Patent Application
20120271878
The present inventions generally relate to the field of domain name suggestion and registration and specifically to the field of suggesting and registering domain names based on a geographic location within online mapping software selected by the user or detected by a geo-location software on a mobile device.
The present inventions provide methods and systems for displaying, suggesting and registering available domain names on a client computer based on selected geographical locations from online mapping service software. An exemplary method may comprise several steps including the step of displaying any combination of online mapping service software and domain name suggestion/registration software on a client computer. The online mapping service software may be configured to zoom anywhere from a world view to an individual residence view, including any levels in between, to view any geographical locations including, but not limited to, continents, countries, regions, states, counties, areas, cities, or neighborhoods. The domain name suggestion/registration software may be an overlay on, or otherwise synchronized and/or coordinated with, the online mapping service software, thereby allowing the user to click on, or otherwise select the geographical area and locations displayed. The combination of software may then use the selected geographical area and/or locations to select a plurality of available domain names from data storage related to the geographical area and/or locations. These available domain names may be in a primary market and/or a domain name aftermarket and may be parsed for keywords related to the geographical areas and/or locations. These keywords, along with one or more Top Level Domains (TLD) may be displayed on the client computer, either as combined or separate user interface controls, possibly at coordinates on a map appropriate to the displayed geographical area. The selections of the user may be used to display to the user, in a preferred order, suggested available domain names, and receive the selection of domain names from the user. In some embodiments, another user interface control may also receive additional keywords from a user to “spin” the domain name suggestions, possibly predefined keywords specific to an industry. These domain name spinning suggestions from the user may be combined with the keywords parsed from the available domain names related to the geographical areas and/or locations and/or one or more a TLDs selected by the user to suggest and display available domain names, which may then be selected by the user.
The present inventions also provide methods and systems for an automated calculation and display of one or more suggested domain names using a geo-location software feature on a mobile client computer device, such as a PDA or smart phone. Any combination of online mapping service software and domain name suggestion/registration software may determine, receive, tag and display the location of the user and/or client computer based on the GPS, or other geo-location signal picked up from the mobile client computer device. A plurality of available domain names may be parsed and displayed according to the steps outlined above. Using the determined location and the keywords from parsed available domain names, a series of suggested domain names may appear through domain name registration software, which may be used in coordination or as an overlay to the online mapping software. Developers, contractors, builders, real estate agents, domain name speculators or any combination may use the software applications within these systems and methods in response to developing areas that show promising value. They may use these inventions to secure the domain names related to the areas or real estate to develop and create custom splash pages for homes or businesses based on the street address or business name respectively determined by the GPS signal and/or domain name suggestion/registration software. The suggested domain names may be as specific as the business or address found by the geo-location software, and/or as general as the state or other general area determined by the geo-location software.
The above features and advantages of the present inventions 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.
A network is a collection of links and nodes (e.g., multiple computers and/or other devices connected together) arranged so that information may be passed from one part of the network to another over multiple links and through various nodes. Examples of networks include the Internet, the public switched telephone network, the global Telex network, computer networks (e.g., an intranet, an extranet, a local-area network, or a wide-area network), wired networks, and wireless networks.
The Internet is a worldwide network of computers and computer networks arranged to allow the easy and robust exchange of information between computer users. Hundreds of millions of people around the world have access to computers connected to the Internet 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 referred to as websites. The combination of all the websites and their corresponding web pages on the Internet is generally known as the World Wide Web (WWW) or simply the Web.
For Internet users and businesses alike, the Internet continues to be increasingly valuable. More people use the Web for everyday tasks, from social networking, shopping, banking, and paying bills to consuming media and entertainment. E-commerce is growing, with businesses delivering more services and content across the Internet, communicating and collaborating online, and inventing new ways to connect with each other.
Prevalent on the Web are multimedia websites, some of which may offer and sell goods and services to individuals and organizations. Websites may consist of a single webpage, but typically consist of multiple interconnected and related web pages. Websites, unless extremely large and complex or have unusual traffic demands, typically reside on a single server and are prepared and maintained by a single individual or entity. Menus and links may be used to move between different web pages within the website or to move to a different website as is known in the art. The interconnectivity of web pages enabled by the Internet can make it difficult for Internet users to tell where one website ends and another begins.
