Method for organizing information - Patent Review 6006222

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A method of organizing a plurality of articles comprising:

(a) providing an index, the index being able to store key terms and associate each article with at least one of the key terms, the index further being able to associate a key term score with each article under each of the respective key terms when stored within the index, wherein the index is able to further associate a key term total score with each key term score;

(b) accepting a first search query from a first user;

(c) identifying the key terms that match the first search query, the key terms that match the first search query being first matched key terms;

(d) displaying squibs of articles related to the first search query to the first user;

(e) allowing the first user to select at least one of the articles related to the first search query, the article selected by the first user being a selected article;

(f1a) altering the index such that the key term score for the selected article under at least one of the first matched key terms is altered relative to other key term scores;

(f1b) altering the index such that key term total scores of at least one of the articles related to the first search query under at least one of the first matched key terms are altered relative to other key term total scores;

(g) accepting a second search query from a second user;

(h) identifying key terms that match the second search query, the key terms that match the second search query being second matched key terms;

(i) displaying squibs of articles related to the second search query to the second user, wherein the squibs of articles related to the second search query are organized in order of superiority of their key term scores under at least one of the second matched key terms when at least one of the second matched key terms matches at least one of the first matched key terms, whereby the selected article will be ranked higher for the second user than before the first user had selected the article.

2. The method of organizing a plurality of articles of claim 1 wherein step (f1a) comprises:

(f2a) altering the index such that the key term score for the selected article under at least one of the first matched key terms is altered relative to other key term scores;

and further wherein step (f1b) comprises:

(f2b) altering the index such that key term total scores of at least one of the articles related to the first search query under at least one of the first matched key terms are altered relative to other key term total scores, but only for articles that have had their squibs displayed to the first user.

3. The method of organizing a plurality of articles of claim 1, wherein step (f1a) comprises:

(f3a) adding a positive score to the key term scores for the selected article under at least one of the first matched key terms.

4. The method of organizing a plurality of articles of claim 1, wherein step (f1a) comprises:

(f4a) adding a positive score to the key term scores for the selected article under all the first matched key terms.

5. The method of organizing a plurality of articles of claim 1, wherein step (i) comprises:

(i5a) associating the key term score of individual articles related to the second search query under at least one of the second matched key terms with the respective key term total score to create a key term probability score for each of the respective individual articles related to the second search query under the respective second matched key term;

(i5b) associating the key term probability scores of individual articles related to the second search query under at least some of the second matched key terms to create comparison scores for each of the respective individual articles related to the second search query;

(i5c) displaying squibs of articles related to the second search query in order of superiority of the comparison scores when at least a portion of the second search query is related to the at least a portion of the first search query.

6. The method of organizing a plurality of articles of claim 5, wherein step (i5b) comprises:

(i6b) at least multiplying the key term probability scores of individual articles related to the second search query under at least some of the second matched key terms to create comparison scores for each of the respective individual articles related to the second search query.

7. The method of organizing a plurality of articles of claim 5, wherein step (i5b) comprises:

(i7b) at least adding the key term probability scores of individual articles related to the second search query under at least some of the second matched key terms to create comparison scores for each of the respective individual articles related to the second search query.

8. The method of organizing a plurality of articles of claim 5, wherein step (i5b) comprises:

(i8b) at least averaging the key term probability scores of individual articles related to the second search query under at least some of the second matched key terms to create comparison scores for each of the respective individual articles related to the second search query.

9. The method of organizing a plurality of articles of claim 1, wherein step (i5a) comprises:

(i6a) at least dividing the key term score of individual articles related to the second search query under at least one of the second matched key terms by the respective key term total score to create a key term probability score for each of the respective individual articles related to the second search query under the respective second matched key term.

10. The method of organizing a plurality of articles of claim 9, wherein step (i5b) comprises:

(i6b) at least multiplying the key term probability scores of individual articles related to the second search query under at least some of the second matched key terms to create comparison scores for each of the respective individual articles related to the second search query.

