The present invention generally relates to the field of producing a search result (which may be, as non-limiting examples, a list of links to websites or a plurality of domain names) based on a user input search string and a desired relevance of the search result with the search string.
The present invention provides methods for determining and displaying search results given a search string and a desired relevance of the search string with the search results from a user. A first search engine webpage, comprising a search string entry field and a relevance slider interface, may be displayed to the user. The user may enter the search string in the search string entry field and select the desired relevance from the relevance slider interface. In a preferred embodiment, the search string is parsed to find one or more words or tokens in the search string.
One or more servers may determine a search result based on the search string and the desired relevance of the search string to the search result. A second search engine webpage that includes the search result may then be displayed to the user. The user may view the second search engine webpage and possibly interact with the search results. As a non-limiting example, the search results may be links to websites or webpages that the user may select to allow the user's browser to access those websites or webpages.
In some embodiments, the desired relevance comprises a location on a scale. The scale may range from a high relevance to a low relevance. The high relevance for the desired relevance preferably leads to a closely matching search result (or closely matching plurality of domain names) when compared to the search string while the low relevance for the desired relevance leads to a remotely relevant search result (or remotely relevant plurality of domain names) when compared to the search string. In preferred embodiments, the relevance slider interface may further comprise one or more intermediate desired relevancies (between the high relevance and the low relevance) locations that may also be selected by the user.
In some embodiments, the user may alter or change one or more times the desired relevance using the relevance slider interface. This process may be repeated each time the user changes the desired relevance and would cause a second desired relevance to be received from the user from the relevance slider interface. The one or more servers may determine a second search result (updated search result) based on the search string (which may also be changed one or more times by the user as desired) and the second desired relevance. The second search result (updated search result) may then be displayed to the user on a third search engine webpage. As with the second search engine webpage, the user may interact with the search result as desired.
In other embodiments, the present invention provides methods for determining and displaying a plurality of domain names given a search string and a desired relevance from the user. A first domain name spinning webpage, comprising a search string entry field and a relevance slider interface, may be displayed to the user. The user may enter the search string in the search string entry field and select the desired relevance from the relevance slider interface. In a preferred embodiment, the search string is parsed to find one or more words or tokens in the search string.
One or more servers may determine a plurality of domain names based on the search string and the desired relevance of the search string to the plurality of domain names. A second domain name spinning webpage, that includes the plurality of domain names, may then be displayed to the user. In some embodiments, the plurality of domain names may be checked for availability and only available domain names in the plurality of domain names are displayed to the user. The user may also be allowed to select and register one or more of the available domain names from the second domain name spinning webpage. A domain name registrar may register the selected domain names to the user.
In some embodiments, the user may alter or change one or more times the desired relevance using the relevance slider interface. This process may be repeated each time the user changes the desired relevance and would cause a second desired relevance to be received from the user from the relevance slider interface. The one or more servers may determine a second plurality of domain names (updated domain names) based on the search string (which may also be changed one or more times by the user as desired) and the second desired relevance. The second plurality of domain names (updated domain names) may then be displayed to the user on a third domain name spinning webpage. The user may be allowed to select and register one or more of the available domain names from the third domain name spinning webpage. A domain name register may register the selected domain names to the user.
The above features and advantages of the present invention will be better understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
The present inventions will now be discussed in detail with regard to the attached drawing figures that were briefly described above. In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth illustrating the Applicant's best mode for practicing the invention and enabling one of ordinary skill in the art to make and use the invention. It will be obvious, however, to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without many of these specific details. In other instances, well-known machines, structures, and method steps have not been described in particular detail in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the present invention. Unless otherwise indicated, like parts and method steps are referred to with like reference numerals.
The arrows in
The Internet 120 is a worldwide network of computers and networks arranged to allow for the easy and robust exchange of information between users 110 on client computers running browsers. Hundreds of millions of users 110 around the world have access to computers connected to the Internet 120 via Internet Service Providers (ISPs).
Content providers place multimedia information (e.g., text, graphics, audio, video, animation, and other forms of data) at specific locations on the Internet that may be referred to as a website. The combination of all the websites and their corresponding webpages on the Internet 120 is generally known as the World Wide Web (WWW) or simply the Web.
For search engines 100, domain name registrars 400 and users 110, the Internet 120 continues to be increasingly valuable. Users 110 use the Internet 120 for everyday tasks, from social networking, shopping, banking, and paying bills to consuming media and entertainment. Users 110 may also use search engines 100 to find search results 240, 250, 260. The search results 240, 250, 260 may be, as non-limiting examples, description of websites or active links to websites. Users 110 may also want to use domain name registrars 400 to create and register one or more available domain names 540, 550, 560.
