US6442544B1
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
System and method for organizing search categories for use in an on-line search query engine based on geographic descriptions
Assignee: Avantax Inc
•
Filing: 1998-12-08
•
Granted: 2002-08-27
•
Expires: 2018-12-08
Abstract
Abstract A system and method for organizing search categories for use in an on-line search query engine based on a geographic description is described. The city list is compiled into entries in a database organized by an official name for each city in the city list. A virtual city list is compiled into entries in a database organized by an unofficial name for each virtual city in a virtual city list. A friendly name list is compiled into entries in a database organized by a pseudonym for each friendly name in a friendly name list. A search query engine includes a user interface receiving a location descriptor presenting the search categories organized by an actual location. The search query engine also includes a resolution module resolving the actual location from the location descriptor using at least one of the official name in the city list, the unofficial name in the virtual city list, and the friendly name in the friendly name list.
Inventors
- 👤 Sanjay Kohli
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-01 23:34
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06F; G06F16/00; G06F16/90; G06F16/95; G06F16/954; G06F16/20; G06F16/29; G06F16/30; G06F16/33; G06F16/332; G06F16/3322; G06F16/3323; G06F16/35; Y; Y10; Y10S; Y10S707/00; Y10S707/99931; Y10S707/99933; Y10S707/99934; Y10S707/99935; Y10S707/99936
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 30
Claim 1
Independent Claim
152 words
A system for organizing search categories for use in an on-line search query engine based on a geographic description, comprising: a city list compiled into entries in a database organized by an official name for each city in the city list; a virtual city list compiled into entries in a database organized by an unofficial name for each virtual city in the virtual city list; a friendly name list compiled into entries in a database organized by a pseudonym for each friendly name in the friendly name list; and a search query engine including: a user interface receiving a location descriptor and presenting the search categories organized by an actual location, and a resolution module resolving the actual location from the location descriptor using at least one of the official name in the city list, the unofficial name in the virtual city list and the friendly name in the friendly name list.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
152 words
A system for organizing search categories for use in an on-line search query engine based on a geographic description, comprising: a city list compiled into entries in a database organized by an official name for each city in the city list; a virtual city list compiled into entries in a database organized by an unofficial name for each virtual city in the virtual city list; a friendly name list compiled into entries in a database organized by a pseudonym for each friendly name in the friendly name list; and a search query engine including: a user interface receiving a location descriptor and presenting the search categories organized by an actual location, and a resolution module resolving the actual location from the location descriptor using at least one of the official name in the city list, the unofficial name in the virtual city list and the friendly name in the friendly name list.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
76 words
A system according to claim 1 , further comprising: standardized terms included in at least one database entry for the city list, the virtual city list and the friendly name list; and the search query engine further comprising: a normalization module normalizing individual words in the location descriptor into standardized terms, and a search module finding the actual location in the city list, the virtual city list and the friendly name list using the standardized terms.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
30 words
A system according to claim 2 , wherein each standardized term corresponds to at least one of an abbreviation or an alternate spelling for individual words in the location descriptor.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
101 words
A system according to claim 1 , the search query engine further comprising: a search module searching, in turn, each of: the city list for one such database entry having the official name corresponding to the location descriptor, the virtual city list for one such database entry having the unofficial name corresponding to the location descriptor, and the friendly name list for one such database entry having the friendly name corresponding to the location descriptor; and returning the actual location from the one such database entry from one of the city list, the virtual city list and the friendly name list.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
28 words
A system according to claim 4 , wherein each of the city list, the virtual city list and the friendly name list are searched using a binary search.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
28 words
A system according to claim 1 , wherein the user interface provides the official name as the actual location for each location descriptor resolved using the city list.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
29 words
A system according to claim 1 , wherein the user interface provides the unofficial name as the actual location for each location descriptor resolved using the virtual city list.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
31 words
A system according to claim 1 , wherein the user interface provides a latitude and a longitude as the actual location for each location descriptor resolved using the friendly name list.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
36 words
A system according to claim 8 , wherein the resolution module iteratively increases a radius used in identifying search results with the latitude and the longitude of the actual location specifying a center of the radius.
Claim 11
Independent Claim
149 words
A method for organizing search categories for use in an on-line search query engine based on a geographic description, comprising: compiling a city list into entries in a database organized by an official name for each city in the city list; compiling a virtual city list into entries in a database organized by an unofficial name for each virtual city in the virtual city list; compiling a friendly name list into entries in a database organized by a pseudonym for each friendly name in the friendly name list; submitting a location descriptor to the search query engine; resolving an actual location from the location descriptor using at least one of the official name in the city list, the unofficial name in the virtual city list and the friendly name in the friendly name list; and presenting the search categories organized by the actual location on the search query engine.
