Computerized system and method for tracking the geographic relevance of website listings and providing graphics and data regarding the same

• US 9,201,973 B2
• Filed: 07/10/2009
• Issued: 12/01/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/10/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Birch Hill LLC
• Original Assignee: Geodex LLC
• Inventors: Johnson, Jeremiah L., Pool, Gregory A., Tisdale, Edward, McArthur, Brian, Holmes, Chris
• Primary Examiner(s): Mofiz, Apu
• Assistant Examiner(s): BIBBEE, JARED M
• Application Number:
  US12/501,122
• Publication Number:
  US 20110010336A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,335 Days
• Field of Search: 707/736, 707/748, 707/749, 707/723, 707/752
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/00 Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/134 Hyperlinking

Abstract

The present invention generally relates to a computerized system and method for tracking and displaying data identifying the geographic relevance of website listings on Internet search engines, parked web pages, ISP redirect web pages, and other similar web listing services without requiring extra input from Internet users. Each time an Internet user clicks on a website link provided on one of these web services, the software of the present invention tracks that person'"'"'s decision in selecting the link, along with his or her geographic location. The software automatically collects and stores this information in a database in a format that can be quickly accessed and used in the future when other Internet users perform the same keyword search or visit the parked/redirect page again. Based on this stored information, the software automatically sends signals to the Internet user'"'"'s computer that causes his or her web browser to display data and graphics that indicate whether the websites listed on the web page has been frequently visited and found to be popular by other Internet users in various geographic areas. As a result, the software of the present invention enables search engines, parked/redirect web pages, and other similar web services to be automatically organized by popularity within a geographic region. Moreover, each time data is collected by this software (e.g., when a user selects a link), the search engine and parked page will grow naturally and intelligently, thereby becoming more and more useful to the Internet user.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for processing, at a server, electronic searches comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving, at the server, a first search request from a first computing device;

(b) determining a geographic region that is a subject of the first search request;

(c) determining a geographic region of the first computing device;

(d) tracking searches that were performed by other computing devices prior to receiving the first search request;

(e) identifying prior searches made by the other computing devices that;

(i) involved the same or similar search terms as the first search request, and

(ii) were received from other computing devices located in the vicinity of the first computing device;

(f) assessing the number of times that websites provided in response to the identified prior searches were selected by users of the other computing devices;

(g) outputting first search results that are responsive to the first search request received from the first computing device, wherein

the first search results are ranked based upon the number of times that the identified prior search results were selected by the other computing devices.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of providing the first search results within a graphical user interface.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the graphical user interface comprises at least one of the group consisting of:

a map, text, images, hyperlinks, graphical data, videos, charts, and forms.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of modifying a ranking of the first search results based upon an input received via the graphical user interface.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of modifying the geographic region of the first computing device based upon an input received via the graphical user interface.

6. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of deleting a search result from the first search results based upon an input received from the graphical user interface.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of outputting the first search results includes providing electronic data related to the number of times that websites provided in response to the identified prior searches were selected by users of the other computing devices.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the electronic data comprises a number of times that websites provided in response to the identified prior searches were selected by users of the other computing devices that were located within the geographic region of the first computing device.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the geographic region of the first computing device is a local area in which the first computing device is located.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the geographic region of the first computing device is a state in which the first computing device is located.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the geographic region of the first computing device is a region of a country in which the first computing device is located.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the geographic region of the first computing device is a country in which the first computing device is located.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the geographic region of the first computing device is a specified distance from the first computing device.

14. The method of claim 7, wherein the electronic data is provided as a map displayed on a graphical user interface.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the map is displayed with indicia representing respective locations of the other computing devices relative to the first computing device.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein websites comprise advertisements.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein websites comprise hyperlinks.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining a geographic region of the first computing device includes accessing GPS location information from the first computing device.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the first search results are ranked at least partially based on a distance from the other computing devices to the geographic region of the first computing device.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein selection of websites by users of the other computing devices comprises clicking website links.