The search engine website 102 in
The search engine websites 102 and domain name website 402 may be created using website code, which may comprise, as a non-limiting example, HyperText Markup Language (HTML) to generate a standard set of tags that define how the webpages 103, 403 for the websites 102, 402 are to be displayed.
Users 110 may access the search engine website 102 or domain name website 402 using software known as an Internet browser, such as MICROSOFT INTERNET EXPLORER, MOZILLA FIREFOX or GOOGLE CHROME. After the browser has located the desired website 102, 402, the browser may request and receive information from a particular webpage 103, 203, 303, 403, 503, 603 within the website 102, 402, typically in the form of an HTML document, and then display the webpage 103, 203, 303, 403, 503, 603 content for the user 110. The user 110 may then view other webpages at the same website 102, 402 or move to an entirely different website using the browser.
The search engine website 102 and domain name website 402 may be hosted or operated by one or more servers 101 which may be hosting servers. The one or more servers 101 may be, as non-limiting examples, one or more Dell PowerEdge(s) rack server(s), HP Blade Server(s), or IBM Rack or Tower server(s), although other types or combination of servers 101 may also be used. The one or more servers 101 comprise the electronic hardware necessary to run computer programs that may be written to perform various functions, processes, methods and steps of the present invention. The one or more servers 101 may be operated by one or more entities and may communicate with each other using any desired protocol. As a specific non-limiting example, the servers 101 may communicate with each other over Application Program Interfaces (APIs). This allows searches to be performed on third party search engines.
Some search engines 100 and domain name registrars 400, typically those that are larger and more sophisticated, may provide their own hardware, software, and connections to the Internet 120 to operate their own websites 102, 402. However, some search engines 100 and domain name registrars 400 either do not have the resources available or do not want to create and maintain the infrastructure necessary to host their own websites 102, 402. To assist such search engines 100 and domain name registrars 400, hosting providers exist that offer hosting services to websites 102, 402. These hosting providers typically provide the hardware, software, and electronic communication equipment necessary to connect multiple websites 102, 402 to the Internet 120. A single hosting provider may literally host thousands or millions of websites 102, 402 on one or more servers 101.
The relevance slider interface 130, 230, 330, 430, 530, 630 may be any webpage or Internet method now known or later developed that allows the user 110 to select or indicate a desired relevance. In a preferred embodiment, the relevance slider interface 130, 230, 330, 430, 530, 630 is a graphical interface or control that allows the user 110 to slide a graphical image (shown as a ball in
The desired relevance may comprise a location on the scale provided by the relevance slider interface 130, 230, 330, 430, 530, 630. The scale may range from a high relevance to a low relevance and have any number of different intermediate values. The high desired relevance preferably indicates that the search results 240, 250, 260, 340, 350, 360 or domain names 540, 550, 560, 640, 650, 660 match very closely (as closely as possible) to the search string while a low desired relevance preferably indicates that the search results 240, 250, 260, 340, 350, 360 or domain names 540, 550, 560, 640, 650, 660 should only be indirectly related to the search string. An intermediate value for the desired relevance preferably indicates that the search results 240, 250, 260, 340, 350, 360 or domain names 540, 550, 560, 640, 650, 660 should match the search string somewhere between the high relevance and the low relevance.
High desired relevance preferably means exact word matches or words frequently used together between the search string and the search results 240, 250, 260, 340, 350, 360 or domain names 540, 550, 560, 640, 650, 660. Intermediate desired relevance preferably means synonyms or words that are sometimes used together between the search string and the search results 240, 250, 260, 340, 350, 360 or domain names 540, 550, 560, 640, 650, 660. Low desired relevance preferably means antonyms or words that are only occasionally associated together between the search string and the search results 240, 250, 260, 340, 350, 360 or domain names 540, 550, 560, 640, 650, 660. Electronic dictionaries may be used to determine synonyms and antonyms and the degree of word association may be determined by analyzing any desired corpse of words, such as the text in one or more websites. To improve the speed of the process, the degree of various word associations may be stored in a database.
The webpages 103, 203, 303, 403, 503, 603 may include a Go 105 button. The Go 105 button may be used by the user 110 to start the one or more servers 101 in determining and displaying a new search result or a new plurality of domain names based on the current search string and the current desired relevance entered and selected by the user 110. The Go 105 button may be selected at any time by the user 110 after the user 110 enters a search string and selects a desired relevance.