11. The method of organizing a plurality of articles of claim 9, wherein step (i5b) comprises:

(i7b) at least adding the key term probability scores of individual articles related to the second search query under at least some of the second matched key terms to create comparison scores for each of the respective individual articles related to the second search query.

12. The method of organizing a plurality of articles of claim 9, wherein step (i5b) comprises:

(i6b) at least averaging the key term probability scores of individual articles related to the second search query under at least some of the second matched key terms to create comparison scores for each of the respective individual articles related to the second search query.

13. A method of organizing a plurality of articles comprising:

(a) providing an index, the index being able to store key terms and associate each article with at least one of the key terms, the index further being able to associate a key term score with each article under each of the respective key terms when stored within the index;

(b) accepting a first search query from a first user;

(c) identifying the key terms that match the first search query, the key terms that match the first search query being first matched key terms:

(d) displaying squibs of articles related to the first search query to the first user;

(e1) allowing the first user to select at least one of the articles related to the first search query through any action allowing the first user to sense more than just the squib of the at least one of the articles related to the first search query, the article selected by the first user being a selected article;

(f) altering the index such that the key term score for the selected article under at least one of the first matched key terms is altered relative to other key term scores;

(g) accepting a second search query from a second user;

(h) identifying key terms that match the second search query, the key terms that match the second search query being second matched key terms;

(i) displaying squibs of articles related to the second search query to the second user, wherein the squibs of articles related to the second search query are organized in order of superiority of their key term scores under at least one of the second matched key terms when at least one of the second matched key terms matches at least one of the first matched key terms, whereby the selected article will be ranked higher for the second user than before the first user had selected the article.

14. The method of organizing a plurality of articles of claim 13, wherein step (g) comprises:

(g1) accepting a second search query from a second user, the second user being different from the first user.

15. The method of organizing a plurality of articles of claim 13, and further comprising:

(j) allowing the second user to select at least one of the articles related to the second search query, the article selected by the second user being a second selected article;

(k) altering the index such that the key term score for the second selected article under at least one of the second matched key terms is altered relative to other key term scores;

(l) repeating steps (g) through (k) for additional users.

16. The method of organizing a plurality of articles of claim 13, wherein step (i) comprises:

(i1a) associating the key term scores of individual articles related to the second search query under at least some of the second matched key terms to create comparison scores for each of the respective individual articles related to the second search query;

(i2b) displaying squibs of articles related to the second search query in order of superiority of the comparison scores when at least a portion of the second search query is related to the at least a portion of the first search query.

17. The method of organizing a plurality of articles of claim 16, wherein step (i1a) comprises:

(i2a) at least multiplying the key term scores of individual articles related to the second search query under at least some of the second matched key terms to create comparison scores for each of the respective individual articles related to the second search query.

18. The method of organizing a plurality of articles of claim 16, wherein step (i1a) comprises:

(i3a) at least adding the key term probability scores of individual articles related to the second search query under at least some of the second matched key terms to create comparison scores for each of the respective individual articles related to the second search query.

19. The method of organizing a plurality of articles of claim 16, wherein step (i1a) comprises:

(i4a) at least averaging the key term probability scores of individual articles related to the second search query under at least some of the second matched key terms to create comparison scores for each of the respective individual articles related to the second search query.

20. A method of organizing a plurality of articles comprising:

(a) providing an index, the index being able to store key terms and associate each article with at least one of the key terms, the index further being able to associate a key term score with each article under each of the respective key terms when stored within the index;

(b) accepting a first search query from a first user;

(c) identifying the key terms that match the first search query, the key terms that match the first search query being first matched key terms;

(d) displaying squibs of articles related to the first search query to the first user;

(e2) allowing the user to select at least one of the articles related to the first search query by clicking on a hypertext link portion of the squib of the at least one of the articles related to the first search query, the article selected by the user being a selected article;

(f) altering the index such that the key term score for the selected article under at least one of the first matched key terms is altered relative to other key term scores;

(g) accepting a second search query from a second user;

(h) identifying key terms that match the second search query, the key terms that match the second search query being second matched key terms;

(i) displaying squibs of articles related to the second search query to the second user, wherein the squibs of articles related to the second search query are organized in order of superiority of their key term scores under at least one of the second matched key terms when at least one of the second matched key terms matches at least one of the first matched key terms, whereby the selected article will be ranked higher for the second user than before the first user had selected the article.

