Patent Document ID: 8280624
Application ID: 10680495

Base Claim:
1. A computer-implemented method for determining a likely geographical location for which a querying user of a computer desires further information based on submitted criteria, the method comprising the steps of: receiving, at an internet-based search engine, search criteria comprising text that comprises a locality name; separating the text of the search criteria into text that may be a name of a locality and text that is not a name of a locality; comparing the text that may be a name of a locality to a data set comprising at least one of town, province, or country names to verify the locality name in the text of the search criteria; determining, with a processor, a probability that the locality name in the text of the search criteria is associated with a geographical location; and providing, with the processor, to a user providing the search criteria, information that comprises search results that are refined based on the probability that the locality name in the text of the search criteria is associated with a geographic location.

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Claim 7:
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the search criteria is received from a computer that is part of a network and has a network address, the network address being mapped to a geographical location, and wherein the method further comprises the step of: weighting the probability that the locality name in the text of the search criteria is associated with the geographic location based on the geographical location mapped to the network address.