Patent ID: 6842748

Claim:
A method of providing related informational items having a usage based relationship strength in an information retrieval system, comprising: detecting a selection of a first informational item and a second informational item, wherein the first informational item and the second informational item each include content; assigning a first relationship type based on a first trait between the first informational item and the second informational item; assigning a first relationship strength value based on historical frequency of the first informational item and the second informational item being selected together; detecting a selection of the first informational item and a third informational item, wherein the first informational item and the third informational item each include content; assigning a second relationship type based on a second trait between the first informational item and the third informational item; assigning a second relationship strength value based on historical frequency of the first informational item and the third informational item being selected together; and upon detection of a selection of the first informational item, providing an access to either a location of the first informational item or a location of the second informational item depending on the assigned first and second relationship types and the assigned first and second relationship strength values.