21. The method of organizing a plurality of articles of claim 20, wherein step (g) comprises:

(g1) accepting a second search query from a second user, the second user being different from the first user.

22. The method of organizing a plurality of articles of claim 20, and further comprising:

(j) allowing the second user to select at least one of the articles related to the second search query, the article selected by the second user being a second selected article;

(k) altering the index such that the key term score for the second selected article under at least one of the second matched key terms is altered relative to other key term scores;

(l) repeating steps (g) through (k) for additional users.

23. The method of organizing a plurality of articles of claim 20, wherein step (i) comprises:

(i1a) associating the key term scores of individual articles related to the second search query under at least some of the second matched key terms to create comparison scores for each of the respective individual articles related to the second search query;

(i2b) displaying squibs of articles related to the second search query in order of superiority of the comparison scores when at least a portion of the second search query is related to the at least a portion of the first search query.

24. The method of organizing a plurality of articles of claim 23, wherein step (i1a) comprises:

(i2a) at least multiplying the key term scores of individual articles related to the second search query under at least some of the second matched key terms to create comparison scores for each of the respective individual articles related to the second search query.

25. The method of organizing a plurality of articles of claim 23, wherein step (i1a) comprises:

(i3a) at least adding the key term probability scores of individual articles related to the second search query under at least some of the second matched key terms to create comparison scores for each of the respective individual articles related to the second search query.

26. The method of organizing a plurality of articles of claim 23, wherein step (i1a) comprises:

(i4a) at least averaging the key term probability scores of individual articles related to the second search query under at least some of the second matched key terms to create comparison scores for each of the respective individual articles related to the second search query.

27. A method of organizing a plurality of articles comprising:

(a) providing an index, the index being able to store key terms and associate each article with at least one of the key terms, the index further being able to associate a key term score with each article under each of the respective key terms when stored within the index;

(b) accepting a first search query from a first user;

(c) identifying the key terms that match the first search query, the key terms that match the first search query being first matched key terms;

(d) displaying squibs of articles related to the first search query to the first user;

(e3) allowing the user to select at least one of the articles related to the first search query by opening the at least one of the articles related to the first search query, the article selected by the first user being a selected article;

(f) altering the index such that the key term score for the selected article under at least one of the first matched key terms is altered relative to other key term scores;

(g) accepting a second search query from a second user;

(h) identifying key terms that match the second search query, the key terms that match the second search query being second matched key terms;

(i) displaying squibs of articles related to the second search query to the second user, wherein the squibs of articles related to the second search query are organized in order of superiority of their key term scores under at least one of the second matched key terms when at least one of the second matched key terms matches at least one of the first matched key terms, whereby the selected article will be ranked higher for the second user than before the first user had selected the article.

28. The method of organizing a plurality of articles of claim 27, wherein step (g) comprises:

(g1) accepting a second search query from a second user, the second user being different from the first user.

29. The method of organizing a plurality of articles of claim 27, and further comprising:

(j) allowing the second user to select at least one of the articles related to the second search query, the article selected by the second user being a second selected article;

(k) altering the index such that the key term score for the second selected article under at least one of the second matched key terms is altered relative to other key term scores;

(l) repeating steps (g) through (k) for additional users.

30. The method of organizing a plurality of articles of claim 27, wherein step (i) comprises:

(i1a) associating the key term scores of individual articles related to the second search query under at least some of the second matched key terms to create comparison scores for each of the respective individual articles related to the second search query;

(i2b) displaying squibs of articles related to the second search query in order of superiority of the comparison scores when at least a portion of the second search query is related to the at least a portion of the first search query.

31. The method of organizing a plurality of articles of claim 30, wherein step (i1a) comprises:

(i2a) at least multiplying the key term scores of individual articles related to the second search query under at least some of the second matched key terms to create comparison scores for each of the respective individual articles related to the second search query.