Websites may be created using HyperText Markup Language (HTML) to generate a standard set of tags that define how the web pages for the website are to be displayed. Users of the Internet may access content providers' websites using software known as an Internet browser, such as MICROSOFT INTERNET EXPLORER or MOZILLA FIREFOX. After the browser has located the desired webpage, it requests and receives information from the webpage, typically in the form of an HTML document, and then displays the webpage content for the user. The user then may view other web pages at the same website or move to an entirely different website using the browser.
Some Internet users, typically those that are larger and more sophisticated, may provide their own hardware, software, and connections to the Internet. But many Internet users either do not have the resources available or do not want to create and maintain the infrastructure necessary to host their own websites. To assist such individuals (or entities), hosting companies exist that offer website hosting services. These hosting providers typically provide the hardware, software, and electronic communication means necessary to connect multiple websites to the Internet. A single hosting provider may literally host thousands of websites on one or more hosting servers.
Browsers are able to locate specific websites because each website, resource, and computer on the Internet has a unique Internet Protocol (IP) address. Presently, there are two standards for IP addresses. The older IP address standard, often called IP Version 4 (IPv4), is a 32-bit binary number, which is typically shown in dotted decimal notation, where four 8-bit bytes are separated by a dot from each other (e.g., 64.202.167.32). The notation is used to improve human readability. The newer IP address standard, often called IP Version 6 (IPv6) or Next Generation Internet Protocol (IPng), is a 128-bit binary number. The standard human readable notation for IPv6 addresses presents the address as eight 16-bit hexadecimal words, each separated by a colon (e.g., 2EDC:BA98:0332:0000:CF8A:000C:2154:7313).
IP addresses, however, even in human readable notation, are difficult for people to remember and use. A Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is much easier to remember and may be used to point to any computer, directory, or file on the Internet. A browser is able to access a website on the Internet through the use of a URL. The URL may include a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) request combined with the website's Internet address, also known as the website's domain name. An example of a URL with a HTTP request and domain name is: http://www.companyname.com. In this example, the “http” identifies the URL as a HTTP request and the “companyname.com” is the domain name.
Domain names are much easier to remember and use than their corresponding IP addresses. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) approves some Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLD) and delegates the responsibility to a particular organization (a “registry”) for maintaining an authoritative source for the registered domain names within a Top Level Domain (TLD) and their corresponding IP addresses. For certain TLDs (e.g., .biz, .info, .name, and .org) the registry is also the authoritative source for contact information related to the domain name and is referred to as a “thick” registry. For other TLDs (e.g., .com and .net) only the domain name, registrar identification, and name server information is stored within the registry, and a registrar is the authoritative source for the contact information related to the domain name. Such registries are referred to as “thin” registries. Most gTLDs are organized through a central domain name Shared Registration System (SRS) based on their TLD.
The process for registering a domain name with .com, .net, .org, and some other TLDs allows an Internet user to use an ICANN-accredited registrar to register their domain name. For example, if an Internet user, John Doe, wishes to register the domain name “mycompany.com,” John Doe may initially determine whether the desired domain name is available by contacting a domain name registrar. The Internet user may make this contact using the registrar's webpage and typing the desired domain name into a field on the registrar's webpage created for this purpose. Upon receiving the request from the Internet user, the registrar may ascertain whether “mycompany.com” has already been registered by checking the SRS database associated with the TLD of the domain name. The results of the search then may be displayed on the webpage to thereby notify the Internet user of the availability of the domain name. If the domain name is available, the Internet user may proceed with the registration process. If the domain name is not available for registration, the Internet user may keep selecting alternative domain names until an available domain name is found.
Software for an online mapping service can have both practical and entertainment applications. A user may view almost any location in the world using the satellite images or provided graphical maps within the software for popular online mapping services. This technology may be used to view many cities and famous landmarks, as well as navigating between one location and another. The online mapping software may be used to view every level of Earth from the planet itself down to a birds-eye view of the home in which the user lives, and every level of geographical location in between, either by finding a specific geographic location selected or entered by the user, or by zooming into the appropriate level of geographical locations selected by the user.
Although online mapping services may be accessed via a desktop computer, mobile devices (including, but not limited to laptop computers, smart phones, personal digital assistants, etc.) have become ubiquitous in recent years. The networking speeds for these mobile devices are increasing and there is more accessibility to mobile devices and wireless access points.
