Location-based search-result ranking for blog documents and the like

A computer-implemented method for providing search results ranked based on location, the method comprising:

• receiving a search query having one or more search parameters provided by a user of a communication device having a current location;
• receiving location information corresponding to the communication device, wherein the location information indicates at least one of (i) the current location of the communication device and (ii) a home location for the user of the communication device;
• searching a computer-accessible collection of documents using the one or more search parameters to obtain two or more search results, wherein each of the two or more search results corresponds to a different document in the collection of documents;
• ranking the search results based on the location information;
• and
• transmitting at least some of the ranked search results to the communication device, wherein:
• the location information indicates the current location of the communication device;
• the search engine is further adapted to determine a current zone of interest based on the current location of the communication device;
• the search results are also ranked based on the current zone of interest;
• the current zone of interest has at least one of a shape and size based on the current location;
• the communication device has a velocity indicating a speed and a direction of the communication device;
• the location information further indicates the velocity of the communication device;
• and
• the at least one of the shape and size of the current zone of interest is based on the velocity of the communication device.

A computer-implemented search engine for a communication network having a communication device with a current location, the search engine adapted to:

• receive from the communication device a search query having one or more search parameters provided by a user of the communication device;
• receive location information corresponding to the communication device, wherein the location information indicates at least one of (i) the current location of the communication device-and (ii) a home location for the user of the communication device;
• search a computer-accessible collection of documents using the one or more search parameters to obtain two or more search results, wherein each of the two or more search results corresponds to a different document in the collection of documents;
• rank the search results based on the location information;
• and
• transmit at least some of the ranked search results to the communication device, wherein:
• the location information indicates the current location of the communication device;
• the search engine is further adapted to determine a current zone of interest based on the current location of the communication device;
• the search results are also ranked based on the current zone of interest;
• the current zone of interest has a shape and size based on the current location;
• the communication device has a velocity indicating a speed and a direction of the communication device;
• the location information further indicates the velocity of the communication device;
• and
• at least one of the shape and size of the current zone of interest is based on the velocity of the communication device.