32. The method of organizing a plurality of articles of claim 30, wherein step (i1a) comprises:

(i3a) at least adding the key term probability scores of individual articles related to the second search query under at least some of the second matched key terms to create comparison scores for each of the respective individual articles related to the second search query.

33. The method of organizing a plurality of articles of claim 30, wherein step (i1a) comprises:

(i4a) at least averaging the key term probability scores of individual articles related to the second search query under at least some of the second matched key terms to create comparison scores for each of the respective individual articles related to the second search query.

34. A method of organizing a plurality of articles comprising:

(a) providing an index, the index being able to store key terms and associate each article with at least one of the key terms, the index further being able to associate a key term score with each article under each of the respective key terms when stored within the index;

(b) accepting a first search query from a first user;

(c) identifying the key terms that match the first search query, the key terms that match the first search query being first matched key terms;

(d) displaying squibs of articles related to the first search query to the first user;

(e4) allowing the user to select at least one of the articles by retrieving the at least one of the articles related to the first search query from a remote server, the article selected by the first user being a selected article;

(f) altering the index such that the key term score for the selected article under at least one of the first matched key terms is altered relative to other key term scores;

(g) accepting a second search query from a second user;

(h) identifying key terms that match the second search query, the key terms that match the second search query being second matched key terms;

(i) displaying squibs of articles related to the second search query to the second user, wherein the squibs of articles related to the second search query are organized in order of superiority of their key term scores under at least one of the second matched key terms when at least one of the second matched key terms matches at least one of the first matched key terms, whereby the selected article will be ranked higher for the second user than before the first user had selected the article.

35. The method of organizing a plurality of articles of claim 34, wherein step (i) comprises:

(i1a) associating the key term scores of individual articles related to the second search query under at least some of the second matched key terms to create comparison scores for each of the respective individual articles related to the second search query;

(i2b) displaying squibs of articles related to the second search query in order of superiority of the comparison scores when at least a portion of the second search query is related to the at least a portion of the first search query.

36. The method of organizing a plurality of articles of claim 35, wherein step (i1a) comprises:

(i2a) at least multiplying the key term scores of individual articles related to the second search query under at least some of the second matched key terms to create comparison scores for each of the respective individual articles related to the second search query.

37. The method of organizing a plurality of articles of claim 35, wherein step (i1a) comprises:

(i3a) at least adding the key term probability scores of individual articles related to the second search query under at least some of the second matched key terms to create comparison scores for each of the respective individual articles related to the second search query.

38. The method of organizing a plurality of articles of claim 35, wherein step (i1a) comprises:

(i4a) at least averaging the key term probability scores of individual articles related to the second search query under at least some of the second matched key terms to create comparison scores for each of the respective individual articles related to the second search query.

39. A method of organizing a plurality of articles comprising:

(a) providing an index, the index being able to store category terms and associate each article with at least one of the category terms, the index further being able to associate a category term score with each article under each of the respective category terms when stored within the index;

(b) accepting a first search query from a first user;

(c) accepting at least one first category term from the first user, the first category term being an indication of a generic type of information the first user is searching for;

(d) identifying articles related to the first search query;

(e) displaying squibs of articles related to the first search query to the first user;

(f) allowing the first user to select at least one of the articles related to the first search query, the article selected by the first user being a first selected article;

(g) altering the index such that the selected article is associated with the first category term and the category term score for the selected article under at least the first category term is altered relative to other category term scores;

(h) accepting at least one second category term from the second user, the second category term being an indication of a generic type of information the second user is searching for;

(i) displaying squibs of articles associated with the second category term to the second user, wherein the squibs of articles associated with the second category term are organized relative to their key term scores under the at least one second category term when the second category term is related to the first category term, whereby the first selected article will be ranked higher than before the first user had selected the article.