People tend to always have their laptop, phone, PDA, etc., where as they don't always have their desktop computer. This presents unique ways to generate revenue using mobile devices, where retailers and other businesses, such as domain name registrars, can capitalize on spontaneous purchases for some customers and provide more options for others.
Whether on a mobile device or a desktop computer, people are using online software to locate themselves, nearby businesses and residential addresses. By entering or zooming into a country, state, region, county, city, area, neighborhood, street address or any other geographical location, the user can get a bird's eye view of almost anywhere on earth.
GPS tagging is also becoming more popular because people are interested in geo-tagging and geo-tagging applications. Mobile application development has grown in recent years, and the download rate for these applications, including GPS related applications, have a large download rate. In addition to driving directions, people are interested in geo-tagging their current location, which can be accurate to within 15 feet of the user. These technologies also create unique ways to generate revenue using mobile devices which can capitalize on spontaneous purchases for some customers and provide more options for others.
Methods and Systems for Suggesting Map or GPS Based Domain Names
Several different methods may be used to provide and manage the disclosed inventions. In an example embodiment illustrated in
The input from any combination of online mapping service software and/or domain name suggestion/registration software may include a selection of geographical locations within a geographical area (Step 110). The geographical area displayed may include any view provided by the combination of software including views of the planet Earth down to a specific house the user wants to view. The user may input this selection using a zoom feature provided within the combination of software, or may input a specific geographical location that the user wants to view, using controls within the provided user interface. Geographical locations may include any level of geographical locations within a geographical area including, but not limited to, continents, countries, states, regions, counties, cities, areas, neighborhoods, or any other geographical divisions within the selected geographical area.
After receiving a selection of one or more geographical locations from the user of the client computer (Step 110), any combination of the online mapping software and/or domain name suggestion/registration software may analyze a plurality of available domain names in a primary market and/or domain name aftermarket. These available domain names may be selected from an appropriate database or other data storage and may be parsed for keywords related to the selected geographical locations (Step 120).
The keywords parsed from the available domain names and related to the selected geographical locations (Step 120) may be associated to map coordinates, possibly selected from a database associated with the online mapping service or other software. This database may include, as a non-limiting example, coordinates on maps to determine related cities on the online mapping software to sync with available domain names. Any combination of software may then associate the keywords related to the geographical locations with map coordinates on an online map. These coordinates may be used to display user interface inputs/controls in close proximity to the geographical locations displayed on the map and selected by the user. The user interface inputs/controls may contain the keywords associated with the available domain names and may be displayed on the online mapping services software at the coordinates associated with the appropriate geographical location.
In addition to user interface inputs containing the keywords, some embodiments may include one or more displayed user interface inputs containing one or more top level domains (TLD) such as .com, .net, .gov, .edu, or any other TLD now known or later developed. In other embodiments, the combination of suggested keywords and TLDs may be presented to the user in a single user interface input. In these embodiments, the combination of suggested keywords and TLDs may have been calculated by the online mapping software working in conjunction with the domain name suggestion/registration software using data from the appropriate data storage. Non-limiting examples of such information may include the geographical area, domain name and/or other keywords, such as industry keywords, to generate the keywords to search information in data storage for domain name suggestion information related to the primary market for domain names, or the domain name aftermarket, domain availability and/or accomplish any other methods disclosed herein.
The combination of the online mapping software and/or domain name suggestion/registration software may receive a selection of one or more available domain name keywords and TLDs from the user of the client computer (Step 130). The combination of selected available domain name keywords and TLDs may be analyzed and compared with the available domain names to determine and display one or more suggested domain names on the client computer according to the analysis by the one or more software modules (Step 140).
In some embodiments, these suggested available domain names may be displayed in order according to the best matches determined by the software combination. The user may then select the suggested domain name which best fits their needs (Step 140). In other embodiments, any variation on suggested available domain names now known or later developed may be employed, such as dashes, underlines, etc. In other embodiments, all possible combinations of the keywords related to available domain names and available TLDs may be selected and sent to the client computer, where one or more client side software modules may analyze the selections of the user and immediately display the best options for suggested available domain names.
Several different environments may be used to accomplish the steps of embodiments disclosed herein.