Claim 12
Independent Claim
149 words
A method for organizing search categories for use in an on-line search query engine based on a geographic description, comprising: compiling a city list into entries in a database organized by an official name for each city in the city list; compiling a virtual city list into entries in a database organized by an unofficial name for each virtual city in the virtual city list; compiling a friendly name list into entries in a database organized by a pseudonym for each friendly name in the friendly name list; submitting a location descriptor to the search query engine; resolving an actual location from the location descriptor using at least one of the official name in the city list, the unofficial name in the virtual city list and the friendly name in the friendly name list; and presenting the search categories organized by the actual location on the search query engine.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
70 words
A method according to claim 10 , the operation of resolving an actual location further comprising: including standardized terms in at least one database entry for the city list, the virtual city list and the friendly name list; normalizing individual words in the location descriptor into standardized terms; and finding the actual location in the city list, the virtual city list and the friendly name list using the standardized terms.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
30 words
A method according to claim 11 , wherein each standardized term corresponds to at least one of an abbreviation or an alternate spelling for individual words in the location descriptor.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
101 words
A method according to claim 10 , the operation of resolving an actual location further comprising: searching, in turn, each of: the city list for one such database entry having the official name corresponding to the location descriptor, the virtual city list for one such database entry having the unofficial name corresponding to the location descriptor, and the friendly name list for one such database entry having the friendly name corresponding to the location descriptor; and returning the actual location from the one such database entry from one of the city list, the virtual city list and the friendly name list.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
28 words
A method according to claim 13 , wherein each of the city list, the virtual city list and the friendly name list are searched using a binary search.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
33 words
A method according to claim 10 , the operation of resolving an actual location further comprising: providing the official name as the actual location for each location descriptor resolved using the city list.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
34 words
A method according to claim 10 , the operation of resolving an actual location further comprising: providing the unofficial name as the actual location for each location descriptor resolved using the virtual city list.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
36 words
A method according to claim 10 , the operation of resolving an actual location further comprising: providing a latitude and a longitude as the actual location for each location descriptor resolved using the friendly name list.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
41 words
A method according to claim 17 , the operation of presenting the search categories further comprising: iteratively increasing a radius used in identifying search results with the latitude and the longitude of the actual location specifying a center of the radius.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
156 words
A computer-readable storage medium holding instructions for organizing search categories for use in an on-line search query engine based on a geographic description, comprising: a city list compiled into entries in a database organized by an official name for each city in the city list; a virtual city list compiled into entries in a database organized by an unofficial name for each virtual city in the virtual city list; a friendly name list compiled into entries in a database organized by a pseudonym for each friendly name in the friendly name list; and a search query engine including: a user interface receiving a location descriptor and presenting the search categories organized by an actual location, and a resolution module resolving the actual location from the location descriptor using at least one of the official name in the city list, the unofficial name in the virtual city list and the friendly name in the friendly name list.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
156 words
A computer-readable storage medium holding instructions for organizing search categories for use in an on-line search query engine based on a geographic description, comprising: a city list compiled into entries in a database organized by an official name for each city in the city list; a virtual city list compiled into entries in a database organized by an unofficial name for each virtual city in the virtual city list; a friendly name list compiled into entries in a database organized by a pseudonym for each friendly name in the friendly name list; and a search query engine including: a user interface receiving a location descriptor and presenting the search categories organized by an actual location, and a resolution module resolving the actual location from the location descriptor using at least one of the official name in the city list, the unofficial name in the virtual city list and the friendly name in the friendly name list.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
77 words
A storage medium according to claim 19 , further comprising: standardized terms included in at least one database entry for the city list, the virtual city list and the friendly name list; and the search query engine further comprising: a normalization module normalizing individual words in the location descriptor into standardized terms, and a search module finding the actual location in the city list, the virtual city list and the friendly name list using the standardized terms.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
31 words
A storage medium according to claim 20 , wherein each standardized term corresponds to at least one of an abbreviation or an alternate spelling for individual words in the location descriptor.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
102 words
A storage medium according to claim 19 , the search query engine further comprising: a search module searching, in turn, each of: the city list for one such database entry having the official name corresponding to the location descriptor, the virtual city list for one such database entry having the unofficial name corresponding to the location descriptor, and the friendly name list for one such database entry having the friendly name corresponding to the location descriptor; and returning the actual location from the one such database entry from one of the city list, the virtual city list and the friendly name list.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
29 words
A storage medium according to claim 22 , wherein each of the city list, the virtual city list and the friendly name list are searched using a binary search.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
29 words
A storage medium according to claim 19 , wherein the user interface provides the official name as the actual location for each location descriptor resolved using the city list.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
30 words
A storage medium according to claim 19 , wherein the user interface provides the unofficial name as the actual location for each location descriptor resolved using the virtual city list.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
32 words
A storage medium according to claim 19 , wherein the user interface provides a latitude and a longitude as the actual location for each location descriptor resolved using the friendly name list.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
37 words
A storage medium according to claim 26 , wherein the resolution module iteratively increases a radius used in identifying search results with the latitude and the longitude of the actual location specifying a center of the radius.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
US5543788A
Cited
US5495605A
Cited
US5544061A
Cited
US5974409A
Cited
US5960194A
Cited
US5995979A
Cited
US5966710A
Cited
US5864863A
Cited
US5790121A
Cited
US5878385A
Cited
US6052122A
Cited
US5893093A
Cited
US6108650A
Cited
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2005-08-26 | 2006-02-25 | 2006-08-27 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2009-08-26 | 2010-02-25 | 2010-08-27 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2013-08-26 | 2014-02-25 | 2014-08-27 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |