Patent ID: 7103592
Filing Date: 2006-09-05
Classification: G06F,G06Q,Y10S

Abstract:
1. A program storage medium readable by a computer, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the computer to control the computer to function as: a search engine extracting a list of data ( said database ( said search engine comprising a first set (J 1) sending, by way of said telecommunication network (R) and bound for a second computer terminal called an interrogation terminal (TI), an interrogation software module ( 1a) construct a reference profile Pr by associating reference data Drj with at least one field Cj among a collection of fields of said database, a collection of accessible fields, the construction of said reference profile Pr being performed by a user (U) of said interrogation terminal (TI); 1b) send to said search terminal (TR) a request comprising said reference profile Pr and designating an interrogation domain, said interrogation domain comprising at least one field Cm of said database ( 2) reading said request received by way of said telecommunicatiOn network (R); 3) extracting from said database ( 4) calculating occurrence counters, a distinct occurrence counter Qn being calculated for each field Cn of a comparison domain (DC), said comparison domain (DC) consisting of all said database ( 4a) selecting a field Cn of said comparison domain (DC), 4b) once for each profile Pk of said subbase (SB), performing a test of correspondence between a reference profile Pr data item Drn associated with said field Cn being called a reference data item, and a data item Dkn of the profile Pk of the sub-base (SB) associated with said field Cn being called a data item to be compared, the result of said test of correspondence being a boolean number, the result of said test being true whenever said data item to be compared Dkn corresponds through a predetermined logic law with said reference data item Drn, the result of said test being false when said data item to be compared is any one of non-correspondence, empty and non-existent, 4c) rendering said occurrence counter Qn equal to the number of said sub-base (SB) profiles Pk for which the result of said test of correspondence performed in step 4b) is true, 4d) repeating steps 4a) to 4c) by selecting another field Cn of the comparison domain (DC) which has not yet been selected in step 4a), if one exists; 5) calculating partial coefficients, a distinct partial coefficient cYn being calculated for each field Cn of said comparison domain (DC) whose occurrence counter Qn calculated in step 4c) is nonzero, each partial coefficient αn being rendered equal to the value F(Qn) taken by a predetermined real weighting function F(x) of at least one variable x, when said variable x takes the value of said occurrence counter Qn; 6) calculating weighting coefficients CPk, a distinct weighting coefficient being calculated for each profile Pk of said sub-base (SB), each weighting coefficient CPk calculated being equal to a sum of distinct partial coefficients αn calculated in step 5), said sum equal to the partial coefficients an of all those of the fields Cn of the comparison domain (DC) for which the result of the test of correspondence performed in step 4) between said reference profile Pr and the profile Pk to which said weighting coefficient CPk refers is true, and pertaining only to these fields; 7) calculating weighted frequencies FPqm, a weighted frequency FPqm being calculated for each data item Dim associated with a field Cm of the interrogation domain in said sub-base (SB) of profiles, the calculation of the weighted frequencies FPqm comprising the steps, for each field Cm of the interrogation domain, of 7a) selecting a data item Dqm associated with said field Cm, said selected data item arising from a profile Pq among the collection of profiles Pk of said sub-base (SB) which comprise a nonempty data item Dkm associated with said field Cm, 7b) assigning said selected data item Dqm a weighted frequency FPqm equal to the sum of the weighting coefficients CPk of the profiles Pk of said collection of profiles whose data item Dkm associated with said field Cm matches to said selected data item Dqm, 7c) repeating steps 7a) and 7b) by selecting another data item which has not yet been selected in step 7a), if one exists; 8) generating a response ( 9) sending said response to a response recipient by way of the telecommunication network (R).