The example embodiments herein place no limitations on whom or what may comprise users. Thus, as non-limiting examples, users may comprise any individual, entity, business, corporation, partnership, organization, governmental entity, and/or educational institution that may have occasion to seek information for domain name suggestions based on geographical locations.
The example embodiments shown and described herein exist within the framework of a network 200 and should not limit possible network configuration or connectivity. Such a network 200 may comprise, as non-limiting examples, any combination of the Internet, the public switched telephone network, the global Telex network, computer networks (e.g., an intranet, an extranet, a local-area network, or a wide-area network), a wired network, a wireless network, a telephone network, a corporate network backbone or any other combination of known or later developed networks.
At least one server 210 and at least one client 220 may be communicatively coupled to the network 200 via any method of network connection known in the art or developed in the future including, but not limited to wired, wireless, modem, dial-up, satellite, cable modem, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), Asymmetric Digital Subscribers Line (ASDL), Virtual Private Network (VPN), Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), X.25, Ethernet, token ring, Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI), IP over Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), Infrared Data Association (IrDA), wireless, WAN technologies (T1, Frame Relay), Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet (PPPoE), and/or any combination thereof.
The server(s) 210 and client(s) 220 (along with software modules and the data storage 230 disclosed herein) may be communicatively coupled to the network 200 and to each other in such a way as to allow the exchange of information required to accomplish the method steps disclosed herein, including, but not limited to receiving the information from a user interface on one or more clients 220, and one or more servers 210 receiving the information.
The client 220 may be any computer or program that provides services to other computers, programs, or users either in the same computer or over a computer network 200. As non-limiting examples, the client 220 may be an application, communication, mail, database, proxy, fax, file, media, web, peer-to-peer, or standalone computer, cell phone, “smart” phone, personal digital assistant (PDA), etc. which may contain an operating system, a full file system, a plurality of other necessary utilities or applications or any combination thereof on the client 220. Non limiting example programming environments for client applications may include JavaScript/AJAX (client side automation), ASP, JSP, Ruby on Rails, Python's Django, PHP, HTML pages or rich media like Flash, Flex, Silverlight, any programming environments for mobile “apps,” or any combination thereof.
The client computer(s) 220 which may be operated by one or more users and may be used to connect to the network 200 to accomplish the illustrated embodiments may include, but are not limited to, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a hand held computer, a terminal, a television, a television set top box, a cellular phone, a wireless phone, a wireless hand held device, a “smart” phone, an Internet access device, a rich client, thin client, or any other client functional with a client/server computing architecture. Client software may be used for authenticated remote access to one more hosting computers or servers, described below. These may be, but are not limited to being accessed by a remote desktop program and/or a web browser, as are known in the art.
The user interface displayed on the client(s) 220 or the server(s) 210 may be any graphical, textual, scanned and/or auditory information a computer program presents to the user, and the control sequences such as keystrokes, movements of the computer mouse, selections with a touch screen, scanned information etc. used to control the program. Examples of such interfaces include any known or later developed combination of Graphical User Interfaces (GUI) or Web-based user interfaces as seen in and after
The software modules used in the context of the current invention may be stored in the memory of—and run on—at least one server 210 and/or client 220. The software modules may comprise software and/or scripts containing instructions that, when executed by a microprocessor on a server 210 and/or client 220, cause the microprocessor to accomplish the purpose of the module or the methods disclosed herein.
The software modules may interact and/or exchange information via an Application Programming Interface or API. An API may be a software-to-software interface that specifies the protocol defining how independent computer programs interact or communicate with each other. The API may allow a requesting party's software to communicate and interact with the software application and/or its provider—perhaps over a network—through a series of function calls (requests for services). It may comprise an interface provided by the software application and/or its provider to support function calls made of the software application by other computer programs, perhaps those utilized by the requesting party to provide information for publishing or posting domain name and hosted website information.
The API may comprise any API type known in the art or developed in the future including, but not limited to, request-style, Berkeley Sockets, Transport Layer Interface (TLI), Representational State Transfer (REST), SOAP, Remote Procedure Calls (RPC), Standard Query Language (SQL), file transfer, message delivery, and/or any combination thereof.
