Patent ID: 7827175

Claim:
A method for delivering search results responsive to a user search request, comprising: receiving a search request from a user by way of a processor wherein said search request comprises a search framework profile and at least one search term wherein the search framework profile directs a search facility using one or more user-selected non-topical search characteristics, the non-topical search characteristics selected from a set of predefined non-topical search characteristics to generate the search framework profile; generating an accumulated result set of identifiers wherein each identifier within said set of identifiers facilitates access to a corresponding unit of information in a data store, and wherein said corresponding unit of information comprises said at least one search term; utilizing search framework metadata associated with said accumulated result set to rank the identifiers of said accumulated result set in accordance with a degree of affinity of each of said corresponding units of information to said search framework profile to form a final result set, wherein said degree of affinity is based at least partially on a unit level composite relative strength value associated with said corresponding unit of information, the search framework metadata for each corresponding unit of information comprising one or more stored predefined relative strength values, each relative strength value corresponding directly and respectively to each of the one or more user-selected non-topical search characteristics in the search framework profile; and delivering said final result set to said user.