Patent Document ID: 7725472
Application ID: 09870581

Base Claim:
1. A method of accumulating and retrieving information related to one or more information sources in a search space, said method comprising: providing central program code at a central computer; said central program code being adapted for maintaining a central database of data records, for accessing the information related to said information sources stored in said central database, and for comparing said data records with said information related to said information sources; recognizing communication between said central program code and remote program code at least one remote terminal; said remote program code being adapted for monitoring user activity of at least one user accessing any information source in the search space wherein the monitoring occurs irrespective of whether a uniform resource locator (URL) accessed in the search space is the same as the URL of said central program code, for collecting monitored data related to said user activity, and for transmitting said monitored data to said central program code, wherein said remote program code monitors and transmits said user activity without requiring said at least one user to access a search engine or any particular web site, and the monitoring and the transmitting is independent of the at least one user's access to any search engine, and further wherein the user does not need to access the search engine or the particular website for the monitoring to be performed; supplementing, at said central computer, said data records in accordance with said monitored data to provide an augmented central database; responsive to a request for information from said at least one user, identifying candidate response information related to said information sources at said central computer; comparing contents of said augmented central database with said request and with said candidate response information at said central computer; customizing information retrieval results for said at least one user based on said identifying and said comparing; and as a result of said identifying and said comparing, transmitting, to said remote program code at said at least one remote terminal, data concerning one or more of said information sources which contain information relevant to said request so as to progressively tailor said customized information retrieval results for said at least one user and provide said customized information retrieval results to said at least one user.

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Claim 8:
8. A method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said search space comprises the Internet, and media programming comprising at least one of television programming and radio programming, so that said at least one user can access said media programming as a result of said information retrieval results.