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Description  |
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to computer network search engines, and more particularly to search engines for performing online monitoring activities.
2. Related Art
Over the past several years, there has been an explosion of computers, and thus people, connected to the global Internet and the World-Wide Web (WWW). This increase of connectivity has allowed computer users to access various types of
information, disseminate information, and be exposed to electronic commerce activities, all with a great degree of freedom. Electronic commerce includes large corporations, small businesses, individual entrepreneurs, organizations, and the like who
offer their information, products, and/or services to people all over the world via the Internet.
The rise in the usage of the Internet, however, has also had a negative side. Given the Internet's vastness and freedom, many unscrupulous individuals have taken the opportunity to profit by violating the intellectual property of others. For
example, it has been estimated that billions of dollars in profits are lost each year due to piracy of copyrighted materials over the Internet. These lost profits result from unscrupulous individuals making available through the Internet, either free or
for their own profit, copyrighted materials such as music, movies, magazines, software, and pictures. Also, an individual, a company, an organization, or the like may be concerned with other intellectual property violations such as the illegal sale of
their products, or the sale of inferior products using their brand names--that is, patent and trademark infringements. Furthermore, an individual, a company, an organization, or the like may be concerned with false information (i.e., "rumors") that
originate and spread quickly over the Internet, resulting in the disparagement of the individual, company, organization, or the like. Such entities may also be interested in gathering data about how they and their products and/or services are perceived
on the Internet (i.e., a form of market research).
Individual artists, writers, and other owners of intellectual property are currently forced to search Internet Web sites, File Transfer Protocol (FTP) sites, chat rooms, etc. by visiting over thousands of sites in order to detect piracy or
disparagement at offending sites. Such searching is currently done either by hand or using commercial search engines. Each of these methods is costly because a great amount of time is required to do such searching--time that detracts from positive,
profit-earning activities. Adding to the frustration of detecting infringements is the fact that commercial search engines are infrequently updated and typically limit the resulting number of sites ("hits") that a search request returns. Furthermore,
the task of visiting each site to determine whether there is indeed an infringement or disparagement and if so, the extent and character of it, also demands a great deal of time.
Therefore, in view of the above, what is needed is a system, method and computer program product for an online (i.e., Internet or intranet) monitoring search engine. Such online monitoring would enhance the ability of intellectual property
owners and business owners to detect and prioritize their response to infringements and disparagements. Further, what is needed is a system, method and computer program product that searches the Internet's Web pages, FTP sites, FSP sites, Usenet
newsgroups, chat rooms, etc. for data relevant to the intellectual property and goodwill owned by an entity and produces a detailed, customized report of offending sites.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is a system, method and computer program product for an online monitoring search engine that satisfies the above-stated needs. The method involves receiving search criteria from a user, where the search criteria reflects
the user's intellectual property infringement or disparagement concerns. Then a search of the Internet (or intranet) is done for uniform resource locators (URL's) (i.e., addresses) that specify sites which contain contents matching the search criteria.
After a list of URL's containing probable infringements or disparagement is obtained, the pages of each URL are downloaded, archived, and scored. The method also obtains contact information for each registrant of the offending URL'S. The method then
produces a report listing the offending URL's and the score for each of the URL's. The report may then be utilized by the user to plan intellectual property infringement or disparagement enforcement activities. In a preferred embodiment of the present
invention, before generating a report, the pages are also grouped into "actual sites" to reduce the magnitude of information contained in the report. The method may also list the highest scoring page for each of the actual sites, as well as the highest
ranking actual site.
The online monitoring system of the present invention includes a Web server for receiving search criteria, search setup, and management inputs from users, an intellectual property infringement server (IPIS) for searching the Internet (or any
computer network) for URL's that contain contents matching the search criteria to thereby compile a list of offending URL's. The system also includes a file system for storing pages from each of the offending URL's and a relational database for allowing
the IPIS to perform queries of the pages in order to produce a report. In a preferred embodiment, the system also includes a plurality of Web clients that provide a graphical user interface (GUI) for users to enter their search criteria, as well as view
pages of the offending URL's by communicating with the Web server.