The software modules may also include mobile applications, possibly on a client computer and/or mobile device. These mobile applications, or “apps” may comprise computer software designed to help people perform an activity and designed to help the user to perform singular or multiple related specific tasks. It helps to solve problems in the real world by manipulating text, numbers, graphics, or a combination of these elements.
The server(s) utilized within the disclosed system 210 may comprise any computer or program that provides services to other computers, programs, or users either in the same computer or over a computer network 200. As non-limiting examples, the server 210 may comprise application, communication, mail, database, proxy, fax, file, media, web, peer-to-peer, standalone, software, or hardware servers (i.e., server computers) and may use any server format known in the art or developed in the future (possibly a shared hosting server, a virtual dedicated hosting server, a dedicated hosting server, a cloud hosting solution, a grid hosting solution, or any combination thereof).
The server 210 may exist within a server cluster, as illustrated. These clusters may include a group of tightly coupled computers that work together so that in many respects they can be viewed as though they are a single computer. The components may be connected to each other through fast local area networks which may improve performance and/or availability over that provided by a single computer.
The server(s) 210 or software modules within the server(s) 210 may use query languages such as MSSQL or MySQL to retrieve the content from data storage 230. Server-side scripting languages such as ASP, PHP, CGI/Perl, proprietary scripting software/modules/components etc. may be used to process the retrieved data. The retrieved data may be analyzed in order to determine information recognized by the scripting language, information to be matched to those found in data storage, availability of requested information, comparisons to information displayed and input/selected from the user interface or any other content retrieval within the method steps disclosed herein.
The server 210 and/or client 220 may be communicatively coupled to data storage 230 to retrieve any information requested. The data storage 230 may be any computer components, devices, and/or recording media that may retain digital data used for computing for some interval of time. The storage may be capable of retaining stored content for any data requested, on a single machine or in a cluster of computers over the network 200, in separate memory areas of the same machine such as different hard drives, or in separate partitions within the same hard drive, such as a database partition.
Non-limiting examples of the data storage 230 may include, but are not limited to, a Network Area Storage, (“NAS”), which may be a self-contained file level computer data storage connected to and supplying a computer network with file-based data storage services. The storage subsystem may also be a Storage Area Network (“SAN”—an architecture to attach remote computer storage devices to servers in such a way that the devices appear as locally attached), an NAS-SAN hybrid, any other means of central/shared storage now known or later developed or any combination thereof.
Structurally, the data storage 230 may comprise any collection of data. As non-limiting examples, the data storage 230 may comprise a local database, online database, desktop database, server-side database, relational database, hierarchical database, network database, object database, object-relational database, associative database, concept-oriented database, entity-attribute-value database, multi-dimensional database, semi-structured database, star schema database, XML database, file, collection of files, spreadsheet, and/or other means of data storage such as a magnetic media, hard drive, other disk drive, volatile memory (e.g., RAM), non-volatile memory (e.g., ROM or flash), and/or any combination thereof.
As seen in
As users access and/or input information, this information may be redirected and distributed between and among the data centers (240, 250) via commands from any combination of software modules hosted on the server(s) 210 and executed via processors on the server(s) 210. This information may then be accessed and manipulated by the combination of software modules or stored in the data storage 230 of any of a plurality of data centers, either separate from or integrated into the one or more servers, so that the information is available to be searched and accessed by the user and/or any other components of any or all data centers.
Any references to “software combination,” “combination of software,” “combination of software modules” etc. referred to herein may include any combination of software modules executed by a microprocessor on either the server 210 or client 220 computers. These software modules may also be used in combination with any other hardware or software structures disclosed herein. The servers 210 may be hosted in any data center (240, 250) operated by any hosting provider such as those disclosed herein and the servers 210 and clients 220 may be operated by any users disclosed herein.
Regarding the inventions disclosed herein, any combination of online mapping software in a data center operated by an online mapping service or other hosting provider may be used in combination with any combination of domain name suggestion and/or domain name registration software in a data center operated by a domain name registrar or other hosting provider. The software modules described herein may be run separately but may share common information or interfaces, possibly via an API. In other embodiments, the software modules may be two or more separate software module packages used in conjunction, possibly by overlaying one on top of the other, such as an overlay of the user interface controls for the domain name suggestion/registration software on the online mapping software. In still other embodiments, the online mapping software and domain name suggestion/registration software may be integrated software modules presented to the user in a unified and seamless way.
