Patent ID: 8166026

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: a computer server, wherein the computer server is communicatively coupled to a plurality of clients over a communications network, and wherein the server includes: a source of a plurality of search-engine-result pointers; a relevancy-and-comparison engine (RACE) program stored on the server that, when the RACE program is executed, analyzes, for relevance to a first human-user, source data indexed by the plurality of search-engine-result pointers, wherein the RACE program: elicits and receives, from the first human-user, a plurality of human-user-defined search terms; elicits and receives, from the first human user, a specification of a first group, wherein the first group is a self-identified set of human users, and wherein the first human user need not be a member of the specified first group, wherein the RACE program associates a first set of group-relevancy factors with the group; elicits and receives, from the first human user, a plurality of human-user-defined relevancy factors, wherein the plurality of relevancy factors received from the first human user includes factors that are to be weighted by the RACE program to rank search-engine results for presentation to the first human user in addition to the search terms received from the first human user; and wherein the RACE program's analysis is at least in part based on weights determined by the received plurality of the first human-user-defined relevancy factors and the first set of group-relevancy factors, and wherein the RACE program's analysis yields a multivariate analysis result; and an output engine that transmits the multivariate analysis result to the first human user.