Patent ID: 7062561

Claim:
A method of finding, in response to entry by a user of a user input recognized as a resource identity signifier, a single, intended target resource, the method comprising the steps of: receiving a user input; recognizing the user input as a resource identity signifier, wherein the resource identity signifier is independent of registered elements contained in a resource locator identifying at least one of a plurality of resources available on the network; accessing, by a finder server responsive to the user input, database information that includes an index of available resources on a network, wherein the network comprises a plurality of interconnected computers, wherein some of the plurality of resources are identified by resource locators containing registered elements; learning a social usage of the resource identity signifier from multi-user feedback gathered from a plurality of users with respect to previous results by the finder server; and determining which, if any, of the indexed resources is likely to be the intended target resource that uniquely corresponds to the recognized resource identity signifier based on the social usage of the recognized resource identity signifier without regard to identification in the recognized resource identity signifier of registered elements in any resource locator corresponding to the resource.