Patent Document ID: 7725526
Application ID: 09602490

Base Claim:
1. A method of sharing queries in a hub processing unit coupled to a plurality of information processing units over a network, the method on the information processing unit comprising the steps of: receiving a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) string from a first user, determining if the URL string represents a query, if the URL string represents a query, performing the sub-steps of: storing the query in a query database; forwarding the query to a hub processing unit in the event that the first user selects the query for sharing with a second user connected to the hub processing unit; storing information in an accounting database for awarding the first user for submitting the query for sharing; and receiving, from a second user, a selection for one of the stored queries for sharing.

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Claim 8:
8. The method as defined in claim 1 , further comprising a step of repetitively processing incoming strings as long as strings are received from the user.