based on how relevant the extracted information is to the one or more keywords.

10. An apparatus for measuring one or more influencers'"'"' overall influence within a computer network, the apparatus comprising:

at least one central database, wherein digital information associated with the one or more first parties is stored;

at least one gateway server having a processor configured to execute at least one presentation layer, at least one retrievers module, and at least one market presence module,

said at least one presentation layer being configured to receive one or more keywords from a user for use by the retrievers module in identifying content, the one or more keywords being related to one or more areas of interest to the user;

said at least one retrievers module being configured to access the computer network and identify content published by the one or more influencers, the content published by said one or more influencers being related to the one or more areas of interest to the user; and

said at least one market presence module being configured to;

find content published by the one or more influencers, based on keywords in the content; and

track an amount of content published by the one or more influencers, wherein the amount of content published by the one or more influencers provides a measure of the one or more influencers'"'"' overall influence with respect to the areas of interest to the user within the computer network.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the processor of the at least one gateway server is further configured to execute the at least one market presence module to identify a relationship between the content published by the one or more influencers and one or more companies and/or one or more products, the one or more companies and/or one or more products being associated with the area of interest to the user.

12. A method for measuring one or more first parties'"'"' overall influence within a computer network, the method being embodied on a data storage device as at least one presentation layer, at least one retrievers module, and at least one market presence module and comprising the steps of:

(a) storing digital information associated with the one or more first parties in at least one central database according to a classification assigned to that data;

(b) executing said at least one presentation layer with a processor to receive one or more keywords from a user for use by the retrievers module in identifying content, the one or more keywords being related to content the one or more first parties published on the computer network;

(c) executing said at least one retrievers module with the processor to access the computer network and identify content published by one or more second parties, the content published by said one or more second parties being related to the content published by the one or more first parties; and

(d) executing said at least one market presence module with the processor to;

(i) find content published by the one or more second parties, based on keywords in the content; and

(ii) determine an amount of reaction to the content published by the one or more first parties, wherein the amount of reaction provides a measure of the one or more first parties'"'"' overall influence within the computer network.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein:

the content published by the one or more first parties is a press release; and

the one or more second parties are reporters.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising the step of executing the at least one market presence module with the processor to display the one or more first parties'"'"' overall influence within the computer network at a graphical user interface in a hierarchical list.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein step (c) includes at least one of the following steps:

executing an import/export engine configured to import/export data from/to one or more network databases maintained by the one or more first parties and/or the one or more second parties; and

executing a spider engine with the processor to spider the computer network for data;

wherein the data is related to the keywords.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the computer network comprises at least one of a local network and the world wide web.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein:

the user is one of the one or more first parties or the one or more second parties; and

the content published by the one or more first parties and the content published by the one or more second parties includes web-based media.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein:

said web-based media includes articles, books, and/or other content published by the one or more first parties and/or the one or more second parties; and

said at least one market presence module is configured to analyze information from those articles, books, and/or other content to determine what topics are actually discussed in those articles, books, and/or other content.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein:

said web-based media includes articles, books, and/or other content published by the one or more first parties and/or the one or more second parties; and

said at least one market presence module is further configured to analyze and extract information from the articles, books, and/or other content published by the one or more first parties and/or the one or more second parties and to determine at least one of the one or more first parties'"'"' and/or one or more second parties'"'"' attitude toward a topic or entity defined by the one or more keywords.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein:

said web-based media includes articles, books, and/or other content published by the one or more first parties and/or the one or more second parties; and

said at least one market presence module is configured to analyze and extract information from the articles, books, and/or other content published by the one or more first parties and/or the one or more second parties and to assign a relevancy score to the articles, books, and/or other content based on how relevant the extracted information is to the one or more keywords.