Web search with visited web page search result restrictions

• US 8,666,965 B2
• Filed: 10/24/2012
• Issued: 03/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/13/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PayPal, Inc. (PayPal Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Enpulz LLC
• Inventors: Bennett, James D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Jami, Hares
• Application Number:
  US13/659,704
• Publication Number:
  US 20130046750A1
• Time in Patent Office: 496 Days
• Field of Search: 707/709, 707/722, 707/723, 707/732, 707/733, 707/734
• US Class Current: 707/709
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation

Abstract

An Internet infrastructure supports searching of web links to select search results by processing browser activity information along with one or more of favorite lists, and related metadata, user profiles, and trends based on browser activity behavior and favorite behavior. A plurality of web browsers located on client device are incorporated with a browser activity-monitoring module that tracks user'"'"'s Internet usage, processes this information, and sends this information periodically or upon user request to the server to aid in improving search operation results. The search engine server communicatively couples to the plurality of web browsers and supports delivery of search results/web links to the client device based upon a search string, browser activity information, and possibly the favorite lists and related metadata. The gathered browser activity information, favorite lists, and related metadata are stored in one or more server databases that are associated with the search engine server.

Claims

1. A search infrastructure that services a plurality of browser applications running on computing devices of a plurality of users, the search infrastructure comprising:

storage that receives activity information relating to prior activity of a first browser application of a first user of the plurality of users, the activity information identifying a first list of web pages that the first user previously visited via the first browser application, wherein at least one user interaction with copyrighted content has been removed from the activity information;

web crawling infrastructure that gathers text data corresponding to a plurality of web pages hosted on an Internet, the plurality of web pages including the first list of visited web pages; and

a search infrastructure that responds to first search text by producing a first search results based on correlations between the first search text and the text data of the plurality of web pages, the first search results being non-user specific search results; and

the search infrastructure responds to second search text and an associated activity restriction indication indicating that search results correlating with the second search text are to be identified exclusively from the first web pages previously visited by the first user by producing for the first user a second search results based on correlations between the second search text and the text data of at least some of the first list of web pages, the second search results selected based on a search of only the first list of web pages and being user specific search results tailored for the first user.

2. The search infrastructure of claim 1, wherein the processing infrastructure arranges the second search results in a particular order.

3. The search infrastructure of claim 2, wherein the processing infrastructure considers contents of the activity information in performing the arrangement.

4. The search infrastructure of claim 3, wherein the contents of the activity information considered comprises revisit information.

5. The search infrastructure of claim 3, wherein the contents of the activity information considered comprises visit duration.

6. The search infrastructure of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the list of web pages were initially presented to the first user via the first browser application in a series of prior search results.

7. The search infrastructure of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the list of web pages were initially presented to the first user via first browsing interactions.

8. The search infrastructure of claim 1, wherein the associated activity restriction indication being generated in response to a user interface selection made by the first user via the first browser application.

9. A web search system comprising at least one server device that services a plurality of browser applications running on computing devices of a plurality of users, the web searching system comprising:

a processing infrastructure, comprising at least one processing circuitry, that stores user activity information associated with the plurality of browser applications in a first portion of a storage dedicated to storing exclusively the user activity information, a first portion of the user activity information being associated with a first browser of the plurality of browser applications of a first user of the plurality of users, the user activity information including a list of web addresses previously visited by the first user via the first browser, and wherein interactions associated with malware have been removed from the user activity information;

a crawling infrastructure that gathers text data from a plurality of web pages hosted on an Internet, the plurality of web pages including visited web pages corresponding to the list of web addresses; and

the processing infrastructure responds to search text and an associated activity consideration indication requiring that search results identified based on at least the search text be identified exclusively from the list of web addresses previously visited by the first user by generating a tailored search results for the first user, the processing infrastructure exclusively considering web addresses included in the first portion of the storage as part of the generation.

10. The web search system of claim 9, wherein the associated activity consideration indication being generated in response to a user interface selection made by the first user via the first browser.

11. The web search system of claim 10, wherein the user interface selection is made in response to a visual offer to restrict searching to the visited web pages.

12. The web search system of claim 11, wherein the processing infrastructure produces a non-tailored search results if the user interface selection is not made.

13. The web search system of claim 9, wherein the generation is restricted by the list of web addresses such that the tailored search results only including references to a portion of the visited web pages.

14. The web search system of claim 9, wherein the activity information comprises revisit information, and the processing infrastructure considers the revisit information in performing an arrangement of the tailored search results in a particular order.

15. The web search system of claim 9, wherein the activity information comprises visit duration information, and the processing infrastructure considers the visit duration information in performing an arrangement of the tailored search results in a particular order.

16. The web search system of claim 9, wherein at least one user interaction with copyrighted content has been removed from the activity information prior to being stored by the processing infrastructure.

17. A method performed by a search infrastructure that services a plurality of browser applications running on computing devices of a plurality of users, the method comprising:

collecting activity data relating to prior activity of a first browser application of a first user, the activity data identifying first web pages visited by the first user via the first browser application, wherein interactions associated with illegal content have been removed from the activity data;

gathering text data corresponding to a plurality of web pages hosted on an Internet, the plurality of web pages including the first web pages;

receiving first search text and an associated prior-activity restriction indication from the first browser application indicating that search results correlating with the first search text are to be identified exclusively from the first web pages visited by the first user; and

generating restricted search results for the first user based on correlations between the first search text and only those portions of the text data associated with the first web pages located exclusively in a first portion of a storage, the first portion dedicated to storing text data associated exclusively with web pages visited by the first user.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising receiving second search text, and generating a non-restricted search results based on correlations between the second search text and any portion of the text data.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the associated prior-activity restriction indication being generated in response to a user interface selection made by the first user via the first browser.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the generation of the restricted search results includes an ordering process that involves a consideration of revisit data identified within the activity data.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein the generation of the restricted search results includes an ordering process that involves a consideration of visit duration data identified within the activity data.

22. The method of claim 17, wherein interactions associated with illegal content comprise interactions with content known to be violating a copyright.