40. A method of organizing a plurality of articles comprising:

(a) providing an index, the index being able to store key terms and associate each article with at least one of the key terms, the index further being able to associate a key term score with each article under each of the respective key terms when stored within the index, the index further being able to store category terms and associate each article with at least one of the category terms, the index further being able to associate a category term score with each article under each of the respective category terms when stored within the index;

(b) accepting a first search query from a first user;

(c) accepting at least one first category term from the first user, the first category term being an indication of a generic type of information the first user is searching for;

(d) identifying articles related to the first search query;

(e) displaying squibs of articles related to the first search query to the first user;

(f) allowing the first user to select at least one of the articles related to the first search query, the article selected by the first user being a first selected article;

(g) identifying the key terms that match the first search query, the key terms that match the first search query being first matched key terms;

(h) altering the index such that the key term score for the selected article under at least one of the first matched key terms is altered relative to other key term scores;

(i) altering the index such that the selected article is associated with the first category term and the category term score for the selected article under at least the first category term is altered relative to other category term scores;

(j) accepting a second search query from a second user;

(k) accepting at least one second category term from the second user, the second category term being an indication of a generic type of information the second user is searching for;

(m) displaying squibs of articles associated with the second search query and the second category term to the second user, wherein the squibs of articles associated with the second category term are organized relative to their key term scores under the at least one second category term when the second category term is related to the first category term, whereby the first selected article will be ranked higher than before the first user had selected the article.

41. A method of organizing a plurality of articles comprising:

(a) providing an index, the index being able to store rating terms and associate each article with at least one of the rating terms, the index further being able to associate a rating term score with each article under each of the respective rating terms when stored within the index;

(b) accepting a first search query from a first user;

(c) accepting a first rating term from the first user, the first rating term being an indication of an appropriateness of an article for particular age groups, including all-age groups and adults-only groups;

(d) displaying squibs of articles related to the first search query to the first user;

(e) allowing the first user to select at least one of the articles related to the first search query, the article selected by the first user being a selected article;

(f) altering the index such that the rating term score for the selected article under at least one of the first rating terms is altered relative to other key term scores;

(g) accepting a second search query from a second user;

(h) accepting a second rating term from the second user, the second rating term being an indication of an appropriateness of an article for particular age groups, including all-age groups and adults-only groups;

(i) displaying squibs of articles related to the second search query to the second user in which the rating term score of the respective article under the first rating term is below a predetermined threshold when the second rating term is different than the first rating term;

(j) displaying squibs of articles related to the second search query to the second user when the second rating term is the same as the first rating term.

42. A method of organizing a plurality of articles comprising:

(a) providing an index, the index being able to store key term groupings derived from search queries entered by previous users, and associate each article with at least one of the key term groupings, the index further being able to associate a key term score with each article under each of the respective key term groupings when stored within the index;

(b) accepting a first search query from a first user;

(c) deriving key term groupings from the first search query, the key term groupings derived from the first search query being first matched key term groupings;

(d) displaying squibs of articles related to the first search query to the first user;

(e) allowing the first user to select at least one of the articles related to the first search query, the article selected by the first user being a selected article;

(f) altering the index such that the key term score for the selected article under at least one of the first matched key term groupings is altered relative to other key term scores;

(g) accepting a second search query from a second user;

(h) identifying the key term groupings that match the second search query, the key term groupings that match the second search query being second matched key term groupings;

(i) displaying squibs of articles related to the second search query to the second user, wherein the squibs of articles related to the second search query are organized relative to their key term scores under at least one of the second matched key term groupings when at least one of the key term groupings from the second search query matches at least one of the first key term groupings from the first search query, whereby the selected article will be ranked higher than before the first user had selected the article.

43. The method of organizing a plurality of articles of claim 42, wherein step (g) comprises:

(g1) accepting a second search query from a second user, the second user being different from the first user.

44. The method of organizing a plurality of articles of claim 42, wherein step (c) comprises:

(c1) deriving key term groupings which each contain at least one term derived from the first search query, the key term groupings derived from the first search query being first matched key term groupings.

45. The method of organizing a plurality of articles of claim 42, wherein step (c) comprises:

(c2) deriving key term groupings containing at least two different terms derived from the first search query, the key term groupings derived from the first search query being first matched key term groupings.

