Methods and apparatus for author identification of search results

A method for representing, and operating upon, one or more sets of author-identifiers, comprising:

• producing, as a result of computing hardware and programmable memory, a first search result of a first database, wherein the first database has been determined to have a first maximum number of unique author-identifiers;
• accepting, as a result of computing hardware and programmable memory, the first search result, wherein each record of the first search result contains content and an author-identifier;
• hashing, as a result of computing hardware and programmable memory, a first author-identifier, of a first record of the first search result, to produce a first hash value, wherein, for at least the first maximum number of unique author-identifiers, each author-identifier produces a hash value different from a hash value produced by any other author-identifier;
• addressing, as a result of computing hardware and programmable memory, a first location of a first memory, with the first hash value, wherein the first memory has, for each possible hash value, a different addressable location;
• storing, as a result of computing hardware and programmable memory, at the first location a first value, wherein the first value is indicative of the first author-identifier being present within the first search result;
• performing additional steps of hashing, addressing, and storing, upon additional records of the first search result, such that, for at least the first maximum number, each unique author-identifier, appearing in the first search result, is represented by a unique location in the first memory;
• performing steps of hashing, addressing, and storing, upon records of a second search result, such that, for at least the first maximum number, each unique author-identifier, appearing in the second search result, is represented by a unique location in a second memory;
• comparing the first location of the first memory to a corresponding second location of the second memory, for purposes of determining whether the first and second sets of author-identifiers intersect with respect to the first author-identifier;
• setting a third location of a third memory, corresponding to the first and second locations, to indicate inclusion of the first author-identifier in a third set of author-identifiers, if the comparison indicates an intersection;
• performing an additional comparison for each additional pair of locations, a pair chosen from the first and second memories because its locations represent a common author-identifier, for purposes of determining whether a pair indicates an intersection, for the common author-identifier, in the respective first and second sets of author-identifiers;
• selecting, for each additional pair of locations indicating intersection, a result location of the third memory, the result location chosen if it is representative of a common author-identifier, for a pair of locations indicating intersection;
• storing, at each selected result location, an indication that its author-identifier is to be included in the third set of author-identifiers;
• determining a first audience size, by counting a number of indicators of author-identifier inclusion, within the first memory;
• determining a second audience size, by counting a number of indicators of author-identifier inclusion, within the memory;
• determining a first affinity size, by counting a number of indicators of author-identifier inclusion, within the third memory;
• determining a first measure of overlap, by dividing the first affinity size by the first audience size;
• and
• determining a second measure of overlap, by dividing the first affinity size by the second audience size.