One advantage of the present invention is that intellectual property owners may quickly and efficiently search and find infringements and disparagements contained on Web, FTP, and FSP sites, as well as chat rooms and Usenet newsgroups within the
Internet.
Another advantage of the present invention is that detailed and customizable reports listing offending sites and associated metrics are produced allowing intellectual property owners to focus their enforcement activities.
Another advantage of the present invention is that its back-end (search engine) and front-end (user interface) are designed to operate independently of each other, thus allowing greater throughput and availability of the system as a whole.
Yet another advantage of the present invention is that lists of probable offending URL's may be grouped and prioritized, both in an automated and manual fashion, in order to arrive at a manageable set of data to focus intellectual property
enforcement activities.
Further features and advantages of the invention as well as the structure and operation of various embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE
FIGURES
The features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the detailed description set forth below when taken in conjunction with the drawings in which like reference numbers indicate identical or functionally similar
elements. Additionally, the left-most digit of a reference number identifies the drawing in which the reference number first appears.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the system architecture of an embodiment of the present invention, showing network connectivity among the various components;
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the software architecture of an embodiment of the present invention, showing communications among the various components;
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the overall operation of an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating the software architecture of an intellectual property infringement server according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of a meta search engine, according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIGS. 6-10 are exemplary output report pages according to an embodiment of the present invention; and
FIG. 11 is a block diagram of an exemplary computer system useful for implementing the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Table of Contents
I. Overview
II. System Architecture
III. Software Architecture
IV. Overall Monitoring System Operation
A. Inputs and Searching
B. Web Crawling
C. FTP Crawling
D. Processing
E. Output
F. Downloading Non-FTP and Non-HTTP Contents
V. Graphical User Interface (Front-End)
VI. Search Engine (Back-End)
A. Multi-Threaded Execution Environment
B. Meta Search Engine Mode
C. Standard Search Engine Mode
VII. Output Reports
VIII. Front-End and Back-End Severability
IX. Environment
X. Conclusion
I. Overview
The present invention is directed to a system, method, and computer program product for an online monitoring search engine. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, an organization provides monitoring services for clients that would
include, for example, individuals, companies, consortiums, organizations, and the like who are interested in protecting their intellectual property and/or goodwill from infringement or disparagement on the Internet.
Such a monitoring organization would employ an intelligent search engine that spans the entire Internet (Web pages, FTP sites, FSP sites, chat rooms, Usenet newsgroups, etc.) and returns links to Internet sites that, with a high probability of
certainty, contain infringing or disparaging content. The input of the monitoring organization's search engine would be customized for each client based on, for example, their products, services, business activity, and/or the form of intellectual
property owned. The monitoring organization's search engine would also provide detailed reports, also customized to fit each client's monitoring needs, so that the client's legal personnel may prioritize their enforcement activities. In a preferred
embodiment, the monitoring organization also provides a Web server so that clients may remotely utilize the search engine.
While the present invention is described in terms of the above example, this is for convenience only and is not intended to limit its application. In fact, after reading the following description, it will be apparent to one skilled in the
relevant art(s) how to implement the following invention in alternative embodiments (e.g., providing online monitoring for a corporate intranet or extranet).
Furthermore, while the following description focuses on the monitoring of Web sites and FTP sites, and thus employs such terms as URL's (addresses) and Web pages (contents), it is not intended to limit the application of the present invention.
It will be apparent to one skilled in the relevant art how to implement the following invention, where appropriate, in alternative embodiments. For example, the present invention may be applied to monitoring Internet addresses (URL's, URN's, and the
like) that specify the contents of chat rooms, or Usenet newsgroups, FSP sites, etc.
II. System Architecture
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the physical architecture of a monitoring system 100, according to an embodiment of the present invention, showing network connectivity among the various components. It should be understood that the
particular monitoring system 100 in FIG. 1 is shown for illustrative purposes only and does not limit the invention. As will be apparent to one skilled in the relevant art(s), all of components "inside" of the monitoring system 100 are connected and
communicate via a local area network (LAN) 101.
