System and method for internet search engine
AssigneeASG, Inc.
InventorsArthur L. Allen, Carl Thomas Andrews, Kyle Owen Peterson, Keith J. Richardson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An Internet search engine is disclosed. The search engine is capable of producing relevant search results in a ranked order, which is at least partially determined by the web site providers themselves. The search engine is preferably fee-based and policed to provide relevant search results to the end user.
Claims31
A method for associating a web site provider with a search engine provider, the web site provider maintaining a web site containing a plurality of web pages and the search engine provider maintaining a master index for use with a search engine for Internet searching, the method comprising:
- associating a search criteria with a subset of web pages from the plurality of web pages;
- the web provider ranking each web page of the subset of web pages;
- and
- modifying the search engine provider's master index to reflect the search criteria and the association with the subset of web pages;
- wherein a search report from a search on the search engine using the search criteria will include the subset of web pages in an order consistent with the rank determined by the web site provider.
A method for associating a web site provider with a search engine provider, the search engine provider maintaining a master index for use with a search engine for Internet searching, comprising:
- automatically searching, under computer control, a web site for terms of interest to add to a temporary index;
- using the contents of the temporary index to identify a desired search criteria, said using comprising one of:
- selecting at least part of said temporary index;
- rejecting said temporary index;
- and
- adding at least one new term to the temporary index;
- associating at least one web page with the desired search criteria;
- and
- modifying the search engine provider's master index to reflect the results of said associating;
- wherein said using improves searching by limiting the master index to relevant search criteria.
A method for establishing and operating a search engine for Internet searching a plurality of web sites, the method comprising:
- a search engine provider working with a web site provider of each of a plurality of web sites to:
- mutually decide on a search criteria that will produce a search report that includes at least one web page from the web site;
- and
- modify a master search index to reflect an association between the search criteria and the at least one web page;
- and
- providing, in response to a particular search criteria input to the search engine, all of the associated web pages reflected in the master index associated with the search criteria;
- wherein an order in which the associated web pages appear in the search report is independent of any fees paid by the web service providers.
A method for associating a web site provider with a search engine provider, the web site provider maintaining a web site containing a plurality of web pages and the search engine provider maintaining a master index for use with a search engine for Internet searching, the method comprising:
- associating at least one web page on the web site with a search criteria;
- test searching the master index with the search criteria;
- the web site provider determining, based on a result of the test searching, whether the search criteria is one of acceptable and too broad for the at least one web page;
- and
- selecting a different search criteria in response to a determination that the search criteria is too broad, wherein said different search criteria is associated with fewer search results relative to the number of search results associated with the search criteria.
A method for associating a web site provider with a search engine provider, the web site provider maintaining a web site containing a plurality of web pages and the search engine provider maintaining a master index for use with a search engine for Internet searching, the method comprising:
- associating at least one web page on the web site with a search criteria;
- test searching the master index with the search criteria to determine the number of associated web pages in the master index;
- determining, based at least on the number, whether the search criteria is too broad for the at least one web page;
- and
- altering the search criteria to produce an altered search criteria, wherein the altered search criteria has less associated web pages in the master index than the unaltered criteria.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.