Method for identifying related pages in a hyperlinked database

Claim 3

The method of claim 1 wherein the initial page is selected by specifying an address of the page.

Claim 4

The method of claim 1 wherein the initial page is selected by a user interface.

Claim 5

The method of claim 1 wherein the connectivity of the plurality of pages are scored on content by measuring the similarity of the plurality of pages to a topic.

Claim 6

The method of claim 4 wherein the topic is extracted from the initial page.

Claim 7

The method of claim 4 wherein the topic is extracted from the plurality of pages represented in the graph.

Claim 8

The method of claim 1 wherein any of the plurality of pages that are linked in any direction to the initial page are represented in the graph.

Claim 9

The method of claim 7 wherein the plurality of pages represented in the graph are linked to the initial page by a predetermined number of links.

Claim 10

The method of claim 7 wherein each page represented in the graph depends on a path from each page to the initial page, the path including the length of the path and the direction of edges on the path.

Claim 11

The method of claim 7 wherein the plurality of pages represented in the graph as nodes are linked to the node representing the initial page by a number of edges that is determined dynamically.

Claim 12

The method of claim 1 performed in a client computer.

Claim 13

The method of claim 1 performed in a server computer.

Claim 14

The method of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined fraction of the total connectivity score is equal to ninety-five percent of the total connectivity score.

Claim 15

The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of identifying a plurality of pages linked to the initial page comprises identifying a plurality of pages linked to the initial page by not more than a defined number of links, wherein when said defined number of links is set to two, a page is linked to said initial page only if said page is reachable from said initial page by going one link backwards, said page is reachable from said initial page by going one link forwards, said page is reachable from said initial page by going one link backwards followed by one link forwards, or said page is reachable from said initial page by going one link forward followed by one link backwards.

Claim 18

The method of claim 15 wherein the initial page is selected by specifying an address of the page.

Claim 19

The method of claim 15 wherein the initial page is selected by a user interface.

Claim 20

The method of claim 15 wherein the connectivity of the plurality of pages are scored on content by measuring the similarity of the plurality of pages to a topic.

Claim 21

The method of claim 18 wherein the topic is extracted from the initial page.

Claim 22

The method of claim 18 wherein the topic is extracted from the plurality of pages represented in the graph.

Claim 23

The method of claim 15 wherein any of the plurality of pages that are linked in any direction to the initial page are represented in the graph.

Claim 24

The method of claim 21 wherein the plurality of pages represented in the graph are linked to the initial page by a predetermined number of links.

Claim 25

The method of claim 21 wherein each page represented in the graph depends on a pat from each page to the initial page, the path including the length of the path and the direction of edges on the path.

Claim 26

The method of claim 21 wherein the plurality of pages represented in the graph as nodes are linked to the node representing the initial page by a number of edges that is determined dynamically.

Claim 27

The method of claim 15 performed in a client computer.

Claim 28

The method of claim 15 performed in a server computer.

Claim 29

The method of claim 15 , wherein the step of identifying a plurality of pages linked to the initial page comprises identifying a plurality of pages linked to the initial page by not more than a defined number of links, wherein when said defined number of links is set to two, a page is linked to said initial page only if said page is reachable from said initial page by going one link backwards, said page is reachable from said initial page by going one link forwards, said page is reachable from said initial page by going one link backwards followed by one link forwards, or said page is reachable from said initial page by going one link forward followed by one link backwards.

Claim 30

A computer program product readable by a computing system and encoding a computer program of instructions for executing a computer process for identifying pages related to an initial page, said computer process comprising: identifying a plurality of pages linked to the initial page; representing the plurality of pages as a graph of nodes; scoring the plurality of pages on connectivity of said plurality of pages to the initial page to generate a connectivity score for each of said plurality of pages; removing from the graph of nodes pages with an undue influence on the scoring of other pages in the plurality of pages, wherein a page has the undue influence on the scoring of other pages in the plurality of pages, when said page has a score greater than a predetermined fraction of a total connectivity score, said total connectivity score computed by sung connectivity scores of the plurality of pages; re-scoring remaining pages represented in the graph of nodes; and selecting a subset of the remaining pages represented in the graph of nodes that have connectivity scores greater than a first predetermined threshold as the pages related to the initial page.

Claim 31

A computer program product readable by a computing system and encoding a computer program of instructions for executing a computer process for identifying pages related to an initial page, said computer process comprising: identifying a plurality of pages linked to the initial page; representing the plurality of pages as a graph of nodes; scoring the plurality of pages on connectivity of said plurality of pages to the initial page to generate a connectivity score for each of said plurality of pages; removing from the graph of nodes pages with an undue influence on the scoring of other pages in the plurality of pages, wherein a page has the undue influence on the scoring of other pages in the plurality of pages, when said page has a score greater than a predetermined fraction of a total connectivity score, said total connectivity score computed by sung connectivity scores of the plurality of pages; re-scoring remaining pages represented in the graph of nodes; and selecting a subset of the remaining pages represented in the graph of nodes that have connectivity scores greater than a first predetermined threshold as the pages related to the initial page.

Claim 32

The computer program product of claim 28 wherein the computer process selects the initial page by specifying an address of the page.

Claim 33

The computer program product of claim 28 wherein the computer process selects the initial page by receiving input from a user interface.