As a non-limiting example of such software modules, an online mapping software may be configured to receive input from the user which may trigger the online domain name suggestion and/or registration software described herein. An available domain name keyword parsing module may be used to parse available domain names for keywords related to geographical areas/locations selected by the user on the client computer and extract keywords from the available domain names to retrieve and compare information stored in data storage 230 for purposes of primary and/or aftermarket domain name availability. Several related software modules working together (disclosed herein), may likewise be used to suggest domain names based on the geographical locations, etc.
The selection of these geographical locations and geographical areas may be determined according to input received from the user of the client machine (Step 310). As a non-limiting example, the online mapping software may include a user input control which allows the user to zoom the displayed online map to various levels which, in turn, display various geographical areas containing multiple geographical locations, such as cities within a state in
In some non-limiting example embodiments, the online mapping software may be configured to receive input from the user in the form of a user clicking on one or more specific geographic locations to trigger the online domain name suggestion and/or registration software described herein. The domain name suggestion/registration component of this software combination in this example may detect the one or more selected geographical locations within the geographical areas (cities within the state of Colorado in
In this non-limiting example, online mapping software may be displayed on a client computer, and any combination of software and/or user interface controls described herein may be configured to receive a command to zoom the online mapping software display to the major cities within the state of Colorado, the displayed geographical locations and the geographical area in this example, respectively. The mapping software may also display additional details, such as the major freeways in this example, but these details will not be discussed here in the interest of simplicity of the example.
In other embodiments (not shown in
After receiving a selection of one or more major cities in the state of Colorado from the user, any combination of the disclosed software may analyze a group of available domain names in a primary market or domain name aftermarket. These available domain names may be selected from a database or any other data storage 230 related to the domain name markets or aftermarkets and may be parsed for keywords related to the selected cities in Colorado or any other geographical divisions within the selected geographical area (Step 120, Step 310). This parsing for keywords may be accomplished by software modules on the server computer(s). In the interest of simplicity in this non-limiting example, it will be assumed that the domain names for major cities, such as Denver.com, Boulder.com, Colorado Springs.com, etc. are not available domain names, so a lesser known city, Berthoud, will be used in the following examples.
In this non-limiting example, the software modules for the domain name suggestion/registration software may be run on all exact matches for city names in the selected area. Alternatively, in this example, the city of Berthoud may have been selected, or the domain name suggestion/registration software may have determined that a search for the city of Boulder does not yield any suggested domain names, as they are not available, but that the nearby city of Berthoud has several domain names available, including domain names with top level domains .com, .net, .gov, .edu and .us. In other embodiments, described herein, variations on the names of the cities selected, or surrounding cities in the greater city area, may also be used to suggest/register domain names. The domain names suggested may be derived by parsing the domain name into keywords, as well as all subsequent steps described herein for parsing domain names and comparing the keywords to the names of the geographical divisions to return a result set (Steps 110-120).
The keywords related to the cities selected and parsed from the available domain names may be associated to map coordinates, possibly pulled from a database or any other data storage 230 associated with the online mapping service software. These coordinates may be used by the domain name suggestion/registration software to display user interface inputs containing the keywords associated with the available domain names on the user interface of the client machine at the coordinates determined by the online mapping service software, next to Berthoud, Colo. in the example embodiment seen in
These suggested available domain names may be displayed according to the geographical locations selected by the user where the geographical division is appropriate to the domain names that are available and displayed using any combination of software and hardware on the client computer (Step 130). In the example embodiments shown in
For example, the dropdown box may be integrated into the map software from one or more software modules in the Map/GPS data center 240 using one or more software modules on the server in the registrar data center 250. These software modules, working together, may display an interface element such as a dropdown box next to a city with available domain names, such as Berthoud in the example embodiment in
The example embodiment shown in
This embodiment also shows a dropdown box for only one city. However, other embodiments may include user interface controls for all cities on the map, or any city which may be configured to be selected in the geographical area by the user. These user interface controls may include links, check boxes, buttons, etc. for the user to click on for each of the cities displayed on the map. In other embodiments, each of the cities displayed at that level of geographical area on the map may have its own dropdown box containing the available domain names for that city. These cities may be compared to the keywords parsed from available domain names related to the cities selected using any combination of the steps described related to
Once the user has selected the keywords, TLDs and/or available domains related to the keyword, geographic area and available domains, the user may select a user interface control to register the domain. In the embodiment shown in
The information taken from the form elements on the interface shown in
In the non-limiting example embodiment shown in
In the interest of simplicity, only the user interface controls related to Grand Junction are shown in the non-limiting example embodiment shown in
The non-limiting example embodiment shown in
The combination of software modules may compare and analyze the selected keyword and the selected city, analogous to the steps of parsing and displaying geographical area domain name related keywords (Step 120) described herein relating to
As seen in
In this example embodiment, the user may have zoomed in to look at a shopping center at the crossroads of Spine Road and Lookout road, where information from a database in data storage from either data center 240/250 may contain information about this shopping center and may list any relevant information about the businesses within the shopping center. Additional information, such as demand for the retail space, sales records for the businesses, MLS listings etc. may also be determined and stored to determine the desirability of the real estate space and the domain names related to this real estate.