46. The method of organizing a plurality of articles of claim 42, wherein step (c) comprises:

(c3) deriving a key term grouping containing all the terms in the first search query in any order, the key term grouping derived from the first search query being a first matched key term grouping.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Related Disclosures

This patent application contains subject matter disclosed in Disclosure Document Numbers 411,887; 417,369 and 417,458.

2. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to search engines, and more particularly pertains to a method for organizing information by monitoring the search activity of users.

3. Description of the Prior Art

The Internet is an extensive network of computer systems which allows a user to connect with various computer servers or systems. The Internet permits users to send and receive data between computers connected to this network. This data may include web sites, home pages, databases, text collections, audio, video or any other type of information made available over the Internet (collectively referred to as "articles") from a computer server connected to the Internet. The articles may also include key terms representing selected portions of the information contained in the article. These key terms are available over the Internet to other computers and permit these other computers to locate the article.

To locate articles on the Internet, a user of a remote computer searches for the key terms using a search program known as a search engine. Examples of search engines currently available on the Internet include "Yahoo!" (TM), "Excite" (TM), and "Alta Vista" (TM). These programs allow the remote user to type in one or more search terms, typically as a combination of English words. The search terms may be connected by Boolean logic operators or may be truncated and combined with wild card terms to form a search query. The search engine then compares the search query with the key terms from the articles and retrieves at least a portion of the articles having key terms which match the search query. The search engine will then display to the user the portion of the article such as the title. The user can then scroll through these retrieved portions of the articles and select a desired article.

Conventional key word searching and various prior art methods of accomplishing such key word searching are disclosed in at least the following patents:

______________________________________ U.S. Pat. No. Title ______________________________________ 5,588,060 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR A KEY-MANAGEMENT SCHEME FOR INTERNET PROTOCOLS; 5,546,390 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR RADIX DECISION PACKET PROCESSING; 5,528,757 ROUTING SYSTEM FOR RETRIEVING REQUESTED PROGRAM BY DISCARDING RECEIVED PROGRAM IDENTICAL WITH STORED PROGRAMS AND TRANSFERRING THE RECEIVED PROGRAM NOT IDENTICAL WITH STORED PROGRAMS; 5,377,355 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATED PROCEDURE INITIATION IN A DATA PROCESSING SYSTEM INCLUDING SOLICITING AN EVALUATION VOTE FROM USERS AUTOMATICALLY DETERMINED IN RESPONSE TO IDENTIFICATION OF A FUNCTIONAL AREA ASSOCIATED WITH A DOCUMENT; 5,404,507 APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR FINDING RECORDS IN A DATABASE BY FORMULATING A QUERY USING EQUIVALENT TERMS WHICH CORRESPOND TO TERMS IN THE INPUT QUERY; 5,408,586 HISTORICAL DATABASE TRAINING METHOD FOR NEURAL NETWORKS; 5,408,655 USER INTERFACE SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR TRAVERSING A DATABASE; 5,371,676 APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR DETERMINING DATA OF COMPOUND WORDS; 5,185,888 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DATA MERGING/SORTING AND SEARCHING USING A PLURALITY OF BIT-SLICED PROCESSING UNITS; 4,967,341 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROCESSING DATA BASE; ______________________________________

A person who places an article on the Internet typically intends for it to be available to all people who type in search terms that are even remotely related to the subject matter of the article. This increases the exposure of the article to the public searching the Internet. Such increased exposure can potentially increase product sales or advertising revenue for the owner of the article, especially if advertising revenue is related to the number of visits to the article or web site. Thus, there is an incentive to use as many search terms as are possibly related to the article. In fact, some articles or search engines use every word in the article as key terms. As a result, search engines will retrieve many articles which are unrelated to the subject matter which the user desires to find through a combination of search terms.

Further, some Internet users are not skilled in selecting and connecting key word search queries. These users will often type in a single word or two words connected by an "AND" operator. These searches are extremely broad and often retrieve thousands of articles which the user must manually search through by examining the title or other brief information about each article to find the desired information or advertisement.