The monitoring system 100 includes an intellectual property infringement server 106 (shown as "IPIS" 106) that serves as the "back-end" (i.e., search engine) of the present invention. Connected to the IPIS 106, is a relational database 102
(shown as "DB" 102), a file system 104, and a Web server 108. As is well-known in the relevant art(s), a Web sever is a server process running at a Web site which sends out web pages in response to Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) requests from remote
browsers. The Web server 108 serves as the "front end" of the present invention. That is, the Web server 108 provides the graphical user interface (GUI) to users of the monitoring system 100 in the form of Web pages. Such users may access the Web
server 108 at the monitoring organization's site via a plurality of internal search workstations 110 (shown as workstations 110a-n).
A firewall 112 (shown as "FW" 112) serves as the connection and separation between the LAN 101, which includes the plurality of network elements (i.e., elements 102-110) "inside" of the LAN 101, and the global Internet 103 "outside" of the LAN
101. Generally speaking, a firewall--which is well-known in the relevant art(s)--is a dedicated gateway machine with special security precaution software. It is typically used, for example, to service Internet 103 connections and dial-in lines, and
protects a cluster of more loosely administered machines hidden behind it from an external invasion.
The global Internet 103, outside of the LAN 101, includes a plurality of various FTP sites 114 (shown as sites 114a-n) and the WWW 116. Within the WWW 116 are a plurality of Web sites 120 (shown as sites 120a-n). The search space for the IPIS
106 includes the WWW 116 and the plurality of FTP sites 114. As mentioned above, it will be apparent to one skilled in the relevant art(s), that the search space (i.e., Internet 103) of the monitoring system 100, although not shown, will also include
chat rooms, Usenet newsgroups, FSP sites, etc.
A plurality of external search workstations 118 (shown as workstations 120a-n) are also located within the WWW 116. The external search workstations 118 allow clients of the monitoring organization to remotely perform searches using their own
personnel and equipment.
While only one database 102, file system 104, and IPIS 106 computer are shown in FIG. 1, it will be apparent to one skilled in the relevant art(s) that monitoring system 100 may be run in a distributed fashion over a plurality of the
above-mentioned network elements connected via LAN 101. For example, both the IPIS 106 "back-end" application and the Web server 108 "front-end" may be distributed over several computers thereby increasing the overall execution speed of the monitoring
system 100. More detailed descriptions of the monitoring system 100 components, as well their functionality, are provided below.
III. Software Architecture
Referring to FIG. 2, a block diagram illustrating a software architecture 200 according to an embodiment of monitoring system 100, showing communications among the various components, is shown. The software architecture 200 of monitoring system
100 includes software code that implements the IPIS 106 in a high level programming language such as the C++ programming language. Further, in an embodiment, the IPIS 106 software code is an application running on an IBM.TM. (or compatible) personal
computer (PC) in the Windows NT.TM. operating system environment.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the database 102 is implemented using a high-end relational database product (e.g., Microsoft.TM. SQL Server, IBM.TM. DB2, ORACLE.TM., INGRES.TM., etc.). As is well-known in the relevant
art(s), relational databases allow the definition of data structures, storage and retrieval operations, and integrity constraints, where data and relations between them are organized in tables.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the IPIS 106 application communicates with the database 102 using the Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) interface. As is well-known in the relevant art(s), ODBC is a standard for accessing
different database systems from high level programming language application. It enables these applications to submit statements to ODBC using an ODBC structured query language (SQL) and then translates these to the particular SQL commands the underlying
database product employs.
The physical file system 104, in a preferred embodiment of the present invention, is any physical memory device that includes a storage media and a cache (e.g., the hard drive and primary cache, respectively, of the same PC that runs the IPIS 106
application). In an alternative embodiment, the file system 104 may be a memory device external to the PC hosting the IPIS 106 application. In yet another alternative embodiment, the file system 104 may encompass a storage media physically separate
from the cache, where the storage media may also be distributed over several elements within LAN 101. Further, in a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the file system 104 communicates with the IPIS 106 application and Web server 108 using
the native file commands of the operating system in use (e.g., Windows NT.TM.).
The Web server 108 provides the GUI "front-end" for monitoring system 100. In a preferre | | |
