Patent ID: 7269587

Claim:
A computer implemented method for calculating an importance rank for N linked nodes of a linked database, the method comprising: (a) selecting an initial N-dimensional vector p 0 , wherein each component of p 0 represents a probability that a user will start at a given node, wherein each node of the N linked nodes is a computer-readable document containing information; (b) computing an approximation p n to a steady-state probability p ∞ , wherein each component of p ∞ represents a probability that the user will randomly end up at a particular node after following a number of forward links, in accordance with the equation p n =A n p 0 , where A is an N×N transition probability matrix having elements A[i][j] representing a probability of moving from node i to node j; and (c) determining a rank r[k] for a node k from a k th component of p n , wherein r[k] represents an importance of the information contained in node k.