Patent ID: 6490577
Filing Date: 2002-12-03
Classification: G06F,Y10S

Abstract:
A search engine implemented on a distributed network comprising:a. a user interface or a graphics user interface; b. a packet processing module that converts each packet to at least one transaction and processes the transaction; c. a database including records, keywords, user activity data (UAD), and a UAD updating routine for updating UAD; d. a ranking protocol including record specific data (RSD) and UAD for ranking retrieved records from the records database; e. communication and I/O, where the ranking protocol comprises: r=&Sum;i&it;â€ƒ&it;Î±i&it;wipi+&Sum;i,iâ€²&it;â€ƒ&it;Î²i,iâ€²&CenterDot;(wi&CenterDot;wiâ€²)+&Sum;j&it;â€ƒ&it;Î±j&it;wjpj+&Sum;j,jâ€²&it;â€ƒ&it;Î²j,jâ€²&CenterDot;(wj&CenterDot;wjâ€²)+&Sum;i,j&it;â€ƒ&it;Î³i,j&CenterDot;(wi&CenterDot;wj)(1)where r is a ranking factor, &agr;i is a weight factor representing an amount of weight to be given to wi which is a value of an ith record specific criterion, pi is a power factor of the ith record specific criterion and i is an integer ranging over the record specific criterion and &agr;j is a weight factor representing an amount of weight to be given to wj which is a value a jth user activity criterion, pj is a power factor of the jth user activity criterion and j is an integer ranging over the user activity criterion.