Patent ID: 7480648

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for comparing query-related objects, comprising: receiving a plurality of query-related objects of two or more object types, each query-related object having a different owner; sorting the plurality of query-related objects according to the two or more object types; calculating a degree of similarity of the sorted query-related objects of each of the two or more object types; determining the calculated degrees of similarity of the sorted query-related objects above a threshold for similarity; for those sorted query-related objects having the calculated degree of similarity above the threshold for similarity, selecting pairs of query-related objects with different owners having a predetermined degree of association; grouping the selected pairs of query-related objects by the owners of the query-related objects; ranking the grouped pairs of query-related objects based upon the number of selected pairs of query-related objects within the group; and outputting the ranked grouped pairs according to the ranking.