In
The user 110 may enter a search string into the search string entry field 104 thereby allowing the search string to be received by the search engine 100. (Step 710) As illustrated in
The user 110 may also select a desired relevance using the relevance slider interface 130. The desired relevance is shown in an intermediate position on the relevance slider interface 130 in
In some embodiments, the desired relevance may comprise a location on a scale. The scale may range, as a non-limiting example, from a high relevance to a low relevance. The high relevance for the desired relevance may lead to a closely matching search result when compared to the search string while the low relevance for the desired relevance may lead to a remotely relevant or exploratory search result when compared to the search string. In other embodiments, a higher desired relevance may lead to higher results in a search result while a lower desired relevance may lead to lower results in a search result.
The search engine 100, using one or more servers 101, may determine one or more search results 240, 250, 260 based on the search string and the desired relevance. (Step 730) In some embodiments, the search string may be altered by the user's computer, preferably running an application, prior to being sent to the search engine 100. As a non-limiting example, the search string may be sent as is when a high desired relevance is selected or the search string may be altered when a lower desired relevance is selected. The altered search string may be made more fanciful or distant from the original search string the lower the selected desired relevance. The determination process may be triggered to start (thereby producing search results 240, 250, 260 or updating search results 340, 350, 360) either by the user 110 selecting the Go 105 button, the user changing the desired relevance on the relevance slide interface 130, 230, 330 and/or the user 110 entering or changing the search string in the search string entry field 104. Triggering or initiating a new search with a minimum number of keystrokes and/or actions (such as by only having to change the desired relevance by sliding the relevance slider interface 130) is particularly advantageous on mobile devices with less efficient input devices compared to desktop computers.
In the example illustrated in
While three search results 240, 250, 260 are illustrated in
Another embodiment of the invention is illustrated in
The search engine 100 may determine a second or updated search result 340, 350, 360 based on the current search string (“Pizza Phoenix”) and the second desired relevance (“Explorative”). As examples, “Italian Heat,” “Arizona Bistro” and “Desert Pies” may be determined by the search engine 100 (Step 910) and then displayed to the user 110 on a third search engine webpage 303 (Step 920).
In
The user 110 may enter a search string into the search string entry field 104 thereby allowing the search string to be received by the domain name registrar 400. (Step 1010) As illustrated in
The user 110 may also select a desired relevance using the relevance slider interface 430. The desired relevance is shown in an intermediate position on the relevance slider interface 430 in
In some embodiments, the desired relevance may comprise a location on a scale. The scale may range, as an example, from a high relevance to a low relevance. The high relevance for the desired relevance may lead to a plurality of closely matching domain names when compared to the search string while the low relevance for the desired relevance may lead to a remotely relevant or an exploratory plurality of domain names when compared to the search string. In other embodiments, a high desired relevance may lead to the top results in a search while a lower desired relevance may lead to lower results in the search.
The domain name registrar 400, using one or more servers 101, may determine one or more domain names 540, 550, 560 based on the search string and the desired relevance. (Step 1030) In some embodiments, the search string may be altered by the user's computer, possibly by an application, prior to being sent to the search engine 100. As a non-limiting example, the search string may be sent as is when a high desired relevance is selected or the search string may be altered when a lower desired relevance is selected. The altered search string may be made more fanciful or distant from the original search string the lower the selected desired relevance. The determination process may be triggered to start (thereby producing search results 540, 550, 560 or updating search results 640, 650, 660) either by the user 110 selecting the
Go 105 button, the user changing the desired relevance on the relevance slide interface 430, 530, 630 and/or the user 110 entering or changing the search string in the search string entry field 104. Triggering or initiating a new search with a minimum number of keystrokes and/or actions (such as by only having to change the desired relevance by sliding the relevance slider interface 130) is particularly advantageous on mobile devices with less efficient input devices compared to desktop computers.
In the example illustrated in
While three domain names 540, 550, 560 are illustrated in
Another embodiment of the invention is illustrated in
The domain name registrar 400 may determine a second or updated plurality of domain names 640, 650, 660 based on the current search string (“Pizza Phoenix”) and the second desired relevance (“Precise”). (Step 910) As examples, “PhoenixPizza.com,” “BestPizzaPhoenix.com” and “PizzaPhoenixArizona.com” have been determined by the domain name registrar 400 (Step 1210) and then displayed to the user 110 on a third domain name spinning webpage 603 (Step 1220).
Other embodiments and uses of the above inventions will be apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art upon consideration of the specification and practice of the invention disclosed herein. The specification and examples given should be considered exemplary only, and it is contemplated that the appended claims will cover any other such embodiments or modifications as fall within the true scope of the invention.
The Abstract accompanying this specification is provided to enable the United States Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally to determine quickly from a cursory inspection the nature and gist of the technical disclosure and in no way intended for defining, determining, or limiting the present invention or any of its embodiments.