As the total number of articles posted on the Internet continues to increase, there is an increasing number of articles retrieved with each search query. To find an article, the user must manually search through the retrieved articles and/or repeatedly modify the search query.

OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to organize articles available on the Internet.

It is another object of the present invention to monitor searching activity to organize articles in accordance with the searching activity of one or more users.

To accomplish these and other objects, the present invention generally comprises a method of organizing information in which the search activity of a user is monitored and such activity is used to organize articles displayed in the search results. The invention operates by assigning scores to key terms and categories for articles. As users enter search queries and select articles, the scores are altered. The scores are then used in subsequent searches to organize the articles that match a search query. The method allows the search activity of a large number of Internet users to organize the information available over the Internet through an evolutionary process.

This brief description sets forth rather broadly the more important features of the present invention in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contributions to the art may be better appreciated. There are, of course, additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and which will be for the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.

In this respect, before explaining a preferred embodiment of the invention in detail, it is understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of the method set forth in the following description. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood, that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.

As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception, upon which disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basis for designing other methods and systems for carrying out the objects and purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 illustrates in flow diagram form the operational steps taken by the system.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The Internet is an extensive network of computer systems which allows a user to connect with various computer servers or systems. The Internet permits users to send and receive data between the computers connected to this network. The data can be read, viewed or listened to on a browser or other software program from over the Internet on a remote user's computer. This data may comprise articles, databases, data collections, web sites, web pages, graphics, encryption, audio, video or any other type of information collectively referred to as articles and designated herein by the generic labels A1, A2, A3, etc.

The present invention maintains an index of key words, terms, data or identifiers in English or other languages, computer code, or encryption which are collectively referred to as key terms and represented herein by the generic labels Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, etc.

The articles are each associated with one or more of these key terms by any conceivable method of association, such as through indexing all words or through meta-tag headers containing key words selected by the author or editor. Further, a key term score is associated with each article for each of the key terms. For example, an initial index setting may look like this:

______________________________________ Index Alpha Beta Gamma Delta Epsilon ______________________________________ A1 - 1 A1 - 1 A1 - 1 A2 - 1 A1 - 1 A2 - 1 A3 - 1 A3 - 1 A3 - 1 A3 - 1 ______________________________________

The invention will accept a search query from a user and a search engine will identify key terms which match the search query. These key terms which match the search query are called matched key terms. The search engine then identifies in any conceivable manner the articles which are associated with the matched key terms. This can be done by comparing all or part of the search query, or terms equivalent to those in the search query with the key terms in the index to identify the key terms which match the search query. The search engine may account for Boolean logic operators in the search query.

In the example above, and as illustrted at 10 in FIG. 1, a search query of "Alpha AND Gamma" would identify articles A1 and A3 because they are both associated with the matched key terms Alpha and Gamma. Because articles A1 and A3 are associated with the matched key terms, these articles are called matched articles.

As shown in FIG. 1 at 20, the search engine will then display a squib of each of the matched articles. The squib may comprise any portion, hypertext link to or representation of the matched article, such as the title, headings, first few lines of text, audio, video or any other type of information. As shown in FIG. 1 at 30, the user can then scroll through the squibs of the articles and select a desired one of the matched articles by opening, retrieving, reading, viewing, listening to or otherwise closely inspecting the article from over the Internet or from any other storage area. The matched article selected by the user is called the selected matched article.

Once the user has selected a matched article, and as shown in FIG. 1 at 40, the index can be altered such that the key term scores for the selected matched article under the matched key terms are altered relative to other key term scores. This indicates that the user believes that the matched key terms for that selected matched article are properly associated with the selected matched article. To alter the key term scores, a positive score such as (+1) can be added to the key term scores, for example, although any other possible indication can be used and the key term scores can be altered by any possible type of operation, mathematical or otherwise, to alter the key term scores for the selected matched article under the matched key terms relative to other key term scores.