In
The user may then select one of several TLD's shown from a second dropdown list. As with other embodiments disclosed herein, the software modules may be configured to display the area businesses and TLDs automatically, or may display the businesses and TLDs when the user clicks on either the shopping center, to view all businesses in the shopping center, or on each business individually, if available and desired.
Any steps previously described analogous to and/or described in
Several options may be available once the user selects the area, business and TLD. In some embodiments, the business and TLD may be combined together by the software modules, where the business already includes the name of the area of the city, such as “Gunbarrel Deli” and “Gunbarrel Preschool.” In other embodiments, the software may be configured to automatically combine the name of the area with the selected business and the TLD, as would be seen in embodiments including “GunbarrelKingSoopers.com,” “GunbarrelBlackjackPizza.com,” and “GunbarrelDairyQueen.com.” In still other embodiments, the user may wish to select the area to combine with the business and TLD. In still other embodiments, the software may determine automatically, based on the area selected by the user, what area name to combine with the business and TLD, or may detect that businesses with the area name already included do not need to have the area appended to the name of the business, such as Gunbarrel Deli and Gunbarrel Preschool.
Once the geo-location feature information has been used to parse available domain names for keywords related to the geographical location (Step 920), a series of suggested domain names related to the domain name keywords, may be displayed on a client computer, possibly a mobile device, thereby suggesting domain names based on the keywords parsed and/or extrapolated from the region, city, place, current developments, residential location, etc. determined by the geo-location feature using the cell phone or other mobile device and the GPS integrated into the mobile device. In embodiments analogous to
The geo-location software may be any software/hardware combination that provides reliable location and time information in various weather and at various times on or near the Earth, using a receiver which calculates the user's position by precisely timing the signals sent. As a non-limiting example, a GPS system may be used as the geo-location software. The GPS may use a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) to provide location and time information where there is an unobstructed line of site for 4 GPS satellites. The GPS receiver on the client computer/mobile device may calculate its position by timing the signals sent by the satellites. Each satellite may continually transmit a message that includes the time the message was transmitted. The receiver may then use the message it receives to determine the transit time of each message and compute the distance to each satellite. These distances along with the satellites' locations may be used with the possible aid of trilateration, depending on which algorithm is used, to compute the position of the receiver. This position may then be displayed, perhaps with a moving map display or latitude and longitude; elevation information may be included. Many GPS units show derived information such as direction and speed, calculated from position changes.
The suggested domain names may be relevant to the area being viewed on the map, including relevant shopping centers or residential areas in up and coming areas. In this non-limiting example the user may be located using the geo-domain feature on a mobile device from a world level of the geo-location feature to the United States country level and on to the state level, displaying the state of Colorado, to the city level in Boulder Colo., to a specific area within Boulder known as the Gunbarrel area.
As a non-limiting example, the star in
As seen in previously shown and described embodiments, the information for available domain names may have been parsed for keywords related to possible information and the relevant geographical divisions may have been associated to map coordinates and marked on the map (Step 910, Step 110), possibly from the map showing the GPS information determined by the geo-location feature on the smart phone (Step 900).
The location for the user may be shown on the displayable map that shows the location of the user, possibly as determined by the GPS software.
