Search parameters

Details Search parameters Search parameters

1998-04-30

2002-02-12

Black, Thomas (Department: 2771)

Data processing: database and file management or data structures

Database design

Data structure types

C707S793000, C707S793000, C707S793000, C707S793000, C707S793000, C707S793000, C707S793000, C707S793000, C707S793000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06347320

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to computer systems, and more particularly to a method and system for searching computer files distributed across a network, such as hypertext markup language (HTML) pages on the World Wide Web of the Internet.
2. Description of Related Art
A generalized client-server computing network
2
is shown in FIG.
1
. Network
2
has several nodes or servers
4
,
6
,
8
and
10
which are interconnected, either directly to each other or indirectly through one of the other servers. Each server is essentially a stand-alone computer system (having one or more processors, memory devices, and communications devices), but has been adapted (programmed) for one primary purpose, that of providing information to individual users at another set of nodes, or workstation clients
12
. A client is a member of a class or group of computers or computer systems that uses the services of another class or group to which it is not related. Clients
12
can also be stand-alone computer systems (like personal computers, or PCs), or “dumber” systems adapted for limited use with network
2
(like network computers, or NCs). A single, physical computer can act as both a server and a client, although this implementation occurs infrequently.
The information provided by a server can be in the form of programs which run locally on a given client
12
, or in the form of data such as files that are used by other programs. Users can also communicate with each other in real-time as well as by delayed file delivery, i.e., users connected to the same server can all communicate with each other without the need for the network
2
, and users at different servers, such as servers
4
and
6
, can communicate with each other via network
2
. The network can be local in nature, or can be further connected to other systems (not shown) as indicated with servers
8
and
10
.
The construction of network
2
is also generally applicable to the Internet. In the context of a computer network such as the Internet, a client is a process (i.e., a program or task) that requests a service which is provided by another program. The client process uses the requested service without having to “know” any working details about the other program or the service itself. Based upon requests by the user, a server presents filtered electronic information to the user as server responses to the client process.
Conventional protocols and services have been established for the Internet which allow the transfer of various types of information, including electronic mail, simple file transfers via FTP (file transfer protocol), remote computing via Telnet, “gopher” searching, Usenet newsgroups, and hypertext file delivery and multimedia streaming via the World Wide Web (WWW). A given server can be dedicated to performing one of these operations, or running multiple services. Internet services are typically accessed by specifying a unique address, or universal resource locator (URL). The URL has two basic components, the protocol to be used, and the object pathname. For example, the URL “http://www.uspto.gov” (home page for the United States Patent & Trademark Office) specifies a hypertext transfer protocol (“http”) and a pathname of the server (“www.uspto.gov”). The server name is associated with a unique numeric value (a TCP/IP address, or “domain”).
The present invention relates to searching of computer files that are distributed on a network like the Internet, but is particularly applicable to the WWW, which provides files that are conveniently linked for user access. For example, as illustrated in
FIG. 2
, a group
14
of files or pages
16
a
-
16
h
are interrelated by providing hypertext links in each of the files (group
14
may thus be considered a typical “web site”). A hypertext link is an image that is viewable on the workstation's display
18
, which can be selected by the user (e.g., using a pointing device or “mouse”) and which then automatically instructs client workstation
12
to request another page associated with that particular hypertext link (i.e., issue another URL). A hypertext link may appear as a picture, or as a word or sentence, possibly underlined or otherwise accentuated to indicate that it is a link and not just normal, informative text.
A WWW page may have text, graphic (still) images, and even multimedia objects such as sound recordings or moving video clips. A hypertext page, if more than just text, is usually constructed by loading several separate files, e.g., the hypertext file “main.html” might include a reference to a graphic image file “picture.gif” or to a sound file “beep.wav”. When a client workstation
12
sends a request to a server for a page, such as page
16
a
, the server first transmits (at least partially) the main hypertext file associated with the page, and then loads, either sequentially or simultaneously, the other files associated with the page. A given file may be transmitted as several separate pieces via TCP/IP protocol. The constructed page is then displayed on the workstation monitor
18
as shown in
FIG. 2. A
page may be “larger” than the physical size of the monitor screen (i.e., larger than the software-programmed “window” provided for viewing the page), and techniques such as scroll bars are used by the viewing software (the web browser) to view different portions of the page.
The increasing number of pages available on the Web, and their sometimes ephemeral nature, can make navigation of the WWW more difficult, requiring a user to follow many links before the desired information is finally found. For these and other reasons, it is often difficult to find a particular web page. Some Internet services such as Yahoo have organized links under topics of information, but many web pages are found using various types of search engines. Some search engines are local, that is, software set up and running on a client workstation, while other search engines are remote, running on a server. For the Internet, many search engines utilize wide area information services (WAIS) servers, which provide databases (similar to concordances) having information regarding the contents of web pages. Some network searching utilities are limited to queries relying on boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT), while others are more sophisticated and use intelligent programming to present a more natural interface to the user, and to narrow down or prioritize the search results.
One problem that frequently occurs when searching for files on large networks such as the Internet, is that far too many files (i.e., URLs) are found when searching for textual content within a page. This problem is exacerbated by the nature of web pages, that is, their use of field-based languages such as the hypertext markup language (HTML). This language provides a protocol for transmitting formatted information and control codes used to construct the “complete” page that is ultimately displayed by the browser. Different fields within the main HTML file are defined to store the formatted information and control code parameters, using tags. Tags not only mark elements, such as text and graphics, but can also be used to construct graphical user interfaces within the web page (such as buttons that are “depressed” by selecting them using the graphical pointer). In HTML, a tag is a pair of angle brackets (<>) that contain one or more letters and numbers between the angle brackets. One pair of angle brackets is often placed before an element, and another pair placed after, to indicate where the element begins and ends. For example, the language “<B>TODAY ONLY<B>” uses the “B” tag to provide a boldface formatting code for the words “TODAY ONLY.”
HTML fields and tags complicate searching strategies because they introduce additional words into the document which may not actually be relevant to the substantive content of the document. A prime example is embedded links in a document. If a user wants to locate pages which pertain to a parti

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