Thus, after executing the search query "Alpha AND Gamma," the search engine would display the squib of matched articles A1 and A3. If the user selected only article A3, the index could be altered such that the key term scores for the selected matched article A3 under the matched key terms Alpha and Gamma are altered relative to the other key term scores. The index would then look like this:

______________________________________ Index Alpha Beta Gamma Delta Epsilon ______________________________________ A1 - 1 A1 - 1 A1 - 1 A2 - 1 A1 - 1 A2 - 1 A3 - 2 A3 - 1 A3 - 1 A3 - 2 ______________________________________

For the next search by either the same or a different user, the invention could then rank the matched articles by using the key term scores, as shown in FIG. 1 at 50 and 60. To this end, the key term scores of each matched article under each of the matched key terms of the new search could then be associated in any possible manner to create a comparison score for each matched article. For example, the key term scores could be added, multiplied together or averaged to create the comparison score for that matched article. The matched articles can then be displayed to the user in order of comparison score superiority, such as by displaying the matched article with the highest comparison score first.

For example, the search query "Alpha AND Epsilon" would again identify matched articles A1 and A3. By multiplying the key term scores of each matched article under each matched key term together to get the comparison score, the comparison score for article A1 would equal 1, whereas the comparison score for article A3 would be 2. The invention would then display the matched article A3 to the user in a superior position to matched article A1.

DISPARATE SEARCH ACTIVITY

To compensate for disparate search activity for certain articles relative to other articles, the invention may include a key term total score for each key term score of each article under each key term. After each search query is entered or after any other event occurs, the index could then be altered such that the key term total score of each matched article under each matched key term is altered relative to other key term total scores. The index could be altered in this manner after each search query is entered or after any other event, such as after the user has selected one or more articles or has read a matched article for a predetermined length of time.

For example, the index could have an initial setting such as is shown here where the key term scores are separated from the key term total scores by a backslash (/) and given an initial value of one.

______________________________________ Index Alpha Beta Gamma Delta Epsilon ______________________________________ A1 - 1/1 A1 - 1/1 A1 - 1/1 A2 - 1/1 A1 - 1/1 A2 - 1/1 A3 - 1/1 A3 - 1/1 A3 - 1/1 A3 - 1/1 ______________________________________

As illustrated above, if the user selected only article A3 after executing the search query "Alpha AND Gamma," the key term score for article A3 under the matched key terms Alpha and Gamma would be altered relative to other key term scores. Further, the key term total scores for both article A1 and article A3 under the matched key terms could also be altered. If the positive score is added to the key term scores for the selected matched article A3 under the matched key terms Alpha and Gamma, and the positive score is added to the key term total scores for the matched articles A1 and A3 (regardless of whether they were selected or not) under the matched key terms, the index would then look like this:

______________________________________ Index Alpha Beta Gamma Delta Epsilon ______________________________________ A1 - 1/2 A1 - 1/1 A1 - 1/2 A2 - 1/1 A1 - 1/1 A2 - 1/1 A3 - 2/2 A3 - 1/1 A3 - 1/1 A3 - 2/2 ______________________________________

For the next search, the invention could then organize or rank the articles by first comparing the key term scores as related to the respective key term total scores for each of the matched articles under each matched key term to create a key term probability score for that matched article under each respective matched key term from the new search. To this end, the key term scores of each matched article under each of the matched key terms could be compared or associated with their respective key term total score in any known manner to create the key term probability scores for that matched article under the respective matched key terms. For example, the key term scores of each matched article under the matched key terms could be divided by their respective key term total score to create the key term probability score of that matched article under that matched key term.

The key term probability scores of each matched article under each of the matched key terms could then be associated in any known manner to create the comparison score for each matched article identified in the search. For example, the key term probability scores could be added, multiplied or averaged together to create the comparison score for that matched article. The articles can then be displayed to the user in order of superiority, such as by displaying the article with the highest comparison score first.

For example, the new and different search query "Alpha AND Epsilon" would again identify matched articles A1 and A3. The key term probability score for matched article A1 under the key term Alpha would equal the key term score of 1 divided by the key term total score of 2, for a