In some embodiments, there may be additional software modules specific to the type of organization or franchise trying to access the software to register certain domain names. In these embodiments, King Soopers would only want managers or others within the organization to be able to access the software to register the domain names. To accomplish this, the software may require the managers to have a unique password, or corporate password that would allow them to access the software, thereby avoiding situations where others could register domain names in order to sell them to the organizations/franchises.
In other embodiments, contractors/developers/domain speculators may recognize trends, using the data and possible software modules described herein to determine such trends in up and coming developing areas and may want to register as many domain names relevant to the area as possible to later sell to vendors/franchises as they begin to move into these developing areas. The software and data to determine the up and coming areas for sections of towns may include possibly a database of recent news articles about the relevant areas, such as real estate, development, contractors, retailers magazines, public MLS sales records, etc.
This non-limiting example also demonstrates that any of the embodiments herein may be used not only in the primary domain name market, but also in the domain name aftermarket. By buying the geographically related domain names early, the domain speculators may be able to take advantage of auctioning off the domains after they are originally bought and sell to those in the up and coming hot areas of towns.
As seen in
Data storage 230 in these embodiments may contain information about available domain names related to the street address and the area being viewed on the map in response to user input or the geo-tagging of the remote client computer. In this non-limiting example the user may have zoomed in from a world level of the mapping software to the United States country level and on to the state level, displaying the state of Colorado, to the city level in Boulder Colo., to a specific area within Boulder known as the Gunbarrel area. Specific streets within the Gunbarrel area are shown in this example embodiment, and using the information determined from method steps described in or analogous to those in
The user in the example embodiment in
Five houses are available for domain name registration within the residential area displayed in
The user may then select one of several TLD's shown from a second dropdown list. As before, the software modules may be configured to display the available addresses and TLDs automatically, or may display the addresses and TLDs when the user clicks on either the individual addresses, or addresses for surrounding residences, if available and desired. In embodiments with similar features to
In other embodiments, addresses not shown, but found within the neighborhood that are desirable and have available corresponding domain names may also be listed. For example, although houses on Old Mill Road are not seen on the map displayed, the domain name suggestion drop-down boxes show available domain names corresponding to the addresses on Old Mill Road. To accomplish this, the software may be configured to receive the addresses within a certain radius of the selected house or the location of the user.
Several options are available once the user selects the area, address and TLD. In one embodiment, address and TLD may be combined together, where the address already includes just the name of the address. In other embodiments, the software may be configured to automatically combine the name of the address with the city and/or area. In some embodiments, the user may wish to select the area to combine with the business/address and TLD. In other embodiments, the user may select hyphenated versions, or underlines, etc.
In
As a non-limiting example, the star in
As seen in previously shown and described embodiments, the information for available domain names may have been parsed for keywords related to possible information and the relevant geographical divisions may have been associated to map coordinates and marked on the map, possibly from the map showing the GPS information determined by the geo-location feature on the smart phone.
The location for the user may be shown on the displayable map that shows the location of the user as determined by the GPS software.
In some embodiments, there may be additional software specific to the type of real estate organization trying to access the software to register certain domain names. In these embodiments, certain real estate groups would only want agents or others within the organization to be able to access the software to register the domain names. To accomplish this, the software may require the agents to have a unique password, or corporate password that would allow them to access the software, thereby avoiding situations where others could register listed addresses and sell them to the organizations/franchises. This would also apply to contractors or builders, who could potentially blend the uses that both domain name speculators and realtors have for geo-specific domain names.
In other embodiments, contractors/developers/domain speculators may recognize trends in up and coming developing areas and may want to get as many domain names relevant to the area as possible to sell to real estate agents or developers as they begin to sell residences in these developing areas. The software to determine the up and coming areas for hot sections of towns may include possibly a database of recent news articles about the area in relevant areas, such as real estate, development, contractors, retailers magazines, etc.
The additional steps included in the embodiments illustrated in
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.
This patent application is related to the following concurrently-filed patent applications: U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, “SUGGESTING DOMAIN NAMES FROM ONLINE MAP SELECTIONS.” U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, “GEOGRAPHIC DOMAIN NAME SUGGESTION TOOLS.” The subject matter of all patent applications is commonly owned and assigned to The Go Daddy Group, Inc. All prior applications are incorporated herein in their entirety by reference
