# US 10,311,072 B2 · System and method for metadata transfer among search entities > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 10,311,072 B2 - Document ID: US10311072B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 15/431,075 - Filed: 2017-02-13 - Published: 2017-08-10 - Granted: 2019-06-04 - Earliest claimed: 2009-12-01 - Assignees: Apple Inc. - Applicants: Apple Inc. - Inventors: Rishab Aiyer Ghosh; Vipul Ved Prakash - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10311072B2 ## CPC - G06F 16/248: Presentation of query results - G06F 16/24537: {of operators} - G06F 16/24573: {using data annotations, e.g. user-defined metadata} - G06F 16/24575: {using context} - G06F 16/24578: {using ranking} - G06F 16/2477: {Temporal data queries} - G06F 16/951: Indexing; Web crawling techniques - G06F 16/9535: Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation - G06F 16/9537: Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries - G06F 16/9538: Presentation of query results - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) ## Abstract A new approach is proposed that contemplates systems and methods to ascribe or transfer metadata from one search-related entity to another, where each entity can be one of subject or source, citation, and object or target. First, one or more complete or incomplete attributes associated with one or more of entities across source, citation and target are identified with a high degree of probable accuracy, wherein such metadata or attributes include but are not limited to, time, language, and location of the entities. The identified attributes are then ascribed or transferred from one entity where the metadata is available to other search entities. Finally, the transferred attributes can be utilized to facilitate the selection and ranking of the cited targets for the search result. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A non-transitory machine readable medium containing executable program instructions which when executed by a data processing device cause the device to perform a method comprising: retrieving a plurality of citations that are composed by a plurality of subjects citing one or more of a plurality of objects that fit searching criteria, wherein a citation is a publicly available online posting of an opinion of an object by a subject; identifying at least one incomplete attribute from the one or more of the plurality of objects and at least one identified attribute from the plurality of the citations corresponding to the at least one incomplete attribute from the one or more of the plurality of objects; transferring the at least one identified attribute from the plurality of the citations to the one or more of the plurality of objects that is having the at least one incomplete attribute, wherein the attributes are applicable to the plurality of objects; selecting a subset of objects as a search result based on a matching of the searching criteria with the at least one identified attributes transferred to the plurality of objects from the citations; and ranking the subset of objects cited by the plurality of citations using one or more attributes as a filter to select objects that include at least one identified attribute transferred from the plurality of citations. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The machine readable medium of claim 1, wherein: each of the plurality of subjects is one of: representation of a person, web log, and entities representing Internet authors or users of social media services, user of microblogging services, users of social networks, reviewer who provides expressions of opinion, reviews, or other information useful for the estimation of influence. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The machine readable medium of claim 1, wherein: each of the plurality of objects is one of: Internet web sites, blogs, videos, books, films, music, image, video, documents, data files, objects for sale, objects that are reviewed or recommended or cited, subjects/authors, natural or legal persons, citations, or any entities that are associated with a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI). ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The machine readable medium of claim 1, wherein: each of the plurality of citations includes one or more of: expression of opinions on the objects, expressions of authors in the form of Tweets, blog posts, reviews of objects on Internet web sites, Wikipedia entries, postings to social media, postings to websites, postings in the form of reviews, recommendations, or any other form of citation made to mailing lists, newsgroups, discussion forums, comments to websites or any other form of Internet publication. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The machine readable medium of claim 1, further comprising: accepting and enforcing a plurality of criteria on citation searching, retrieving and ranking, each of which is either be explicitly described by a user or best guessed by a system based on internal statistical data. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The machine readable medium of claim 1, further comprising: sorting timestamps of the citations of an object and ascribing an earliest timestamp to the object as the object's birth timestamp, which provides an accurate estimate of when the object was created. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The machine readable medium of claim 1, further comprising: utilizing known language or location of the subjects to determine the language of the citations or the location of the objects. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The machine readable medium of claim 1, further comprising: utilizing one of the attributes as a content filter to select the objects for the search result, wherein such attribute is one of properties of the objects or the citations. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The machine readable medium of claim 1, further comprising: calculating influence scores of the plurality of subjects that compose the plurality of citations citing the plurality of objects. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The machine readable medium of claim 1, wherein identified attribute is selected from the group consisting of time, location, and language of at least one of the plurality of citations. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The machine readable medium of claim 1, wherein the at least one missing attribute is selected from the group consisting of a timestamp, language identifier, and location identifier. ### Claim 12 A method comprising: retrieving a plurality of citations that are composed by a plurality of subjects citing one or more of a plurality of objects that fit searching criteria, wherein a citation is a publicly available online posting of an opinion of an object by a subject; identifying at least one incomplete attribute from the one or more of the plurality of objects and at least one identified attribute from the plurality of the citations corresponding to the at least one incomplete attribute from the one or more of the plurality of objects; transferring at least one identified attribute from the plurality of the citations to the one or more of the plurality of objects that is having the at least one incomplete attribute, wherein the attributes are applicable to the plurality of objects; selecting a subset of objects as a search result based on a matching of the searching criteria with the at least one identified attributes transferred to the plurality of objects from the citations; and ranking the subset of objects cited by the plurality of citations using one or more attributes as a filter to select objects that include at least one identified attribute transferred from the plurality of citations. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12, wherein: each of the plurality of subjects is one of: representation of a person, web log, and entities representing Internet authors or users of social media services, user of microblogging services, users of social networks, reviewer who provides expressions of opinion, reviews, or other information useful for the estimation of influence. ### Claim 14 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12, wherein: each of the plurality of objects is one of: Internet web sites, blogs, videos, books, films, music, image, video, documents, data files, objects for sale, objects that are reviewed or recommended or cited, subjects/authors, natural or legal persons, citations, or any entities that are associated with a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI). ### Claim 15 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12, wherein: each of the plurality of citations includes one or more of: expression of opinions on the objects, expressions of authors in the form of Tweets, blog posts, reviews of objects on Internet web sites, Wikipedia entries, postings to social media, postings to websites, postings in the form of reviews, recommendations, or any other form of citation made to mailing lists, newsgroups, discussion forums, comments to websites or any other form of Internet publication. ### Claim 16 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12, further comprising: accepting and enforcing a plurality of criteria on citation searching, retrieving and ranking, each of which is either be explicitly described by a user or best guessed by a system based on internal statistical data. ### Claim 17 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12, further comprising: sorting timestamps of the citations of an object and ascribing an earliest timestamp to the object as the object's birth timestamp, which provides an accurate estimate of when the object was created. ### Claim 18 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12, further comprising: utilizing known language or location of the subjects to determine the language of the citations or the location of the objects. ### Claim 19 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12, further comprising: utilizing one of the attributes as a content filter to select the objects for the search result, wherein such attribute is one of properties of the objects or the citations. ### Claim 20 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12, further comprising: calculating influence scores of the plurality of subjects that compose the plurality of citations citing the plurality of objects. ### Claim 21 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12, wherein identified attribute is selected from the group consisting of time, location, and language of at least one of the plurality of citations. ### Claim 22 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12, wherein the at least one missing attribute is selected from the group consisting of a timestamp, language identifier, and location identifier.