Retrieval of digital objects by redirection of controlled vocabulary searches

In an environment having a redirection facility, a method, comprising the steps of:

• processing selectively a user request to access information, the selective processing directing a request originating from a user selection of a hyperlink that includes a reference to a hyperlink redirection facility and a semantic value associated with the hyperlink to the hyperlink redirection facility, said semantic value being at least one of a descriptive term and an identifier for the requested information, said selective processing further directing a user request originating from a user selection of a hyperlink not including a reference to the hyperlink redirection facility directly to a requested resource without first directing the request to the hyperlink redirection facility;
• receiving at the hyperlink redirection facility a communication from the user contemporaneously with or following the receipt of the user request to access information originating from the user selection of the hyperlink including the reference to the hyperlink redirection facility;
• identifying, the identification based on the information in the received communication, a user-supplied preference regarding which service provider to use to service the request, said user-supplied preference being identified at the redirection facility prior to any communication being sent from the redirection facility to the user soliciting said preference;
• directing the request originating from the user selection of the hyperlink including the reference to the hyperlink redirection facility from the hyperlink redirection facility to the user for forwarding to a service provider for servicing of the request, said request modified based on the user-supplied preferences;
• identifying a second service provider to use to service the request originating from the user selection of the hyperlink including the reference to the hyperlink redirection facility and directing the request from the hyperlink redirection facility to the user to for forwarding to the second service provider for servicing of the request when the service provider fails to fully service the request;
• and
• identifying the service provider that failed to fully service the request at the hyperlink redirection facility before the direction of the request to the user for forwarding to the second service provider.

A method for processing user requests, comprising the steps of:

• processing selectively user requests to access information, the selective processing resolving a request generated by a user selection of a controlled vocabulary abstract hyperlink by directing the request to a hyperlink redirection facility, the request including link information associated with the link, the hyperlink redirection facility receiving user-supplied information regarding a user contemporaneously with or following the receipt of the link information, said link information including a semantic value and an URL (Uniform Resource Locator) address of said hyperlink redirection facility, said semantic value being at least one of a descriptive term and an identifier for the resource, said redirection facility being an intermediary performing redirection of said request and having more than one possible target profile for each request, said selective processing further directing a user request originating from a user selection of a hyperlink not including an URL address of the hyperlink redirection facility directly to a requested resource without first directing the request to the hyperlink redirection facility;
• identifying a resolution service to employ to resolve the controlled vocabulary abstract hyperlink based on the user-supplied information, said user-supplied information being received at the hyperlink redirection facility prior to any communication being sent from the hyperlink redirection facility to the user soliciting said information;
• and
• forwarding at least some of the link information via said requesting user to the identified resolution service for resolution of the controlled vocabulary abstract hyperlink.

A method for processing user requests, comprising the steps of:

• processing selectively user requests to access information, the selective processing resolving a request generated by a user selection of a controlled vocabulary abstract hyperlink by directing the request to a hyperlink redirection facility, the request including link information associated with the link including an URL address of the hyperlink redirection facility, the hyperlink redirection facility receiving user-supplied information regarding a user contemporaneously with or following the receipt of the link information and prior to any communication being sent to the user soliciting said information, said selective processing further directing a user request originating from a user selection of a hyperlink not including an URL address of the hyperlink redirection facility directly to a requested resource without first directing the request to the hyperlink redirection facility,
• identifying a resolution service to employ to resolve the controlled vocabulary abstract hyperlink based on the user-supplied information;
• forwarding at least some of the link information via the user to the identified resolution service for resolution of the controlled vocabulary abstract hyperlink,
• identifying a second resolution service to employ to resolve the controlled vocabulary abstract hyperlink based on the user-supplied information and forwarding at least some of the link information via the user to the second resolution service for resolution of the hyperlink where the resolution service fails to return content to the user, and
• identifying a resolution service that failed to return content to the user in response to the request generated by the user selecting the controlled vocabulary abstract hyperlink, the identifying of the failure taking place before the forwarding of the link information via the user.

A tangible computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions for processing user requests, the instruction comprising:

• instructions for processing selectively a request to access information, the selective processing directing a request originating from a user selection of a controlled vocabulary abstract hyperlink to a hyperlink redirection server, said controlled vocabulary abstract hyperlink including a semantic value and an URL (Uniform Resource Locator) address of the hyperlink redirection server, said semantic value being at least one of a descriptive term and an identifier for the requested information, said hyperlink redirection server being an intermediary performing redirection of said request and having more than one possible target profile for each request said selective processing further directing a user request originating from a user selection of a hyperlink not including an URL of the hyperlink redirection server directly to a requested resource without first directing the request to the hyperlink redirection server;
• instructions for receiving at the hyperlink redirection server a communication holding information from the user contemporaneously with or following the receipt of the user request to access information originating from the selection for the controlled vocabulary abstract hyperlink;
• instructions for identifying, the identification based on the information in the received communication, a user-supplied preference regarding which service provider to use to service the request, said user-supplied preference being identified at the hyperlink redirection server prior to any communication being sent from the hyperlink redirection server to the user soliciting said preference;
• and
• instructions for directing the request originating from the selection of controlled vocabulary abstract hyperlink, from the redirection server via the user to a service provider for servicing the request based on the user-supplied preferences.

A tangible computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions for processing user requests, the instruction comprising:

• instructions for processing selectively user requests to access information, the selective processing resolving a request generated by a user selection of a controlled vocabulary abstract hyperlink by directing the request to a hyperlink redirection facility, the request including the link information associated with the link including an URL (Uniform Resource Locator) address of the hyperlink redirection facility, the hyperlink redirection facility receiving user-supplied information regarding a user contemporaneously with or following the receipt of the link information and prior to any communication being sent from the hyperlink redirection facility to the user soliciting said information, said link information including a URL address of said hyperlink redirection facility, said semantic value being at least one of a descriptive term and an identifier for the resource, said hyperlink redirection facility being an intermediary performing redirection of said request and having more than one possible target profile for each request, said selective processing further directing a user request originating from a user selection of a hyperlink not including an URL address of the hyperlink redirection facility directly to a requested resource without first directing the request to the hyperlink redirection facility;
• instructions for identifying a resolution service to employ to resolve the controlled vocabulary abstract hyperlink based on the user information;
• and
• instructions for forwarding at least some of the link information associated with the controlled vocabulary abstract hyperlink to the user to for forwarding to the identified resolution service for resolution of the controlled vocabulary abstract hyperlink.

In an environment having a redirection facility for redirecting a selected request from a requestor for a given resource to a service provider, a method of advertising, comprising,

• processing selectively a user request to access a resource, the selective processing directing a selected request originating from a user selection of a controlled vocabulary abstract hyperlink that includes a reference to the redirection facility, the controlled vocabulary abstract hyperlink including a semantic value, said semantic value being at least one of a descriptive term and an identifier for the resource, said redirection facility being an intermediary performing redirection of said request and having more than one possible target profile having information used to resolve each request, said selective processing further directing a user request originating from a user selection of a hyperlink not including a reference to the redirection facility directly to a requested resource without first directing the request to the redirection facility,
• receiving, at the redirection facility, contemporaneously with or following the receipt of the selected request, a communication from the user containing a user-supplied preference for a service provider to service the request;
• modifying said selected request based upon a user-supplied preference, said user-supplied preference being identified at the redirection facility prior to any communication being sent from the redirection facility to the user soliciting said preference;
• examining a criterion at the redirection facility;
• determining whether to present an advertisement to the requestor based on the examined criterion;
• and
• directing the modified selected request from the redirection facility to said user for forwarding to a service provider for servicing of the request.