Patent ID: 8229911

Claim:
A computing device adapted to be coupled to a web browser via a communication network, the computing device comprising: one or more processing units; memory coupled to the one or more processing units; and network communication circuitry coupled to the one or more processing units, the one or more processing units, memory, and network communication circuitry are interoperable to: process user interaction data regarding user interaction with the web browser over time to derive a browser interaction database including at least one identifier of a web page previously visited by the user, wherein the browser interaction database is also modified by monitoring user interaction with application software other than the web browser; process at least one of the user interaction data or the browser interaction database to ensure that only certain of the user interaction data is present in the browser interaction database; process user favorites data regarding a plurality of users to derive a world's favorite database, wherein the world's favorite database includes favorite web pages visited by the plurality of users; perform a search operation by: receiving, via the network communications circuitry, a request for a search result page, the request comprising a search string containing search information and a database selection indicating that the browser interaction database and the world's favorite database are to be searched; deriving at least one search result list by selecting search results from within the browser interaction database and the world's favorite database to add to the search result list, wherein search results in the at least one search result list correlate appropriately with the search string; ordering the at least one search result list to place more user-relevant search results higher in a rank order of the at least one search result list; and delivering, via the network communication circuitry, a search result page including at least a first portion of the at least one search result list external from the computing device for eventual use by the user.