Claim 34

The computer program product of claim 28 wherein the computer process scores connectivity of the plurality of pages on content by measuring the similarity of the plurality of pages to a topic.

Claim 35

The computer program product of claim 31 wherein the computer process extracts the topic from the initial page.

Claim 36

The computer program product of claim 31 wherein the computer process extracts the topic from the plurality of pages represented in the graph.

Claim 37

The computer program product of claim 28 wherein the computer process represents the plurality of pages that are linked in any direction to the initial page in the graph.

Claim 38

The computer program product of claim 34 wherein the computer process links the plurality of pages represented in the graph to the initial page by a predetermined number of links.

Claim 39

The computer program product of claim 34 wherein each page represented in the graph depends on a path from each page to the initial page, the path including the length of the path and the direction of edges on the path.

Claim 40

The computer program product of claim 34 wherein the computer process links the plurality of pages represented in the graph as nodes to the node representing the initial page by a number of edges that is determined dynamically.

Claim 41

The computer program product of claim 28 wherein the computer process is performed in a client computer.

Claim 42

The computer program product of claim 28 wherein the computer process is performed in a server computer.

Claim 43

The computer program product of claim 28 , wherein the first predetermined threshold is equal to ninety-five percent of the total connectivity score.

Claim 44

The computer program product of claim 28 , wherein the computer process step of identifying a plurality of pages linked to the initial page comprises identifying a plurality of pages linked to the initial page by not more than a defined number of links, wherein when said defined number of links is set to two, a page is linked to said initial page only if said page is reachable from said initial page by going one link backwards, said page is reachable from said initial page by going one link forwards, said page is reachable from said initial page by going one link backwards followed by one link forwards, or said page is reachable from said initial page by going one link forward followed by one link backwards.

Claim 45

A computer program product readable by a computing system and encoding a computer program of instructions for executing a computer process for identifying pages related to an initial page, said computer process comprising: identifying a plurality of pages linked to the initial page; representing the plurality of pages as a graph of nodes; scoring the plurality of pages on connectivity of said plurality of pages to the initial page to generate a connectivity score for each of said plurality of pages; removing from the graph of nodes pages with an undue influence on the scoring of other pages in the plurality of pages, wherein a page has the undue influence on the scoring of other pages in the plurality of pages when said page has a score greater than each score of all other pages in the plurality of pages and said score is at least three times greater than a next highest score of another page in said plurality of pages; re-scoring remaining pages represented in the graph of nodes; and selecting a subset of the remaining pages represented in the graph of nodes that have connectivity scores greater than a first predetermined threshold as the pages related to the initial page.

Claim 46

A computer program product readable by a computing system and encoding a computer program of instructions for executing a computer process for identifying pages related to an initial page, said computer process comprising: identifying a plurality of pages linked to the initial page; representing the plurality of pages as a graph of nodes; scoring the plurality of pages on connectivity of said plurality of pages to the initial page to generate a connectivity score for each of said plurality of pages; removing from the graph of nodes pages with an undue influence on the scoring of other pages in the plurality of pages, wherein a page has the undue influence on the scoring of other pages in the plurality of pages when said page has a score greater than each score of all other pages in the plurality of pages and said score is at least three times greater than a next highest score of another page in said plurality of pages; re-scoring remaining pages represented in the graph of nodes; and selecting a subset of the remaining pages represented in the graph of nodes that have connectivity scores greater than a first predetermined threshold as the pages related to the initial page.

Claim 47

The computer program product of claim 42 wherein the computer process selects the initial page by specifying an address of the page.

Claim 48

The computer program product of claim 42 wherein the computer process selects the initial page by receiving input from a user interface.

Claim 49

The computer program product of claim 42 wherein the computer process scores connectivity of the plurality of pages on content by measuring the similarity of the plurality of pages to a topic.

Claim 50

The computer program product of claim 45 wherein the computer process extracts the topic from the initial page.

Claim 51

The computer program product of claim 45 wherein the computer process extracts the topic from the plurality of pages represented in the graph.

Claim 52

The computer program product of claim 42 wherein the computer process represents the plurality of pages that are linked in any direction to the initial page in the graph.

Claim 53

The computer program product of claim 48 wherein the computer process links the plurality of pages represented in the graph to the initial page by a predetermined number of links.

Claim 54

The computer program product of claim 48 wherein each page represented in the graph depends on a path from each page to the initial page, the path including the length of the path and the direction of edges on the path.

Claim 55

The computer program product of claim 48 wherein the computer process links the plurality of pages represented in the graph as nodes to the node representing the initial page by a number of edges that is determined dynamically.

Claim 56

The computer program product of claim 42 wherein the computer process is performed in a client computer.

Claim 57

The computer program product of claim 42 wherein the computer process is performed in a server computer.

Claim 58

The computer program product of claim 42 , wherein the computer process step of identifying a plurality of pages linked to the initial page comprises identifying a plurality of pages linked to the initial page by not more than a defined number of links, wherein when said defined number of links is set to two, a page is linked to said initial page only if said page is reachable from said initial page by going one link backwards, said page is reachable from said initial page by going one link forwards, said page is reachable from said initial page by going one link backwards followed by one link forwards, or said page is reachable from said initial page by going one link forward followed by one link backwards.