Cherry picking search terms
OwnerNancy P. Cochraninventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In an electronic presentation of information, search is made easier and more personal by identifying words, symbols or images (collectively called terms) in text and allowing users to select any of those terms to refine their search. The technology is called “cherry picking” because it allows each user to select what they judge to be the best terms among many available terms in the text, and use those terms to their own advantage. Terms in text are identified by a visual indicator such as a change in the shape of the cursor. “Stop words,” words that do not change the outcome of the search, and words that meet other specific criteria are not selectable.
Claims22
A method of searching, the method comprising:
- displaying a list of search results, each search result having a plurality of terms;
- enabling a user to select one of the plurality of terms from the search results;
- and
- conducting a search using the selected term.
A method for searching, the method comprising:
- conducting a first search based on a search term to identify a plurality of search results, each search result having a plurality of terms;
- identifying at least one of the plurality of terms as a selectable search term;
- enabling a user to select the selectable search term;
- and, conducting a second search based on the selected search term.
A method of searching the Internet, the method comprising:
- conducting a search based on a search term to identify a plurality of search results;
- displaying a plurality of the search results as a list, wherein each search result has a link identifying a respective Internet site containing information, the search result further having terms associated with the information at the respective Internet site, the terms being positioned on the display to be associated with the link;
- defining at least one of the search result terms as a selectable search term;
- enabling a user to pass a pointing device over the search result terms to identify the selectable search terms;
- enabling the user to select any one of the selectable search terms;
- and, conducting a search based on a selected search term.
An Internet site having a user interface for searching for online information from a user terminal having a display device and a pointing device displayed on the display device, the Internet site comprising:
- a list of search results displayed on the display device, each search result having a plurality of terms;
- means for enabling a user to select one of the plurality of terms from among the list of search results, and means for conducting a search using the selected term.
A system for searching comprising:
- a display device displaying a list of search results, each search result having a plurality of selectable terms;
- an input device for selecting one of the plurality of selectable terms from among the list of search results;
- and,
- a processor conducting a search based on a selected search term.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.